I had to fix their mess. My next door neighbor was...

I had to fix their mess. My next door neighbor was saying goodbye to her daughter, sending her back to college across the state. The car would not start so they called AAA. The mobile tech arrived and put a new battery in, the car started and he left. When the young lady was leaving to college she noticed the battery light was on in the display. Mom called AAA and the representative told her that may be a normal condition after a battery replacement. That is when the Mom called me. She was nervous about letting daughter leave with the battery light on. I found the alternator was not charging the battery, hence the dead battery and battery light on. I also noticed the tech did not clean the battery terminals at all. Additionally the replacement battery was the wrong size, it was too short so the metal hold down bracket was floating around on top of the battery creating a potential for a major short circuit that could easily result in a fire. When she called AAA about this they told her that the battery they removed was wrong and they put in the correct one. I knew this was wrong but I checked with the dealership and they verified that the car requires a 24 series battery, AAA installed a 35 series battery which is too short to be secured with the existing bracket. They came back and installed a spacer so the battery and bracket would be tight, but they maintained that theirs was the correct battery.
As an mechanic with 32 years experience it grieves me to se such incompetence in my field. This is the kind of shameful customer service that plagued our industry years ago. Fortunately most of us have evolved into reputable, caring professionals that put our customers safety first. AAA needs to do better. They are a big name in our industry and what they do, good or bad, reflects on all of us.