Complaint Review: Phillips Towing - Chicago Illinois

Great job on getting your money back from these subhuman leaches!

Had they not tried to pull a fast one to begin with, they wouldn't have refunded your money and now be out the gas and effort to tow you in the first place!

Some suggestions, DON'T shop at places with predatory towing practices.  Any trip to the post office is a definite time waster, try to avoid post offices at all times.  You shouldn't be banking with BOA!

If there are specific regulations as to when you can be towed and they didn't follow them, then by all means go after them for the maximum allowed for by law.

However, that was NOT your original post.  Your original post was written on the basis that as long as you shopped at the center you had the right to park there while you went to another business.  You also claim that this was in 3 minutes...unless you ran from that center to the BofA being able to make it back in the 3 minutes you claim is not logical.

So now you are saying that that parking lot is a "free for all" for parking, that no one can get towed...Why not go one step further and hold a sign up stating "free parking-no time limit".  No you probably won't do that...why?  Because you know that if that lot didn't tow people it would not be "half-full" it would be full, and a majority of the cars would not be customers.  It may not happen immediatly..but it would eventually happen.  This not only decreases the actual spaces for real customers, but increases the cost of the managment company to maintain the lot.

Using your example of the cop.  Going 2MPH over the speed limit is against the law, and you could be pulled you over.  Say they don't even give you a ticket but you are there for 10-15 minutes while they do all of the paperwork such as checking your licence.  Had you actually been going the speed limit you would have already been at your destination. 

Just like your case.  Had you actually not parked in their lot while you went to the bank you would not have had to spend all of this extra time to "prove" you are right.

And no I am not involved in the towing industry in any way.

I didn't have to notify the city and/or file a complaint. After a call to the property owner and a subsequent call to Phillips Towing and 20-minute conversation with them they agreed to a 100% refund. So I guess, my reasoning worked with them and is not as bad as it seems.

I admire your eagerness to find me guilty no matter what, however, you have to pick your weapon. You are using different approaches when talking about me and talking about the business that towed me. You need to use either a formal approach ("a violation is a violation" as written, by the way, by Coast, not Ramjet) or a reasonability approach (if you get charged for speeding 57 mph in the 55 mph zone, the judje will very likely toss that case to a garbage can and will tell the cop not to bother him with such cases anymore).

We have discussed the reasonable approach to that situation but you don't want to listen. OK, off we go to the formal one.

Here is a bit of the Illinois commercial relocation regulations from the Illinois Vehicle Code. Ignorance is good, but knowledge is the power, right?



625 ILCS 5/Ch. 18a Art. III heading)

ARTICLE III. REQUIREMENTS AND PROHIBITIONS

Sec. 18a-300. Commercial vehicle relocators - Unlawful practices. It shall be unlawful for any commercial vehicle relocator:



(10) To remove any vehicle from property on which signs are required and on which there are not posted appropriate signs under Section 18a-302;



Scrolling down to that section



(625 ILCS 5/18a-302) (from Ch. 95 1/2, par. 18a-302)

Sec. 18a-302. Owner or other person in lawful possession or control of private property - Right to employ relocation service. It shall be unlawful for an owner or other person in lawful possession or control of private property to remove or employ a commercial relocator to remove an unauthorized vehicle from such property unless written notice is provided to the effect that such vehicles will be removed, including the name, address and telephone number of the appropriate commercial vehicle relocator, if any. Such notice shall consist of a sign, posted in a conspicuous place in the affected area, of a size at least 24 inches in height by 36 inches in width. Such sign shall be at least 4 feet from the ground but less than 8 feet from the ground and shall be either illuminated or painted with reflective paint, or both. Such sign shall state the amount of towing charges to which the person parking may be subject. This provision shall not be construed as prohibiting any unit of local government from imposing additional or greater notice requirements.

No express notice shall be required under this Section upon residential property which, paying due regard to the circumstances and the surrounding area, is clearly reserved or intended exclusively for the use or occupation of residents or their vehicles.



The signs are about 10 feet above the ground (at your request took the tape measurer and measured it), and I am not even mentioning that they are one-sided and sparsely placed and not visible from some of the locations and the fact that some of the signs have the new charges affixed on the piece of comething that looks like paper or a masking tape and falling off. The inappropriate height that the signs are posted on makes it violate the Section 18a-302 and therefore any towing from that plaza illegal.

A violation is a violation. :)

I would totally support if the business owner towed the cars whose owners park there and then take the subway to work or go to some restaurant outside the plaza for a couple of hours. But the vast majority time wise and a 100% of my money at the time I was there were spent at that plaza. I was by far not the worst offender by for sure the easiest prey.

As Ramjet stated, a violation is a violation.  Whether or not others get away with it is totally irrelevent.  Your reasoning here is akin to saying that if others get away with murder, why shouldn't I.

As for the signs, your opinion about their height and distance apart means nothing.  If you believe they violate Cook County ordinances, take a tape measure out there and measure.  If they are in violation, notify Cook County, then sue the property owner and the towing company.

"I would totally support if the business owner towed the cars whose owners park there and then take the subway to work or go to some restaurant outside the plaza for a couple of hours."

So you consider it OK to violate policy for a few minutes but not a couple of hours. A violation is a violation.

"Towing a loyal customer because he stepped out of the property for a couple of minutes may be formally correct"

Admission of guilt is good enough for me.

I will be responding to your comments in one message since they somewhat criss-crossing.



#1 You changed your story twice



I don't think so. The first two businesses were located at the plaza, the BofA cash station was less than a 100 yards down the street. I spent about 30 minutes at the plaza and about 3 minutes off it that day.



And how long is it going to take to deposit one check (BofA takes checks without envelopes and the check has already been endorsed)? 11:38 I turned my back to my car and locked it. It took me about a minute to get to the end of the plaza, less than a minute to walk to the bank, a minute to complete a transaction (there was no line) and less than a minute to walk back to the plaza. Once I am at the plaza, I am officially at the site. So, I left it at 11:39 and was back at 11:42. At 11:44 or 45 I called the police.



The "Gone in 60 seconds" is a movie title about the folks who were the speed carjackers. These guys completed their business in less then 180 seconds which is no easy task as well.



#2 Technically, not a ripoff



The parking signs said the regular legal stuff like "No trespassing! Violators will be towed by...". No mentioning of the shopping limits, no mentioning of the property owner (not even a name). If we will be counting inches and seconds here, it looked to me like these signs were posted above the maximal height limit of 8 feet required by the Cook County law. I can also question the fact that they were further apart from each other than a 100 feet required by the same law.



I would totally support if the business owner towed the cars whose owners park there and then take the subway to work or go to some restaurant outside the plaza for a couple of hours. But the vast majority time wise and a 100% of my money at the time I was there were spent at that plaza. I was by far not the worst offender by for sure the easiest prey.



Let me give you another example I found researching my case. At the same plaza a guy parked his bosses' car and went to the post office to do some business for her. The post office's credit card reader was not working, so he ran to the same BofA to get some cash. Came back, and discovered that the car was gone. Technically, not a ripoff but tells you something about the practices this company employs.



#3 Entitlement?



I spent about 20 minutes at the post office, about 7 minutes at the Subway (just got a sandwich, didn't eat it there) and yes, about 3 minutes outside the plaza going to a cash station at the bank. You do the math.



Excuse me, what is the property owner trying to achieve? I am shopping at that center regularly, at least once a week and leaving there $500+ a month. Towing a loyal customer because he stepped out of the property for a couple of minutes may be formally correct, but pretty dumb from the business point of view.



=======================



Well, the latest news is that after some legal research and my conversation with the property management of the plaza and then Phillips Towing I've got a full refund of the towing fees. The lady I talked to was nice, however, fed me lots of marketing c..p (like "We are not sharing any profits with the property management" - of course you don't because it is illegal!), and we had a nice but long conversation until I actually got my money back.



I am still considerig bringing my car to the mechanic for a checkup because of some funny sounds in my front struts which I suspect were damaged when they were pulling my car out of the space it was parked at.

The generic "Damage before tow" on my receipt is not overly specific. And my struts were perfectly fine when I brought my car for the maintenance just about a week ago.

I've never operated a tow truck.  Can they really notice you leaving, locate your car,  back up the truck to your car, hook it up, prepare to tow, leave the lot, tow it to theirs and set it down in 3 minutes?

Pretty darn efficient!

Why does everyone who gets towed feel that they are somehow entitled to park in a businesses parking lot when they are not CURRENTLY a customer of that business/center?

 As the law says, it has to be a reasonable time. 3 minutes on the half-empty parking lot after conducting 2 counts of business there for me is not reasonable,
- So you were able to go to the Post Office, and the Bank during lunch hour and return to where your car was in 3 minutes?    It is doubtful that you could go to one business in 3 minutes, yet you are trying to convince people that you made it to two.  
 
Just how long do you think you should be allowed to park in a businesses lot if you are not a customer?

I will also change the location where I shop.
- Great line.  So because they towed your car when you were at the bank or post office down the street you are not going to not shop in that center anymore.  Well you weren't shopping at that center when they towed you. 

Sorry Shopper, but this is not a ripoff.  First off, I'm not a fan of the way some towing companies are patroling parking lots.  You never stated what the towing signs said, but I imagine they said something like "Parking for shopping center customers only, violaters will be towed.".  Even though you did business at 2 shops there, once you left the shopping center's property to go to BofA, you ceased being a customer.  The number of cars in the lot and the amount of time you were gone is irrelevent.  It would appear that the shopping center owner is getting tired of providing free parking for other businesses in the area.

"Gone in 60 seconds"

"Ran to the post office, got what I needed at Subway, went to the BofA, came back in about 3 minutes"

"3 minutes on the half-empty parking lot after conducting 2 counts of business"

Was it one minute or was it three? Was it two places of business or was it three? Your recollection of the facts appears to be hazy.

It's unlikely that you could complete your business in any one of these places in three minutes and even less likely that you could do all three in three minutes (or was it 60 seconds?).