Complaints

• Initial Complaint

  05/05/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  On 4-17-23, I had to call ***** roadside assistance to get my car out of a ravine I had gone down. They contacted Joe's Towing and Recovery and let me know this. I called Joe's and told them they would need a larger than usual truck to get me out. Two hours later, a driver named **** showed up with a light duty flatbed truck. He assessed the situation and determined that if he were to try and tow me out, he would get stuck as well. He took pictures of my car and the situation and sent them to Joe's and called them as well saying he would get stuck if he tried the job and that a bigger truck was needed. He was told by **** to go ahead and try it anyway. **** got my car on the back of his truck and proceeded to get stuck as he predicted. He called Joe's and a 8 ton truck was sent. It then got stuck as well. A third truck had to be sent out to get them out. Per Joe's policy, all of the phone calls were recorded. The next day when I went to get my car, I was presented with a bill for $1500. I have no problem paying a reasonable price - the cost of the second truck - for the service but I do not think I should have to pay for all three trucks, seeing as I told them they needed a bigger truck and - more importantly - their own employee told them he would get stuck and a bigger truck was needed. I called on 4-25-23 to discuss the charges and was told someone would be in touch. A week went by and I heard from no one. I called again on 5-2-23, was connected to an answering machine where I left a message asking to be called and heard from no one. I called back on 5-3-23 and spoke to Sandy. I explained what was happening. She said no one could help me but the president of the company. I told her I needed to speak to him the next day or I would have to contact the BBB. I got no call, so I am filing this complaint. Again, I will pay a reasonable price but I think I should be refunded some of the money. Had they called me back this could have been avoided.

  

  Business response

  05/30/2023

  On April 17, we were contacted by ***** for a winch.  Upon arrival, we found a vehicle that had went off road, on what appeared to be a four-wheeler path and was approximately 1000’ from a solid surface.  The path was extremely muddy, and had ruts in some places that were 6-12” deep.  Our flatbed operator called for assistance because any vehicle that went down there was going to get stuck, and sent pictures to our management team so they would know what he was dealing with.  Due to the distance from solid ground, the width of the four-wheeler path and the depth of the ruts, our flatbed driver was instructed to try to get the vehicle onto his truck and see how far he could get before he got stuck.  When he got stuck, another driver was sent to see if he could get him to the roadway, and also got stuck after pulling the flatbed approximately 300’.   A heavy duty unit was sent to the scene, and he used all of the 200’ of wire rope on his truck, plus the 75’ extension from the light duty truck plus 100’ of chain to get to the light duty truck.  Sending only a bigger truck would not have gotten the vehicle out, because we do not carry that much wire rope on any truck, and we would not have taken our heavy duty unit onto the four-wheeler path due to the condition and width of the path.   Using a ‘chain effect’ is often the best way to get vehicles out of an area that they should not have been driving in.
  The only other option to reduce the number of tow trucks would have been to take our skidsteer and winch-box out and try to winch the vehicle back to the roadway.  This is the approximate price to send the winch box out:
  

  Flatbed           $800.00 4 hrs @ $200 per hour
  Winch Box      $1,500.00 flat rate
  Skidsteer        $780.00 4 hrs @ $195 per hour
                         $3,080.00 Approximate total for skidsteer/winch box
  
  This is just an estimate of a best case scenario.  If the skidsteer would have gotten stuck, it would have taken longer than 4 hours, increasing the price, and if the flatbed wouldn’t have been able to winch it up, would have required a second truck to get it out.  It also would have caused damage to the underside of the vehicle as it drug across the ruts.  Our tow trucks sit higher off the ground, therefore the depth of the ruts wasn’t an issue, like it would have been for a passenger vehicle.   
  

  We will not be refunding anything to Mr. *********, as the rates he was charged for the 3 tow truck units was the lowest amount possible.  Any fewer trucks would not have recovered the vehicle from its location, and the skidsteer and winch-box would have been even higher than he was charged.

• Initial Complaint

  03/18/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  This business was called to tow a car from my apartment parking lot at 8:57 pm on March 17th and upon towing the car next to ours hit our rear passenger side bumper. Upon visiting them to work out some sort of solution we were met with two men and a women who began being very aggressive toward us and stepping toward us. We showed them the paint transfer that matched the color of the car that was towed as well as explained that it does not match any other cars in the parking lot. Despite this they continued with their threats. We realized that there was not going to be a solution to this we decided to leave. As we were getting in the car one of the men began scratching the paint transfer off of our car to remove evidence. Attached is a picture of the car that was towed next to ours. Along with pictures of the damage which includes the paint transfer.

  

  Business response

  03/21/2022

  As we told the person who brought the vehicle down for us to look at, the towed vehicle never came in contact with any other vehicle during tow.  There was approximately 3/4 of a parking space between the vehicle that was towed and the silver vehicle.  The damage on the vehicle is not consistent with being hit by a towed vehicle.  

  The bumper under the silver paint is black, so due to the way the bumper was hit and is dented, the silver paint has came off exposing the black bumper underneath.  That is what our driver was looking at...he was showing that is wasn't paint transfer, it was paint coming off.  He was not removing evidence.  They had stated that they parked in the spot around 830pm and did not go back out to the vehicle until the next morning, so I'm not sure why they are assuming that the vehicle being towed had to have caused the damage.  We asked if there was anyone who had seen it, and were told no.

  As we did not cause the damage to the vehicle, we will not be paying for the repairs.  

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩