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Published on Wednesday, November 10, 2004
in the Local 10 News
BROWARD COUNTY, Fla. -- A South Florida woman says after she was involved in a crash on Interstate 95 the Florida Highway Patrol directed her to use a towing company that ripped her off afterward.
Faith Morford says after she was towed she expected to be charged, but not overcharged.
"I said, 'What do I owe you?' The man said, $494.49.' I said, 'You are kidding -- for towing my car three exits?'"
According to the receipt obtained by Local 10, "Fleet, The People's Choice" charged Morford:
In fact, this tow company didn't drop Morford off anywhere. They simply took her to their facility.
Morford said she questioned the bill.
"He said, 'That's what it is, and it has to be here in cash. We want cash.' He wanted cash -- cash only," Morford said.
But the Local 10 Problem Solvers did some research, we found that what towing companies can charge in Broward County is strictly regulated by the county.
For instance, an administration fee can only be charged if a tow company has to do research to find out who owns the car.
Morford was charged an administration fee, yet she was at the scene of the crash.
And what about the charges for wait time, a hook up fee, work time and extra labor?
The Local 10 Problem Solvers immediately contacted the Florida Highway Patrol. Troopers we talked to were shocked at the $495 bill.
Lt. Roger Reyes said, "We are not going to tolerate the overbilling and overcharging of individuals involved in an accident."
After the Local 10 Problem Solvers and FHP began looking into the towing bill, Morford got $350 in cash back from fleet
The bill, amazingly, went from $494 to just $142.
Problem Solver Jeff Weinsier tracked down the manager of Fleet Towing.
"We wanted to talk to you about the $350 mistake? A lot of people will be watching this thinking it's a big rip off," Weinsier said.
"I'm not the one who needs to get involved in this," Mitchell responded.
But he is already involved. Not only does he manage the towing company, Morford says she dealt directly with him
"I'm the one that handles the paper work and I took care of it," Mitchell said later. "OK, here's paperwork. It's corrected * It was an honest mistake, that's why we made restitution."
Ironically, Fleet Towing calls itself "The People's Choice." The Local 10 Problem Solvers now want to know how many other people have mistakes on their towing bill.
After our call, FHP discovered that others involved in the same crash were also charged too much by Fleet.
Local 10 has been told that refunds are on the way.
FHP did say that they are not aware of any other complaints against Fleet Towing.
In Broward County, FHP has 16 different tow companies on a rotation. When there's a crash, one of them is called in to pull your car off the highway as fast as possible.
Fleet Towing has been put on notice, given a warning, that FHP could drop them from that rotation.