ComplaintsforBill's Towing & Recovery

• Initial Complaint

  04/06/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  On Saturday, April 1, my mother’s vehicle was towed from a residential street that did not have any “no parking” signs or potential towing signs posted. My sister was driving the car at the time because my mother was visiting me in another state. My sister is on my mother’s insurance, and is covered and allowed to drive the vehicle. My mother is elderly and my sister takes care of her. Upon finding out about the tow, my mother called the towing company and was informed that she had to be present to pick up the vehicle. The woman who answered, was extremely short and rude to my mom. She was being treated as though she was some kind of criminal by the business. My sister was told she was unable to retrieve the vehicle, even though she was the local person within 10 minutes of the towing company and the car. Instead, the towing company forced my mother to return to the location which was almost 7 hours from where she was visiting me, telling her she had to be the one to retrieve it, and with every day that went by that she didn’t retrieve it, she would be charged an additional fee of approx. $100 a day. As it stood, only after less than 24 hours, the towing company was charging her an excess of $150 for the retrieval. Upon learning this, we quickly made arrangements for me to bring her back the next day, which was the soonest I could get her back due to time and distance. When we arrived, were told that it would cost an additional hundred dollars because we forced someone to have to come open up the shop because it was a Sunday. So, by the time we arrived, which was less than 24 hours after the original tow, it cost my mother over $300 to retrieve her vehicle—when, in actuality, and according to the man who processed her payment, we could have produced a notarized letter, which would’ve given my sister permission to retrieve it. This company must be held accountable for committing fraud, and price gouging— their prices were times the amount of other companies.

  

  Business response

  04/20/2023

  To Whom it May Concern:

  To properly address the complaint, we will need the vehicle owner's name, the date of impound, the type of vehicle and where the vehicle was towed from.

  I believe I can address the 2 concerns that are the basis of the complaint.

  1.      On any vehicle that is brought into impound, it is common for Police Departments to put a requirement on vehicles to be released to the registered owner only. **This practice protects both the vehicle owner as well as our business and is common practice among any reputable towing companies impounds as well as any city or state run impound lots.

  2.      Fees charged by our business include an original impound fee of $175.00, storage fees @ $25.00/day. If an owner can not pick up their vehicle between 8am and 5pm there is an additional gate fee of $75.00 to cover the cost of calling an employee in on their time off to release the vehicle.

  Any further assistance regarding this matter would require the information referred to in the beginning of this letter.

• Initial Complaint

  12/21/2021

  Complaint Type:

  Customer Service Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I ***** ******* , had my car towed by this company. The very next day and several weeks into them having my car , I was unable to make contact with them . I stopped at shop couple times daily .they are always closed at the shop in Moundsville, wv area. And when I was able to reach a lady employee (very rudely) talk down to me. Told me I had to have ID. All of my ID I believe was in the car at time of tow. And they refuse to let me look for the ID in my vehicle. Told me at the time my bill was $500. I’m sure double that now. My ss card my birth certificate everything I own is in the vehicle. Please help in this matter.

  This is a red 2008 Ford Focus.  Has been sitting in the gate since oct , 2021
  

  Customer response

  01/10/2022

  This is a red 2008 Ford Focus.  Has been sitting in the gate since oct , 2021

  

  Business response

  02/08/2022

  To Whom it may concern:
  
  On January 14,2022 *******, alleged mother of J**** *******, called and spoke with a representative from Bill's Towing. The family was offered to only be responsible for half the cost of their current fees owed. ******* stated they didn't have money for it and have not called back since then. If you have any further questions please let me know.
  
  Thank you,

  Bill's Towing & Recovery 

*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. ↩