Parked vehicle at parking lot on 100 N. Washington in Mpls. As indicated on the sign in the lot, I wrote a $5.00 check, put it into the envelope provided and sealed it carefully, wrote my license plate # and date onto the envelope as required, and inserted envelope into pay box. Sign said fee was $5 between 6 PM and 6 AM, and I arrived after 6PM. Came back less than 2 hours later to discover my vehicle had been towed by company listed on sign at parking lot (Wrecker, Inc. Of 200 E. Lyndale Ave. N., Suite 100, Mpls., Mn. 55405). I called the phone number indicated on one of the signs (wrecker towing), three times in succession, since the first two attempts resulted in voicemail greeting which said "they are experiencing phone issues from a storm and to call them back" [note, there was not a recent storm]. I got through to an employee on the third call, during which they told me that I needed to call the management company for WW parking.
Phone conversation with WW parking representative:
Mr X informed me that my vehicle was towed because no payment envelope was found to match my license plate # at the time the employee collected the money from the pay box. I explained this must have been a mistake on their part because I double checked before writing my plate number, etc. However, he repeatedly informed me that my only option to reclaim my vehicle was to go to the Wrecker Towing location and pay the tow fee and/or to directly contact the company that owned the lot to discuss with them. After multiple requests Mr X would not offer the WW Parking (lot owner) phone number to me and he stated that I had to obtain the phone number for this company directly from the sign in the parking lot. I had started walking home so this was unreasonable. Over the course of the following 36 hours, I made a number of additional phone calls to the Management Company, wrecker towing, and WW Parking (I called and left voicemail after obtaining the phone number from the lot sign). They left me with no option other than to pickup my vehicle and pay the $255 fee if picked up before X time on X day, which I did.
After I left two voicemails at the WW Parking #, and after picking up and paying for my vehicle, Mr X returned my call and stated that they did find my payment in the pay box the next day, and as such their belief is that I put payment into box sometime after my vehicle was already towed. That accusation is impossible, and I have proof of same in multiple forms. After submitting a complaint with the Attorney General, Wrecker Towing had the insanity of reimbursing me only PART of the explicit costs of the tow and cab ride incurred in this situation. I have begun to attempt to reconcile this. Of note, Wrecker Towing quoted me two explicitly different pricing schemes during my phone conversations with them. May be intentional price discrimination. I have audio recordings of all of these phone conversations. I have audio recordings of most of the conversations I made throughout this process, supporting or proving my aforementioned statements. Other victims have complained of similar practices by these companies, per other usacomplaints.com complaints (Report #436365, Report # 219046, others?). Also Better Business Bureau has a number of complaints for them.
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