I can be a heartless bastard sometimes!

[Tow411]

Topic Originally Created by thtdon on Tow411 in June of 2013:

 

I got a call last night to tow a car from I-495 in Andover, MA to Ayer, MA, a distance of 24 miles.  The guy had hit a deer on the highway.  The left front of his car was smashed, and the radiator lost the coolant.  He is a Liberty Mutual customer.  He called Liberty Mutual, and Agero dispatched me to tow his car.  He only had $50 worth of coverage.  So he knew in advance that there would be over-mileage.  Fifty dollars will get you a local motor club tow, and that's about it.

As we were driving along, I told him that I had lost my credit card swiping device, which I did, and I would not be able to process a credit card for him.  But I would be glad to take him to an ATM if he needed me to.  It turned out that it didn't matter if I had no swiping device, or if I had a dozen of them.  He said that his debit card was overdrawn by $119.  And he had no cash.  I didn't think that it was possible to overdraw a debit card, as the money is coming out of your checking account.  He wanted to call his mother in New York, get her credit card numbers over the phone, and get me to process it for him.  I refused to do that, as I am not set up for phone transactions.  And as you all know, you can do it, if you want to take the chance.  But if the customer contests the transaction later, you automatically lose, with no recourse, because you didn't have the card in hand and swiped it.

When we got to the destination, a closed auto body shop in Ayer, at 11:30 PM, he more or less asked me "what are you going to do, take my car?"  He called my bluff.  So I ended up doing what I haven't done in years and years, I left him at the destination, I towed the car back to my shop, and I impounded it.

I feel bad for the guy to a point.  But he knew what he was doing.  He knew up front that there would be over-mileage.  He knew what the rate would be.  And he knew that he had no money.  There were no surprises.  But he gave it a shot, and he lost. 

It is no different than if I went into the Olive Garden, sat down, stuffed myself with a nice meal, and then told the waiter that I only had 2 bucks.  The restaurant would have had me arrested. 

The customer was calling different people, to try and get someone to come to the auto body shop and bail him out.  But it was around 11:30 PM, and I suppose that most of the people that he called were asleep.  The one guy that he did talk to was in Newburyport, MA, somewhere between 50 and 60 miles away.  The customer put me on his phone to talk to this guy.  He was complaining about traveling so far to pay me some money.  I wasn't asking him to do anything.  And I wasn't about to sit there for 90 minutes waiting for him either.

I can hardly wait for the customer to come and get the car.

thtdon

 

In Memory of NationalAutow who said:

I feel your pain.

I've been faced with similar situations. I've even gone and done tows that I knew I would never be paid for because I thought it was the right thing to do.

The difference here is that he didn't ask you to help him or give him a break or whatever. He FORCED you into a position that you did not ever agree to. Basically, you called his bluff.

If people got away with doing this kind of thing a lot, then we would never get paid. If you want to be charitable and help him out, then that is your decision. When he tries to FORCE you to be charitable, well that is not charity.

When you refuse to be taken advantage of, like you did in this case, you help reinforce the fact that we all need to be paid for our services.

You clearly did the right thing and the only thing you could do under the circumstances.

On behalf of towers everywhere, "THANK YOU"

 

wreckerman05 said:

I am the same way--always working with people and just got tired of me loosing--if I dont get paid,I am tired of the sob stories ,my cost are still there-then its back to my lot until things are settled---good call--dont believe you are heartless-----

 

thtdon said:

I have thought about this situation all night.  And I keep coming to the same conclusion.  The customer knew everything that was involved before he even called Liberty Mutual.  So he gave it a shot.  Who knows?  Maybe he would have been right there with the money this morning.  But in order to find that out, I would have to take the plunge.  And then it is too late.  As long as the car remains on the truck, my mechanic's lien is in force.  Once the car is unloaded, I can't re-load it, because I realized that he couldn't/wouldn't pay.  Maybe he is the victim of the many people that have come before him who have stiffed me.  I was feeling bad because somehow I lost my Square credit card swiping device, and I offered to swing by an ATM if he needed to, like I used to do before Square.  Turns out that the lack of the swiping device wasn't an issue.  He didn't have the money anyway.  The logistics of this were against me.  It's not like he lives across the street from me, or across town.  He lives over 30 miles away, and works near where he lives.  The chances of him traveling 30 miles to pay me is slim, in my opinion.  It was hard for me to be looking down at him standing there, as I drove away.  It was probably his lowest point.  The parting was civil.  I didn't throw him out of a moving truck on the highway, or anything like that.  He was standing at the auto body shop when I drove away.  A part of me will always feel like a sleazebag.  But I know that, in the grand scheme of things, I did the right thing.

thtdon

 

someotherplace said:

Sleazebag? No. I'm pretty sure your truck isn't lettered "Charity Towing"

I've done pretty much the same thing, once, on a truly bizarre call. DPS trooper catches this guy drunk as can be, in a car that is not his (alleged to be his sister's), in a parking lot, inexplicably doesn't bust him.. calls my boss, who has me go out to tow this guy back to his sister's place - with the rate already agreed to. I get there and load him up, and immediately he wants me to take him first "just around the corner and let me go." I explain he just got a get-out-of-jail-free card that he didn't deserve and I wasn't going to let him loose to continue driving drunk (although that's what he probably would have done later anyway.) He can't give me an address to go to but tells me the neighborhood, so I head that way. Ask him if he needs to stop by an ATM, he wants to pay with check, I tell him no. We hit the Flying J, he goes inside, goofs around a while then comes back out. We hit the road again and within a few minutes he's asking me to take a check again?? Tell him no, we stop at another ATM, he pretends to use it then gets back in the truck. I'm pondering my options at this point so as we near the neighborhood I stop one more time and tell him he's going to need to get some cash or we're going to have a problem. He got out of the truck, and I drove away, put the car in the impound and never gave it another thought. It sat there for a couple weeks before it was picked up. As an impound it was called into the police by law here, so anybody that knew the license plate or VIN could have called and found out where it was, but I'm guessing they had a hard time coming up with someone that could prove it was their car. F 'em.

Richard

 

Rod VT said:

Don, You haven't said if this is a late model car with full coverage, or a POS. If he has collision & comp, then Liberty Mutual will be paying for the tows and storage, no problem. If he doesn't have coverage, and doesn't have the money for a tow, there is no way he is going to afford $3,000 to fix his car.

I certainly feel you are in the good to have kept the car. As to leaving him at the body shop, I would feel less comfortable about that and would prefer to take someone to a 24 hour store, he had a cell phone though and I am sure you didn't leave him in an unsafe area.

All that said, I typically will take a credit card over the phone from a family member in those circumstances. The only time I require one in hand is if it is a police ordered tow/impound. I require that I talk to the cardholder directly, preferably on my phone, and I get all their info: address, name, and number. Although I know it could happen, I have never yet had a chargeback, but this is Vermont and we are all a little less jaded, and perhaps somewhat naive, here.

 

N Mex Tow said:

That happens a lot here and I think it is just our nature to feel that way. I feel the same way UNTILL I put myself in their shoes. If it were me broke down how would I act. I would feel responsible to have the funds to pay the bill BEFORE I called anyone to come out and help me. I would feel the same way if any of our fleet needed help on the road. We have all more than once paid for someone to come out and replace a tire on the roadside. And I am sure nobody here has tried to duck the bill.

 

rdonchann said:

I got one of those last night. A van load of Kirby door to door people. They WERE covered to the first town that we were dispatched to. Before we got there they decided a different place farther away would be better.I told them it will be XX.XX to go there and their reply was "YEA YEA YEA we got that much." When we got there NOBODY had the money. I explained to them that this truck makes XXX.XX per hour and that is XX.XX every fifteen minutes and if they wanted to sit in the air and talk on the phone it was good for me, same price. After 45 minutes of cursing the boss over the phone, he sent them the cash. Made as much sitting in the parking lot as I did on the extra mileage.

 

thtdon said:

The car is a 2012 Kia Sorento.  But he called using his towing coverage through Liberty Mutual roadside assistance, and not a collision casualty claim.  So he only has $50 of coverage, period.  I called Agero to see if they could intercept the issue.  (I was reluctant to do that because I feared that they might only pay me $2 per loaded mile, rather than the $4 loaded mile that I charge for over-mileage.)  The dispatcher told me that the customer had only $50 coverage, which I already knew, and that the customer was responsible for the overage.  Sometimes they let the customer pay the over-mileage to them, using their credit card, which I don't like because we get beat out of the higher $4 a mile rate.  But this guy was flat broke, so they wanted nothing to do with him.  Nobody loves you when you have no money! 

A little while ago, I got a call from Liberty Mutual, inquiring about the charges.  The customer has faxed a signed release.  And an auto body shop from Ayer, MA is on the way to get the car.  And I will be paid in full. 

thtdon

 

In Memory of NationalAutow who said:

It all works out in the end Don.

You had nothing to feel bad about and you stuck to your guns and will be paid as you should.

 

DicksPlaceBodyandTow said:

I would call that a very good job. Can't support the whole world. We are tow truck operaters not fincial problem solvers,

 

BlackAutoload said:

Way to go !
If more of us stood up for ourselves our industry would be in a better place.

 

Silverhawk said:

They agreed not to tow any cars and I agreed not to finance the operation of anybodies car.  Works pretty good.  

 

shadowtowing said:

Ok I got one that kinda goes here. I got a call from agreo for a fuel delivery about 40miles from here. Quoted a rate and they approved $50 and said customer would be responsible for the rest.So I get out there and apparenly the fuys phone died and agero didnt advise him he would owe any money. I called agero and they were no help. I helped the guy out. First time with having that happen with a service call (not a tow) and wasn't sure how to handle it.

 

BlackAutoload said:

bill for a goa.... keep the gas.

 

In Memory of NationalAutow who said:

ElAgero makes no errors. If you don't believe me, just ask them.

All MC's need to take responsibility for their own actions and errors and stop putting it off on providers. I apologize to MC's that act right, You are not the target of my rant. AGERO, YOU ARE IN THE BULLSEYE.

 

wreck85 said:

I have no issue when someone calls and up front says they have no money then I choose to help them and get paid later that's my call, when people call and wait till the service is complete and then say oh I have no money , it pisses me off. last lady that did that was a gas delivery she knew the price and waited till the gas was in her car and as soon as it was in she said oh I have no money, I called pd and when he ran her she had a rap sheet half a mile long for stupid things like this . The officer arrested her for theft of service and Impounded her car with us.

 

Miracle 1 said:

With calls like yours, I call the customer after running the clubs credit card. if I don't get a answer, I clear the call as GOA...My GOA rate is always equal to what the club pays in your case my GOA would be $50 if the club is paying my normal rate for such a call my GOA would $150.00( it seems to be my favorite number on light duty stuff.......).If the customer does answer, I get their card run it for the balance owed and have them sign it when I get there....

   Going back to Don's original thought, Taking a persons car that can't pay and withheld the fact they couldn't pay doesn't make you  heartless, it makes you a smart businessman...Like everyone, I've had some where people have tried  being slick, One that comes to mind: One of my drivers carried a Pontiac 134 miles  to Tallahassee Florida after midnight, arrived at the drop off and the customer was like $50 or so short of the $600 owed so not wanting to wake up me my driver informed the customer, he'd document the ticket what he'd  paid and that he could retrieve his car at our impound yard in MacClenny and he'd cut him a break on the loaded miles back (only charged $2 per mile) In the end, we were paid by CC for everything including the re-delivery....He may have been a little heartless but I'm glad he takes as good of care of my money as I do...

 

 

boltz said:

Agree with you wreck85 , as we have had to do the same thing and call police.  When they arrived the "problem" usually became very  easy to solve and usually did  not take much time at all to discuss. 

 

Rod VT said:

One of the many things I have learned from Tow411 (and you all) is: Never split a bill! Does it turn out good (more often than not) for anyone?

 

Rockwell said:

Seems to me that the customer that thtdon was dealing with got a free taxi ride to his town. Hope he thanked you for it. We donate plenty of towing and roadside work to people we think could use the help, but it is at our discretion. I don't like when the customer tries to force the donation by deception. It's my decision to donate or not if he tells me up front he doesn't the cash.

 

dmurph879 said:

When I am dispatched to a call where we know that the customer is going to owe for overmilage I collect prior to leaving the breakdown location. No money no tow and I don't end up in a hard place with my boss for not collecting. I always offer to tow the car to our storage yard and hold it until they are able to obtain the necessary funds, to include storage while it is in our yard.

 

ronin said:

I learned this a while back, and while always trying to be a nice guy with a background in retail, customer service, etc... but also the military as a cop and drill sergeant... I ran into one in 2007 that tested me to the end and I totally changed my ways... and haven't looked back. People might think I'm a jerk... and it's not like my policy applies to little old ladies, because (a) little old ladies are geneall responsible, and (b) little old ladies don't usually pull scams.

I towed a Mazda MPV with both right side tires flat for PA state police...the lady was with it, I got her into my flatbed quickly, loaded fast, and got off the highway. The lady was venting about how bad her day was, so I didn't start the inquisition about rates and miles. She stated she wanted me to take her to Philly, 32 miles away. No problem, our state police rate was $125 and $3 a mile, so I added up and quoted $221. She lost her damned mind. I explained that it was a state police initiated tow, and after she asked, no I wasn't a racist and didn't have special rates for black people (either better or worse).

I recommended that we tow it to a tire store in King of Prussia, only a couple of miles, and her family could come get her. The rate would be $146 with 7 miles towed. She said she didn't have any money. I then asked how she was going to pay me after taking her to Philly, regardless of the price.. she stated she'd get money from rounding up her relatives.

I pulled up to the tire store, parked, called the boss, she made some calls... then we had an impass for about an hour.. until I put her on the phone with the boss, they yelled back and forth, and she walked across the street to an ATM.. and by golly, she DID have money available.

Lessons learned made me do two things differently. First, I always make sure to quote the tow rate in front of the police officer, right there on the side of the road. I explain that our contract with their department dictates the rates and I can't and won't make exceptions. With the cop nodding in agreement, the customer sees that I'm not pulling some radical number out of my butt. They know what they're paying when the get in the truck... or their bluff is called right there when they say "I don't have any money".. and I've had officers direct me to take it to our lot right there.

Also, I shortened my "nice guy" time from an hour to about 3 minutes. I'm not a jerk, won't yell or curse, but just lay things out in a matter-of-fact manner...take it or leave it.

 

TOM JR said:

I almost had a similar situation last saturday. I went to tow a car over a wall. I go there at customers request and did the job and got paid, I get a call Monday AM from the guy that they dont want to reimburse his claim for the tow and recovery service because he didnt call them first. The guy didnt know what to do because he never was in that situation before and they were trying to weasel out on him and only reimburse him $50. I told him to fax a coppy to the insurance and hand deliver a copy to the shop for the adjuster. I probably didnt charge the guy enough money for the job since it was a private request (?) but it was an accident claim and I dont see how they can try to scam the guy? Why does he have insurance if they wont cover towing? Sounds like the same thing happened to your guy. If he had a damage claim and the car was undrivable why is he in a spot where hes paying for the tow and not the insurance company? If I turned down everyone who didnt have the money or had to have their mom or relative pay by phone I wouldnt have any work. Nobody has money anymore. Its scarry not knowing if they will come through but they usually do thank God. Glad you got paid. It sounds more like the insurance company was playing games than anything else.

 

thtdon said:

In my case, it was the customer throwing a handful of mud at the wall, to see if it would stick.  He gave it a shot, and lost.  All he gained was a free ride home.  And he used his Liberty Mutual Roadside Assistance policy, not his collision policy.  And he has $50 coverage.  In the end, I'm sure that it will be processed under his collision policy because the charges were paid to me by the auto body shop that's going to repair the car. 

But in your case, I have written about this kind of thing before.  The insurance companies are strong-arming their customers to call them first- and I mean FIRST.  When in an accident, they want you to call them BEFORE you call the police, ambulance, and especially a tow truck.  They want to control the cost of everything.  Before long, they will contract with private ambulance companies, to respond at THEIR request, to the scene of an accident, because the insurance-requested ambulance will take the victims to the hospital cheaper than the town-owned, or town-contracted ambulance will.  Does that sound likely to you?  It does to me, considering the direction that the insurance companies are going.  They direct their customers to use the glass company that THEY want, and the are directing their customers to take their car to the auto body shop that THEY want.  The insurance company's role is getting out of hand, and we have to stop them somehow. 

State Farm Insurance is contracted with Agero to provide roadside assistance, similar to Liberty Mutual, USAA, Progressive, etc.  And they are demanding 30 minute ETAs for road service, and 45 minute ETAs for tows, all for the same price as our regular 60 minute ETAs.  They want premium service for the regular price.  State Farm is pushing this, not Agero.  But if they are successful, and they can get us to move faster for less money, we are all taking a pay cut.  And the other insurance companies will want the same thing.  So you have to dig in your heels, and not go along with that.  I haven't had a raise from Agero since 1997.  And after 16 years, I am not about to accept a pay cut.

thtdon

 

Skyline Detroit said:

im confused. if he has full coverage why wouldn't you just cancel the call tow it back to the body shop in the morning and bill them?

 

Diesel Wrecker said:

HI thtdon. I have one question about this story. What happen to the deer?

 

thtdon said:

I don't know.  I never saw it.  It probably ran off the road, and died somewhere in the woods.  Better than on the hood, half through the windshield, like one I did a few years ago.  The driver was lucky.  He was alone in the car, and most of the carnage came through the passenger side of the car.  Most of the deer that I see hit around here are about the size of a big dog.

thtdon