This is alert message to all members in Los Angeles area...

Be cautious when you park your car... especially at gas station...

My friend was at downtown Chevron gas station earlier today and went inside to pay gas to the cashier. When he came out, these guys were trying to tow away his car. My friend initially stopped them, but they said to pay $120 in cash now. He didn't have not much cash, plus there was no need to pay at all. They towed the car anyways even though my friend tried to stop them.

He followed to the towing company to pickup his car and now they are asking for $235 cash due to gate fee, etc... He then called 911 to file report. Cop showed up 1.5hrs later and advised my friend there is nothing police can do and to pay and deal with it later legally. My friend saw the cop chatting & laughing with towing company employees. Since he had no choice, he went to nearest ATM and paid them in cash to get his car back.

He will contact the lawyer on Monday to try to file a lawsuit.

FYI, the name of the towing company is Globe Towing located near 9th st and Santa Fe.

If you have ever experienced this or have any suggestions on how to resolve this issue, please advise.

One more thing, while my friend was waiting for the cop, there were about half dozen ppl who came to pickup their cars. All of them were towed away at the gas stations.

 

I'm not in California.........but I had to ask

What was the reason his car got towed away?

 

no reason!
they tow away for no reason!
it's a big scam.
i bet they tow aways dozens of cars per day... and not everyone will do anything about it and just pay fine. if they calculated right, they'll still make profit...

 

I know that if that happened to me and there was nothing that the cops could do, I'd want to take it into my own hands, especially if there are so many other people involved. Go down there when they're closed, slash some tow truck tires, break some windows, burn the dam place down!!

Of course, if your lawyer can expose these crooks, even better. Try baiting them--take a video camera, rent a nice car, and go to the same gas station and wait for them to tow. Get it all on hidden camera, get proof that they're doing this, then take them to court and see how fast they'll want to settle with you. Call one of those news stations and expose them on TV. Lots of other people will come forward and this place will be out of business quicker than Vanilla Ice!

 

Channel 2 News did an expose of this scam a couple of years ago.

But- Also in the news is in LA they will now tow every time the signs say no parking from say 3 PM to 5 PM. Most of these tow people are crooks and the cops are in with them. They will take things out of your car and out of the trunk.

The solution is to do what I do, I will never shop in LA ever again. You can get the same things in one of the 100 other cities. And every year I write a form letter to the LC City Council stating that I will never shop in their corrupt city again. If thousands did that they would listen.

 

this is ridiculous. the city should do something about this.
i heard if u call cops in beverly hills, 5 patrol cars show up within 5 minutes.

and i thought valet parking is bad...
never park the car without security in sight.

 

dude, that's bull****! best of luck to your friend, I hope he makes those *******s pay. the only way to do it is to put them out of business...

If that was me, I would probably start a fight with those *******s.

So, correct me if I'm wrong, but his car was at a gas PUMP and then the ****ers towed it?

Which Chevron in DTLA is this exactly? The one on fig, close to SC?

 

The towing company is suppose to wait an hour after a call is made by the owner of the property before they can tow the car. I really hope everything works out for your friend.

 

man, what a ****ty story. I hate to hear **** like this! pisses me off!

 

Well it happens everyday in So Cal-from condos to stores someone is towed away for no apparent reason and then forced to pay whatever ridicoulous cost they ask for. Nothing will change if only one person stands up unfortunately...

 

yes, because the card machine didn't work outside, he had to go to cashier and prepay by credit card.

it's the chevron on olympic blvd. few block west from 110 freeway.

 

That's a tough one, you can sue but they probably have some good lies prepared to tell the judge and they probably win everytime, maybe even get a judgement against you for harassing them. Best case they will say it was a mistake, towed the wrong car and give you your money back but that's not likely. They know the scam way better than you so fighting is futile. They police probably get a kickback. One of my neighbors is LAPD, he sure lives large on a cops salary, hmmm. I guess if it happened to me in LA I don't know if I would have time to deal with it far from home. If it happened near home, I would get the officer's name/badge, call the police/sherrif station and ask to speak to the commanding officer and say that your car was stolen, you asked the officer for help and he refused. If it's within a city, I would then call the city manager, discuss it with him and ask him to request the council add this as an agenda item for the next meeting. If not, no problems, you can request to speak before the council, Brown act, they can't stop you. You'll get 3 minutes per person that shows up. Guaranteed, tie up 20-30 minutes of the councils time with sad stories, speak to the video camera (most council meetings are broadcast live on cable) ask for a follow up on the agenda until it's resolved and they'll act on it, they would be too embarrased not to. Also, the police chief usually attends council meetings, ask him/her directly why such a cavalier attitude towards these crimes? Then at the back of council meetings there's usually members of the press, they usually sit in the back row. They are good to talk to during the breaks, they love sad stories, makes good press.

Also, did you talk to the gas station owner, usually city code requires that their license be posted visibly and sue them, they are an easier target. Also sue Chevron for not providing a safe environment for you to do business in, afterall, they sell pay under a dollar for the gallon fuel they sell to you for $2.50, they can afford it.

If you stir the feces enough, someone will wake up and take notice.

 

i was not at the scene...
thx 4 in the info... i will ask my friend to follow up.

 

the tow trucks just hang out around the corner, wait for you to go in, barely hook the car up, move it, then secure it and tow it to their yards. they have it down to a science, its just a matter of stopping them. freaking tow truck drivers are a bunch of crazy cooters!

 

DOT should enforce towing policies and regulations instead of freakin' aftermarket HIDs....

 

Get the lawyer involved. If nothing is done, get a video camera and try to make it happen again, getting them and the 'laughing cops' on hidden camera. Take it to the media and watch the fireworks. The best thing to do is put these *****s out of business.

If all else fails, go there at night when they're closed, slash their tow truck's tires, break all the windows in their place and burn it down!

 

i so agree with jayitx, there is no justice like vigilante justice

 

yea *** that, thats crazy, that dosent go on where im from and if it did that **** would stop real soon, asses would be kicked. My friend owns an auto parts store/junkyard/and 3 towing companies. nothing like that happenes around here.

 

i'm sure big towing companies don't do this...
this must be small company doing major dirty business....

 

They must be extremely small...I did a search through public records and couldn't find this company...I'm sure it must be a scam company.

http://regrec.co.la.ca.us/fbn/fbn.cfm
http://www.bbbsouthland.org/

 

Smart... I totally forgot to do that.

mj50, are you sure it's Globe Towing? If you could get more specifics, then that would be awesome. I searched the public records and asset locator for CA, and I couldn't find it.

 

Found it.................Global Towing

1400 S Santa Fe Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90021

 

thanks Drew, I found em...

apparently, they're somewhat new--they were incorporated on 6/14/2004.

there is a small claims judgment against them that may be somewhat relevant (there's no info as to what the claim against them was, but more than likely it's for the same stuff)--the judgment against them is for $230.00 on 9/15/2004.

 

screw the cops, call your lawyer first! and then have your lawyer call the cops.

 

where did u find this info?
yeah, from the fee amount, looks like it's same.
maybe these guys continue this business by changing business names...