ETA: Removed comment about admin fee, which is mandated by the state of Utah, and is most likely…read moresimply a tax the state collects.
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The morning of September 14th, while staying with a group of friends at Bryce Canyon Resort, we experienced a tragedy, when one of our party had a heart attack that he did not survive. As it was a motorcycle trip, we needed to have the motorcycle towed and secured, until our friend's wife could make arrangements to secure the bike. The Garfield County Sheriff's deputy on the scene told us he would have the bike towed, and would store it at the Sheriff's location until further arrangements could be made. He called Bryce Canton Towing, Joel Walter showed up, loaded the bike, passed out business cards, and was on his way.
Last week, I was contacted by one of my friends who was on the ride, who told me he would be going to Panguitch to pick up the bike, at the request of the widow. I was also contacted by the widow, who told me the charges would be $1,118.99! She went on to tell me that Joel told her he would only release the bike to the bike's owner, (evidently forgetting why he had been called to tow the bike, just two weeks earlier), and that he would not take an overnighted cashier's check for the amount due, the only thing that would work was cash, or a credit card with identification. Luckily, my friend picking up the bike agreed to put it on his card, and get reimbursed later. Someone was thinking of the woman who had just buried her husband, and it sure wasn't Joel.
The same day the bike was picked up, I contacted the Sheriff's deputy who had originally called the towing service, and he said the charges were "chickens**t", the bike wasn't impounded, so there shouldn't have been any impound fees, and that he was going to "make some calls".
Of course, saying and doing are two different things these days, so after hearing nothing further from the deputy, I called Jim Perkins, the Garfield County Sheriff, today. Jim told me that the bike was never stored at the Sheriff's department, as there "wasn't room for a pair of roller skates" there, something the deputy evidently didn't know when he told us what he did. The Sheriff told Joel to store the bike at the towing business, which he did. For those scoring at home, Joel towed the bike from Bryce Canyon Resort to the Garfield County Sheriff's location, (21.6 miles), then to the Bryce Canyon Towing facility, (0.3 Miles), where the bike sat until it was retrieved.
The invoice is attached, and I want to mention a couple of things:
- The "fuel surcharge" is $144.99, and this is to drive approximately 44 miles, (from the towing business to Bryce Canyon Resort and back). Isn't fuel a cost of doing business for a towing company? And $144.99 for 44 miles? I drove my truck home at the end of the week long ride, also a jacked up bro-dozer like Joel was driving, and pulling a motorcycle on a trailer. My trip was 969 miles, and I spent $250 on gas. I can only imagine what it would have cost me, if 44 miles of Joel's trip was $144.99...
- And finally, 3 "Impounds/Wrecks", at $179 each. The bike was never wrecked, it was still on the kickstand as the EMTs tried vainly to save my friend's life next to it. Impound? Nope, a fact that the deputy pointed out when I talked to him, and the Sheriff agreed. Yet my friend's wife, in order to get the bike released, had to pay $537 for absolutely nothing.
The Sheriff, while he agreed that my friend's wife was overcharged, said he couldn't do anything; that Bryce Canyon Towing is on the rotational list for Garfield County, and evidently they were next in line when the deputy called for a towing service. Lovely, huh? You die, then things get worse, when Bryce Canyon Towing shows up. He said we could take them to court, but I talked to the widow this afternoon, and with the travel and headaches, it would be throwing good money after bad (actors).
So if you're in the area and need a tow, my suggestion is to use anyone but Bryce Canyon Towing. If they'll blatantly overcharge a widow, no telling what they'll do to you.
