Wow, a towing company and an official impound lot. Even I understand that they are bound to lack 5 star reviews from people, even if such a business is ethical and acting within the law. My situation however is a tad bit unique and I feel that it needs to be known and heard before a public forum or outlet, such as the one that exists on Yelp.
On the evening of Saturday, February 14th (Valentine's Day), my wife and I came home after dinner and a movie and parked our rental car in front of our garage, in our community (condo) at approximately 2:00am. We rented a Suburban which was too large to park inside our private garage, to go on a trip on the 15th, and planned to head out by 6:30am that same morning. Jumping forward, the car gets towed at 6:07am, right from the front of my own, personal, garage. Had the vehicle been parked in such a way as to block someone, or cause anyone any sort of inconvenience, in any way, I would be the first to admit guilt on my part. This was not the case and although there were several other cars parked in front of their own respective garages as such is a norm, I did not blame the tow truck company for this, as they were doing their job upon receiving an apparent call from someone. I'll be the first to admit that our community does have written rules, one of which specifies that such a parking arrangement is not permitted, however, this private community as a whole largely ignores this and parking in such a fashion usual. Rules are rules, as we teach our kids, whether they are followed by everyone or not, so I agreed not to fight it and just pay the tow company, pick up the Suburban, and be on our way. Here's where the fun starts:
I called the towing company and reached the owner, Jon. I provided my information, including our address, and he confirmed that the Suburban was at his facility. I explained our travel arrangements to Jon and indicated that I will be heading out to his lot, in order to pay for and pick up the vehicle. Jon's response was that he won't release the car until 10 o'clock that morning, although he towed the car at 6am, at which time I reiterated that we need to head out and can't possibly wait until 10, but my pleas fell on deaf ears. My wife decided to call Jon and was understandably upset, speaking in a tone of a mother of two, who's long awaited plans for her family are being compromised by someone's ego and seemingly lackluster compassion. In response, Jon completely flips out and says that he will now hold the car until Monday and there's nothing we can do about it. Both of us are in disbelief, considering we have to be on our way and are already running late. We have several people waiting for us, with whom we made these plans. Needless to say, our trip, and our day was entirely ruined by the actions of one ignorant and insensitive individual.
I arrived at the tow lot on Monday at 9:30am, and find that I'm being overcharged.
1) Presidents day - supposedly they do not work since it's a holiday, but there are at least 5 employees that are there. $90 dollars extra for that!
2) They towed on Sunday 6:07am and I was there on Monday 9:30am so for 2 hours and 23 minutes they charged me additional $90 for that as well!
So the total came out to $369
3) As indicated in Civil Code CVC 22658(n)(2)(A), the car must be available for pick up 365 days a year 7 days a week and 24 hours a day.
The owner, Jon, decided to hold the vehicle hostage for 24 hours in order to scam us for the extra fee's I described above, that is against the law.
As you arrive at the tow lot gate, there is no buzzer, bell, or intercom. When someone finally managed to tend to me, they spoke through a 8x8 inch window. If you say something like, "I'm not going to relinquish the keys to you to have you look for my registration located amongst certain personal items within the vehicle, they close the window and ignore you- essentially robbing you of your rights as a law abiding citizen of the United States of America. They would not let me inside the lot and every time the guy went to open my car to look for my rental agreement, it would take him 20 min to do that, then another 20 min to give me a receipt and make a copy of my driver's license. All while standing in the ever so unsafe SFV heat with no shade. I doubt they could care any less.
Jon and his Jon's Towing company are nothing more than impound crooks, operating no different than bandit tow lots who hold your car for ransom.
*TIP - They ask you to sign 2 documents, #1 is the receipt and #2 reads, "I have received the vehicle in satisfactory condition with no further damages from the towing company site". You have to sign the second document without being given an opportunity to check the car in order to verify this. How clever of them!
FELLOW YELPERS, BE CAREFUL! Don't sign the secondary document until you actually see the car you are picking up.
Another fun fact, their disclosed rates proclaim "LIEN SALE IN 72 hours". read more