5 ms·

This calls to mind an incident from a couple years ago in Columbus, Ohio. After a negligent lane-changing sedan spun my car 360 degrees and into the rail guard,

This calls to mind an incident from a couple years ago in Columbus, Ohio. After a negligent lane-changing sedan spun my car 360 degrees and into the rail guard, the responding police officer ordered a tow truck for me without my knowledge. When the truck arrived, the driver told me he could either take my car to his body shop or the city impound lot, in which case I would need to pay later for a second tow to the body shop of my choosing plus any storage fees. I did not appreciate this strong arm sales tactic and told him he wasn't touching my vehicle. The cop insisted that I allow the tow. She apparently was required to stay at the scene until the disabled vehicles were removed and did not want to wait for a tow truck of my choosing. I held firm. After several minutes of back and forth, the cop begrudgingly allowed me to drive my heavily damaged vehicle a few hundred yards to an exit ramp and park it on a side street. An accident report was never filed, so my insurance company wasn't able to collect damages from the other party's insurance on my behalf. Perhaps there was a clerical error or perhaps the cop wanted to punish my assertiveness.

nobrains 6y ago
And you did not follow-up why the accident report was not filed? I usually keep following up on such cases, until all issues are resolved. It is a net negative investment for me, since the time and effort I have to put in it, is not worth it, but I get 2 satisfactions out of it: 1) Hopefully whoever "played" will learn a lesson not to again. 2) Hopefully the overall problem (whether it is bad customer service, strong arm tactics, etc.) will slowly be fixed. I guess in your case, you already used up your quota of fighting-the-system when you had to argue with both the cop and the tow-man.
- istjohn 6y ago
  I considered filing a complaint with the police department, but I'm skeptical anything would have come of it. Ideally, I would have done it regardless. It's true that the root problem will not be addressed if people don't pursue things. I think on net I do more than my fair share of tilting at windmills though. Ask me about self-storage companies sometime.
  - nicolas_t 6y ago
    Now I'm curious about self storage companies. So I'm asking you :)
    - istjohn 6y ago
      I'm so glad you asked! It seems that the US self-storage market can be roughly segmented into two groups: UHaul Self-Storage and everyone else. UHaul is up to double the cost of their budget competitors like Public Storage. I'm budget conscious, so I quickly ruled out UHaul. The other companies all follow the same template. I didn't find any locally-owned self-storage companies, only franchises. It's impossible to call the local franchise office directly, even after you've rented a unit. The phone numbers listed in ads and on websites have local area codes but they are forwarded to national call centers. My first attempt to rent a unit, I find the best rate online, drive to the facility, and ask to rent a unit at the advertised rate. The manager has me fill out the application. The lock I'll need is $10. Sure, that's reasonable, I guess. Then she explains that there is a $20 move-in fee. No problem! This fee was hidden in a footnote on the comparison shopping site, but I spotted it and was willing to pay the 50% markup on the first month's rent. It's still a third of the cost of UHaul. But the amount she wanted to charge my card still seemed high. "Well," she explained, "it includes a $15 monthly insurance premium." "I don't need insurance." "Everyone's required to have insurance." I was indignant and walked out on principle. It was false advertising, plain and simple, and I refuse to reward that behavior with my business. I now resolved to get an actual-for-real-no-takebacks final price over the phone before driving anywhere else. So I sat in my car and called a local Public Storage franchise. Or tried to. This is when I learned about the call centers. I was frustrated at having just driven 20 minutes for nothing, and getting a call center agent after dialing a local area code phone number did nothing to improve my mood. The agent asked for my first name. Then she asked for my email address. I balked. I explained to the agent that I just wanted to get an actual-for-real-no-takebacks quote to rent a storage unit at my local Public Storage franchise. She couldn't tell me. I'd have to ask the local manager, she explained. "OK, can you just give me the phone number?" I asked, exasperated. "Once I get done with you" she responded impatiently. I was incredulous. Some of the quotes in this story may not be word-for-word accurate. But that is a word-for-word quote: "Once I get done with you." In what is not my proudest moment, I informed her that I was quite certain we would be altogether done very soon, but first I would like to express what a dumpster fire I have found the self-storage industry to be. My prophecy came to pass as she soon hung up on me. At this point, I was becoming less price-sensitive. I didn't embark on this venture thinking quality customer service would be a high priority for me, but I didn't realize how low the baseline was in this industry. There was a reasonably priced place near my home, so I decided to drive there. I figured there couldn't be much more that could be unexpected at this point. I filled out the application and listened patiently as she explained the move-in fee and required insurance. I wasn't completely resigned, however, and I asked if I could forego the insurance, perhaps by signing a waiver. She told me the insurance was required by state law. I wasn't going to argue with her--I really just needed to rent a unit already--but that seemed highly unlikely. I rented the unit. But when I got home, I did some research, and it turns out, she wasn't as far off as you might think. Ohio does have a state law devoted to self-storage unit insurance[1], believe it or not. But rather than mandating insurance, the law sets out a number of regulations that self-storage providers must follow in order to sell insurance to their customers. Normally, an agent must pass a test to be certified to sell insurance, but this law, which was passed at the behest of the self-storage lobby, makes a special cut-out so that minimally trained self-storage company staff can sell company-mandated insurance to their customers as a hidden monthly fee they can tack on to advertised prices without getting in trouble for false advertising. And hey, what do you know? The business did not comply with several points in the regulations. For example, the literature describing the insurance did not include various mandated disclosures. So I went ahead and wrote a complaint to the Ohio Department of Insurance outlining the violations. 1. http://codes.ohio.gov/orc/3905.063 http://codes.ohio.gov/orc/3905.063
- vkou 6y ago
  > 1) Hopefully whoever "played" will learn a lesson not to again. In the case of police misconduct, the only person learning a lesson is typically the person filing the complaint. People only tend to act so brazenly when they know that there will be no consequences, and their department will have their back. At best, your complaints will be ignored, at worst, you may face further retaliation.
- underdeserver 6y ago
  I applaud you, but you're swatting flies. Even if that one officer won't do it again for a year or two, the rest of them will.
  - wolco2 6y ago
    A year of people not getting shafted is an amazing achievement. Multiple by 100 you have a cultural shift.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
underdeserver 6y ago
This is one of those cases where you're definitely in the right but getting justice costs several orders of magnitude more money than just letting it go. You just gotta chalk it up to bad luck.
strathmeyer 6y ago
If your car is undrivable they can charge you to repair anything you damaged, such as the Jersey barrier. If you can drive your car a few hundred feet after the accident (cracked radiator) they can't get that money from you and don't care.
- BuildTheRobots 6y ago
  I'm curious how this works. As far as I know in the UK if you damage street furniture (signs, street-lights etc) with your vehicle then you're responsible (or your insurance is) for paying for it. Surely it shouldn't matter what state your vehicle was in at the end of it, just the damage that you've caused?
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
tyleo 6y ago
I am a former Ohio State student, a university located in Columbus, Ohio. In my experience, the tow truck businesses in area are corrupt. I suspect most other OSU students would agree. Two stories from my life: * A pizza delivery was towed in the time it took to get the pizza from car to door and collect payment. * My ex-girlfriends dad was towed while unloading the vehicle to move her into an apartment.
- khalilravanna 6y ago
  I’d argue there’s a difference between “predatory” and “corrupt”. These sound like the types of actions predatory tow truck companies take around lots of universities. I saw stuff like this at UMass Amherst and that’s in the middle of nowhere. My guess is they know kids make dumb decisions so there’s lots opportunity. Plus they won’t have the will/meansand to fight back when they tow them after 10 mns or whatever.

nobrains 6y ago

And you did not follow-up why the accident report was not filed? I usually keep following up on such cases, until all issues are resolved. It is a net negative investment for me, since the time and effort I have to put in it, is not worth it, but I get 2 satisfactions out of it: 1) Hopefully whoever "played" will learn a lesson not to again. 2) Hopefully the overall problem (whether it is bad customer service, strong arm tactics, etc.) will slowly be fixed. I guess in your case, you already used up your quota of fighting-the-system when you had to argue with both the cop and the tow-man.

istjohn 6y ago
I considered filing a complaint with the police department, but I'm skeptical anything would have come of it. Ideally, I would have done it regardless. It's true that the root problem will not be addressed if people don't pursue things. I think on net I do more than my fair share of tilting at windmills though. Ask me about self-storage companies sometime.
- nicolas_t 6y ago
  Now I'm curious about self storage companies. So I'm asking you :)
  - istjohn 6y ago
    I'm so glad you asked! It seems that the US self-storage market can be roughly segmented into two groups: UHaul Self-Storage and everyone else. UHaul is up to double the cost of their budget competitors like Public Storage. I'm budget conscious, so I quickly ruled out UHaul. The other companies all follow the same template. I didn't find any locally-owned self-storage companies, only franchises. It's impossible to call the local franchise office directly, even after you've rented a unit. The phone numbers listed in ads and on websites have local area codes but they are forwarded to national call centers. My first attempt to rent a unit, I find the best rate online, drive to the facility, and ask to rent a unit at the advertised rate. The manager has me fill out the application. The lock I'll need is $10. Sure, that's reasonable, I guess. Then she explains that there is a $20 move-in fee. No problem! This fee was hidden in a footnote on the comparison shopping site, but I spotted it and was willing to pay the 50% markup on the first month's rent. It's still a third of the cost of UHaul. But the amount she wanted to charge my card still seemed high. "Well," she explained, "it includes a $15 monthly insurance premium." "I don't need insurance." "Everyone's required to have insurance." I was indignant and walked out on principle. It was false advertising, plain and simple, and I refuse to reward that behavior with my business. I now resolved to get an actual-for-real-no-takebacks final price over the phone before driving anywhere else. So I sat in my car and called a local Public Storage franchise. Or tried to. This is when I learned about the call centers. I was frustrated at having just driven 20 minutes for nothing, and getting a call center agent after dialing a local area code phone number did nothing to improve my mood. The agent asked for my first name. Then she asked for my email address. I balked. I explained to the agent that I just wanted to get an actual-for-real-no-takebacks quote to rent a storage unit at my local Public Storage franchise. She couldn't tell me. I'd have to ask the local manager, she explained. "OK, can you just give me the phone number?" I asked, exasperated. "Once I get done with you" she responded impatiently. I was incredulous. Some of the quotes in this story may not be word-for-word accurate. But that is a word-for-word quote: "Once I get done with you." In what is not my proudest moment, I informed her that I was quite certain we would be altogether done very soon, but first I would like to express what a dumpster fire I have found the self-storage industry to be. My prophecy came to pass as she soon hung up on me. At this point, I was becoming less price-sensitive. I didn't embark on this venture thinking quality customer service would be a high priority for me, but I didn't realize how low the baseline was in this industry. There was a reasonably priced place near my home, so I decided to drive there. I figured there couldn't be much more that could be unexpected at this point. I filled out the application and listened patiently as she explained the move-in fee and required insurance. I wasn't completely resigned, however, and I asked if I could forego the insurance, perhaps by signing a waiver. She told me the insurance was required by state law. I wasn't going to argue with her--I really just needed to rent a unit already--but that seemed highly unlikely. I rented the unit. But when I got home, I did some research, and it turns out, she wasn't as far off as you might think. Ohio does have a state law devoted to self-storage unit insurance[1], believe it or not. But rather than mandating insurance, the law sets out a number of regulations that self-storage providers must follow in order to sell insurance to their customers. Normally, an agent must pass a test to be certified to sell insurance, but this law, which was passed at the behest of the self-storage lobby, makes a special cut-out so that minimally trained self-storage company staff can sell company-mandated insurance to their customers as a hidden monthly fee they can tack on to advertised prices without getting in trouble for false advertising. And hey, what do you know? The business did not comply with several points in the regulations. For example, the literature describing the insurance did not include various mandated disclosures. So I went ahead and wrote a complaint to the Ohio Department of Insurance outlining the violations. 1. http://codes.ohio.gov/orc/3905.063 http://codes.ohio.gov/orc/3905.063
vkou 6y ago
> 1) Hopefully whoever "played" will learn a lesson not to again. In the case of police misconduct, the only person learning a lesson is typically the person filing the complaint. People only tend to act so brazenly when they know that there will be no consequences, and their department will have their back. At best, your complaints will be ignored, at worst, you may face further retaliation.
underdeserver 6y ago
I applaud you, but you're swatting flies. Even if that one officer won't do it again for a year or two, the rest of them will.
- wolco2 6y ago
  A year of people not getting shafted is an amazing achievement. Multiple by 100 you have a cultural shift.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]

underdeserver 6y ago

This is one of those cases where you're definitely in the right but getting justice costs several orders of magnitude more money than just letting it go. You just gotta chalk it up to bad luck.

strathmeyer 6y ago

If your car is undrivable they can charge you to repair anything you damaged, such as the Jersey barrier. If you can drive your car a few hundred feet after the accident (cracked radiator) they can't get that money from you and don't care.

BuildTheRobots 6y ago
I'm curious how this works. As far as I know in the UK if you damage street furniture (signs, street-lights etc) with your vehicle then you're responsible (or your insurance is) for paying for it. Surely it shouldn't matter what state your vehicle was in at the end of it, just the damage that you've caused?
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]

tyleo 6y ago

I am a former Ohio State student, a university located in Columbus, Ohio. In my experience, the tow truck businesses in area are corrupt. I suspect most other OSU students would agree. Two stories from my life: * A pizza delivery was towed in the time it took to get the pizza from car to door and collect payment. * My ex-girlfriends dad was towed while unloading the vehicle to move her into an apartment.

khalilravanna 6y ago
I’d argue there’s a difference between “predatory” and “corrupt”. These sound like the types of actions predatory tow truck companies take around lots of universities. I saw stuff like this at UMass Amherst and that’s in the middle of nowhere. My guess is they know kids make dumb decisions so there’s lots opportunity. Plus they won’t have the will/meansand to fight back when they tow them after 10 mns or whatever.