Complaint Review: General Towing Service

 I am the owner of this company who has been in business with the city of hendersonville for now 8 years. There is a series of checks and balances that the city municipality has in place to deter such behavior from any entity who would not represent the city in a proffesional manner.Any person with a valid complaint need only contact Kay Franklin At 615 822 1000. The outlandish comments and this rip off report is being used wrongfully to perpetrate such a machiavellian posture for vindictive gain over embellished circumstances.

Please trust that if an entity was in business, representing the city, its staff would question any complaint as it would be of paramount concern to the city officials. This complaint is about 3 and 1/2 years ago and no complaint was never officially made to the city. I am a Christian man who runs his business professionally and unfortunately no one would go to this site to say something good.

As to the woman who failed to yield to the right of way and manipulated the circumstances, I am sorry you lost your vehicle however after i comply with the state requirements and sold the vehicle, our company lost money due to unpaid wrecker bill and storage, taxes, employee payrol and clean up detail and repair fees we lost an estimated 1850.00 .

I wish we had a way to complain to the vehicle owners other than wasted money on attorney fees and the dreaded slow pay options available to the defendant through the courts. Please know that the intent of the rip off report is to protect the consumer when they have exhausted all means by normal avenues such as the better business bureau. These channels were never utilized and we are Not a member but we are in good standing with them. Any questions call lee at 615 779 8707. Thank you

First of all, it should be noted that no business can please all of the people all of the time. Usually, about once a year, we have someone like this lady - that wants something for nothing - and proceeds to file complaints in an effort to force us to give in to their unreasonable demands. We have towed thousands and thousands of vehicles, and have thousands and thousands of satisfied customers. We have a huge repeat customer base, and this includes customers that have had their vehicles impounded, or towed in as a result of a police requested tow. Please feel free to check out http://www.gobbb.com (Better Business Bureau of Middle Tennessee's website), and do a search for General Towing. Our company has a SATISFACTORY rating, as opposed to the false information to the contrary supplied by this individual.

The problem is that a satisfied customer is not going to visit a website such as "Rip Off Report", and write a positive review, since they were NOT "ripped off". This is a forum for the handful of people who want something for nothing, or feel that they are special in some way, or entitled to special pricing and discounts. We do NOT make exceptions for people who threaten us or try to intimidate us with negative reports, complaints, etc. If we were to allow that to happen, it would not be fair to the thousands of honest people who pay their bills in full.

Neither this forum nor the BBB should be used as tactics to intimidated, bully, coerce, or threaten businesses to give in to someone's demands. It simply will not happen. The purpose for these forums is for a customer to file a legitimate complaint about unfair business practices. NOT for a person that could not afford to redeem their vehicle(s), to trash an honest company with legitimate charges against such. In this situation in particular, the lady did NOT have a valid driver's license, and did NOT have liability insurance, as required by law, and she was at fault in the accident.

In addition, she was given a citation for the accident, in which she also commented that she was not going to be able to afford to pay. That is the part she failed to disclose in her "rip off report". Her vehicle had a title loan against it that she had just recently received, and the $200 was from a check / cash advance company, that was obtained prior to the accident, and obviously for other reasons / expenses, since she could not have predicted the accident. She stated at the scene that she did NOT have the money for the tow, therefore the vehicle was towed to our lot. She even inquired as to whether she could pay us by check, which we obviously refused after she made the comment that she did not have the money for the tow. As for repairing the vehicle, SHE asked if my husband could repair it, and he agreed to get an estimate of the damages and what it would cost to repair it, while we had it on our lot, in an effort to HELP HER OUT.

This was NOT the reason for the tow to our lot. We got a written estimate from a local reputable body shop, in which the repairs would have exceeded the value of the vehicle. We did NOT charge her for obtaining the estimate for her, even though we were going out of our way to try to help her. She did NOT obtain an independent estimate, nor did she ever have anyone come out to look at the vehicle.

Therefore, she has absolutely no idea what it would have cost to repair the vehicle, the extent of the damages, or what would be involved to repair it. There was extensive suspension damage, in addition to the body damage. We never wanted her vehicle, and when it was sold at auction, as required by law, we barely covered the outstanding charges on the vehicle, which is all we ever wanted - to get the charges and fees paid. In addition, we did NOT repair the vehicle prior to selling it.

If it were truly worth $5600.00, and only had $700.00 in damages, we would have been much better off repairing it prior to selling it. But, the extent of the damage was such that we would have lost money if we had repaired it prior to selling it. You cannot rely on a Kelly Blue Book value, when a vehicle has been wrecked. The vehicle was a 1997 model, and was not worth anywhere near what she claimed. She filed a BBB complaint, and they agreed with us, as evidenced by our SATISFACTORY rating with them. We DID answer the Tennessee Department of Cunsumer Affairs complaint.

As for the news media complaint, they came out and talked to us, and found that there was no wrongdoing on our part, and did not pursue the story. And, if the police department had truly believed her story - we would NOT have a towing license from them. We provided all of our paperwork, information and proof, and that satisfied them. Approximately 99% of the vehicles that we tow in that are unclaimed, are sold as junk / scrap, and they bring approx. $200.00. We do NOT want anyone's vehicle, EVER, and we would be MUCH better off if people would just pay their bills and redeem their vehicles. We do NOT want to "legally steal" older model wrecked / totalled vehicles. By the time we have a wrecker bill against a vehicle, hold it for sixty days as required by law, have it run with the state to get the owner / lienholder info., send certified mail, and place a newspaper ad, we LOSE money on each and every vehicle that is sold as scrap.

If this lady had insurance for the accident, the insurance company would have almost certainly totalled it out. It should also be noted, that her "estimate" for repair, according to a statement she made, came from her son who was incarcerated in jail at the time, (which is why she was "raising her grandkids".) He never saw the damage, nor was he a licensed repair facility, nor was he in a position to give an estimate or make the repairs. With complaints such as this, you must consider the source.