Tom's 24 Hour Towing Service

Initial Business Response / [redacted] (1000, 5, 2016/01/26) */ On 12/23/15 Tom's 24HR Towing was hired to tow a 2003 Pontiac Grand Am from [redacted] to [redacted] Tire & Alignment. Upon delivery of the vehicle to the repair shop the tow driver noticed a "popping" sound coming from the drivers side door. ... He immediately called dispatch to alert them of the problem. This call was placed because if there is any damage to any vehicle being towed the drivers are to take pictures, however he could not take a picture of a "sound" and therefore placed the call to dispatch. This vehicle was towed on the back of a tow trucks wheel lift and the driver stated the tow went smoothly with no unusual happenings. When we received a call from the customer about the problem with the door we asked them to take it to a body shop for an estimate (which she did) in hopes that they may "shed some light" as to what caused the damage. All they could tell us was that the vehicle somehow had possibly got into a "bind". The driver did state the vehicle was parked on a curb and we are not sure if this is what caused the "bind" and therefore the noise was not heard until the car was level at delivery. The owner of Tom's 24HR Towing has been in the towing business for over 30 years and cannot come up with any way possible this damage could have occurred during the tow without damaging some other part of the vehicle since the damage was centered at the lower half of the front part of the drivers side door. We would also like to let it be known that at NO time did we accuse the repair shop of damaging the vehicle. Tom's towing is very sorry for the inconvenience and does stand behind our services, however we cannot justify paying for damage on a vehicle that was not caused while in our care. Initial Consumer Rebuttal / [redacted] (3000, 7, 2016/01/27) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) Interesting that Tom's said they were unable to take pictures because there was only a "pop", yet we have a dozen pictures from Chatham Collision showing bent metal/door at the point where the hinges attach the door to the car, so there's plenty to take pictures of. We also have several witnesses that road in the car that day and tried to start the car that evening all willing to vouch that the door was fine when we left it to be towed. Finally, their story about a curb causing the damage makes no sense, because there is no curb at the pick-up point. It's one of those small neighborhood rain gutters that everyone parks on, yet their doors are not damaged. Hmmm. Sad that the driver is dishonest and that Tom's isn't big enough to stand behind their screw-up. As a result a young high school girl has to live with their mistake for the next couple of years after saving her own money to buy that car.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2016/08/09) */
Mr ***, I am very sorry for the misunderstanding, I have talked with the dispatcher and the driverThe dispatcher did tell you $but also told you it was an approximationThe driver also said the two of you had discussed the pricing on
the way to your drop off destinationI myself explained to you that we cannot give you an exact cost when we do not have a pick up address as you only had a mile markerYou were given approximately a mile discount as we did not charge you for our enroute trip to get to you, you were charged loaded miles onlyI feel we got to you and got you off the highway safely and in a reasonable amount of time and delivered to your destination professionallyAlso I would like to point out that when paying with a credit card there is an additional feeSo we did not charge you extra when you said you were paying cash, that was actually saving you moneyAgain I am sorry for the misunderstanding and as always we do appreciate your business!
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 7, 2016/08/10) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
If this was going to be by a hook up fee and per mile why did the dispatcher did not say thisI had the same vehicle towed a week before and was given exact amount from a different companyThe driver never talked to me about towing feesAll he said is he gets a third of the tow for himselfThen you say I got a mile discount? Because you didnt charge mileage to drive to meNobody charges to drive to pick up carsCan give you a little helpful suggestion so this problem will never happen tell your dispatcher to not give a amount over phoneOr once driver arrives have him state prices and rates and enter address from vehicle and inform customer how much its going to beNot load vehicle up and tow then charge him whatever and be stuck with it because vehicles on truckYour Business is not clear and upfront and take advantage of people when once you have them on your truck

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2016/01/26) */
On 12/23/15 Tom's 24HR Towing was hired to tow a 2003 Pontiac Grand Am from [redacted] to [redacted] Tire & Alignment. Upon delivery of the vehicle to the repair shop the tow driver noticed a "popping" sound coming from the drivers side door. ...

He immediately called dispatch to alert them of the problem. This call was placed because if there is any damage to any vehicle being towed the drivers are to take pictures, however he could not take a picture of a "sound" and therefore placed the call to dispatch.
This vehicle was towed on the back of a tow trucks wheel lift and the driver stated the tow went smoothly with no unusual happenings. When we received a call from the customer about the problem with the door we asked them to take it to a body shop for an estimate (which she did) in hopes that they may "shed some light" as to what caused the damage. All they could tell us was that the vehicle somehow had possibly got into a "bind". The driver did state the vehicle was parked on a curb and we are not sure if this is what caused the "bind" and therefore the noise was not heard until the car was level at delivery.
The owner of Tom's 24HR Towing has been in the towing business for over 30 years and cannot come up with any way possible this damage could have occurred during the tow without damaging some other part of the vehicle since the damage was centered at the lower half of the front part of the drivers side door.
We would also like to let it be known that at NO time did we accuse the repair shop of damaging the vehicle.
Tom's towing is very sorry for the inconvenience and does stand behind our services, however we cannot justify paying for damage on a vehicle that was not caused while in our care.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 7, 2016/01/27) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
Interesting that Tom's said they were unable to take pictures because there was only a "pop", yet we have a dozen pictures from Chatham Collision showing bent metal/door at the point where the hinges attach the door to the car, so there's plenty to take pictures of. We also have several witnesses that road in the car that day and tried to start the car that evening all willing to vouch that the door was fine when we left it to be towed. Finally, their story about a curb causing the damage makes no sense, because there is no curb at the pick-up point. It's one of those small neighborhood rain gutters that everyone parks on, yet their doors are not damaged. Hmmm. Sad that the driver is dishonest and that Tom's isn't big enough to stand behind their screw-up. As a result a young high school girl has to live with their mistake for the next couple of years after saving her own money to buy that car.