Complaints

• Initial Complaint

  03/18/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Sales and Advertising Issues

  Status:

  Unresolved

  More info

  Believe we were overcharged for tow and recovery fees according to statute. Company also held vehicle on the lot before mailing a certified notice then told us that they mailed it 2 days after vehicle was recovered - They said that OUR post office must have stamped it wrong? The tracking notice clearly indicates this is not the case. We believe we should only be responsible for the fee associated with removal of the vehicle ($650) and should be refunded the overpayment in other charges that were required to recover the vehicle from Sapps. The company could have picked up the phone the same night or the next day because all identifying information was still intact on the truck/trailer - not to mention the vehicle was stolen and had all identifying serial numbers still on it so they could have gathered owner information immediately from the motor carrier officer that reported the vehicle abandoned. If that's the case, we should not be charged any storage fees much less storage fees for the time they made NO ATTEMPT to mail the certified letter. Also, we were told that the vehicle was reported stolen nationwide by local law enforcement so Sapps should have received a hit indicating such. I personally made a call to Georgia Highway Patrol and Georgia weigh stations requesting that they be on the lookout and was told it would be put in the system if it was not already there. Additional information will be uploaded-

  Business response

  03/21/2022

  There are many false claims and errors in Ms. ******* statement. These are the facts:
  
  (1) The truck and trailer were towed at the request of the Georgia Department of Public Safety (GDPS) on 2-21-2022. According to the Vehicle Tow Receipt, given to us by the GDPS it was Abandoned. (See #1). There was no “overcharge”. As far as a statute for towing fees we do not fall under such because this was a tow at the request of law enforcement not a private trespass tow.
  (2) In accordance with Georgia statute 40-11-19 we notified the owner of the vehicles, ******** ***** Partnership on 2-23-2022. Georgia law requires that written notice be given within 15 days of the tow. We met that requirement. In Ms. *******’s email dated March 3, 2022 @ 5:30 p.m. (See #2) , copies of the notification letters were included as attachments (See #3). If she wasn’t notified by Sapp’s, exactly how did she know that the vehicle was in our care and custody?
  (3)In her complaint, she says that we should have “picked up the phone”. The law says that we have to get the owner/lienholder information from the state of registration (in this case South Carolina, see #4) and inform all parties by mail. The vehicles were towed on 2-21-2022 @6:59 p.m. (after normal business hours). Notifications were sent less than 48 hours later on 2-23-2022. Again, well within the 15 day time limit. We could have increased the storage fees by waiting until the 14th day to mail the notification letters. Our company policy is to send notification letters as soon as possible to keep customer costs down. I assure you that some towing companies do not follow this practice.
  (4)As far as the vehicle being reported as stolen and calls to the highway patrol and weigh stations, we have no control over their actions.

  Customer response

  03/28/2022

  Good morning,

   

  I do not want to close out the complaint yet.  I'd also like to add that upon researching the autodirect123 report Sapp's provided I found that HB307 requires the company to send the first letter within 5 days and that did not happen. I'd like to add the attachment.  I don't see how to further respond online. Thank you.

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