AA and AA Warranties are ************, devious and dishonest.

To AA Snr Management

Despite a humble request from AA and the facts that I presented, I have still not had a response to my latest email dated 15 July 2021, to date, as outlined below for ease of reference together with the email trail since inception of my claim. Matter remains unresolved after two months since the legitimate claim was lodged and covered within my Double Titanium Policy (Top of the range)

Please cancel my top of your range ‘Double Titanium Cover” with immediate effect and accept this is official notification and the scheduled debit order for next month, August 2021, is therefore not authorised. If it pleases you, since your service has been unsatisfactory as outlined further below as well, kindly reimburse all premiums that I have paid to date and hand the proceeds to a charity of your choice, since it was free money, and I choose to have nothing further to do with your unprincipled organisation.

If my action assists at least one consumer not to accept sub-standard or not to subject themselves to your lack of values and services principles, then it is worth all the money that I lost to you in premiums and this claim. I have no doubt that you will suffer reputational damage and to be honest we can do without dishonest entities such as AA Warranties, AMP Warranty, AA, etc

I have decided to part ways with AA South Africa due your level of arrogance and ************ coupled with devious and dishonest behaviour as proven in the contents further below. I take it that you did not even bother to review the recorded conversions at inception of the sale to the request from your team advising the dealer to use substandard, non-genuine parts contrary to your advices on peace of mind, just to save costs at risk to your clients’ safety.

You will note that my request throughout, was more than reasonable as I did not insist on Mercedes repairing the vehicle despite my vehicle having been at their premises for a service and that the fault was noted as legitimate claim ito my AA Warranty Policy, as confirmed by your complaints dept. Even though there was previous claims or unpaid premium history against this policy, I acceded to your request and arranged with yourselves to move the vehicle to your authorised Bosch Service repairer of your choice closer to my home as you not prepared to entertain the Mercedes quote

In all my previous correspondence, I merely pointed out that a “thumb sucked settlement” by AA Warranties, without evidence to back the same, is not an acceptable explanation as this will always place your clients’ at a disadvantage or push them towards back yard mechanics for AA to save costs for something which they should be covered, within reason, in any case and in the interest of their clients’ families. I don’t believe that it is reasonable to request the AA to point us to the authorised dealers, with guarantees and repairs to manufactures standards, and more so as they provided the quote for your settlement figure presented. This will also ensure that clients’ are not unnecessarily put out of pocket through unsubstantiated shortfalls, etc by AA’s low unreasonable cost with client contribution to facilitate higher profit, mindset. In my instance neither Mercedes Benz nor your recommended or other authorised AA repairers, could match your meagre settlement and I still challenge you to find me a repairer who will accept R6500 for replacement of a new genuine Mercedes Vito alternator, including fitting and labour, incidentally the latter is covered within the policy, which incidentally does not specify part limits, so I haven’t ‘thumb-sucked this. Strangely, the most efficient quote was double than your meagre settlement of R6500 for a Mercedes Vito genuine alternator with 28000kms, fully maintained by Mercedes since date of purchase to date and in pristine condition, meaning that I had to make up a shortfall against a top of the range policy up to R100k, yet this was much less. This points to 2021 premiums against 1970s repair bill. AA Warranties even stooped so low and requested their authorised Repairer to reduce his labour to just over R1000, which is ****************, how do you assist small business to sustain themselves if you cut prices by half despite the actual amount having been quoted by your complaints department of which I have proof, in writing.

But then again facts point to your devious interaction with the recommended repairer to put no name pirate parts without my knowledge but at least the AA Approved Repairer as recommended by yourselves, couldn’t effect repairs within you settlement, after your ‘hair-cuts’ as stated and even had the decency and integrity to inform me of your dishonest behaviour, in the interest of my family’s safety first and not just profit.

I apologise profusely, for not being a miser, devious or dishonest such as yourselves and based on all of the aforementioned, I have therefore resorted to stay with manufacturer specifications at my cost and with no contribution needed from your controversial Sale and Policy pitch. Consider it a contribution to your profit mindset.

In any event you defended ************ness within your team against a good paying client and I wish your business every success if your model is based on these negative principles. My request to point me to your repairer who gave you the settlement quote was met with resistance by Francois Frazer, Rendani and team and despite the facts to back the same (I challenged you further to review the recorded conversations as dates were presented to you in previous correspondence and also the conversation with your authorised Repairer), yet despite this your company still chose the path of arrogance and dishonesty against a legitimate complaint, which is tantamount to corporate bullying as your Sales pitch and after Sales Service does not complement each other. This level of disconnect is detrimental to the client safety whilst you still collect the premiums until a claim and fine print kicks in.

I wish I could say that it as great doing business with AA South Africa and it’s associates but in this case you may have only lost one Double Titanium policy holder, not a great loss but reputationally for is the question?. I harbour no bitterness but you need to change with the times and start realising that client safety before profit also makes business sense.

Considering that you find it difficult to respond to complaints, can I at least expect a confirmation of the cancellation of my policy with immediate effect or should I just take it as confirmed. Cheers.

Previous email dated 15 July 2021..no response received from AA South Africa, AA Warranties, etc Sent: Thursday, 15 July 2021 18:47 To: AA Warranties Complaints <***>; ***; ***; AMP Claims <***>; ***; ***; ***; *** Subject: RE: Complaint- Hi,

Also for Urgent Attention AA Senior Management and AA Claims and Complaints Snr Management – re-claim against AA Warranty Policy number 229138 – your silence on this matter is deafening, as Snr Management, despite my outcry of unfair treatment as a client or is this complaint being blocked from reaching you as there are no credentials of the person/writer below..just Complaints Dept or is it a Robotic response.

Thank you for your response albeit somewhat delayed and more so my vehicle is still not repaired after almost 2 months, even after complying with AAs requirements and moving my vehicle, at your AA Warranty Claims Dept’s instruction, from Mercedes to your approved repairer and they even provided the details. Please advise if this in response to ‘Hello Peter’ or is that matter still under investigation.

It appears the you have missed the gist of the complaint and I implore you to read the email trail since inception. Whatever your quote is, I don’t really care as long as my vehicle is repaired by your authorised dealer to manufacturer standards, with relevant guarantees and no shortfall payments required from myself as my policy adaqutely covers such situations, I am guided by you to the appropriate repairer considering that you failed us with 2 prior quotes, one being Mercedes and the other your approved dealer that you referred us to. This is not an unreasonable request but I will take it to the level warranted as a matter of principle as consumers of South Africa are now tired of thieving corporates who hide behind fine print, after their marketing plot. A stated previously, I have no objection for the repair of my vehicle for whatever you quoted but send me to your authorised dealer who will do it at the price quoted as the AA approved repairer that you sent me to, refused to repair on your terms and he is willing to attest to this. I have never refuted your quote either but it appears that you are undercutting the repairers at my expense i.e. I will invariably and unfairly be saddled with whatever shortfall for your dishonesty as proven and more so with a top of the range and double cover Warranty Policy (Titanium Double Cover up to R100k per incident). Replacement is less than R10k according to your quote but you are still haggling to point us to your repairer who gave you the quote to fix the problem. The fault is legitimate in terms of your policy wording, however, almost 2 months later, the manufacture nor does your recommended repairer concur with your quote and you then resort to inferior parts – this is underhanded and ludicrous. So where must I go now…to a backyard mechanic for a vehicle with 28 000 on the clock and fully serviced by Mercedes and if this route is followed then any legitimate claims will be refuted by yourself from a warranty perspective..are we as clients in a no-win here? We had no issue with Mercedes not repairing the vehicle as you were not prepared to meet their quote but you conveniently omitted, in your response, the deceptive behaviour of AA Warranty Claims Department as outlined by your approved repairer and please refer to the recording of the contact made by your claims dept to the manager in which he was told not to let us know that an inferior part is to be used to reduce costs. The workshop manager’s refusal to proceed with pirate part (no name parts) for fear of further damage that may arise later by using an inferior part is commendable nor was the use of an inferior specified in your warranty contract nor in my conversations with Francois Frazer or Rengani from claims who confirmed that a genuine Bosch part will be used with no mention of a no name product. The workshop manager is willing to attest to this. You will recall that I have had to arrange for my vehicle to be towed by AA (free tow required an own contribution from myself too) from Mercedes to an AA Warranty approved repairer, Autoworx Bosch, near to my home, as instructed by your claims dept – refer to recorded calls. Despite this your approved repairer could not meet your quote or pay out terms either. So where did you obtain your assessment quote from, without inspecting the vehicle? Send me to this repairer and we can resolve this matter as my vehicle is now out of commission for 2 months because of incompetence on your part. I do have a right to the basis and validity of your quote to ensure that I am not being treated unfairly or ****** and as protected by legislation as a consumer. I will gladly accept your quote as I had no objection to repairs being effected by your approved repairer as recommended so please refer me to another approved repairer of yours who will replace within the ambit of your quote as you must have got the latter from one of your dealerships to quote as such. I am happy to proceed on this basis on the proviso that the part is genuine and not pirate as your policy does not state this and that I receive the necessary guarantees. I will be referring the vehicle to Mercedes (at my cost) after the repair for inspection but you don’t even other to check the recordings and just stick to your decision without proper assessment. I this how it is going to be with claims of a more serious note or are you just hoping that we pay the premium that you sold to us and just don’t claim?

I raised all of the above in my discussions with your claims dept and their lack of basic client service principles let them down.

From a professional and client service perspective, your prompt response will be appreciated this time around and not 2 to 3 weeks later as my vehicle is still standing and please be considerate for a change, after all I am still your paying client. I will not be bul**** into submission and will revert to the Ombudsman and appropriate consumer bodies, depending on your advices to all of the aforementioned. Not a threat but exercising my consumer rights as my request is simple and reasonable as stated.