Call Kurtis: AAA Won't Reimburse My Tow
A viewer has AAA coverage that includes a tow for up to 200 miles, but when the tow company would only drive a broke down car for a fraction of that, it was time to Call Kurtis.
That coverage was enough to get the car towed from the breakdown spot in Colfax to their house in Lodi, but they say the tow operator refused to take them past Roseville.
Driving home from College on Christmas Day, John Boger suffered a tire blowout in the Sierra.
"My car just starts swerving side to side," John told CBS13. "I knew that, it being the holidays, I was probably going to be stuck here for quite some time."
His family had AAA roadside assistance, with 200 miles of tow coverage - plenty to get the car from Colfax home to Lodi, roughly 85 miles. But John says the tow truck driver would only take the car to a dealership in Roseville, telling him he had to Uber home. John called his mom, Karin, from Roseville.
"It was quite a shock to get that call," Karis said. "I could hear the cars whizzing by him on the road and all I could think was, let's get somebody out there to help him."
The family picked him up, but unable to schedule a tire repair in Roseville for the day after Christmas, they paid another tow company $577.60 to get the car to a Lodi shop and then submitted the bill to AAA. But they say the company rejected the claim.
"I was pretty disappointed in the processes," Karin said.
She says the company told her they wouldn't reimburse her because the credit card they used had her name on it, not John's. But, Karin is on a family plan with AAA.
Kurtis reached out to AAA on why the car wasn't towed to Lodi in the first place, and within hours, Karin says they called, apologized, and agreed to a full refund.
"I felt like we were sort of at a dead end," she said. "But once we called Kurtis, you guys took care of it right away."
AAA never told CBS13 what went wrong, but said, "Providing a great customer service experience is important to us. We have worked with the member to resolve this issue."