Total Car Care & Towing

Review: Excessive charges on services rendered during massive snow storm on Wed, 2/12/14. Was charged $1340.00 to winch my van out of a ditch after sliding backwards down a very slippery mountain road. Was charged $600.00 for winch and prep to tow (8 sets and load ) Handicap Acc conversion Van (NOT a convers van, just a regular pass van)Charged 150.00 (for what I don't know), Traffic control?($150.00) what control! Anchor $100.00. I feel all this is excessive and should not be allowed!!Desired Settlement: Would like a refund of at least $1000.00.

Business

Response:

Hello, my name is Derrick Lancaster. I am the owner of Lancaster lnvestments lnc. T/A Total Car

and Truck Service in Christiansburg and Dublin VA. I am writing in regards to the complaint filed by Mr.

[redacted]. We were dispatched by Pulaski County Sheriffs office on February 12,2014 at 8:30 PM for

emergency response to the [redacted] block of [redacted]. in [redacted] VA. for a motor vehicle crash over

an embankment, and leaning heavily. On this particular day there was approximately 12 inches of snow

for which the governor of Virginia had declared a state of emergency. Due to the state of emergency,

travel is not advised. Due to the interstate being blocked from multiple accidents Mr. [redacted] chose to

traverse a sparsely maintained stretch of back roads to detour the stopped traffic when the incident

occurred. At this time two operators and a medium duty recovery rollback was dispatched to the scene.

Upon arrival the recovery operators found a 2013 Chrysler Town and Country van with low slung body

fairings, over an embankment, on ¡ts side against a fence, buried in snow. There was no driver or keys on

scene. Therefore there was no way to place the vehicle into neutral or manipulate the steering. So extra

precautions were taken to ensure no more damages to vehicle. Conditions were so bad that a large

motor grader had to clear a recovery path. Once this was completed the motor grader was then utilized

as an anchor point to stabilize the recovery vehicle. After the vehicle was met¡culously winched to its

wheels, then to the road. The vehicle was loaded onto the flatbed. At this time the operators were

informed that the driver of the vehicle had been relocated to the fire department. At this time the

operators went above and beyond the call of duty to track down the driver and offer the release of the

vehicle to his custody. Upon arrival at the [redacted] Fire department. Our operator made contact with

Mr. [redacted] to discuss payment and service options. The operator informed Mr. [redacted] that while the

vehicle had very little body damage from the accident he could not rule out the possible undercarriage

or suspension ddamageand that there was no certainty that the vehicle would be safe to drive. In the

midst of the conversation Mr. [redacted] informed our operator that he did not have any money, and

asked for suggestions of how to proceed. Our operator suggested that since the vehicle had been in a

rollover accident, and since Mr. [redacted] did not want to pay for the recovery out of pocket or chance

driving the vehicle, that his best option was for Mr. [redacted] to file a claim on his insurance for the

accident, and that our company would maintain possession of the vehicle while the claim was being

processed. Mr. [redacted] agreed, with his only concern being the ability to retrieve his luggage and his

supplies for his dog. Our operator offered to take the van to the hotel that they had booked in Dublin in

order to unload their possessions and then tow it to our yard. Mr. [redacted] agreed. We proceeded to

tow the vehicle to the [redacted] in Dublin. While the [redacted] and their dog accepted a ride

from a volunteer from the [redacted] Fire Dept. Neither the additional mileage nor the extra time to

provide the extra service were added to the tow bill. Due to the circumstances I feel that all charges

were justified and appropriate. I would appreciate everyone's assistance in remedying this situation.

Thanks,

Derrick R. Lancaster

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response offer made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.

4/4/2014 2:10 CST

I called the business on 4/3/2014 and after a short conversation Derrick Lancaster asked for my phone number so he could call me back. He has not called back as of this date. He has offered no solution to this complaint, therefore I must presume he does not want to resolve it. It took him more time to respond than you give ( thereby having the complaint CLOSED by you). I have previously provided you with proof that my van is NOT a conversion van but is indeed just a passenger van and therefore should not have been charged excessive fees for a conversion van. I feel that no matter what I do will not result in a resolution to this excessive charge.

Thank you for all you have done,

Completely ripped off by tow. Charged $150!! Outrageous. Denied the claim before they picked up the car that they were AAA tower.

Review: On May 16, 2013 Total Car Care replaced the air conditioning compressor in our 1999 Chevrolet Blazer (VIN #[redacted]) – total cost $606.70. On Wednesday, June 19, 2013 upon starting the vehicle we heard a loud “pop” and saw smoke coming from the engine compartment leading witnesses to believe the vehicle may have been on fire. We called AAA to have it towed to the nearest establishment – [redacted] Motors. We had no reasonable expectation to believe that the part Total Car Care installed would be the cause of this trouble. We were informed by [redacted]’s mechanics that the compressor had been improperly installed, stating “A/C Compressor had blown high side pressure relief valve out of back side of compressor; that the oriface valve had been installed backwards and had blown They informed us of this after they had installed a replacement compressor – total cost $ 878.84. Upon notifying you of this trouble you were unwilling to refund our money for either the part and/or the labor provided by your establishment. You asserted that the work had to have been done correctly by your employee but suggested that the cause was a defective compressor. Multiple attempts to contact you after this and discuss restitution were unsuccessful. In discussion with our son, [redacted], Total Car Care agreed to set up a conference call with their supplier on Monday, August 19, 2013 in order to attempt to resolve this issue. Three weeks later we have heard nothing further from Total Car Care. As my son discussed at that time, we were seeking restitution from you for this defective part only. It is our contention that, as the part was purchased from Total Car Care, it is incumbent upon Total Car Care to make this right. We do not have any standing with the supplier as we had no contract with him.Desired Settlement: At this point, given the unwillingness or Total Car Care to cooperate, we are seeking full refund of monies spent for the original repair of the vehicle at that shop - $606.70.

Business

Response:

RE: Case# [redacted]Dear Revdex.com, We are aware of the situation with the [redacted]'s Chevrolet Blazer and regret the problem they experienced with the A/C compressor. As we attempted to explain to the customer, the warranty covers replacement of the damaged part by the supplier or manufacturer but does not pay a cash refund. We are also aware that the [redacted]'s were not aware that the compressor had failed when they took the vehicle to [redacted] but when they were advised that the compressor was the issue, we should been contacted then and not after the repair was completed. Furthermore, we dispute the statement that the orifice was installed backwards because it can only be installed one way. The orifice and Drier-Receiver were both replaced when the compressor was replaced to avoid any pressure issues. lf there were high pressure problems the failure would have been immediate! This was just a part failure and if the vehicle had been presented to us, the part would have been replaced under warranty. Also if the failure had occured outside of the immediate area, when notified the supplier would ship replacement part(s) to another shop and refunded labor costs. We regret the [redacted]'s dissatifaction, but the problem was not handled the way it should have been dealt with. We would have been more than happy to resolve the problem had we been contact before rather than after the fact.Thank you for your assistance in resolving this situation. Sincerely, [redacted]