AAA Columbia Car Care Insurance Travel Center

7065 Minstrel Way, Columbia, MD 21046, USA

Address:	7065 Minstrel Way, Columbia, MD 21046, USA
Phone:	+1 301-362-2380
Site:	midatlantic.aaa.com
Rating:	3.2
Working:	7AM–7PM 7AM–7PM 7AM–7PM 7AM–7PM 7AM–7PM 8AM–5PM 10AM–4PM

Location

Photos 45

Reviews 5

Anthony Wilhelm

This past year I brought my daughter, and daughters vehicle, in for a wheel bearing repair we had asked this AAA center to diagnose, and repair (attempting to educate my daughter, and have her form a relationship with a reputable business/mechanic). As a college student she budgeted her money for the repair, and scheduled to have it done 10 days later. When she went in alone without her father (me) to have the scheduled repair performed they came up with a $1200 list of repairs that our "trusted" partner (AAA) said "needed" to be done. This was more than triple the amount of the repair we had scheduled. She was so upset, and confused because she actually had been taught by me that AAA would take care of her, particularly after I went and chaperoned the initial diagnosis. She had to leave as she believed she could not get the necessary repairs performed without spending on all the "upsold repairs" AAA said she now needed (repairs that certainly would put the car in MINT condition, but this is a 18 year old Honda accord for a college student, not a collectors item.) I took the car to a family friend/mechanic who is located not convenient to my home, the required wheel bearing repair was less than $400.00 dollars, the other repairs not required. More than a year later the repairs AAA indicated were "needed" still not required and the vehicle runs well and is in good repair. Thanks for following the industry standard of trying to upsell un-needed services and repairs. You trade on your great reputation for 24 hour emergency roadside service to profit on your repair business. Your short term gain, is costing you long term loyalty. After complaining enthusiastically to this location, and to the corporate entity about the incident, and offering receipts from the mechanic I used, Ive never had any one apologize for the experience or try to correct. AAA has been courteous in their "explaination" of why they do what they do, but not regretful. I reject their justification when they know their relationship is one of expert vs novice for 90% of customers most likely, and they benefit financially from the mis-representation of their assesment of vehicle conditions. I do believe mis-representation is the correct descriptor in this case, as well as an omission of facts and knowledge their trained repair staff have and dont share. As in, will this $500 repair if not performed cause $2000 damage, and could this repair be safely postponed for 1 year, for example. Im motivated to write this morning, as Im looking for a vendor to do my oil change this morning, and your ad comes up. Your customers dont forget their interactions with you, good or bad, as you can see. Im still a AAA member, but I wont use your travel center services even though as a member you offer the cheapest oil change by far in the area. I wont reward your marginal marketing practices with my business. You embarassed your self, you embarassed me with my family, and you compromise your brand with your business activity. Your Travel Center business group should embrace what your Road Service group does well, promise a service, deliver it at a good value. Think about it. P.S. cant wait for the rest of your readers see the "canned" response your business replies to reviews like mine, "sorry you werent pleased", cut and pasted. You dont come across as genuine when you use the same "line" over and over with customers who are dissatisfied. Trying contacting a customer and resolve it, someone like me wont continue to haunt you months and years after the fact possibly.

Kady Bro

I went to this car shop on Tuesday, Nov 3rd at approximately 11am. Upon my arrival I told the car care rep that my car had a loud noise and I wasnt too sure whether it was the exhausts pipe it sounded like it, and I ask for a 4 point diagnosis on the car, to actually verify what was the issue. Approximately after 25-30 mins, the car center rep came back and said it was the rear left passenger side wheel bearing, I said, are you sure he said yes, then he said the wheel bearing assembly and the labor will be $515. and it will be about 3-4 hour because of delay on the parts arrival. After spending 5hours or more paid $515.00 I got into my car started driving & realize the noisy sound was the same before going to shop. I called they told me okay come in tomorrow which was Wednesday the 4th, I went in Wednesday morning they took another hour came back and said well we realize the other bearing needs to be replace also thats why the noise is still there, so you have to pay another $415.00 to replace the other bearing. I was so surprise by this very scamming behavior of a reputable entity like AAA, I then said I dont think you know what you are doing otherwise why did you not inform me on Tuesday when I initially came in that both bearings need replacement, and I dont think you initially ran a complete diagnosis or you even know what you are doing. As up till today my car is still the same with my $515 in AAA pockets and my car not fixed, and they claim all repairs have a two year warranty on parts & Labor, and I should pay another $415. Im so so pace off especially after all the reviews of this specific car care center, Im just not going to let this fly, I work too hard for my money and my car is a 2008 car well maintained. Please people read b4 taking your car out there.

Ayö SoExclusive

DONT BRING YOUR CAR TO THESE UNTRUSTWORTHY CRIMINALS !!!! I went there for a starter and battery installation, they gave me a defective starter the first time, then I complained so they replaced it WITH A SECOND DEFECTIVE STARTER...when I got my vehicle back the second time I also found that they had swapped my brakes out with older brakes.i had to call them for a month to finally speak with a manager, and when I did, he refused to admit to his mechanics mistakes, very shady, and untrustworthy business.save your money and go to any other mechanic. I would trust a mechanic off the street before I trust this location ever again, CROOKS AND CRIMINALS IS WHAT THEY ARE! They dont care about how negligent of a job they do..

Jack Posobiec

Liars. Scam. No respect for customers. None. Never go here. Am a premier member (not even sure why now). Yesterday AAA told me to bring my car in today after work for check engine light and they would take care of everything. Took all my info and said it was all set up. Need the car before I take the family on the road for the 4th of July. Got here right on time and they told me they cant even look at it. Gave me no options and were rude when I said I had called the day before. Acted like I was making it up. This comes after 3 weeks ago when AAA refused to help me because I was on military deployment. Will be cancelling my membership and demanding a refund. Scam. I trusted you.

Sarah Chao

I have never used the auto shop, only the store for travel planning. My husband and I walked in a few days before leaving for Europe with no transportation booked other than our flight to Germany. After spending several unplanned hours with us, we had rental cars and train tickets booked. They had our tickets overnighted and created us a turn by turn map book that we could use in case our GPS failed us. We also had a list of attractions and restaurants from Sal, who had lived there. We could not have asked for better customer service. They went above and beyond to make sure our trip was smooth. I would go back in a heartbeat if I needed help planning my next trip.