AAA

Currently stuck in a freezing vehicle for almost 2 hours. Priority calls have been made ahead of us. The amount of roadside assistance vehicles are REDUCED on New Years. I’m seriously in tears writing this review. No one should have to wait 2 hours in a 30 degree car. My hands are cold, my lips are chapping, and my feet are freezing. Fuck AAA. Insurance that still cost a shit ton of money, and no fucking help. I understand if people need help before us but we’re about to have severe health issues after this fucking wait. We are freezing… The car only needs to be jumped…

My battery needed a jump start. It was 11am on a Monday. They guaranteed service within 90 min. and would update with phone calls. Two hours later, nothing. No service, no phone call. Called them. They said should be there within 12 min. 20 min later I called THEM again. Now they say not to expect any service for at least 60 more min.
Thank God I was in a safe location. I realize things can get busy, BUT please call with updates. Don’t force me to keep calling you to find out you are not coming

Straight up — if you don’t have an AAA card in your wallet I don’t even know what to say.
It sets you back something like 60 clams a year for a basic membership. If you ever stay in a hotel more than one night a year bam there’s your money back in a 10% discount most places which is so easy it’s insane.
Then this — I can’t foretell the future but I do rely a bit on past experiences to help me have at least the ability to choose between this that or the other thing when that later time rolls around and I’ll share this — AAA has helped me out on the road three different times and each time they left me like sad for the entire rest of the world because they were so tight and turned my frown upside down and why can’t all the rest of the service providers be like them?
It isn’t hard. You just care about what you do and have skills and a little empathy and there you go. Made somebody’s day better. And if you don’t care about things like that stop reading and go away because you are no longer welcome in my review.
My battery died the other morning. With a little warning and maybe if I wasn’t all perhaps it will get better on its own I wouldn’t have had to go into the convenience store and say hi I know you’re busy but it looks like I might have to sit at the gas pump for a little longer than I had originally intended. I went inside after I called the 800 number. The totally helpful fellow named after my brother said to chill and in 45 minutes or so somebody would be there to help me. In 20, the yellow truck was there. She diagnosed me in a way that had me think hmm she has no incentive to upsell me I feel comfortable with this diagnosis and were I in a shop I’d probably be out like a thousand skins. It was the battery, not the alternator. She had brought the battery as promised. 30 minutes after I placed the call I had a new battery and a happy smiling face and parts and labor were half of what it would have cost anywhere else.
Just for good measure, again. If you don’t already have one do nothing else today (besides making another person smile which should always be one of the must-​do things on your daily list) go to the website or make the call and get your bad self a membership.
I care about you.

AAA towing is the BEST! Shout out to Kenan, who was awesome! Arrived so fast, very professional, took all the worry away, drove our car over the bridge– all done with big smile. Thank you Kenan– you are the man! We love AAA Roadside Assistance & Towing

Worst customer service EVER. As a company, I don’t know where to start, I was hit by someone with AAA insurance. my assigned claim agent Laura Gonzalez never once returned and Email or phone call. After calling half a dozen times I finally caught her in her office and she said to take my car to Cooks Collision in Berkeley. She also said I didn’t need and appt. (this was NOT TRUE) I headed over in my classic 76 Triumph Spitfire, which broke down on the freeway where I was nearly Killed pushing it to the side of the exit and cars went by me at 80mph. On top of all that, Cooks refused to even look at the car because it was a 1976?! Laura Gonzales, please get another job, you might be the worst thing to happen to the insurance industry since its inception.

I’m shocked at the poor service! Impenetrable phone trees, cannot talk to anyone at the local branch — and this is to fix a mistake they made! Listening to the phone recording «Where members come first» while I wait interminably, adds to the dismal experience. What they have been most efficient at is giving me ways to pay my bill.
I’ve had AAA Homeowners and Auto insurance for 30 years! I’m going to switch.
I got a car in March and did the DMV registration at the Berkeley office. The person who helped me said that I would receive the registration renewal in the mail. I just moved, was changing my address on the DMV website and saw that my registration is past due and there is a hefty late charge. I can’t get in touch with anyone at CSAA to get help, find out what might have gone wrong. I left two messages over the last two days — no response. The local office number doesn’t answer! You cannot talk to a person at the local branch even to find out DMV service hours. What a colossally frustrating time-​sink.
Follow up, 8÷14÷15: It’s great that Art has reached out to me. I have responded to him and we’ll see what happens. It’s a sad comment though that my level of dissatisfaction had to reach this point to get a proactive response from AAA.
The contact was also surprising because I had another time-​wasting conversation with the Berkeley branch manager just a couple hours ago. And she only called because I made yet another call to the Berkeley branch this morning and asked that the manager call me after yet another ridiculously unhelpful call with a guy on the phone at the branch! It was 10 days and 5 calls, and time on dead-​end phone trees before I got a response.
The first thing this woman said when she called was to tell me that she had returned one of my previous calls. Well, how is that defensive statement helpful? She said she doesn’t leave messages when there is no voice mail. Huh? I have voice mail on my cell phone (the only number I give out). There is no record on my phone of a call from the number she called from. And if she hadn’t made contact with me, why didn’t she follow up with another call? I would have been embarrassed to tell a client that I had returned her call, not made contact and hadn’t followed up, especially if I hadn’t left a message.
She told me that registration notices not arriving via mail is a known issue at DMV. I pointed out to her three times that, if that was the case, the AAA rep handling my registration should have told me to stay on top of that rather than to tell me that — not to worry — the registration notice would arrive in the mail — and that that information should be a noted change in how DMV registration is handled at AAA.
When I also suggested that AAA cover my DMV late charge, she kept insisting that it just was never going to happen — even after I pointed out that with all the money to market, attract customers, my late charge is small change to keep a good customer (where «Members Come First — hah!). It’s nauseating to have someone apologize over and over while telling me why they haven’t done anything wrong, that it’s not their responsibility, and providing no service. She was really apologizing because she would do nothing. She didn’t even suggest that she would look into this situation, escalate it. Apologies don’t help me — action does.

Beware people… once you get your insurance through AAA they don’t care anymore. well not surprising it’s Insurance business. but this office is particularly awful to deal with. If you have a choice — go someplace else.
I have all insurances with them and am seriously thinking and moving everything to another insurance carrier.

gotta say if it wasn’t for Derick I wouldn’t be writing this review. The guys at the counter are all good but Derick is the man. 98% of the stuff is straight forward but for the 2% remaining Derick is your go to guy. He’s gotten me sorted out in no time every time I went there. Today he saved me $ 162. the DMV system showed I owed that even though I had paid registration on time (and had a late smog) I was ready to hand over the cash when I thought «I’d better ask Derick» so I did, he took one glance at the screen and said «you’re good — just $ 20 for the plates» then he asked for my old rear plate (I was there because I lost the front plate), I obliged and he goes «you know there’re 2 plates there…» David Blaine style (the 2 plates were stuck together all this time) so he cancelled the transaction gave me my old plates and the $ 20 back. Thank you and good night.

AAA is an amazing value. Over the years I’ve used them for towing, when I locked myself out of the car, they brought me gas when I ran out in the Berkeley hills and I recently used their locksmith service. On top of all that, there are DMV services at this office on University Ave which is almost worth the membership fee by itself. There may be a short line, but it’s never never as bad as the DMV in Oakland. Just remember to bring cash or checks, they don’t take cards of any kind.

We’ve been here twice in 4 months, both for auto insurance needs. We got two difference insurance agents and both were friendly and efficient. Today I went to get an auto quote and left with a policy that provided double my original coverage (from Mercury Insurance) for LESS money. It pays to check on auto insurance rates one in a while.
I also got a free trunk tote organizer and my significant other got a $ 20 Amazon giftcard emailed to him for «referring» me. The giftcard was voluntarily offered by my new insurance agent, since I had no idea it was even an option.
We are happy with the service and products offered here.

And I didn’t think it could get worse. After the ordeal at the branch the first time, I get a letter in the mail from DMV notifying me that the registration was done incorrectly. I go into the AAA branch, luckily it wasn’t the same person and was advised that it was a «slip» up from whoever helped me last. He was pleasant to work with, but I shouldn’t have to come back. The rep that responded to my last review said he would contact me private and I’m still waiting.
Maybe this branch should visit the SoCal branches to brush up on their training and customer service skills.
They get paid to make mistakes, correct them, and not be worried about the customer service all the meanwhile, I’m not getting paid or reimbursed my membership fees and time having to deal with their crap. Pretty epic if you ask me.

I’m highly disappointed with the AAA service. My family has been a loyal customer for over 15 years and when something actually happens where we need them, they are not able to fulfill their end of the bargain.
Last Tuesday around 5:00 PM my mother’s car was totaled by another driver to the point where all the windows were broken and two doors (including the driver’s door) couldn’t be opened. We called AAA right away for towing service and was told they would arrive around 7:00 PM which is already quite a long wait. When they didn’t show up at the appointed time, we called again, and was told the tow truck would arrive at 8:00 PM. At 8:00 PM, they didn’t show (surprise), and we gave a third call to them. They told us they would be there at 9:00 PM.
Not only was it bad enough that they delayed our service 3 times, but they never even apologized for their incompetence.
On top of that, it was raining heavily the whole day. It was very cold out and my mother had just gotten off work. The fact that it took them 4 hours to get to us was already infuriating – but there’s more.
The representative who arrived to help us DID NOT even help us tow the car in the end. He climbed into the driver’s seat from another door and started the car, drove it around a little bit to make sure it was okay, and then told us to DRIVE IT OURSELVES to its destination. UNBELIEVABLE!!!
We paid for this service and we expect nothing less from such a large corporation. However, after this experience we will be switching our service to another company. Waiting in the pouring rain and the freezing cold for such a long period of time for a service that was never executed is UNACCEPTABLE.
If we could, we wouldn’t even give them this 1 star. Terrible terrible terrible.

Ugh!
I’m on hold because they can’t find my homeowner’s policy. They have my name, my address, and my money. I’ve been a customer for 21 years. Last year my policy lapsed because they changed the billing policy to pay-​in-​full BEFORE the policy took effect (which I didn’t know). When I went to the office to straighten it out, they couldn’t reach the secondary insurer. I was standing there, checkbook in hand, with a house that was uninsured, and there was nothing they could do.
Of course there was. After I waited. And then talked to a manager. And waited again.
And I’m still waiting. I’m still on hold and have been on hold for 20 minutes. Because they can’t find my policy.
I copied this from a previous review because I was about to say the same thing:
Their best agent is no longer there. That is, Pedro Acosta. He is smart, efficient, caring and knows the business and the contacts. He responds and has the answers: how refreshing! He can be reached at 510−228−6615 and is now associated with Farmers.
Unfortunately, I may be stuck with CSAA because Pedro can’t match the customer loyalty discounts. But if this keeps up, it might be worth it to switch.

The Berkeley AAA has drastically declined due to gross incompetance at management level. Aubrey Calderon does not even know basic insurance nomenclature. Their best agent is no longer there. That is, Pedro Acosta. He is smart, efficient, caring and knows the business and the contacts. He responds and has the answers: how refreshing! He can be reached at 510−228−6615 and is now associated with Farmers.

and 2 plus hours later, STILL WAITING. 1^st I called for a simple tow (common). 2^nd the company they sent my tow call too, passed it back to AAA, 1 hr later. Only way I foundout was that I called them. 3^rd the AAA operator said the new company should be at my location in 15 min, well thats was not true or accurate. 45 min had passed so I called one more time to check the ETA. Another 30 was stated again. AAA IS A JOKE. I cancelled the call and called «stretch towing and roadside service» 5 109 783 534. now lets see how this AAA reimbursement go?

My annual car insurance is less than $ 300 (old car). However, AAA or CSAA, however you know it, has instituted a monthly automated charge fee (I pay automatically through bank electronic transfer) of $ 3 a month, which is over 10 percent of my monthly bill.
I think this is ridiculous and outrageous, especially given that automatic transfers cost them nothing to process.
I tend to have no respect for business which «rip off» their customers. I’m hoping a class action suit puts an end to this.

Faster and more convenient than DMV. Been a member since 1972 — call to see if they can handle your needs before waiting at DMV.
They use the Disneyland system for wait times — tell you 20 minutes and usually be there in 10
Join them!

Very sad to report a complete sea change at AAA.
I have been a member for more than a decade, and I’ve always received wonderful service. Starting the beginning of 2013, I’ve been blown away by the poor, unreliable, uncaring service I’ve received from multiple AAA representatives.
1. It took 3 visits to warranty a defective battery originally provided by AAA.
2. I purchased a second car, and my insurance went up. I sold said expensive car, and my insurance went down by less than it had increased when I purchased the second car.
3. I purchased a much cheaper second car, and my insurance again went up by more than it had decreased.
4. Multiple reps have ignored my phone calls & emails, while at the same time spamming me with AAA branded personal auto communications.
Amazing: AAA I hope you can be saved. I’m shopping other clubs.

If you aren’t a AAA member then you need to become one. Partly for the roadside service that they provide and the other part because you can take care of all your DMV needs here. Recently came here to take care of a lost registration sticker. The service was really nice and everyone helped me with what I needed right away. No long lines and no bad service. Everything was very pleasant and I look forward to my next visit here.

New Year’s Eve, Please Don’t Drink and Drive.
If you or a friend can’t handle NYE, use AAA’s Tipsy Tow. They will tow your whip, your drunk ass, and your drunk ass friends five miles for free.
You don’t even have to be a member. Call 800−222−4357 (AAA-​HELP)!
Be Unilocalful and tell a friend.