I took the family to Sesame Place in Pennsylvania yesterday. We all had a great time. On the way back, we stopped off at a kosher resturaunt in Philadelphia for dinner. After dinner, we found that the car was dead.
We called AAA. According to our plan, we could have it towed anywhere. The first 100 miles were included and after that it was $3 a mile, plus tolls both ways. So, we had the car towed from Philadelphia to a repair shop we know in Brooklyn.
When we got there, we were told it was 110 miles. Not knowing any better, we took his word for it. (Sadly, I didn’t think to check the milage when we started).
Now, however, I find when using Google driving directions that it comes to about 85 miles! The route Google recommended is almost identical to the route we took. The differences cannot account for more than a mile or two – let alone 25 miles!
Do we have any recourse to recover the extra towing fees?
I would start by calling them and telling them exactly what you said here. It might just be an honest mistake. If that doesn’t work tell them you’ll call AAA and see if they’ll straighten it out for you (you might want to tell this to a manager/owner if possible). My hope would be that they would give at that point becuase if AAA finds out they’re getting cheated (AAA got screwed out of 15 miles as well here) they might stop using that company.
In a similar vein, I would write a letter to AAA documenting everything you’ve put here (rather than call).
The reason for that is twofold. (1) Letters carry more weight than an irritated person on the phone and (2) in my experience AAA is responsive to customers’ letters. For example, a close friend wrote a letter after getting royally screwed over by AAA* and they promptly gave him a free year’s membership at the Premium level.
The screwing? They left him stranded on the side of the highway for 4 hours waiting on a tow truck.
I would still start with a letter. It might be a matter of the driver forgetting to reset the odometer, OR he started the odometer when he left the tow yard. Either way a quick call might either fix this or give you an explination. BTW if you do get an ‘explination’ I would “forget” it and call AAA and tell them you asked and they refused. Again, don’t forget, AAA is getting screwed here as well. More then you in fact. OTOH, and I HATE HATE HATE to do this myself. If you start getting the runaround, it is only 30 dollars. How much is your time worth?