Upset, with good reason. Been paying members of the club for a decade plus, hardly ever used the service - I think once for a battery replacement.
Today I had asked my partner to go to this branch to take care of the family transfer of a title we were receiving. This is a routine service that AAA provides, and there was nothing difficult or nonstandard about the transfer.
Long story short, there was an interaction where my partner was misled, despite being very clear about what she wanted to do, into paying a very large fee to AAA/DMV, and when the error was brought to the attention of the AAA staff - it was met with accusations and the decree that my partner should have "done their research" before coming in. The last part, in particular, is a frustrating and difficult thing to hear from an employee of AAA, as we obviously go the branch for help, guidance, and facilitation of DMV matters - and not to get caught in some "gotcha" moment. There simply shouldn't be room for there to be an adversarial interaction at all.
The fundamentals of the interaction were that the employee had added some extra rules and qualifications to the process - ones that don't actually exist, and despite my partner being very explicit what they wanted to do, they were not given the opportunity to do so. The correct form was literally taken away as they were filling it out, and replaced with the incorrect form, which my partner was essentially coerced into filling out and signing (documents not intended for a family transfer). Every time, the employee doubled down on their incorrect knowledge of the rules and procedures.
I understand that things can get uncomfortable when errors like this occur, and that folks can get immediately defensive when their mistakes are pointed out. However, when we make a mistake at work, ultimately we work to correct 'our' error, rather than blaming the customer who came to us for help, piling additional work on them - work that wouldn't have existed if we had done our job with the minimum competence required.
A supervisor at the branch has committed to making this right, and this review will be updated with the results of their actions when they do resolve this.
I would caution those who do plan to visit this branch - do not assume that the employee you interact with either a) has an adequate understanding of the DMV rules to help you and b) has your best interests at heart.
Update: Ethan, a supervisor, took point on this. The initial resolution was last minute and not really possible (a call mid-Monday morning that if we can make it to the office in less than an hour it can be resolved, otherwise need to visit dmv). The second resolution was to go the dmv to correct this (after a second visit to this AAA branch). The dmv visit ended up involving both a dmv manager and dmv auditor, as well as the desk agent. The conclusion was that, in large part due to additional errors with the AAA paperwork that they were able to discover (AAA had marked the payment method as something other than what it was), the dmv had no avenue to resolve the issue that wouldn't have put the agent involved in serious jeapordy (they basically would have needed to write us a check, with the reason being "trust me bro"). All the DMV agents were really on top of their game.
This necessitated a third visit to the AAA branch, whereupon we were told that they could try another method - but it would take a few days. Today is a few days later, and with a fourth visit to the AAA branch it seems to be resolved, we await the promised check in the mail. Ethan, who had been put in the unenviable position of correcting another's mistake, was helpful and professional throughout.
With a total of five office visits spread between AAA and the DMV, all told this took the better part of an 8 hour workday to resolve. After the refund check comes, will send a polite email to the CEO of the auto club, commending Ethan for his help, and asking the price of this year's AAA dues be refunded. read more