Complaint Review: S.W.A.T Towing - E & R Towing - Tempe Arizona

Worst 'customer service' ever. If you can even call it service. I got my car towed from the parking lot WHERE I WORK, and was currently working. I had just arrived for work (I deliver pizzas for Dominos) and was leaving the store with my first delivery of the day to find my car gone. That was on Sunday night, it is now 4 days later and I have been in an endless battle with them, and have been trying to get them to release my car free of charge since I had every right to be parking where I was. I have had the head manager of Vista Del Sol (since Vista is the property manager and the ones responsible for the contract) call the towing manager to take care of things and they are still arguing the case. I have been unable to even get my purse out of my car which has everything in it, my i.d, my check card, my sun card, everything. So I have no access to my money, even if I wanted to pay them, and because I don't have my suncard I have no access to my apartment building. No progress is being made and they have already made me miss one shift at work, and if I do not get my car back tomorrow, I will be missing yet another shift. I don't understand how the business they conduct is legal, but the cops are utterly useless in the situation. I called and spoke to an officer who told me he could do nothing and that it was a civil matter, even though they have basically stolen my car and are keeping it away from me on their 'private property.' They claim that it is not allowed for them to let you on the property unless you have paid for the car, and when you tell them that your money is in the car and all the means you have of possibly getting money (credit cards, i.d, check cards) they simply say that it isn't their problem. They also claim that they are unable to retrieve anything from your car if you request them to because there have been reports of theft (which I wouldn't have a hard time believing). On top of this claim they also say that their extremely ghetto impound lot is full of security cameras (might I mention that there are absolutely NO lights on the property), so this all about knocks their whole 'I can't get things from your car because then you'll say I stole stuff' claim, because if there are so many security cameras, then they'd be able to prove their innocence against said theft beyond a doubt. A bluff perhaps? A few other reasons they claim to have against you entering the property (unless you've paid) are that people have tried to hit them with their cars (which they probably deserve for being the rudest people on the planet), pulled guns on them etc, all of which, might I add, could be done regardless of whether you have paid them the money to retrieve the car or not. Anyway, back to my specific situation, I am infuriated at all parties, Vista Del Sol and SWAT Towing both because, Vista was a very poorly thought out development. They have a retail plaza that can hold about maybe 4 businesses (I haven't counted all the empty lots), but they have not added any kind of parking for the employees that work at these businesses. All the spots behind the retail plaza are metered spots, or meant for 'Future residents of VDS'. I am a DELIVERY DRIVER, therefor I need to have my car on the premises to do my job. This was obviously not taken into account. They have painted Dominos logos on two spots behind the store, which, are definitely not enough spots, because we have at least 2 people working in the store at all times, not including the upwards of 2 or more drivers, and sometimes as many as 10 drivers at the same time. Soon, there will be more businesses in the Vista Del Sol retail plaza opening and 4 times the amount of employees and no where for these employees to park. If Vista does not do something soon, there will be complaints, like mine, multiple times a day everyday, and it is going to get old pretty quick. If the manager of my store and the manager at Vista are unable to have my car released free of charge after being towed from my own work, than potential employees be warned, do not get a job at the Vista Del Sol retail plaza. If you do, you will have the constant worry of getting your car towed, and having to pay the meter and make sure that it never runs out of time, not even for a minute, for the length of your entire shift. This idea is completely irrational for a delivery driver at Dominos, we'd be tossing coins into meters when we might be parked in the spot for maybe 5mins at the most, and we'd go into the store, pick up another order to deliver, leave, and have to pay yet another meter upon our return. Because of this incredibly ridiculous situation SWAT towing has made a 'verbal agreement' with VDS not to tow cars that are marked with any kind of Dominos logo. BUT, when I called and told them about this, they said, we only CHOOSE not to tow your marked cars, we still have all the legal right to do so if we wanted. So where does this leave the employees? I know VDS has given the managers of my store parking passes for the parking garage, but the managers are not all students and/or residents of VDS, and do not all have a suncard, which is required to gain access to the parking garage, or any kind of entrance onto the VDS premises. So unfortunately if you happen to get your car towed from the 'employee parking lot' at VDS, you will be tossed into a never ending phone tag battle that will result in nothing, beside maybe a discount of half off (which is still $75 more than you should be paying) and having the pleasure of being subjected to the most ruthless human beings, ever (aka Swat towing employees). I am at a loss for words at how to describe how mad I am at this mess and cannot believe that they are able to treat people the way they do. Something needs to be done, and soon, signs for the second business in the plaza, (some kind of hotdog joint) located right next to Dominos, have already started being hung.

Cara

Tempe, Arizona

U.S.A.