On December 21, the 14ft U-Haul truck my wife and rented to move a fridge was stuck in some shallow mud behind our house on the lawn. The truck was approximately 40-50ft from our road. We called Able Towing at 8:05 am to get the U Haul truck out as we had to return it that morning, by noon.
We were quoted $125.00 per hour to remove the U Haul truck on the phone. The operator was informed on the phone that there was no way we would pay $125.00 to remove the truck, but for $60-$70 we would, that it was just stuck enough that it needed a winch or long tow strap to get it out and it should only take a minute. The operator was told the exact situation.
At 9;30am, Able Towing arrived with a flat bed tow truck that was equipped with a 50ft winching cable. After subtracting the length of the flat bed, aproximately 20 ft, the cable was actually about 10 feet short of reaching the U-Haul. The 50ft cable only reached 30 feet behind the flatbed. The tow truck driver would not back up any closer to the U-Haul to pull it out, even though the shoulder off the side of the road was firm, he said he would feel better to go get the wrecker with a longer cable. He said he would go get the wrecker and be back in a minute.
The driver came back within 10 minutes and pulled the U-haul out in less than a minute. After he pulled the U-Haul out, the driver demanded payment of $200.00. After my wife and I protested, they offered to take $25 off the bill, but if we did not pay the full amount of $175.00 they would take the U-Haul to their yard and charge impound and storage fees.
From start to finish, even after getting the second truck with the proper equipment, the length of the call was 50 minutes. 15 minutes of that was arguing over the bill. This is documented by our receipt.
They say they are justifed in the extra fees because they had to get a second truck. I feel what they have done is strong armed robbery. We were completely willing to pay a fair price and what I said I would pay on the phone to the operator. We could have purchased a long enough tow strap to get it out. My wife wrote Able Towing a check so we could return the U-Haul. She then proceeded to put a stop payment on that check. We have offered to pay Able Towing $75.00. They have declined and have turned my wife into the DA's Office for fraudulent Check writing. They get you over a barrel like that and charge what ever they want.
This is predatory towing
0 comments