Hardware Express

Review: Three months ago I opened a second hand store and I am the only employee and owner of the store. I get my inventory from bidding on and buying storage units. I have not yet saved up enough money to purchase a trailer so when I do buy a storage unit I rent trailers from [redacted] every time to transport the contents. On Tuesday July 21, 2015 I won a bid for a storage unit and went to the above mentioned [redacted] to rent a trailer. They didn't have one that was big enough for what I needed. You only have so long to empty and clean the storage units. I rented a [redacted] truck and left my personal vehicle in the parking lot, which is what people commonly do when renting another vehicle. There is no signs saying you cannot park there overnight nor was I warned/told not to leave my truck there. One person obviously cant drive two cars. When I arrived to return the [redacted] in less than 24 hours, my truck was not in the parking lot. I then went into the ace hardware where I rented the [redacted] and was told my vehicle was towed. When I told them I was a customer and rented a [redacted] truck I was then told to wait while the owner of Ace was called. After they spoke with the owner I was told they were not going to pay for the tow fee. Their reasoning for the tow was because someone cut one of their fences while my car was parked there. The fence being cut has nothing to do with me and is not my fault. It took most of the day to get picked up from the side of the road and I lost a day of work. Being a new business I cannot afford to pay a $245 tow fee especially since I did nothing wrong, nor can I afford to have my store closed in the middle of the week to spend the day trying to get my truck back. I rent trailers all the time and have never had a previous issue. For the owner of Ace Hardware to tell his employee to tell me Im out of luck because someone cut their fence is absurd. Later I was told they thought my truck was abandoned. How? My name, address, phone number, make and model of my vehicle are in there computer system since Ive rented from them this time and previously. Not only was I not able to make money but it doesn't look good for my business to be randomly closed.Desired Settlement: I would like to be reimbursed for the cost of the tow fee and for not having my store open for a day.

Business

Response:

We operate a private business with private parking. We were clearing the parking lot of abandoned vehicles following a criminal incident that happened the previous night which seemed reasonable at the time. We are sorry for the inconvenience that this caused you. So we feel it is reasonable to reimburse you for the tow fee when we receive a copy of the tow fee receipt showing paid in full.

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to my concern, and find that it is somewhat satisfactory to me.