Slickrock Towing & Recovery LLC

Thanks for your assistance with this complaint.  We make every effort to respond to our customer complaints/appeals within 30-45 days.  This particular appeal has not been responded to yet but has been denied for the following reasons.  We follow the instructions given to us by...

the private properties who hire us to enforce their parking areas as they specify.  We have multiple signs posted throughout this property, including each entrance.  Our signs include our company phone number and they warn the public that vehicles parked in violation are towed at owner's expense.  This property requires a parking permit to park there and we tow the cars that do not have a permit displayed without any notice.  We immediately report each impound to local law enforcement as well as post the required information on the state's website as per state law.  This is required so that vehicle owners can easily locate their car.  Our phones are answered 24/7 and we have voicemail to catch any calls that may be missed.  Vehicles are released during business hours of 8am-5pm, Mon-Fri, unless a customer requests to pick up their vehicle after regular business.  If they schedule an after hours release, they are advised of the additional After Hours Fee of $75.00 and they are asked to sign a consent form agreeing to the additional charge.  All impound fees are regulated by UDOT and we did release their car after the appropriate fees were paid.  We are not offering any refund or discounts.

On 10/06/2015 at 11:12 AM, we placed a warning sticker on the driver's window of the Toyota Camry, parked on private property at an apartment complex in Sandy.  The property management has instructed us to issue a 24 hour warning to any vehicle in violation of their apartment's lease agreement....

 The Camry was given a 24 hour warning sticker for expired registration as of 8/31/2015.  On that notice, it says the vehicle is subject to being towed away at owners expense if not removed from the private property or the violation is not corrected.   No contact from the owner was made with us or the apartment leasing office.  We returned to check the status of the Camry over 24 hours later on 10/08/2015 at 10:36 AM and found it had been moved from where it was originally parked.  It was backed into a parking stall all the way back to the bushes which were blocking the license plate.  Our tow truck operator was able to push the bushes aside and see that the license plates were still not currently registered and proceeded to impound the vehicle.  The owner of the Camry contacted us the following day, Friday 10/09/2015 to schedule an appointment to release his vehicle.  The current storage fee established by the Utah Department of Transportation (see statute R-909-19) for vehicles under 10,000 lbs is $25.00 per calendar day, in addition to the other applicable towing fees.  We do not negotiate the fees for towing and impounding, they are set and regulated by the state of Utah.  Police officers may choose to impound your car or not when it involves driving an unregistered vehicle on public roads.  That courtesy does not transfer over when you're on private property.  Our company's position remains that all fees must be paid in full in order for vehicle owners to retrieve their vehicle.  The total charges were paid and we have released this vehicle to it's owner.  No fees will be reduced or refunded.

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:  I have contacted the property owner. The trailer should've been booted rather than towed. There was a large amount of risk and liability being taken by moving a trailer without knowing the contents or the condition of the contents.  The property owners suggested that we seek settlement with you. They said your company possesses insurance for such reasons. The vehicles should have been towed. The trailer should not have been moved.
Sincerely,
[redacted]

The trailer that we impounded from private property was parked in violation of their parking rules that we were hired to enforce.  Our instructions are to tow away the violators, not to boot them.  This enclosed trailer was locked up and the unknown contents inside of it would not be...

secured by our tow truck driver as we do not have keys to access the trailer and we do not enter vehicles without permission from the registered owner.  We do not accept responsibility for any of the alleged damage to items inside of the trailer.  We do not have any way to prove that these items were there before the trailer was towed and we do not know how these items were packed or secured within the trailer to begin with.  The responsibility falls upon the owner of the vehicle to obtain authorization prior to parking or to inquire about where it may be appropriate to park.

Thank you for assisting us with this complaint.  We towed this customer's car for being parked in a clearly marked reserved parking stall without authorization.  Our driver claims that the vehicle was unlocked and he was able to shift the vehicle into neutral.  This was...

witnessed by a member of the property management and took place right outside their office window.  While he was hooking up the vehicle the owner stopped our driver and questioned him as to why we were towing his car.  Our driver explained the situation and offered a drop fee so the customer could get his car released right then on the spot.  The customer refused the drop fee option and stated he would contest the tow.  We proceeded to impound the vehicle and brought it to our yard where he later paid the full impound fees to release his vehicle which are more than twice the cost of the Drop Fee that he was offered on the scene.  He did not mention anything about an important medical procedure at any time prior to this complaint.  We do not negotiate with the impound fees set by UDOT and we do not offer refunds.

Thank you for sending the requested information.  We were able to locate the phone call that was made on, May 4th and reviewed the recording.  The customer was trying to explain to our staff member that they were given a warning on their vehicle for expired registration but their vehicle had current registration.   Our staff member explained that their decal was missing and that it's required to be displayed on the rear license plate.  The customer did not seem to understand that his vehicle was in violation and did not ask for an extension.  Our staff member advised the customer that the decal needs to be replaced in order to be in compliance and avoid getting towed.  No extension was offered nor requested and the confusion seems to come from the missing license plate stickers and the vehicle owner's assumption that we would verify their registration with the DMV before towing.  We do not contact the DMV to verify registration and this vehicle was towed on Saturday, May 15 while the DMV is closed.  We issue a time stamped warning notice on the driver window and we expect the vehicle owner to comply with the private parking regulations that they've agreed to in their lease.  If the customer would have requested an extension or if our staff would have offered one, this could've been a much better experience for all parties.  To resolve this customer's complaint, we're offering a 50% refund of total charges paid to release their vehicle. We can mail the refund check as soon as we have a mailing address and a name to make the check payable to.

Thank you for your assistance with this complaint.  We responded earlier today to this customer's appeal for a refund and it was denied.  We are very sorry that she does not accept our response.  She parked on private property where they only allow current customers to park.  Her...

vehicle was unauthorized and she was not a current customer.  She was witnessed walking off the property to attend a U of U game.  Our staff member placed a boot on her car.  She returned over 4 hours later to retrieve her vehicle and found it booted around 1:00am on Nov 26th and contacted us to arrange the removal of the boot.  She paid a non-refundable fee of $75.00 to remove the boot from her vehicle.  We do not offer discounts or refunds.  All of our phone calls are recorded and our staff remained professional while providing her the requested information to file an appeal and answer her questions.

Thank you for assisting us with this complaint.  We request additional information in order to locate the specific details of this private property impound.  The customer name mentioned in this complaint does not match any current vehicle records in our system.  Please provide us with...

the vehicle make and model or name of the property that the vehicle was towed from.

The fees that were charged on 12/19/2015 to release the 2014 Subaru Legacy after regular business hours are regulated by UDOT and can be referenced at www.udot.utah.gov.  The vehicle was released after the impound fees were paid in full by the registered owner.  The vehicle was impounded...

for parking in a permit only parking lot without a parking permit.

Thank you for assisting us with this complaint.  This vehicle was impounded outside of our regular business hours of 8-5, Mon-Fri.  Vehicles are released during business hours by appointment and we will schedule an after hours release as a courtesy if the vehicle owner agrees to...

pay the additional $75.00 After Hours Release Fee.  All of our phone calls are recorded and we understand that vehicle owners are upset when they learn their vehicle was impounded.  We do our best to absorb the frustration and provide the needed information without any negativity toward the customer.  Our staff member tried multiple times to provide the information while this customer screamed foul language at the top of her lungs.  Each time our staff member tried speaking she got even louder using the most profane language ever heard from a woman.  After reviewing the recorded phone calls, we have determined that our staff members did a great job assisting this customer even though she was so unreasonable and combative with us on the phone.