Why nothing got accomplished last night - a timeline
mood: 
cranky
crankymusic: Revenge of the Number - Portishead
| 5:00pm | ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} aiskon calls me from the highway, alerting me that she's had car trouble on the GSP, and she may need a ride later. |
| 5:40pm | (approx.) The tow truck drives directly past aiskon's mechanic and then another five miles to base, because their contract with the state allows them to charge highway robbery rates for a dropoff anyplace other than their home base. |
| 6:00pm | aiskon calls (a) me and (b) AAA. (Me to come get her and AAA to relocate her car to her mechanic's garage, as the towing company only services trucks, and will charge a storage fee if the car is left overnight.) Both parties give an ETA of "I'm on my way." |
| 6:20pm | I arrive at dismal looking truck graveyard. It is hot, muggy, and unpleasant. There is no sign of AAA. |
| 6:45pm | Ten minutes after the expected arrival of AAA, aiskon gets a voicemail from AAA saying "10-15 minutes". |
| 7:00pm | Still no AAA. |
| 7:10pm | Still no AAA. aiskon calls. Dispatcher tries to call the driver. |
| 7:30pm | Still no AAA. Truck graveyard is scheduled to close but they leave a gate open for us rather than kicking us out. aiskon calls. Dispatcher tries to call the driver. |
| 7:50pm | Still no AAA. aiskon calls. Dispatcher tries to call the driver. I run out to a 7-11 to procure liquids, as per the aforementioned hot mugginess. Plus neither of us have had dinner. |
| 8:10pm | Still no AAA. aiskon calls. Dispatcher tells her driver has not answered their pages for over an hour. AAA promises to send another. |
| 8:30pm | Very pleasant and professional AAA driver comes up, informs us he got the call at 8:13 and that delay we experienced is entirely unacceptable. |
| 8:45pm | Very pleasant and professional AAA driver delivers aiskon's car to mechanic, checks car and opines there may be a fuel pump problem, as such are common at the beginning of summer and fit the symptoms. Driver gives us a survey to fill out and encourages aiskon to complain to AAA. |
| 9:00pm | aiskon and I finally make it home. |
In PA, we called once because the hubby got his car stuck on the side of the road in snow. They say they're sending someone. No one shows and then after multiple calls, we find out they don't want to come out in the snow to which I have to wonder why they couldn't have determined that within 15 minutes of us calling in instead of a few hours of us sitting in the freezing cold.
The next time, my husband waited around about 6 hours for a tow in the middle of a day on a weekday. At least he was only at home and getting a tow to a mechanic. Still, though, the calls saying they'll be there in 15 minutes coming in every 15 minutes suck.
I really need to put some time into researching an alternative to AAA.
It's really a shame. In Florida, I guess because AAA has a large headquarters down there, service was outstanding. Moving up to PA was a culture shock and we've only used them twice.
If they're not there when you need them, they're just an expensive membership for discounts and free travel guides.