Al's Towing & Storage

Review: My car was legally parked in a visitor lot in a parking spot not clearly marked reserved and was towed by Al's Towing. They drove onto the apartment complex's property and towed me from a spot that they perhaps knew to be reserved but that was not marked as such-therefore I had no reason to think it is reserved and it is not. When I went to pick up my car the following morning, I complained and stated it was not leg** to tow my car from a spot that was not marked as not available. I was forced to pay otherwise I would not be able to get my car out of impound, so I paid the $150.00. I was told to call [redacted], the manager. When I called him he told me the spot was marked "Management Reserved", to which I replied that it was not and that I had a photograph of the spot to prove that. [redacted] then stated he had never been to the property, to which I replied "how do you know the markings?" He said that he is done with the conversation and hung up on me. The company illegally towed my vehicle and I am going to take appropriate action seeking reimbursement for their collection.Desired Settlement: As the tow was not done within the leg** parameters of impounding my vehicle, I want to be reimbursed for the $150.00 I was demanded to pay to collect my car, which was not legally towed.

Business

Response:

To whom it may concern,

I am responding in protest to the closure of complaint ID [redacted] with a non-response status for Al's Towing and Storage Revdex.com ID [redacted]. Due to technic** difficulties with Revdex.com account access and the lack of response for assistance from Revdex.com with gaining access to the Revdex.com complaint, we were not able to respond within the Revdex.com system. We did, however, respond directly to the complainant in a timely manner. A summary of the events and description of the attachments to support are below.

Attachment - "[redacted] - Als Towing exchange" - This email string shows the notice of complaint was emailed to a former employee who accessed the system and tried to change the email for notices to the owner of our company, Al [redacted]. This change was unsuccessful.

Upon receipt of the Revdex.com compaint, I called the Revdex.com requesting the change be made. I was first told that I should access the system, remove the former employee and update the new email information. I attempted to do as instructed, however, I did not have the former employee's password so I was unable to do so. I requested that log in information from [redacted] (former employee) - she did not provide. I called the Revdex.com again and was told I had to send an email and someone would get back to me. I sent the email and never received a reply. I called two more times trying to speak with someone to help me and was told the only way I could make any changes was to send an email. I was told this was "only a call center" and calls could not be directed to other departments. I asked for a number to call and again was told email was the only way to resolve. During this time I tried daily to access the Revdex.com and was finally able to access our account on 11/21. However, while I could access our account, I found I could not access the complaint becuase we did not receive the complaint email with the link. I requested this of [redacted] (former employee), she did not send it, she no longer had the origin** email.

Attachment "[redacted] - Als Towing exchange - Revdex.com convo" - This email string documents that I requested the origin** email (with the link) from [redacted] on 11/21. Instead of sending, she contacted Revdex.com to secure the appropriate changes, removing her name from the account. She was told by Revdex.com employee "[redacted]" that a new email would be resent to the new email for notifications and we would be given addition** time to respond . She relayed this information to me on 11/22.

Attachment - "Als Towing to Revdex.com [redacted]" - This email string documents that on 11/22, the Revdex.com's [redacted] emailed advising me that the changes were made and that I should log in to the complaint with the email address and complaint number. This is not possible to do without the link. The website states - to access the complaint we have to have an email with a LINK to the complaint. Neither the Al, the owner, nor I ever received the "new email" as [redacted] advise with the Link. I continued to check for this new email, none was received so on 11/27 I emaled [redacted] to advise that we were still unable to respond in the system BUT we HAD in fact responded to the complainant directly.

Attachment - "Als Towing to Complainant [redacted]" - This email string documents our initial response to the complainant occured on 11/13. Communications continued while we reserached the complaint and the final response to the Complainant went out on 11/20. Photos of the vehicle parked in a reserved space were included with our response to the complainant. Due to size of the attachments, I have not included those photos with this correspondence. They can, however, be provided upon request.

Please amend the status of non-response for this complaint as it was resolved as timely as possible under the circumstances.

Should you have any questions please call me directly on ###-###-####.

[redacted]

Al's Towing & Storage, Inc.

Review: My name is [redacted] and I live in building [redacted]. This morning (Wednesday, November 7) while trying to leave early for my college courses that I'm attending; I was shocked that my car was not on [redacted] Drive where I had parked it yesterday afternoon. After a few phone calls, I learned that my vehicle had been picked up by Al’s Towing but was being stowed at [redacted] in [redacted].

Once I got to [redacted], my partner (that is me) had to fork over $175 to have my car released because I had “No Resident Permit.” This may have been relevant if my car was parked in the resident parking lot but it was not (nor has it ever been). I use the [redacted] Count Flexpass for street parking while my partner uses the “Resident Permit”. I am well aware of where the street parking ends and resident parking begins—I always [redacted] on the street. As the attached video of me walking to my car indicates, the Flexpass is clearly displayed on the dashboard. This can be corroborated by [redacted] personnel ([redacted]) and my partner ([redacted]).

I called Al's Towing shortly thereafter. The male individual whom I spoke over the phone was not helpful and placed me on hold for some time before he said that there was nothing they could do since we didn't call them before upon leaving the property and he suggested that I call [redacted] to work something out! Now, I will be the first to admit that I do not like getting towed but I recognize the difference between a legitimate reason and one that was concocted on a slow night. Al’s Towing knew that I needed the car and that there was essentially NO way that I could prove their lie. They effectively held all the cards except the truth, which is less than worthless after the fact and without any evidence.

Given that I have no other recourse, I would appreciate [redacted]'s help in using its contracting leverage with Al’s Towing to resolve this issue such that my partner is refunded the $175 he had to pay [redacted] to release my vehicle. Also, going forward, I would strongly suggest that Al’s Towing be required to take pictures (dated and time stamped) that clearly show where a car is parked before it is towed. Hopefully, this minimum-level of transparency would encourage Al’s Towing to be a little more honest in its towing practices.

Note: Its also curious that Al's Towing sent my car to [redacted] for storage rather than its own lot. I can't help but think that this may have been done intentionally to increase the confusion of anybody investigating unethical business practices.

Also, Al's Towing told my condo association that it had pictures proving that my car was parked in the wrong area. No pictures have been forthcoming up to this point. Towing companies should be held to the same standards as any other business and it infuriates that they may get away with this.

[redacted]Desired Settlement: Ideally, I'd like my Condo Association to terminate the contract they signed with these unethical jerks. Given that that probably won't happen, I'll accept a full refund of the $175 that I had to pay to get my car out of impound.

The absolute lowest of all life forms resides in Al's Towing. They justify predatory practices by exaggerating details.