THE most unprofessional tow truck company I've ever worked with. I was told it would take them an hour and a half to get here. It took them over 3 hours... Plus another hour to get it together and get going. At one point, I was told it would be an additional delay in their arrival because they had to go and get another truck because "we didn't know you were going to need to be towed."
But... You're a tow truck company. What did you think you were going to do?
Communication was poor from start to finish. They didn't even reach out to me until they were well past their initial scheduled arrival time, and after I complained to my insurance company. When the truck finally arrived, there were 2 men in the truck instead of one..... which would have left me with nowhere to sit if I needed a ride to the dealership where they were towing my car. I brought this to the attention of the lead driver, Shawn, and it was clear from his response that this was not something that he considered when responding to the call. Fortunately I had a friend who lived nearby and was able to drive me.
When the tow truck arrived, I noticed that one of the guys was smoking and the other was vaping so hard he was coughing and hacking. The same one who was hacking was also covered in dirt and grease and made certain to let me know... But still attempted to get into my vehicle. Before he did so, he asked me (seriously) if I could drive the car onto the ramp for him.
Sir, that's what I'm paying y'all for. Ask your coworker to do it if you're not comfortable, or sober, enough.
Instead, I went and asked Shawn myself since something seemed off with the greasy guy. He was acting erratically, dancing in the middle of the street while cars were driving perilously close by, randomly rubbing the ramp of the row truck furiously with his shirt... Just all around odd behavior.
I asked Shawn if the other guy was high. He mumbled something about how he "seems" that way, but he wasn't sure because he doesn't know him well.
I told Shawn that I did not want that guy handling my vehicle or driving the tow truck because he appeared to be under the influence.
Adding to my frustration, Shawn attempted to get me to sign a document on his phone, releasing them from liability for any damage to my vehicle.... without showing the contents of the document first. Just "sign here".
I don't know what people they're used to dealing with, but there was absolutely no way I was going to sign that without reading it first.
What frustrated me the most about this whole experience is that on top of all this, they also tried to squeeze extra money out of me for the trip. I calculated the distance from my location to my preferred dealership in Waze, which was 15 miles exactly. Coincidentally, it was also the maximum my roadside assistance would cover. I even sent them a screenshot showing them the distance. However, they insisted it was 20 miles.
After waiting for 4 hours by this point, I was really in no mood to debate or discuss with them further. It was more important to me to get moving so I could get back home, so I grudgingly agreed to pay the disingenuous extra fee.
I had a friend follow the truck to the dealership, and multiple times during the trip the driver passed an on-ramp for I-495; the quickest and most logical route... Quite literally a straight shot from where we were. One of the exits for 495 was less than a half mile from where I was stopped. Instead they opted to take a longer, convoluted, more expensive route, driving through residential streets in DC, Maryland, and Virginia before finally arriving at the dealership.
Conversely, from 495, the dealership is practically a straight line, with the exception of taking one exit.
When we finally arrived at the dealership, I asked the driver why he did not take 495. He replied "took a shortcut". Clearly he doesn't know the definition of the word....
No wonder the route ended up being "20 miles" with them taking a tour of the entire DMV just get me to the dealership.
Had I not been waiting 4 hours, I would have definitely called another company because everything about this experience was the pinnacle of unprofessionalism. However, I didn't want to wait another hour or longer for another, potentially worse experience.
I have called my insurance company to inform them of my experience and requested that this company be removed from the list of service providers because no one should have to experience this level of unprofessionalism. read more