These people are modern day pirates. Their m/o is to get a business to post tow away signs in their parking lot. They have someone call (in this case a homeless person sometimes, or on the Sunday when I had lunch at the adjoining restaurant a pre-teen kid with a cell phone) call every time someone parks a car in the lot. They arrive with their tow truck and steal your vehicle, then hold it for ransom. All apparently legal.
However, on this particular day, the sign was not up, which is required by Florida law, making their already dispicable actions illegal.
When I called they gave me wrong directions to where the vehicle had been taken, in an apparent attempt to run up storage charges while I tried to find them. After a $20 cab ride, I arrived to find someone in a cop uniform (I have yet to find out if it was a real cop or not) with a bad attitude threatening me repeatedly with arrest while another employee demanded $205 cash (twice the legal maximum for towing in Miami Dade county). Explanations that there was no sign posted were met by more arrest threats and a claim that if I did not pay immediately I would have to come back tomorrow and the price would go up (Florida law requires them to be available to bail your car on one hour notice 24 hours a day). After paying they again threatened arrest if I did not leave immediately, and refused a request to inspect the vehicle for damage (required by Florida law). The vehicle, a pickup, needs wheel alignment as a result of the tow truck mishandling, and has scratches on the tail gate.
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