RE: Being towed/impounded because of broken down car in my apartment complex parking lot (no assigned parking).
I want to give 5 stars, as the office assistant, Meghan, definitely deserves 5 stars! However, I am rating the business in general, not only her performance, and I do have one complaint about a business practice that I just don't find reasonable after 2 different experiences with them. More on that in a minute.
I did definitely find Meghan to be very kind, helpful, fun, inquisitive about important things, and actually quite giving! I can tell she loves people and isn't in this business to hurt or take advantage of anyone. She put me at ease and helped me organize my thoughts as I tried to navigate a very difficult, emotionally painful, and costly experience that I'd been trying to avoid, but was financially unable to jump through all the hurdles required of me, in order to do that. She's definitely a team player who understands what customer service is and the importance of treating people who have been impounded like real, valuable human beings. She was very clear about what the rules were, who's responsible for what, and so on, but she also has good listening skills and allowed me to communicate my concerns when I raised them, as those came up in the process of getting my car off the lot and to it's "final resting place."
I also had a good experience when I called over the weekend and spoke with James, one of their towing drivers, and I am grateful for his answering all of my questions honestly and caringly!
Alright, so to the business practice I am really displeased with.
First, a caveat: To be clear, WA State Law allows this business practice that I just don't find reasonable, so part of my gripe is with our State Legislature passing laws that don't take the needs of apartment complex residents into account equally with the needs of apartment complex owners/management. Another part of my gripe is that, while RAD Towing lists on their web site all the reasons for why apartment managers would want to have cars impounded, it doesn't equally list all the reasons that apartment complex owners/managers would want to think about actually showing some professional customer service skills towards their residents prior to signing off on having autos towed off of their parking lots.
The business practice I think needs some serious revision is the practice of only putting a warning sticker on peoples car windows giving them 24 hours notice before their cars are removed. However, the length of time isn't the biggest problem (I do think it should be extended to 72 hours though). The main problem is that it's only a sticker on a car window, with the naive expectation that, of course, residents will happen to need to drive their cars during that particular 24 hour window. This doesn't properly communicate with the owner of the car; rather, it only communicates with a piece of glass attached to a car on the assumption that, of course, everyone drives their cars more than once per day (which is utterly absurd). When residents have listed their vehicles with their apartment management office workers, it's supposed to mean something; it's not just a formality. It's supposed to mean that they will be called by the apartment management office in a timely manner if their vehicle has been identified as having some problem that needs immediate attention.
My car was always registered with my apartment management office, and yet I was not notified in-person prior to being towed about either incident in which my car was towed. They did sign off on the paperwork that listed my license plate number, so they had an opportunity to cross-check that number with their records and fully attempt to contact me in-person, which they did not do. I feel that RAD Towing would best serve the needs of the community by refusing to tow a car from an apartment complex parking lot until the management office staff have checked & confirmed that the license plate number does not match their records, or until 72 hours after they have called a resident and either spoken with them face-to-face or have at least left a complete voicemail and followed up with a fully sealed letter taped to the resident's door along with some loud knocking on the resident's door.
While WA State Law doesn't require any of this, RAD Towing would likely get nothing but 5 star reviews here and elsewhere if they would follow this one simple procedure. It's what's fair to tax paying WA State residents and what's fair to local residents here in the Tri-Cities, as well as to our apartment complex owners/managers. It's what WA State Law should reflect. No towing company should be allowed to financially profit on the backs of the poor by using stickers on peoples' windows as the only means of communicating with them about their cars. Whether it's intentional or not, that's exactly what's happening here, and it's both immoral and unethical. read more
