Fred's Towing

Review: On September 11, 2013 my daughter met a friend in the [redacted] K-Mart store parking lot. They were going out for the evening and left my daughter's car in the parking lot. They went back to K-Mart the next morning (9/12/13) at about 10:00 a.m. to pick up her car but it had already been towed. My daughter told me about it on the evening of the 12th. First of all, I don't think a car should be towed after only one night in the parking lot, people do that all the time. On Friday the 13th I called the [redacted] police department thinking they were the ones that had towed the car. They informed me that Fred's Towing had the contract with the property owner and that I should contact them. I called Fred's in the afternoon of the 13th and was told by [redacted] that we needed to stop by his place of business to pick up the car. At that time I was not informed of any daily charge that would be incurred by me for every day the car was there. I've never had a car towed before so I had no idea that there would be a daily charge. At that point it was Friday afternoon, and not knowing that the clock was ticking, thought it would be easier, for all of us, to pick it up the following Monday or Tuesday. My wife and I went to Fred's on Tuesday the 17th and the only person there was who I assumed to be one of his employees. He told me that I needed to call [redacted] because he wasn't authorized to help with a towed car. I then called [redacted] and he informed me that I needed to call him ahead of time and set a time to meet him there. My wife had to get back to work so we left, and again was not informed of a daily charge. On Thursday the 19th I called [redacted] and arranged a time to meet at his business. My daughter and I go there to pick up her car at the designated time. We went into Fred's office and he told me that I owed him $325.15. Naturally I was shocked and questioned the high charge. (Having never had a car towed I had guessed that I would pay him a fixed amount that he would keep a certain percentage of and forward the rest to the city) [redacted] finally explained to me that there was a $25.00 a day storage fee and since the car had been there for eight days that I owed him $200.00 dollars for those days. I'm not concerned with towing fee itself although I do find it to be excessive at $108.20. I reminded [redacted] that I had called twice without him informing me of the daily charge and that I thought it was unfair for him to charge me that amount after having had two opportunities to do the right thing and tell me about the fee. He became somewhat belligerent with me and basically said that's too bad. I had no choice but to pay him because the car was locked up on his lot. As we left his office I made another comment about the charges being unfair and he became a little more animated than in his office and I informed him that I am not a mind reader and should have been given all of the details the first time I called him. We took the car and left and I am now filing this complaint regarding his less than honest business practices and the $200.00 fee he basically forced me to pay him. I got the distinct impression that I am not the first one to go through this with him due to his defensiveness when I complained.Desired Settlement: I would like a refund in the amount of $150.00. Knowing the weekend was coming up and that I would be charged $25.00 a day for those two days, (and Monday for that matter) he had the responsibility to make me aware of those charges. Likewise, when I spoke with [redacted] on the 17th, he again had the responsibility to tell me of the charges that had been, and still were accumulating.

Business

Response:

[redacted]

Revdex.com of Wisconsin

10019 W. Greenfield Ave.

Milwaukee, WI 53214

Re: Complaint # [redacted] Fred’s Towing

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to respond to this complaint. There are several items I would like to clear up

The landlord of the parking lot makes the decision on when and which cars are illegally parked. After making that decision the [redacted] Police Dept. ([redacted]) is called to ticket any offending vehicles. It is my experience that the [redacted] only tickets vehicles if the parking lot is properly posted with warnings that unauthorized vehicles may be towed. It is only after the vehicles are ticketed by [redacted] that Fred’s Towing responds to the scene to remove the vehicles. Fred’s Towing did not decide whether this particular car should be towed.

Daily storage fees are standard in the towing industry. It is our standard practice to mention the storage fee whenever talking to customers. The $25 daily fee is also posted on the entrance to the storage yard.

As Fred’s Towing is a towing operation it requires that I am out of the office and on the road to operate my business for a significant part of each day. Since my business is a small business I do not have an office staff. I am responsible for releasing vehicles to individuals. My drivers are part time and do not have access to the records to release vehicles. For this reason I stress to all who ask about picking up a car or other services related to onsite meeting that they call in advance so that I can arrange to meet with them.

I have reviewed the charges in this situation and find no adjustment can be made.

Regards,

Fred’s Towing, LLC

[redacted]

Consumer

Response:

Had to deal with this man on the phone from out of state after our sons' car got towed from their apartment complex. He was absolutely the rudest man I have had to deal with. After giving him over $400 for the impounding fee(because it sat there over a holiday weekend when we couldn't get it out) and to put the spare tire on, he wanted another $50 to jump start the car, which was dead when my sons got in the car to leave. When I asked this man about the seemingly high price, he said that is what he charges when he is called out to jump start a car. He then decided he would just take whatever money my sons had in their pockets which was $10 and some odd change; every cent they had.

I would say I am a very level headed person, and I like to give people the benefit of the doubt, but Fred's Towing is NOT who you want to handle your business. [redacted] is very rude on the phone, and he is all about trying to get as much money as possible. He will not come in unless it convenient for him to let you pay him for YOUR car. Also, there is a sitting fee of $25 a day although it is not posted anywhere on his website. He is not understanding about anything at all, and he will give you attitude all the way through your transaction. He is not a nice man at all. The only reason I gave this business a 1 is because of the nice younger individual who worked there. He is the only person I dealt with who was caring and polite about the situation. Do not call them to help you unless you want to experience a terrible situation. Also stay away from any place that he tow's for because he will really show his rude side by hanging up and offering no helpful advice to get your vehicle.