Beware the tow truck man

[little_wan]

So here's what happened to me today
On my way to Lethbridge on highway 2 minding my own business, when the truck infront of me swurves out to the left. I suddenly spot a huge piece of plastic in the middle of my lane (appeared to be one of those things you use to cover the bed of your truck) so i also swurve. I how ever was not as fortunate as the 4 wheel drive truck and lost control, sliding down the highway sideways until i finally hit the ditch.
So i'm not too mad, at least i'm alive i tell myself. So i call AMA to get a tow truck. They say hang tight, tow truck will arrive in 30 minutes. Sure enough, a tow truck arrives, parks to the side, and tells me theirs a towing ban so he's gonna give me a ride to Calgary and then tow my car when the ban is lifted. So far so good.
Hours later, i get a call saying my car is now safely in the compound. The bill...$200. So i asked him why he was charging me when he was contracted by AMA. Turns out...he wasn't. He was just a random jerk off who decided to steal AMA's business.
So then i call AMA asking wtf, and they tell me to send the bill to the reimbursement department, but i won't even get fully reimbursed. I'll just get a "club rate" for the job that other jerk off did for me.
So lesson i learned: MAKE SURE the tow truck that arrives, is the one that AMA dispatched to you, or whatever tow trucking company you call, cause apparently there are f'ers out there just waiting to rip you off on an already cold and miserable day.

[Melinda]

Smart of them, but brutal for you! Hopefully the reimbursement was enough to cover most of what you had to pay out!

[turbo'dGSR]

was it an AMA truck??

[little_wan]

Nope, AMA contracts other companies to do it depending on where you are stuck.

[wildrice]

damn, that's brutal

[00redLUDE]

You see all these trucks on the 401 in Toronto, when I was there, waiting for any cars to break down, or car accidents so they could give you a tow and charge you a huge amount for. Nothing but vultures those tow trucks.

At least you will get some money back, better than nothing. :thumbsdow

[little_wan]

Originally posted by 00redLUDE
You see all these trucks on the 401 in Toronto, when I was there, waiting for any cars to break down, or car accidents so they could give you a tow and charge you a huge amount for. Nothing but vultures those tow trucks.

At least you will get some money back, better than nothing. :thumbsdow

Ya a little is better than nothing. Plus i'm lucky my car isn't damaged and i'm still alive. I have an even larger beef wit whoever left their shit in the middle of the high way.

[5.9 R/T]

What company did the tow please?

My opinion - Fight this to the bitter end with both the towing company and AMA. AMA should have called you to tell you that A) A truck had arrived and found no one there so left, or B) That they no longer were sending anyone because of the ban. Something smells a little fishy here and from my past expericences with AMA and their BS contracted tow companies (ie CITY WIDE) you're probably getting screwed six ways from sunday. Make a fuss!

[TrevorK]

AMA calls you back when a tow truck is within 5 minutes (At least they always have for me), so I don't think you can exactly blame AMA for not notifying him a tow truck was coming....

[Zero102]

Okay, so the AMA never billed you, only the other truck?

I'm not sure there is too much you can do about this.

Did you tell him where to take the car?

[Khyron]

What is a towing ban?

Khyron

[Zero102]

It's when the roads get bad enough, that they actually ban tow trucks from towing cars, whether they're on the side of the road, or in the ditch, it doesn't matter.

I'm not sure, but I think it's because it puts the tow truck driver at risk.