Date: Tue, 10 Jan 2012 15:23:39 -0700
Reply-To: courtney hook <courtneyhook@SHAW.CA>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: courtney hook <courtneyhook@SHAW.CA>
Subject: Re: BBB & AAA
In-Reply-To: <CALGCdoV-Oo=okKXQWmf3B5MGsKNLwjMqRi=RwTGww9PBF7fV8Q@mail.gmail.com>
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The people you want to call are the AAA headoffice that contract this out to the towing companies. If you tell them about the service at Livermoore they will/can cancel their contract for their services. NOT what the local guys would want, as they get huge business by being an AAA contractor.
Courtney
----- Original Message -----
From: "Donna Skarloken" <dskarloken@GMAIL.COM>
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Sent: Tuesday, January 10, 2012 12:59:37 PM
Subject: Re: BBB & AAA
I agree with Dave, have had the 200 mile towing for years. My parents' 89
started blowing black smoke when we were starting up that big hill
westbound out of Needles, CA on I-40. My fault; that Westfalia ran like a
top, always, (and I should have bought it from them), and I was blasting up
that hill around 75mph on an over 100 hundred degree day. We were towed to
Las Vegas, no cost as I had the 200 mile option for towing, had it checked
out the next morning and couldn't find a thing wrong, and drove back to
Northern California without incident.
My only concern, recently, is I have had two somewhat negative experiences
with the towing contractor for AAA in the Livermore/Pleasanton area of
California. One was when they sent their tow truck driver to the local
transit parking lot and the driver failed to find me and I had to wait more
than 2 hours (in the dark, alone) for another driver. Then the replacement
driver tells me that driver had a history of not wanting to go to the
trouble of locating somewhat in the large parking area and garage of that
transit station! My husband called the manager of that towing company to
complain, couldn't get through, never received another call back. We
dropped it, but really shouldn't have.
Then back in the fall I had a flat. Of course, I can't begin to turn the
darn lug nuts on my New Beetle. I am not far from home and not in the
Livermore/Pleasanton contractor area, or so I thought. It is about 7:30
p.m., getting dark, windy, and I am not in the best location, having
already driven on the rim to get off the freeway. The dispatcher tells me
she'll get someone there asap since I am female and alone and it's getting
dark. No such luck. An hour goes by and I am still sitting there. I call
back; same story, someone will be there asap, it's just real busy. In the
meantime I call my husband, who is now getting annoyed that they haven't
come yet; he was tied up with his own problems with his Kenworth but was
finishing up, so decided to come and change the tire himself. He was about
15 minutes away.
Lo and behold, a barely running, junky SUV pulls up behind me with two
somewhat unsavory guys in it. This is starting to look like a bad dream.
However, appearances are deceiving and one guy jumps out and starts
changing my tire; the other is trying to call his wife to explain
that their battery is dying; they are trying to get to Lodi (yes, just like
the song). I don't have jumper cables but explain that my husband is
coming, and I called my husband back to verify that he had cables with
him. So one guy gets my tire changed, my husband showed up and jumped
their SUV and advised them to get a new battery asap, and all was good.
In the meantime the AAA guy finally showed up, with a car in tow and family
in the cab. It turned out to be the same AAA towing company contractor
that I have had difficulty with, because my local AAA towing company had
gone out of business and the Livermore/Pleasanton company took over. Car
was not on a flatbed but older, regular ground-tow type tow truck.
I am hoping that this company gets it together; I wonder if they are
overworked with this whole new area to cover.
My only other caveat about BBB and getting AAA is that remember how far you
may need to be towed depending on the problem - you may want to upgrade to
the 100 or 200 mile service if you are eligible.
Donna, 87 Syncro
On Tue, Jan 10, 2012 at 12:25 PM, Dave Mcneely <mcneely4@cox.net> wrote:
> ---- Ken Wyatt <57skibum@GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> > Monday, I received AAA propaganda in the mail. I found it interesting
> that
> > the "Real Life" story included read as follows:
> >
> > Bold Heading
> > "There we sat, in the dark, with cars blasing by on the highway..... "
> >
> >
>
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