I called for a jump start at 1026 Friday morning, June 12th, because the brand new battery that had…read morejust been installed on my car on May 12th 2026 was dead. I never got a call or a text from anyone, as AAA had said would happen, the tow truck just appeared. Upon opening the hood, the driver immediately complained about the state of the battery terminals but refused to clean them. He told me that I should pour sodium bicarbonate on each terminal, followed by vinegar, finally rinsing with clean water, but only once the issue he'd been called for was rectified. After that lecture, he had me get in the car to be ready to start it.
He retrieved a jump pack and I watched him connect the black cable to the positive terminal on the battery. As soon as he connected the red cable to the negative terminal there was a sound like a gunshot and the horn started blasting. The driver jumped about six feet away from the car and it took him almost ten seconds to disconnect the red cable from the negative terminal which silenced the horn. He then unhooked the black cable from the positive side and put the red on the positive and the black on the negative. The incorrect connection caused something to happen to the jump pack because the driver spent several minutes trying to get it to work again, and once he did he again started trying to charge the battery.
Somehow, as soon as he got the jump pack working and connected, he told me that the battery was fully charged with a charge of "11.1" according to the jump pack. Despite those claims, the interior lights wouldn't turn on, the hazards wouldn't turn on, and when I tried starting the car, the gauges and warning lights lit up, but the starter wouldn't even click over. Apparently because of the horn sounding, he accused me of running the battery down by leaving the alarm on. (The alarm is a beeping horn, not a constant blast.) When I told him that the horn blast was not the alarm, he accused me of leaving the interior lights on and then of leaving multiple doors open when I exited the car on Tuesday, thereby killing the battery.
I asked if something like a fuse could have blown when the cables were hooked up incorrectly. He looked in the main fuse box under the hood, and used a screwdriver and pliers to remove fuses, ostensibly checking to see if they were blown. He then informed me that something must have damaged the electrical system causing the, in his opinion, fully charged battery, to not be working. He said he was going tow the car to a garage of his choosing but he wouldn't with the truck he was driving because he had a hard time getting the truck up the driveway. I said I wanted to talk to my mechanic before it got towed. He left in a huff.
I spoke with my mechanic who was horrified that the driver had connected the jump pack backwards. They expressed concern that the driver had done some unseen damage to the electrical components of the car. He recommended that I report what had happened to both AAA and you.
I called your main number, got your answering service, explained the concern, and asked to speak to the owner. I was told I would get a call back within 5 minutes. Ten minutes later, I got a call from 802-458-2315. The individual identified themselves as Duane and when I explained the concern, they said that they had been the person who responded (so it wasn't the owner as requested) and he had done nothing wrong. I told him that I had watched him connect the cables backwards. He called me a liar and said I hadn't seen what I saw. He went on to say that batteries "always" arc when cables are connected. I asked again to speak to the owner or his supervisor. He said he would have them call me in a few minutes. 24 hours later I still haven't heard a word from anyone.
I've had several previous opportunities to call AAA for Roadside Assistance, and every time your company has responded, it's been a positive experience. Now, I have no working car, you can't be bothered to respond to my concerns, and I'm at a loss. I have grave doubts that the person who responded has ever had any training, either in terms of using the jump pack, or in customer service.
