Commerce Associates

My wife's car (and >3 others on the same day) was unfairly towed from a car park operated by this company. Sign was not prominent and illegible.On 3/16/14 my wife attended an appointment at Cedar St. in Worcester. She parked in a lot connected to the building. Her car was towed by [redacted]. She had to get a taxi to the towing company at [redacted]. They would only accept cash for the $140 charge but conveniently had an ATM on the premises. Their website says they accept credit and debit cards.They told her that they tow cars from that lot "all day long" and that "[redacted]" calls them from a cell phone to give them a heads up. I subsequently visited the lot that evening. There is only one sign mounted below eye-level (2-3 ft high) on the railings several feet (6-8 ft)to the left side of the 24 ft entrance. It is faded to the point where "private parking" which was in red is now illegible. The single small sign is in front of on-street metered parking spaces on the one way street. You can only enter this lot from the right (as it is a one way street)so unless you are standing in front of or close to the sign, or if there are no cars parked on the street obscuring the view, it is not visible to cars entering the lot from the right. This is the only sign. There are no signs within the parking lot. [redacted] said I had a reasonable point but they are not responsible for the sign, they just respond to calls from "[redacted]" at Commerce Associates. I contacted Commerce Associates to complain. They told me they pay someone to patrol and call the towing company. They acknowledged that they tow a lot of cars form that lot in particular. They did concede that part of the sign was faded but said they were comfortable that it provided notice of a private parking lot. I made the point that in the building my wife had her appointment that afternoon, at least 4 people had been towed - none of them saw the sign. It is not plausible that every attendee would willfully ignore a sign indicating your car will be towed. I was in Worcester again yesterday and saw a similar lot (near UMASS) with two very visible signs at and above driver eye-level at each side of the entrance. Very prominent, very clear. Anyone parking in that lot should be towed. In comparison the Commerce Associates sign is wholly inadequate. The fact that they won't invest in clearer and more prominent signage but pay someone to patrol and tip off the towing company on an ongoing basis is suggestive of deceptive practices and is grossly unfair to unsuspecting members of the public. A member of the public cannot be deemed to have accepted the risk of being ticketed or towed if notice was not adequate or effective.Desired SettlementI seek $155 refund comprised of:$140 towing fee$10 taxi fare$5 ATM and bank fees to pay towing company.Business Response Consumer Response (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)Commerce Associates cannot delegate their responsibility to provide adequate notice that this particular lot is private to a third party. It cannot be trespass ** there is not prominent and legible signage at the only point of entry. If there is not trespass [redacted] are not entitled to have a vehicle towed. [redacted] claim that Commerce Associates called them to tow the car.It seems as if Commerce Associates are seeking to blame third party businesses and their towing company for their inadequate signage.Final Business Response [redacted]As stated in our response letter of April 17,2014, it is our position that the parking lot in question is identified as private property with unauthorized parkers being subject to being towed. The vehicle in question was removed as a result of the parking lot being patrolled, as "requested" by our company, by Boulevard Towing for unauthorized parkers. No phone call was made to have the vehicle removed.Vehicles are only removed when parkers ignore the legitimate posted sign stating unauthorized vehicles will be towed.[redacted]