Pete's Towing & Storage

Review: Predatory towing, I was towed on July 24 2014 after leaving the parking lot for a meeting before going to [redacted] and [redacted] in the [redacted] Village Center. Pete's towing claims that if you leave the parking lot for any period of time you get towed.

Mona Lisa A[redacted] of this firm has set up predatory towing in the [redacted] City [redacted] Village Shopping Center against the often repeated complaints of the business tenants. She uses Pete's Towing to remove cars against the wishes of the businesses in the shopping center. This is often done when the lot is half empty and the customer has dropped of a book at the nearby library or post office. This has stranded handicapped people as well. Merchants have complained to [redacted] Corporation to stop this practice without result. It smells very much like a criminal scam whereby Ms. A[redacted] has set up this predatory towing to terrorize the merchants in this shopping center who are losing customers. A serious police investigation is warranted of why [redacted] Corporation continues these practices against merchants complaints to stop it. There is a distinct smell of unethical business practice here. This company is not to be trusted.

Business

Response:

Handwritten Attachment

Review: After the death of my father [redacted] when settling the estate we were unable to find the title to his 1965 Sunbeam Tiger, only found an old registration in deceased grandfather [redacted]'s name. We hired a title service to get a replacement on 16 April. On 22 May the car was towed from in front of my mother's house for unattended parking by Pete's towing who to date has refused to release the car because "we can't prove ownership". They have been provided with documentation from the title service saying one was forthcoming, but said that was inadequate. We have proved ownership by providing them with a 2013 County of Fairfax personal property report listing the car by VIN for [redacted], the death certificates of [redacted] and his wife/successor [redacted], her will distributing all property to [redacted], [redacted]' death certificate and will and trust documents leaving everything to his wife [redacted], who has asked them to release the car to me, his daughter. Every time [redacted] or I speak to them they say "my supervisor isn't here, I don't know, call back tomorrow". They are making unreasonable demands and employing delaying tactics, taking advantage of the fact that I am stationed on the West Coast. When speaking with "[redacted]" who was insisting that we had to provide something from [redacted] I said "We've given you a personal property verification for [redacted]" and he said "Well he needs to come down and get the car" "He's dead" "Well, he needs to come down and get the car". When I said he needed to get his supervisor and call me back he said no, they were too busy and I would have to call them the next day. They have refused to provide a copy of the ticket/order under which the car was seized. They have received a call, email and letter from my laywer. Neither my mother, I or my laywer have received any reply from them for 4 days. None of us have ever managed to actually talked to any supervisor. I have also filed a complaint with the VA Office of the Attorney General Consumer Protection service, who have copies of all relevant documentation.Desired Settlement: Release the car and waive daily fees for days after we provided them with appropriate documentation. In the letter from my laywer we have offered to pay the fees, but really we shouldn't have to, and if higher authority ordered reimbursement that would be nice. I have no stomach for rewarding people who take advantage of servicemembers.

Consumer

Response:

[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the response. If no reason is received your complaint will be closed Administratively Resolved]

Review: [redacted]

I am rejecting this response because:

It is untrue that we have not made any attempt to resolve the ownership of the car. A title service was engaged on 27 April, several weeks before it was towed. The day after the car was towed Pete's Towing was contacted by the [redacted] ([redacted]) with documentation that a title was forthcoming in my name. The state code under which the car was towed refers to "owner or successor". We also provided them with a personal property verification by VIN in my father's name, his death certificate and all the trust documents putting everything of his in my step-mother's name. Pete's Towing did not respond to a formal letter from my lawyer. Of course the VA DMV has no ownership information- the last registration is from California and that is where the new title is being generated. We have given them legal documentation that a) the title is being transferred to me and b) that we are the legal inheritors of the car.

More importantly, part of my original complaint about customer service and the business practices being used has not been addressed. We (my stepmother, the title service representative, my lawyer and I) have received conflicting guidance and evasion from Pete's Towing on multiple occasions. They have told us that a certain type of paperwork would be adequate to release the car, then reneged multiple times. There is no doubt that they are employing extortionate delaying tactics. They even allowed me to schedule a tow to a garage thinking everything was settled, then just didn't do it an didn't bother to tell me. I called the garage the next day to talk about the windshield only find that the car wasn't there. We always received an "I don't know, my supervisor isn't here" and then no decision for days. When I specifically asked [redacted] to get the supervisor to give me a straight answer and call me back he said no, we're too busy. When I asked [redacted] to provide me with a reference saying why they had to have a title specifically and nothing else, since they had told me previously death certs and POAs would be adequate, he never did. When I provide them what they ask for, then they change their demands and don't call me back that is not a good faith attempt to resolve.

Unfortunately settling an estate via mail across the country is slow- I

still don't have the title in my hands. As an antique car registered

before the CA DMV moved to computers, everything needs to be built

manually. What I am asking for is that a) they agree not to sell the car while the paperwork is being resolved and b) that the daily fees be waived from the date that we provided them with all the documentation. I am not complaining that it was towed, though Pete's towing told me it was towed for "unattended parking", not that it was determined to be abandoned. The legality of the tow is a separate issue from the legality of releasing the car from impound afterwards; I am not disputing the enforcement of the tow. It is not unreasonable to request that the fees be waived while it is being settled, which is a slow process, while they have been given full documentation that a title is forthcoming. I'm requesting that they agree not to sell it because it is illegal to sell the car of an absent active-duty service member without a court order under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act. I know that right now at this exact moment before the new title is complete, the extant documentation of succession makes it my stepmother's property, but she has told them to release the car to me and I have given them documentation that I am establishing my claim of ownership and was doing so prior to the tow, so the Act applies.

I'd like to add that it is slightly inappropriate to say that "no one has taken the time" to get the paperwork in order and that I shouldn't complain about being held accountable. My father had cancer for almost a decade and died in the fall; I'm sorry that neither he nor my grieving mother got their act together until the spring when we were trying to settle the estate. She and I didn't know we wouldn't be able to find the title when packing up the house. A little sensitivity would be nice, and I'm not sure which one of us is being called ridiculous, but either way that isn't really appropriate commentary in a dispute resolution. And "the extent of their capacity to understand the situation" is not an appropriate benchmark; they have been provided with much more detail to understand a lot more, and this is clearly a complicated situation. As I said, the state code under which it was towed states "owner or successor" and they are ignoring that and saying "successor" is inadequate as has already been demonstrated, they'll only take "owner" and have refused to provide a reference as to why. Since we have proved we are the successors, it is not unreasonable to ask that subsequent fees are waived while we get they what they want. Basically since the title service was engaged before all this happened and the legal process were already on-going to establish ownership I could get an injunction to halt their counter and stop the fees, but since I'm am nor physically in VA the only way I can do that is in the course of suing them. It will be a lot more hassle for me from across the country and a lot more expensive for them. Can we please just agree to my two requests?

Regards,