Dakotadreams
New Member
I'm sorry, this is long winded.
My son was involved in an accident where the car he was driving was totaled. The other driver was at fault. I went to the scence moments after the accident and had the police send an accident unit out. There were no injuries. I had them call AAA to have the car towed. When the Tow driver came I gave him my AAA info and asked him to tow the car to my home which was about 4 blocks away. He convinced me that the other driver's insurance would take care of everything and eventually dispose of the car once the claim was settled. I reluctantly agreed. I received a letter about 10 days later stating that I could be charged towing and storage fees if the car was left on their storage lot at $20/day. I immediately called their office and informed them of what the tow truck driver had told me and the person there assured me that what the driver said was true, that this was always the case, but that they had to send out those letters as a formality. I then thought no more of it. The Insurance company, unfortunately was corresponding with my son (17 at the time). They did judge the car as totaled and settled for a lump sum payment. Evidently they told him that they were not going to be responsible for the car's disposal in a phone conversation. There was nothing in writing to that effect. He never told me that piece of information and so I was surprised to get a letter about 4 months later from a Collection agency stating that I owed over $1300 in Towing & storage fees. I had never received any written notification that the car was still there at the Towing Co.'s lot during any of that time. I fired off letters to both the Towing company and the Collection agency disputing their claims. I also called the Towing company and was told that they couldn't do anything about the claim as the Collection Agency now owned the account, but that they would look into it. I never heard from either agency for several months until I noticed that the account had now appeared on my Credit Report and was now over $1500. I again wrote to the Collection agency and the Towing company. I have since received one letter from the Collection agency stating that my dispute was not valid and that I should pay the full amount now. I suppose I will end up paying this, but it irks me to no end that both of these companies seem to engage in silent and dubious business practices to enhance their revenue. Is there any recourse for this kind of deceptive and shoddy business practice?
Thanks
My son was involved in an accident where the car he was driving was totaled. The other driver was at fault. I went to the scence moments after the accident and had the police send an accident unit out. There were no injuries. I had them call AAA to have the car towed. When the Tow driver came I gave him my AAA info and asked him to tow the car to my home which was about 4 blocks away. He convinced me that the other driver's insurance would take care of everything and eventually dispose of the car once the claim was settled. I reluctantly agreed. I received a letter about 10 days later stating that I could be charged towing and storage fees if the car was left on their storage lot at $20/day. I immediately called their office and informed them of what the tow truck driver had told me and the person there assured me that what the driver said was true, that this was always the case, but that they had to send out those letters as a formality. I then thought no more of it. The Insurance company, unfortunately was corresponding with my son (17 at the time). They did judge the car as totaled and settled for a lump sum payment. Evidently they told him that they were not going to be responsible for the car's disposal in a phone conversation. There was nothing in writing to that effect. He never told me that piece of information and so I was surprised to get a letter about 4 months later from a Collection agency stating that I owed over $1300 in Towing & storage fees. I had never received any written notification that the car was still there at the Towing Co.'s lot during any of that time. I fired off letters to both the Towing company and the Collection agency disputing their claims. I also called the Towing company and was told that they couldn't do anything about the claim as the Collection Agency now owned the account, but that they would look into it. I never heard from either agency for several months until I noticed that the account had now appeared on my Credit Report and was now over $1500. I again wrote to the Collection agency and the Towing company. I have since received one letter from the Collection agency stating that my dispute was not valid and that I should pay the full amount now. I suppose I will end up paying this, but it irks me to no end that both of these companies seem to engage in silent and dubious business practices to enhance their revenue. Is there any recourse for this kind of deceptive and shoddy business practice?
Thanks
