ComplaintsforFairbanks Towing and Recovery

• Initial Complaint

  09/08/2021

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  I sold a car in January 2021. The new owner did not put the car into their name and it has been towed by Fairbanks recovery. In July 2021 I spoke to the owner and she told me she would take care of it to do nothing. I called back and left a message to call me no one did. Last week I received a second notification charging me for an impound on a truck I do not own. I contacted the owner again today to let her know and she began yelling at me so I ended the call. After that she began texting me and I asked her to stop five times and she continuously kept messaging me. I finally had to block her. I have also contacted the police for harassment

  Business response

  09/21/2021

  To Whom It May Concern:
  
  In response to Ms. ***** ********* complaint filed with your agency on September 9, 2021, her claims are completely false.
   
  On August 3, 2021, our company impounded a truck from a private property address.  When we obtained the DMV records to serve notice of the impound, ***** ******* was the only person registered to this vehicle; no lienholder was assigned to this vehicle.  Per Alaska State law, we are required to serve notice to all registered owners and lienholders within seven days of the impound to notify them that a vehicle they own has been impounded, at whose request, and the amount of the impound, should they decide to claim the vehicle.
   
  In Ms. ********* case, we sent her a registered letter on August 10, 2021.  After she received a notice from the post office that she was being served a registered letter, she called our business line.  That phone conversation is recorded.  Ms. ******* was very angry on the phone.  Ms. ******* did calm down enough to listen and it was explained to her that by law, we are required to serve registered letters to all registered owners and lienholders of the impound.  Ms. ******* was told that despite the fact that she sold the vehicle to someone, that someone had not registered the vehicle in their name and she was still listed as the registered owner.  Ms. ******* was told that all she had to do was ignore that notice and the second notice of sale that we were also required to send to her.  She said to not send her anymore mail because she would not accept it.  Ms. ******* was calmly informed that by law, she had to be sent both letters, one in August and one in September.  Ms. ******* was told her that if she ignored both letters, the vehicle would simply proceed to public auction.
   
  On September 2, 2021, per Alaska law, Ms. ******* was sent a second letter to inform her of the date and place of the public auction and the fees at that point, in case she wanted to claim the vehicle, which is her right under Alaska law.  Ms. ******* called our business number again after receiving the notice that she had registered mail from us. Again, that conversation is also recorded. This time, she was very, very angry and yelled at me for sending her another letter when she said that she told me not to.  Ms. ******* was reminded that in her previous phone call to us in August, she was told that by law, we are required to send her these notices.  Ms. ******* was also told that she would be sent another letter in September as per Alaska law regarding impounded vehicles.  Ms. ******* was very verbally abusive and called our owner a "Liar".
   
  Ms. ******* abruptly ended the phone call.  We texted her to remind her that we were required to serve the notices per Alaska law and they were not sent to upset her in any way.  Ms. ******* responded to stop texting her yet she proceeded to text our business cell phone repeatedly.  We are happy to provide a transcript of the text messages, if need be to resolve this issue.
   
  It is also worth noting that Ms. ******* did not accept the mail that we sent to her and instead it was returned to us, unclaimed.  If she had simply accepted the registered letters and read them, she would have seen the information that refers to the Alaska statutes that require notification regarding impounded vehicles.  We are attaching both letters that Ms. ******* was sent regarding this vehicle.  The letters state that we may garnish paychecks or PFDs but not that we will.  It was explained to Ms. ******* that we would not hold her accountable for any fees associated with this impound and that if she ignored both notices, the vehicle would simply proceed to public auction as stated in the second letter that she was sent and refused.
   
  Furthermore, while Ms. ******* may have contacted the police for harassment, no police report has been filed nor have we been contacted by any police agency regarding her claims of harassment.
   
  This could have all been avoided if Ms. ******* had simply accepted the letters that were sent to her and then listened to what was said to her during our phone calls, which she initiated.  She didn’t contact us to gain information or insight; she simply called to express her anger and to verbally abuse us, which is unacceptable.  Upon realizing that speaking to Ms. ******* was impossible, we texted her the information so she could read it and possibly understand it, but even that caused her to responded in an unusual manner and reinforced our experience with her that she misunderstood what was being said and the requirement under Alaska law that required us to contact her regarding the impound of the this vehicle.
   
  All Ms. ******* needed to do was to ignore the letters and let the vehicle proceed to public auction.  Instead, she was verbally abusive in both of her phone calls to me as well as filed a report to the BBB which is false.  We never spoke to Ms. ******* in July as we had not impounded her vehicle until August and didn’t send her the initial notice of impound until August 10, 2021. Her claim that in July she was told we, “would take care of it to do nothing”, is only partially true.  We never said that we “would take care of it” as we are required by law to send her two separate notices; that is what Ms. ******* was told.  Ms. ******* was told, “to do nothing” and the vehicle would eventually proceed to public auction, which the second letter, which she did not accept, informed her of; however, she was informed of that verbally during our August phone conversation.
  
  We would request that the BBB dismiss this claim and remove it from our file with the BBB.  This complaint does NOT involve "Repair Issues" as noted in your letter to us, nor was ***** ******* harassed by us in any way.  The fact that ***** ******* mistook letters we are required by Alaska law to send her as harassment, is unfortunate, but it does NOT constitute harassment on our part.  We simply sent her two registered letters by Alaska statute, which she did not even accept.  Her phone calls, quite honestly, were verbally abusive and may have constituted harassment on ***** *******'s part, but not on ours.  She initiated the phone calls; we did not.  She screamed and yelled during the phone calls; we did not.
  
  If you need anything further, please feel free to contact us at this email or by phone at *************
  
  Sincerely,
  Fairbanks Towing & Recovery
  

  Customer response

  09/21/2021

  
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  

  This is not an accurate version. I contacted the company upon first letter letting her know I've sold this truck and shouldn't be responsible. I also informed her I was at work. I contacted the company back 3 days later and left a message with the same girl I left a message with the first time I called back to get clarifying information as to what I am supposed to do again and they did not call me back. At all. Fast forward a month and I get another letter. I called their office and got this woman on the line, every time I attempted to speak she cut me off and raised her voice to the point of yelling. I let her know I was ending the call because I was not going to argue with her. I was informing her due to their lack of contacting me back, I asked other people what to do and was directed to turn in the bottom of the title indicting it had been sold. It was not turned in at the time of the sell because I was just of the hospital from surgery. Anyway, that should have ended our interactions but said woman that answered the phone began texting me and I asked her to stop multiple times. She is a business owner and should conduct herself properly. She was asked by me to stop several times and she continued on. I blocked her number to make the text messages stop. I've turned in the paperwork. 

  I did contact the police to file harassment due to her childish actions and they informed me best action was to block her, which is what I've done. I'm just appalled that this happened. Had they contacted me back when I called back the second time in August all of this could have been avoided.  

  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution has been addressed but not satisfactory due to her response, its misleading, she knows very well I asked her to stop yelling, stop texting and of course I'd like to reiterate she should have just called me back in August when I left a message with the girl that answers their phone, which is also the same female I left a message with when I first made contact with this company as well.  
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***** *******

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩