ComplaintsforMarv's Quality Towing, Inc.

• Initial Complaint

  10/08/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I am writing to register a formal complaint against ****'s Quality Towing (MQT) regarding the relocation of my vehicle, which resulted in significant damage. I acknowledge the necessity of vehicle relocation for road maintenance.Upon discovering damages to my vehicle immediately I brought it to the nearest mechanic. Their assessment confirmed that my vehicle's transmission had been compromised due to improper towing methods employed by MQT.My frustration mounted as I attempted to engage MQT in a discussion to address this issue. Unfortunately, my interactions with their receptionist were disappointing and disheartening. The receptionist's conduct was characterized by extreme rudeness and condescension during our multiple phone conversations. Despite my willingness to cooperate and provide evidence and documentation, MQT appeared uninterested in addressing my legitimate concerns. It was only after sending multiple versions of my email that I received any acknowledgment, and even then, it was merely to inform me that I needed to speak with the owner, "*******."I approached this situation with patience and understanding, giving the owner three days to investigate the matter. However, upon my follow-up call, I was met with the same dismissive attitude from the receptionist, who informed me that MQT was refusing liability and essentially belittled my concerns. All I have requested from MQT is some form of documentation related to the towing process, a reasonable request that was met with ridicule and outright denial.The most disheartening aspect of this ordeal is the conduct of a contracted entity with the ***************. As a concerned citizen and a paying customer, all I seek is transparency and accountability. I implore MQT to provide me with the requested documentation regarding the towing of my vehicle, as this would be a significant step toward resolving this unfortunate situation.

  

  Business response

  10/09/2023

  ****************,
  
  On September 20th, we were called out by the ************************* to relocate your vehicle due to it being illegally parked, in a clearly signed tow away zone. With this being a relocate, we billed the city for the tow, no refund is possible. I have completed our internal investigation and its been determined the damage to your vehicle was pre existing prior to us towing your vehicle. The damage you claim is not consistent with the towing practice used to relocate your vehicle. We used a Wrecker with a wheel lift and Dolly ******* this is the safest method of towing in the industry and is why this type of truck was used to relocate your vehicle. I have attached photos showing black marks on the front bumper in the same place your photos show damage, prior to towing. There are 4 pictures showing your vehicle at its pick up location and 4 photos showing the vehicle at the drop off location. The black marks on the lower bumper are consistent in both sets of photos. This damage you refer to is not consistent with damage that would be caused by a wheel lift and dolly system. The marks you show on the bottom of the bumper look consistent with a speed bump, curb or speed dip. There are a lot of scratches in your picture, with dirt and pitting occurring, these look like they have been there for a while. This is not consistent damage we see with our wheel lifts. Our trucks are very powerful and do not leave little scratches. Unfortunately in the very rare case when our trucks do cause damage, we end up ripping the entire bumper off, with headlights and grill causing significant damage, not scratches. Additionally the wheel lift we have is painted Blue, in the pictures you provided there is no blue paint transfer and only black. I would additionally like to explain the method on how your vehicle was towed to help you better understand how safe it is.
  
  Your vehicle was loaded by the front with the wheel lift. A wheel lift only touches the vehicles tires (rubber) from the front and rear, never touching the rims. It picks up the vehicle with out moving it or rotating the tires in any way. A strap is placed around the tire (rubber) to secure it into the wheel lift.  
  
  The rear of your vehicle was put on a set of Dollies. This is a method used to pick up the rear of the vehicle so it does not roll on the ground. The dolly system is a little set of wheels and axels that only touches the front and rear of the tires (rubber), never touching the rims of the vehicle.  Dollies do not allow tires to rotate, they pick up the vehicles tires and set them down in the same position they were when picked up.  
  
  When the vehicle is fully secured on the wheel lift and dollys, the entire car is lifted off the ground. This system does not allow the tires to rotate at any time as all 4 tires are lifted in a cradle and remain in the same position as we picked up the vehicle.
  
  We understand you were upset about your vehicle being towed and relocated. Often times we find people look very closely at their vehicle after they are towed and find pre existing damage they had not noticed before since they look so closely. Since a ******* Police Officer is on scene watching our driver, if damage was caused, a report would have been done. I did include a screen shot of the ******* Police Paperwork that they use showing they listed, dents, scratches, dings and xs on the vehicles rims and other parts of the vehicle. It also states on their paperwork the vehicle was dollied. At no point was your vehicle dragged, it was safely picked up and towed using the proper towing method. Marvs has been established since **** and have worked with the community and police departments ever since, building the Quality reputation that is our middle name. I know this is not the response you would like to hear, but it is factual in how your vehicle was towed.
  
  Thanks,
  ******************
  Owner

• Initial Complaint

  05/01/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Towed vehicle and wont release after multiple attempts to pay and salvage. Rude to myself and daughter and just keep running up the bill and make excuses why they cant help. Another example of a local business taking advantage of students.

  

  Business response

  05/08/2023

  Hi, thank you for reaching out regarding your daughters vehicle. We were called out by ************************* to respond to a vehicle accident. When we loaded your daughters vehicle, we gave the 3 most common options of where to take it. We offered to take it to a body shop, her residence or back to our secure yard. She chose to bring the vehicle back to our yard.  At no point was this vehicle impounded, it was brought here as a private accident and was not impounded. It was a couple weeks since the vehicle was brought into our yard till the first time your daughter came in to handle the vehicle.

  We are glad *********** from the accident, that's the most important part.
  

  On 4/26/2023 your daughter came into our office and wanted to get belongings out of the vehicle. At that time we verified ownership to make sure we are giving the correct person their belongings. I've watched the security footage and it looks like your daughter had a nice time here, my dispatcher ****** and her made friends since they had the same name. They were laughing and having a good time. A veteran of 50 years of my company (****) personally took her out to her vehicle, helped her take her license plates off and provided amazing customer service even offering to help them transfer stuff to her friends car. 
  

  On 5/1/2023 your daughter came into our office again profusely apologizing for your behavior towards **. She really wanted my dispatch to know, she was sorry for how you treated them over the phone. It's my understanding that you called our office a couple times the morning of 5/1/2023, threatening, demeaning, cursing and verbally abusing my dispatch staff. Never once did we treat your daughter the way you treated my staff. My staff did nothing wrong, took the abuse from you and still provided outstanding customer service to your daughter later when she came in. I also personally talked to your daughter, she said you didn't fully understand the situation and went off on us for no reason at all. We talked with her for maybe 20 minutes, laughing and having a good time. She informed ** that someone would be picking up the vehicle the next day. The company coming to pick up the vehicle could not do so in our yard, so I offered to tow the vehicle out of the lot and into a parking space in the front for free. We also took 5 days of storage off the bill to help in any capacity we could. Your daughter left here very happy and apologetic for your verbally abusive behavior. 
  

  On 5/2/2023 the towing company came and picked up the vehicle from the front of our office. Later that day he returned with the vehicle saying that the place he was taking it to refused the car. We don't normally take vehicles back once they have left here, however since I know she didn't have any other good option of where to take it, I allowed it to be put back where the driver picked it up from. After that driver left, I kindly called your daughter and let her know the issue the other tow company had. I also called you personally to let you know there was an issue, and the vehicle was back here. Your daughter informed me they had some sort of mix up at the place it was suppose to go and someone would come back out to pick it up. Again, we went above and beyond to take care of you and her as a customer. 
  
  On 5/3/2023 The other tow company picked up the vehicle. I called your daughter back and let her know they came and picked it up. Wished her a great day and good luck on her finals. 
  
  At no point did we ever refuse to give her belongings, or vehicle back. We provided amazing customer service every interaction. We never made up excuses and most importantly we helped in every capacity we could. I have also documented and saved the security footage from both interactions in the dispatch office.
  
  I hope in the future you can understand that taking the bulldozer approach is not always necessary, especially since you were not here in our office and you could not see how kind we are here. We are not like your typical towing company. We take pride in helping the community since ****. There's a reason we've been around so long and our customers love **.
  
  Thanks, 
  ******************
  Owner. 
  

  
  

• Initial Complaint

  09/08/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Sales and Advertising Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  ****'s towed our vehicle and demanded that we sign over the title to the vehicle offering to reduce the amount of his towing/storage bill by $600. When pressed to put their offer in writing, they rescinded the offer and demanded payment in full prior to allowing us to retrieve personal items from the vehicle. Someone from the lot made **** remarks toward our 20 year old daughter when she was there and later accused her of attempting to climb a fence, which she did not. Someone in their office later repeated this false accusation to a police officer when that officer called to let them know that there was no hold on the vehicle. We paid the bill but were charged $150 for "Title + Certs" although the company had not done any title work on the vehicle and had not sent any registered notice to us. They also charged a "10% cc Fee" ($103) for paying their invoice with a credit card. I have attached a copy of the invoice that they sent and a copy of the receipt that they sent after charging the credit card. Their website https://www.marvsqualitytowing.com) states that they accept all major credit cards but makes no mention of any additional charge for paying by credit card. I asked for a refund of the "10% cc fee" of $103 and the $150 charge for "Title + Certs". ******** Law (SB21-091, signed into law on 7 JUL 2021) limits the surcharge that *** be charged on credit card transactions to 2% of the total bill AND requires that the seller post signage at their location, online and on invoices disclosing any surcharge. Although a surcharge was mentioned during a call, it was NOT listed on the initial invoice, is not posted on the premises, nor is the surcharge mentioned on the website, as is required pursuant to ******** law. The surcharge was also in excess of the allowed 2% and was included on the final invoice that we only received after the card was charged. We filed a complaint with the *** which was decided in our favor. We should be receiving a refund soon.

  

  Business response

  09/09/2022

  Thank you for reaching out to us regarding this vehicle as well as your concerns.

  I understand you are the registered owner of this vehicle and this is the first time I am hearing from you.

  I spoke to your lawyer through a previous BBB complaint that has been settled. 

   

  A full refund has already been issued in regards to this complaint. 

   

  Please see a timeline of events below: 
  -Marv's was called by Colorado State Patrol Dispatch to respond to a 3 car accident due to the vehicle being disabled. 
  
  
  -The vehicle had significant damage to the front with multiple airbags gone off. The vehicle was not drivable. 
  
  
  
  -The vehicle was brought back to Marv's Storage lot 
  
  
  -The owner of the vehicle who does not live in the state (it's his daughter's car) called ****'s Dispatch asking about the accident.  Our dispatcher answered all questions the owner had and he asked what could be done with the vehicle going forward, My dispatcher gave the 3 most common answers on what can happen next with the vehicle. The owner was unsure what to do so my dispatcher informed him of 3 ways they could deal with the vehicle. Option one, He could call his insurance company and file a claim, then they could come handle the rest of the process with the vehicle, that's why we all have insurance. Option two, they could pay the full bill and have us or another tow company tow the vehicle to a repair facility or destination of their choosing. Option 3, we would reduce the tow bill significantly and the owner would turn the title to ****'s so we could crush the vehicle to remove it from our storage lot and the owner could retrieve all contents of the vehicle. Our Dispatchers never demand a single option, they simply give advise and options for people to choose the directions they would like to go when they are unsure of what to do. 
  
  
  -At this time ownership has not been proven.
  
  
  -The Owner said he would call back in a couple days while he thought about his options but said he most likely wanted to turn the title to Marv's with a reduced bill.
  
  
  -A couple days later 6/29/2022 the owner's daughter came to get items from the vehicle. She did not specify what she wanted to grab, she said she just wanted to clean it out. My dispatch verified that she was not the registered owner of the vehicle and she would be unable to retrieve all of her stuff until the registered owner wrote a notarized hold harmless with accompanying Valid registration and ID authorizing her to retrieve items. This vehicle was brought in under Colorado State Patrol - They require the registered owner only to handle vehicles. *Proof of ownership nor an authorization letter from the registered owner was provided at this time.* The daughter was very upset, went outside our facility screaming profanity and obscenities at our dispatch staff from outside.  She then proceeded to leave after threatening to break into our storage facility to retrieve her items. We had no further interactions with her.
  
  
  -Dispatch again talked with the registered owner over the phone and informed him we would need current proof of ownership, Copy of his ID and a notarized hold harmless. The registered owner did ask more about turning the title with a reduced fee and how he could do that as an option. At no time did my dispatch ever Demand a title. We simply are trying to help individual situations and offer advise. 
  
  
  -About 4 hours later a lawyer called (******************* LLP) offering to pay for the towing and storage pertaining to this vehicle. Dispatch informed him we still have not received all release documents and we could not release the vehicle until we received them. ****** said he wanted ASAP towing to come retrieve the vehicle after the proper documents were sent. Dispatch informed him the owner would need to write a notarised hold harmless releasing the vehicle to ASAP Towing.
  
  
  -On 6/30/22 we received all proper documents to allow a proper release of the vehicle to ASAP Towing in the morning from ******. ASAP towing picked up the vehicle later that day on 6/30/2022 and the vehicle and all its contents left with ASAP towing. 

*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. ↩