I have been a AAA member my entire adult life and have used them various times to book travel, including the Westerville, Ohio, location - they were very helpful and essential to my great trip overseas a few years ago.in June, I entered this Westerville, Ohio, location to inquire about a gift membership for a family member who was moving out of state. I asked about the process for getting a membership here in Ohio if he was moving to NJ in a few months and what they recommended. I was immediately treated rudely and defensively when I asked my very first Q. I was taken aback but decided not to take it personally and just tried to matter-of-factly get the answers. The replies were not responsive to the Qs, and not adding up/making sense — the teller was arguementative instead. I wondered if she was just defensive because she really couldn't confidently answer the Qs and if she was more used to people coming in for a trip tix to places in Ohio, though I would have thought this would be typical information. I asked if I could inquire with a manager instead, for which she said she was one. She then said if I came over to sit at her station she could take care of the membership. Once we sat down and proceeded, I tried to explain again -gently and slowly and nicely — that my family member would be moving to another state in a few months and if she could review the benefits with me and help to assure me of how this will work. She assured me (and I clarified the process again before I left) that I would simply call once he moved with his new address & phone # and they would tranfer the club membership to the NJ location. According to my receipt, she was Teller #0059. My family member has now moved to NJ, so I called the Westerville location today where I'd purchased the gift membership. Deana (sp? I THINK this was her name?) answered — I explained that I'd purchased a gift membership and was told when the family member moved out of state to call w / his address/# to transfer. Deana responded immediately "WHOA! You don't call here! He needs to go INTO the AAA where he moved to handle that!" I was taken aback by the rudeness & immediately remembered my experience when I'd first purchased. She'd actually "Whoa"'d me —I was stunned, but I calmly told her that when I'd purchased the membership I was told to call and wondered if she knew why I'd been given instructions to call — I was wondering if I was perhaps supposed to call NJ instead, but I didn't get a chance to say thing else - - with her voice raised, she replied "I would have never told you that." Her reply was personal and defensive. I said nothing else and hung up — stunned that I'd been treated this way 2x. I've never experienced anything like this — I've ran businesses for 20 years dealing with the public and truly can't figure out what I'd done to provoke this —it seems more indicative of an issue on the part of AAA Westerville Ohio office. I'd had someone with me that day in June and had asked her if I'd done something to the teller and she said "NO! I couldn't believe her behavior. Plus, she wasn't answering your Qs — she wasn't being clear." As this is twice in a row I didn't get a straight story from this location and have been what I would now deem mistreated, I'm guessing this is the same person working — if not, the location has an even bigger problem. I wish no ill-will on this teller — she seems to be out of her element or in over her head. I've never submitted a complaint about any business, but something is wrong here. I will be carefully weighing whether to continue memberships moving forward.
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