38 days for my vehicle so be shipped across the country. Here is the story as a warning to other consumers, especially fellow military members who move often and do not have the time/and the money to be involved in a situation like this. Like a few others here, I am also a service member, and needed my car moved across the country for a new assignment. The biggest issue with AARP is they have no customer service at all. If they respond to my complaint, they will surely blame the whole problem on me (seems to be a trend on this site). Here is a quick summary of "Why it was my fault" before I get into the other details of my story. My contract had a pick-up date of the March 14th. Driver called on the 13th, and picked my vehicle that night since he was in the area. 10 days later another company called to pick up my car, so I told them it was already picked up and called AARP to find out what was going on. First they told me everything was fine and it was on the way, then a few days later when I called to find out where my car was they said "I was not supposed to release my vehicle to the local tow company that picked it up on the 14th". AARP claimed they sent us an email saying not to release the car and a new pickup date would be scheduled and my wife responded to it and said no problem. My wife and I never heard of this email, searched our email account for it and never found it. I asked for a copy and was sent the original message they sent to me on the 6th of March, and was also told they had a read receipt from us (A read receipt simply shows the sender of an email that the email was opened up). BOTTOM LINE to all this is simple. I/my wife do not remember this email at all (personally don't think it was ever sent to us), but AARP says it was and they have a read receipt to prove it. Okay, fine they sent it and I am sure that is what they will write in a reply to this complaint, so I will just say we just didn't notice the email in the hectic weeks leading up to a move. A read receipt simply means the email was opened, it does not mean it was read/understood/followed in anyway. Anyone in a business or with a job with any responsibility will understand that. If it was as important as this information was, I would think a phone call and actual conversation would be the wise move. I would be willing to forget the whole matter as a simple miscommunication, but since AARP fails to see it this way, I feel the details of this email controversy are important to the story. AARP will depend and point to their contract to release them from any responsibility for your complaints as the customer, so I will do the same. I have a contract that we signed and faxed to them with a pick-up date of March 14th. It does not specify the name of the carrier anywhere, so we released our car on the date as agreed upon. They do not have any agreement/acknowledgment from me of their proposed change of plans, just a "read receipt". Again, I am completely willing to forget the whole matter as a miscommunication, but AARP's actions after this event compelled me to warn other consumers (especially military members who often move on short notice) of the service they will receive.
Like many have said, once AARP has your deposit, the customer service is over and you are on your own. My experience was made worse by a tow company that was awful as well, but AARP was of no help. I called around 10 times, always with the same common results. 1)Always had to leave a message, 2)A surprised reaction that my car had not arrived, or a should be there within "24-48" hours, or this weekend, 3)"Here is the drivers number, give him a call", 4) Or after I told them it wasn't my job to call this local tow company AARP outsourced the work to, they would keep me on the line, call the "driver", and I would be sitting on my phone for about 10 minutes waiting to get the info. I started my new job and didn't have time to wait on the line for this show every few days so I told them to call the tow company, and call me back with the info...The first time, I never got a call back and had to call AARP the next day...the second time it happened, I never got a call back from AARP, so I called the local company myself. In a 1 minute conversation, I learned my car was still in the Washington state, and had not moved. When I called AARP back to find out what they learned from their own "investigating", they again told me the car was "24-48 hours out". I told them that was a lie, and I was tired of being lied to for almost 30 days at that point. They actually got angry with me, blaming the whole thing on us and this email. I asked for a call back when they had more information on when my car would be delivered, and still to this day have never heard back from AARP.
If you are on this site because you are also having issues with getting your car (this is how I found this site, I did not do the proper research I should of done before hiring AARP), here is how I solved my problem. I took matters in to my own hands, called my insurance company who called AARP and got the same lines I was used to at this point. We waited until it hit 30 days with no clue where my car was, then began to file a claim...I needed to get a police report so ended up calling the Washington State Patrol, who put me in contact with the local police where the local company that picked my vehicle up had an address. The officer actually had just been to this company earlier in the week for a similar issue (he actually thought I was the same person that had called him earlier in the week), so he said he would go make sure my vehicle was still there. Called me back a couple hours later, said my car was still in the lot, and directed me to the Washington State Attorney General's Office to file a complaint. Between the visit by the police and my complaint, my car arrived in my driveway about 6 days later. Still have not heard from AARP and am assuming I never will again. If you find yourself in a similar situation, you can also file a complaint with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration who controls the licenses of these companies.
In the end, it is buyer beware. You agree to a contract that basically makes AARP responsible for nothing, and you will be left out in the cold like so many others that have complaints. If you can not drive your car to its new destination, I would recommend selling the vehicle, paying a friend to drive it across, or doing as much research as possible before hiring a shipping company. The Better Business Bureau website also is a good source of information for potential customers. AARP is listed a few times on their site, with 3 different addresses (1 in New York and 2 in Virginia), and a couple minor variations in their name, but if you check each one out you will notice the same last name for the owners of all these listing. The one in New York has an unsatisfactory rating; the other 2 are Satisfactory (which still shows complaints against them, just not as many as they New York address listing).
