So I was going through a very nasty divorce, and then lost my job. I will readily admit I was not in the perfect frame of mind; however, the office staff at Western Towing in Peoria AZ was AWFUL!!! Three weeks prior to my car being towed, my husband of 15 years served me with divorce papers, silly me I didn't even realize that we were having problems. The three weeks to the day... I was at my job of 19 years and got called into the office and informed that I was being downsized. Again silly me, when my boss said this I initial thought they were telling me to lose weight, but no I was let let go.
On the way home that afternoon, through a tear induced fog I was speeding and rightly so got pulled over in Peoria AZ. When the officer asked me for my license, insurance and registration I handed it all over to him, and acknowledged that i was speeding and probably not in the right state of mind to be driving. The officer went back to his car for some time, and then came up and informed me that my insurance had not been renewed, nor had my registration. (yes, these are things i should have known but my husband always handled all of this) He then explained the 30-day hold policy briefly to me. I didn't really comprehend what he was saying at first and thought he was telling me to fix the issues, but not drive my car for 30 days.
When a bright red and white tow truck pulled up, it was all I could do not to put my head in my hands and cry my heart out. However, the driver came over to me after speaking to the officer, and explained to me in detail what was happening, and what I could do to fix this issue. He was polite, friendly, and for working in such a business he was professionally dressed. Don (his name on his shirt) even gave me time to retrive my personal possesions from my car with officer approval. The very next day I called my ins company and reinstated the policy, and even filed for a sr-22 before MVd told me I had to so I could pay my fines and retrieve my car. I then got a ride to MVD and reinstated my registration. I then called the number on the card that Don gave me, and reached a lady by the name of Brandy.
I never realized a person could be so rude!!! I tried to explain my situation, and that I had fixed the issues and would like to retrieve my car. But she kept cutting me off, putting me on hold, even breathing loudly in the phone as if I was a bother. Finally, experated, I asked for her supervisor and was told she was the only person in the "d**n" office. (her words) I, tried again to talk to her but again she cut me off. She said "listen lady I don't have time to explain this to you more than once, so listen up... It is after normal hours so you have to make an appointment to see your car, and pay money for a gate fee to do so, I can't do a dang thing for you until you fix your personal issues (hadn't I already said they were fixed) and if you come now or the next two days you have to pay a gate fee because you didn't get your business handled quicker". I promptly hung up on her.
I waited to the next morning and called the office again, but again Brandy answered the phone. I wanted to hang up immediately but I tried to talk to her again. This time she was a smiggen nicer when she simply told me that the front office was open on Saturday from 8-noon and I could forgo the gate fee if I was there within that time frame. I hurried down to their office, provided the necessary paperwork, and was prepared to pay the charges to get my car. The young girl in the office (wouldn't provide me her name) told me what the charges were and now I got mad. I was charged with the tow (understandably) and four days storage. I explained that I had only been pulled over two days prior. The girl explained that it was not necessarily calendar days, but time in the storage facility (huh?). Unwilling to argue any longer, I simply paid the price and had my car released. Another Driver walked back with me to my car, and helped me get it out of the yard. Again this driver, Dennis according to his shirt was polite, and friendly.
I stewed over paying so much over the rest of the weekend, so on Monday morning I called the office number again, and again reached Brandy (give the girl time off, she may be nicer!) and asked to speak to a supervisor, now she had all kinds of time to try to get out of me why i needed a supervisor, who I was mad at, and even tried to turn it into a gossip session. I figured she probably just liked to know the dirt. Finally, after repeated requests I was tranferred to a supervisor and reached a man by the name of Curtis. And if I thought Brandy was rude, I now know who trained her to be so. This man was so rude, condesending, and obviously in the wrong field. Any field with any customer service would not do for him. He wanted to explain to me why all this was my fault (I realized this without Mr. obvious pointing this out), he justified the storage costs because of the time the car was brought in was before the close of the business day, and was picked up three days later. (last time I checked Thursday-Sat was still only two days no matter how you cut and slice it) after going back and forth on this for some time, he finally said "ya you are right, but since you didn't get it before Friday you have to pay for the weekend." HUH? Saturday 8-noon was a posted business hour, why should I pay that entire time when I arrived during open business hours. Through the majority of the call, he appeared to be bothered that I was bothering him, and was practically grunting at me instead of talking to me. I am a reasonable person if he would give me a sane answer. Finally, I got really upset, and didnt want to go through this turture any longer. I ended the call and am eating the extra costs for the tow.
Morale of the story, if you have to be towed in Peoria, Arizona... Be extra thankful and polite to the drivers as they appear to be the best of the company, beware of Brandy when calling the office, Retrieve your vehicle as quickly as you can, ask little questions, and if ever in need of a supervisor, and get Curtis, hang up and try again! I am sure there are other supervisors there that are more personable, polite and at least willing to offer a reasonable explanation of the charges instead of grunting in the phone at you! There has to be, because Don and Dennis were such nice younger men.