to any reps paying attetion help us towers

[Tow411]

Topic Originally by Andys in April of 2010:

 

why does a company who wants to provided top notch road service and runs ads on TV is so hard to contact and talk to reps work out problems we have only want to pay us less than 40.00 per winch out but not tell us about this. you need to communicate with your towers or we wont want to run your calls or only run your call when things are dead its time to get off you butt and develop a good commauctaion system

 

oklatom said:

"Don't try to teach a pig to sing. It wastes your time and annoys the pig."

If you can't communicate with them, and get paid a fair wage, pick and choose or quit.

 

ABCDISCOUNT said:

I do not understand them Allstate or Signature either . I have not been able to talk to a human about my South Carolina issues since the Baltimore tow show back in November of 2009 . Keith provider # SC0800056

 

Eagletow said:

Maybe it is the individual rep .
I had a problem with entering a call on the website this week and I called Bill Dolan to leave a message .I got a return call with in hours ,had a very good conversation regarding a couple issues .I was very pleased with his answers and the outcome .
Is this a fluke ? I dont know but it seems like he was right on top of things and I'm happy .

 

Pro Max Towing said: March 2012

I have had a few issues to work out with Allstate as well. I spent 8 months trying to get in touch with my PA rep. In that time they did the old shell game and moved them around. No communication from that rep either. I got to the point where I just gave up on them and only except calls as filler work when convenient. If they can not except our calls we can not except theirs. I hate to say it because we had developed relationships with many of their members and they would call us direct only for us to tell them to call the main number.One issue was TOLLS, they did not want to pay us for them. We would explain to the dispatcher that we would need to be paid for tolls from the customer and they would respond "No sir the member is covered" and we would explain that we have never been reimbursed from day one for a single dime of tolls. Here is an idea, Let the member submit for reimbursement "So you are refusing the call then" NO we are trying not to lose money! 

Good Luck Allstate...(and Brian in India..what?)

 

Towman26 said:

It is still a major issue. We have started to do what Skyline Towing in Denver CO is threatening to do, start liening the customers cars. We have had our letter drafted & have about 100 ready to go out to start. We have sent emails to our rep twice a week since the first of the year & now sent one to every rep. I have taled to at least 50 towers that are having the same problems with payments. 

 

 

Barrystowing said:

Is the solution that hard to figure out? STOP taking their PO's !
Towers by nature are resilient, hardheaded and case hardened - but putting up with a deadbeat club is another story-dump the dead weight and find sources of revenue elsewhere.

 

Tom Jensby said:

For supplemental payments of the fuel and/or tolls you need to call the Provider Hotline @ 800.582.6626.
The representatives there will take up to 5 fuel/tolls per call. If you have more than 5 they will usually ask you to fax the information in to their attention. If you do have more than 5 and they don’t offer to have you fax it in, please ask them if that is a possibility. It will save you time.

You do not want to fax the information in without calling first. If no one is expecting the fax there is a possibility of your fax being misdirected and therefore not processed.

 

morrisandsons said:

Tom, Where were you when we needed your help? Are you new to Allstate? For many years we have had issues.

Would you care to explain to me and others on this board why your company behaves in this manner?

Please understand that my frustration stems from years of negligence from your company in regards to provider relations, which ultimately led to me refusing to work for your company any longer, and it seems that I am not the only one. Please let me and everyone else on this forum understand how & why these things happen.

Respectfully,
Art

 

Topic from 2011 morrisandsons referred to above has been added here.

We parted ways with Allstate about 6 months ago. It was cordial, the rep Greg Nelson is a nice guy, but we could no longer afford to work for the rates that were offered, and had been getting a lot of bad information on rental swaps (MAJOR LANGUAGE BARRIERS), and I was getting the impression that we were a backup (especially for MD/HD), and I think too much of my company to accept a back-up role. Then I found out from one of my prominent body shop customers (They are an Allstate Pro Shop) that Allstate is now requiring them to call their roadside if they need a tow for an Allstate customer's vehicle.This is where it get's interesting, as we are the only company that tows for them, and has access to their facility 24 hours a day. My body shop customer tells Allstate that we tow for them, so I get a call from an Allstate rep asking if we could perform body shops tows (They call them Secondary tows, which usually involve payouts). I told her that if we could come to a fair agreement on rates, of course. They insulted me with an offer of less than half of what I asked for! I hope Allstate reads these forums and understands the difference between the type of tow companies that they hire. Why bother calling an elite tow service provider only to low ball them? Are their any Allsate reps on this forum? Where are they getting industry information from in regards to rates? Do they understand what's required in our industry to provide service? I would really like to see a rep on this board answer some of the questions in this forum, if you are going to be a middleman in our industry, the least you can do is try to resolve provider issues and be a part of the industry. I would like to know whether Allstate will face it's demons and have a discussion, or if it will continue to lurk in the shadows like a thief in the night? This behavior has to stop, and BTW, for all tow providers who run calls for Allstate and/or consider themselves patriotic, how are we supposed to feel about the outsourcing of dispatchers to another country, why as a industry are we putting up with this?

The ball is in your court Allstate....

Will you have a discussion with the guys who get dirty?

 

WEBOSLH said:

I'm just a small timer, L/D, but it's all about money. If they want an elite company, they will pay for it. When the dollar bill comes between insurance co.'s and clubs, etc. and the towers, it will always be the money. Foreign dispatchers are cheaper than American ones. Also what is the market rate in your area. And how many towers are in your area?
It's all bottom line for the "towing brokers." Customer service, is on the back burner. Money is on the front. You and I may bend our policies to help people truly in serious trouble. They won't. Money first, customer service second, and our reputation and community standing ain't even considered.
Try not to take what happened personally. Carry on by what you feel is right for your biz, even if you are the only one.

 

DodgeTowGuy134 said:

Yes there is one or two Allstate reps how have username accounts to access tow411, BUT they have NOT commented on ANY of the MANY problems that have been posted in any of the forums here on tow411....

Now, as compared to a few other clubs that have reps on here that actually DO work to resolve problems that are posted on here, so good job to the OTHER club reps that actually do care to work things out with the towers who post problems on here, but Allstate is NOT one of those who works any of the posted problems out. As you already termed it regarding them, They lerk on here watching what people say, but only act like a thief in the shadows of the night!

 

annettemcd said:

I am not sure how it works in other areas, but if we are directed by the customer to tow it to the body shop, then we do that and get paid directly by the body shop. As long as the body shop is approved by the insurance company, they do not object. If we get a call to do the secondary tow, we just inform them that the vehicle has already been towed to the body shop. Since we are the only tower in our area, we do the entire job including the primary and secondary tows. I do not trust any of the motor clubs to pay for the primary job plus storage in full when they pay for the secondary tow. I can see them questioning the entire bill or trying to have it all done at their rates.

There is a possibility that by asking the customer to directly request the secondary tow, we lose out on some storage because we do the secondary tow on the next day that the body shop is open, but we figure that the lost storage fees are well balanced against the clean deal of being paid in full by the body shop for the entire job.

 

 

TowZone said:

I have not had any contacts from Allstate reps in months. I will look and see who still has access to this forum. Without the input of the Motor Club Reps in our forums we have no resolve. Without resolve, controversy begins to rage. At some point it must be controlled, I would like for the Motor Club to make the effort to control it, before I have too.

 

Barrystowing said:

Ron, really this forum is a valuable tool for companies to see what others say about Allstate, before they go out and contract with them. A forum for a reputable Motor Club needs no interference (or moderating)

 

TowZone said:

For a Motor Club that was Ranked number 8 last time and I was referred to the Kentucky Rep which is not on Tow411 to resolve an issue another rep felt I had with my contract. Then yes this forum does have to be controlled. With that said as of right now it looks as thought Allstate will move up from 8 to 6 in the ranking. You say how is that when members seem discontent here. There are other clubs that members ranked higher last time, yet they are not participating or ranking them this time. I hope Allstate moves up the list, but I hope it is for the same reason AAA is high on the list rather than a lack of participation by the membership.

 

Barrys towing said:

Not quite sure what a KY rep and another rep and your contract have to do with this? Am I missing something?

 

TowZone said:

I do not have a contract with Allstate and I am not even in the private sector that I would have a contract. I am the administrator of Tow411.net and I am working to get the motor club reps involved to some degree rather that reverting back to the days of calling members to complain about what they said in an open forum or within these private forums. That is not how the system works and if the motor clubs desire to use Tow411 then they need to participate on a level that reps such as Dennis Richards has in the past. If we do not see an attempt to communicate within the forum then we all assume there was none. If the contact with not that of resolve and that of scolding then there was no reason for that rep to be here to deal with the issue or pass it on to another who was not privy to the dialog making them clueless even to attempt making a contact. I will call the Ky rep back soon.

 

morrisandsons said:

Judging by the lack of any reply's here, and the fact that I have not had an e-mail returned or a call back, I will safely assume that Allstate has NO concern for it's providers. It's also painfully obvious that they do not possess the ability to determine how much certain providers have invested in training, equipment, facilities, etc. I am very dissappointed in them. It seems as they are becoming like every other industry that is damaging this country, sacrificing quality to quench the greed for the last penny. I am now including them in the group that I will continue to boycott, companies which I believe are doing the most damage to our economy (WalMart, most major chains,etc.). I hope other providers take notice of this and take a stand for OUR country. Think about the jobs that are overseas with their dispatching, etc. I will say this again, why are we doing business with them? Why are not the so called patriots in our industry taking a stand? What are we afraid of? Why are we not boycotting Allstate and demanding the dispatchers from the U.S.?

 

Barrystowing said:

In Tow Times they're ad reads " Reinventing Roadside Assistance". Whoa, lets not get carried away here.

[yoBdaBenO]

NOPE. I DON"T THINK THEY CARE ANYMORE. THAT IS IF THE EVER DID......

[Old Tow]

Every time Alstate calls us it is usually for a tow clear on the other side of the state. Most calls are anywhere from 50 to 350 miles away. What kind of map system do they use, does anyone know??

[Roach's Roadside]

I was losing money taking Allstate calls

[Old Tow]

So was I, but started asking for dead head and they go along with it