I am appalled that the State Police would use this company. I was rear-ended by a driver going 30+ miles an hour, trying to speed through a red light at which I had stopped. After being informed that my license had a problem, which was a complete surprise to me, the police called McGarvey Towing. The tow truck driver began pulling my car onto his truck while I was sitting in it, without saying anything to me, minutes after I had been struck and prior to the police telling me what was going on.
Once the police left the scene of the accident, I tried to talk to the tow truck driver, who told me gruffly to get in the truck. I asked him where he was taking my car. He said if I had $160 cash he would take me where I wanted as long as it was close. I wanted to go about 3/4 a mile away from where the accident had occurred. I said that I didn't have that amount in cash, but if he could stop at a gas station, of which there were many around, I could get the cash. He said "I'm not driving you all over the place; I'll take you to the Dunkin Donuts by the lot." The lot was 5 miles up Route 1. I asked him again, please, to take me to the location I asked, less than a mile away, and he repeatedly told me no, because I didn't have cash. When I asked him why not, he said, "you aren't supposed to be driving, I can't leave you somewhere and lose the contract." I asked why that would be different if I happened to have $160 in cash, and he had no response. He said someone could come get me from Dunkin Donuts in Saugus, and I said I didn't have anyone who could come to get me - I am here for a job assignment and don't know many people, so finding someone to help would be calling on acquaintances, not on friends or family.
When it was clear he had no intention of dealing with me with any respect, I started trying to find someone who could help. I asked him how I would be able to get the car out on a Sunday evening once someone came to get me - he had already told me I couldn't stay at the lot since no one would be there. He said "I thought you said you didn't have any friends?" Then he pulled into a Dunkin Donuts and told me to get out, and I asked him where the tow lot was. He motioned that it was across Route 1 and back down south the other direction from which we were heading. I asked him how he expected me to get to the tow lot, by crossing Route 1, a highway with no sidewalks or bridges. He said "Fine, you can sit at the Dunkin Donuts by the tow lot." When I asked him why he had taken me to a Dunkin Donuts far from the lot, he said nothing.
The entire time we were driving he was texting. He was driving someone who had just been in an accident and who has since been diagnosed with a severe concussion, towing my most expensive property, all while texting. He finally took me to the tow lot, took my registration and walked away without telling me anything. My head pounding, I sat on the pavement in the lot waiting for him to come back to tell me what was going to happen next, and he never did. I went to the Dunkin Donuts to get cash and came back to wait for my ride.
I called Steve McGarvey to say that my ride would be there in 15 minutes, and could they come meet us so I could get the car out. He said it would take 20 minutes for them to get there, and I could call back when my ride was there. I said they would be there in 15 minutes, and since it would take him 20, could he go ahead and come down now. He said "I am not arguing with you over the phone" and hung up on me. I called back when my ride arrived - a Lyft driver who I paid to wait for the McGarvey employee. The McGarvey employee showed up and charged me $142, not $160 as the driver had claimed the fee would be.
I suspect that the driver thought I was not deserving of respect because I had a problem with my license, and I at first assumed that he was just a very unhappy individual and bad employee, but after talking to Mr. McGarvey, I believe this is a company-wide trait. Since then, I have cleared up the RMV's mistake in not applying my payment for a ticket, which my bank statements clearly showed had gone through just fine, and which the RMV had never reached out to me to clear. The fact that this company treats someone who was in a very unfortunate situation, in pain after an accident, vulnerable, and as it happened, without a coat or socks as the evening fell on a November night, with absolutely no respect is very much in keeping with the other reviews on this site. The State Police should be ashamed to have anything to do with McGarvey Towing, and if AAA ever sent them to help me, I would turn them away. I run a large human services organization and the complete lack of professionalism in my industry would have people like this fired without a doubt. I'm not sure how a business owner like Mr. McGarvey can have any pride in his company - the company and it's employees are certainly doing more harm than good in this world. read more
