Complaint Review: Elite Auto World Or E&B Towing

Our inoperative car was towed from our apt. complex on 01/13/03. I arrived home just as the towtruck was lifting the car upon the flatbed. I asked him first, did my husband call you?

He said that the apt. manager had called him to move the car, due to lease clauses that states you cannot park inoperative cars or unregistered vehicles on the apt. property. I said okay and then politely asked him not to leave until I called my husband and the apt. manager.

As I went into the house and talked with my husband, I came outside with the cordless phone and noticed that the front tire and wheel had been damaged. The address on the truck said Democrat rd. Next thing I know, he drove off. An apt. groundskeeper, Ben, was there to witness it.

Later that day we called the apt. manager and she gave us the # to the EMB Towing Company she'd called. It led is to Elite Auto on Elvis Presley. After work, around 4:30 pm, we went there to see about our car. Our car was not there! So we asked where it was, and the guy, Justin Foster, said that his partner probably has it.

So we asked about the fees to recover and the storage fees. Since our engine is locked up and Elite had auto repair facilities, we asked him to take a look at our engine and give us a qoute on the price to repair the engine. I also informed him that I noticed damage to the front drivers side wheel as the tow guy lifted the car.

He said he didn't know anything about that. He said that since he would look at the engine, he would not charge storage. He also assured us that the car would be there on his property by morning. So we agreed and gave him the car keys.

The next day, the 14th, we called and he needed more time to look at engine. So on the 15th, we went there to pick up the car and get a repair quote. When looking at the car, my husband got to finally see firsthand the damage that had been done to the wheel. We asked Justin for the towing company's contact info, and he agreed to give it to us.

A few minutes later he refused to give us the tow company's info, saying that he nor his partner is liable for the damages to our vehicle.It was a caucasian guy driving a red flatbed towtruck, with a democrat Rd. address who actually towed our car.

He said that they would not be liable and that our apt. complex would be liable, so we had to called Holly, the apt. manager, to see who is responsible for damaging our tire. She said that the tow company is responsible. She gave us the number she'd called and when I called it, it rang in the next office. I could actually hear the guy answer the phone in the next room and I told him it was a mistake.

So we tried contacting an attorney for lega advice, with no success. We did not want to take the car off his property until we found out who was responsible, so to avoid confusion, we left the car there. Justin verbally informed us that if we left the car, he would charge storage at $15 per day, starting from that day, the 16th. He also informed us, in an irritated voice, that he wanted it off his property.

We then asked him for a rate card. 3 days earlier he stated the storage fee as $30 a day, so I knew he was fickle. We got him to write down on a receipt that he'd charge us $15 a day starting from the 16th. During the next few days we kept trying to contact someone for legal advice concerning the damaged vehicle. No success.

So on Jan 24th, a Friday, we came to check on the car and decide if it was worth it to pay the recovery and storage fees, plus we would have to pay for someone else to tow it back to our residence, or to leave the car there and let them acquire a lien to it. When we got there around 5:15pm, we asked to talk to Justin. We ended up being helped by his partner Patrick Beckham.

We asked to have a look at our car and could we get personal property out of it. He said sure. He could not find our car keys on the key storage board, which upset me. So Justin tells us that they are in the trunk key hole of our car out in the yard. "Why would they be out there!", I asked him. He proclaims that no one would take the car anyways because the engine doesn't work.

But we had personal property in our Car! What mechanic would do that? He did not exercise care and concern for the safety of our car and personal belongings. So we go out there and find the car unlocked with the keys in the ignition! That means that someone could easily enter the car. Then we noticed that All Four of our nice hubcaps are missing, even the one from the damaged wheel! We ask them where our hubcaps are, and they say they don't know.

That's theft of property if you ask me! How could they Not know where our belongings are. It's their property, which is gated. We get inside the car and find that our personal property has been ransacked and rambled through, a battery that we had been storing in the trunk was missing, and an expensive african mask gift was missing, as well as the ashtray ripped out of it's place under the radio (all the money was missing from it).

We asked them who had been through our car and informed them that this is a storage facility and no one has permission to enter the car after the initial repair period (the 14th). The property is gated so how could an outside person come in and steal car parts? We have been abused and mistreated since our car was first towed.

This company has no written policies concerning tow or storage and may have even allowed employees to rip-off car parts from stored vehicles. This business needs to be shut down and needs to fess up to their wrong and unlawful actions and practices. They need to give us back our hubs and restore all that they have stolen or damaged.

Hannah
Memphis, Tennessee
U.S.A.