Failure to be available timely for property
owner to get contact information as to where property owner's car had been
towed resulting in unreasonable charges. AND Failure to timely get property
owner documentation property owner needed to handle a dispute with
Gherthner's towing vender resulting in accruing impound charges
I am the owner of condominium
property managed by the above referenced company. They authorized my son's car to be towed
for abandonment on June 30, 2006. I
called our manager, PM Contact, on May 1st to find out how I could claim the
car. It is not uncommon for things to
be slow when dealing with PM Contact.
On May 5th I did talk to PM Contact and got the number for the towing
company that had my car. I called the
company promptly after getting the information which in turn results in
another dispute with the towing company.
I have attached that complaint for further details.
In order to validate the legality
of the tow I requested PM Contact's assistance. It took from June 7th to June 13th to
receive documentation. Contact was
made daily via phone and email. Thus
lengthens the time of the dispute.
On behalf of my 17 year old son, we
do apologize and will agree to fair and reasonable charges for his mistake.
You assistance in this matter is
greatly appreciated.
Email Documentation Follows:
The document arrived.
________________________________________
From: Resident
Sent: Tuesday, June 13, 2006 1:18
PM
To: 'PM Contact’
Subject: RE: URGENT REQUEST FOR
DOCUMENTATION
Thank you. FYI has not yet arrived.
________________________________________
From: PM Contact mailto:PM
Contact.@Property Management Company.com
Sent: Tuesday, June 13, 2006 10:03
AM
To: Resident
Subject: RE: URGENT REQUEST FOR
DOCUMENTATION
- I was not in the office yesterday. I will resend the fax today.
PM CONTACT
________________________________________
From: Resident mailto:.Resident@
Sent: Friday, June 09, 2006 3:52 PM
To: PM Contact
Subject: RE: URGENT REQUEST FOR
DOCUMENTATION
Thank you so much. On behalf of my 17 year old son, we do
apologize and will agree to fair and reasonable charges.
However, Towing Company did not
return my phone calls for three days (again of which I have phone logs
verifying that I had made attempts to call)
On Monday the 5th I spoke with the
owner, Owner. You gave me his number
on that day. He told me he would call
me back with the charges. He did not
call. In turn I called the company on
Tuesday the 6th and left a message on their answering machine. There was not
a response to that message. I called
on Wednesday the 7th and Owner answered the phone. I stated I was frustrated because of the
circumstances that took me so long to get the matter resolved. He continued to tell me that he had never
talked with me and nor did any of the three personnel at his company talk
with me and I was lying to get out of storage charges.
After about three minutes of very
disrespectful dialog, he quoted me a charge of $321.00 to pick the car
up. Please understand I am not trying
to be unreasonable here but, have researched towing charges and this is not
considered to be a reasonable and customary charge. Furthermore, I would consider the storage
charges past Monday, May 5th to be extremely unfair. This is my son's responsibility and he
simply cannot come up with that kind of money for his mistake.
Mr. Owner had no concern for what I
had to say or negotiation. That is why
I am asking for your help.
You fax has not come thru. Could you try again using fax number ***
*** ****? Thank you.
________________________________________
From: PM Contact mailto:PM
Contact.@Property Management Company.com
Sent: Friday, June 09, 2006 3:26 PM
To: Resident
Subject: RE: URGENT REQUEST FOR
DOCUMENTATION
- On Saturday, May 27, 2006 a sticker was
placed on the car. No response was
received. The parking sticker was removed.
The vehicle remained in the same spot at 7:00 A.M. on Tuesday, May 30,
2006. The vehicle was re-checked at
noon on May 30, 2006 and was still in the same spot. I received Board authorization to tow on
Tuesday, May 30, 2006 and faxed an authorization to Towing Company. I am forwarding a copy of the authorization
to you by fax at. Please confirm
receipt by e-mail.
So I can inform the Board, please
let me know the specific problems you are having with Towing Company.
thanks,
PM Contact, CMCA AMS
Property Management Company
________________________________________
From: Resident mailto:.Resident@
Sent: Friday, June 09, 2006 2:31 PM
To: PM Contact
Subject: RE: URGENT REQUEST FOR
DOCUMENTATION
Thanks for passing along this
email.
PM Contact your last incoming
message to either of my phones has a date stamp of Wed, 6/7 1:51 p.m. My phone records indicate Resident that I
have called you three times since then.
Sorry I don't have record of any incoming messages from you in
response. Perhaps there is something
wrong with to phone system. I will
check into that as not to state anything incorrectly.
As this matter is accruing charges
is there a possibility you could leave me the documentation taped to your
office door today? I will be happy to
come by and pick it up?
________________________________________
From: PM Contact mailto:PM
Contact.@Property Management Company.com
Sent: Friday, June 09, 2006 2:00 PM
To: Resident
Cc:
Property Management Company;
Property Management Company
Subject: RE: URGENT REQUEST FOR
DOCUMENTATION
I am forwarding your e-mail to the
Board of Directors. I will send you
the authorization documentation next week.
Since we have discussed this matter
over the phone and as you yourself stated in several phone messages “we are
playing phone tag” your comment about my not returning phone calls is
incorrect.
PM Contact, CMCA AMS
Property Management Company
________________________________________
From: Resident mailto:.Resident@
Sent: Friday, June 09, 2006 1:25 PM
To: PM Contact
Cc:
Property Management Company;
Property Management Company
Subject: URGENT REQUEST FOR
DOCUMENTATION
June 9, 2006
Resident
PM Contact PM Contact, via e-mail
PM Contact.@Property Management Company.com
Property Management Company and
Company
Re:
Towing of Mitsubishi 3000GT
Ms. PM Contact,
I have made three attempts to call
you by phone in regards to the above referenced matter. I have left messages on your voice mail and
have not received a return call.
Therefore, I will try written communication to request what I need.
In order to deal with your vendor,
Towing Company, and make sure they are practicing fair and reasonable
business dealings I need to request documentation from you. As I understand there are responsibilities
of towing companies by law to obtain proper authorization in order to tow,
store and place a lien on a vehicle.
Refer to Exhibit 1 sections A, B & C for specifics of these laws.
I am requesting, from you, a copy
of the documentation as outlined in Exhibit 1; Section C, (d)(1). I would also
suggest the you stress to the board that vender selection should be carefully
made in order to make sure that property owners are not put in a position to
deal with companies who have less that ethical business practices.
Your prompt assistance is greatly
appreciated. In advance thank you for
your time.
Sincerely,
Resident
/R
Attachments
Cc: Property
Management Company, Better Business Bureau Contact
via e-mail Property Management
Company@Property Management Company.com
Property Management Company, Secondary
Better Business Bureau Contact
via e-mail Property Management
Company@Property Management Company.com
EXHIBIT 1
Section A
Source:
State of
Office of the
Attorney General
425
Opinion No. 00-144
Authorization by private property
owners to tow or store vehicles.
QUESTION
1. Does
2. May
a property manager (or similarly situated person) or lessee confer the
requisite authorization to tow or to store a vehicle pursuant to TN. Code
Ann. § 55-16-12?
OPINIONS
1. The
statute does not allow a blanket authorization; it requires and expresses
written authorization for each vehicle.
2. No.
Section B
Source:
(a) "towing
firm shall obtain an express written authorization for towing and storage of
each vehicle from the owner of the private property for which the vehicle is
to be towed. Such authorization shall include all of the information required
by 66-19-103(d)."
Section C
Source:
(a) (1) (A) ""towing
firms" shall be entitled to a lien upon all vehicles, which lawfully
come into their passion and are retained in their possession until all
reasonable charges due are paid."
(4) A garagekeeper or towing firm
may not collect any storage or related fees for any period of time in which
the garagekeeper or towing firm was in violation of subdivision (a)(1) with
respect to a motor vehicle or associated equipment.
(c) "No person, firm, or
entity shall have a right to a lien on any vehicle that has been towed
without authorization of a police department or the owner of the
vehicle"
(d) (1) Any authorization made by a
police department to a vehicle shall be made in writing. Such authorization shall include:
(A)
The name of the officer giving authorization;
(B)
The year, make and model, and color of the vehicle to be towed;
(C)
The reason for the tow;
(D)
The license plate number, if any; and
(E) The vehicle identification number, if it
is ascertainable.
Consumer's Desired Resolution:
Accountability for poor service
resulting in unnecessary charges
BBB Processing
06/13/2006 web BBB Complaint Received by BBB
06/20/2006 JIH BBB Member Complaint Validated by BBB
Operator
06/20/2006 Otto EMAIL Send Acknowledgement to Consumer
06/20/2006 Otto FAX Inform Member of Complaint
07/03/2006 OttO BBB No response to first notice to
business
07/03/2006 OttO FAX Second Notice to Business
07/14/2006 OttO BBB No Response received from Business on 2nd Notice
Notice the companies non response even to the BBB
07/14/2006 OttO BBB Schedule a call to Member/Consumer
“URGENT REQUEST FOR DOCUMENTATION”
**What part of URGEN REQUEST FOR DOCUMENTATION after at least three unreturned phone calls is considered timely and good customer service all resulting in accruing charges from their vendor????? I am confused.