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Business Profile

Towing Company

Koskinen's Towing & Repair

This business is NOT BBB Accredited.

Find BBB Accredited Businesses in Towing Company.

Complaints

This profile includes complaints for Koskinen's Towing & Repair's headquarters and its corporate-owned locations. To view all corporate locations, see

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Koskinen's Towing & Repair has 5 locations, listed below.

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    Customer Complaints Summary

    • 2 total complaints in the last 3 years.
    • 1 complaint closed in the last 12 months.

    If you've experienced an issue

    Submit a Complaint

    The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. 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.

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    Complaint status

    Complaint type

    • Initial Complaint

      Date:09/25/2024

      Type:Service or Repair Issues
      Status:
      UnansweredMore info

      Complaint statuses

      Resolved:
      The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
      Unresolved:
      The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
      Answered:
      The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
      Unanswered:
      The business failed to respond to the dispute.
      Unpursuable:
      BBB is unable to locate the business.
      Koskinens was contracted by *** to tow my 2003 ****** to a repair station.

      They failed to lock my truck’s steering, took a right turn in town and smashed the front passenger side of the truck into a parked *****, damaging the panel, headlight, and tie rod assembly.

      They then filed a police report claiming that the steering was locked, and the broken tie rod allowed for the wheel to turn. This was proven false by surveillance footage supplied by the repair station, which shows both wheels turning freely. (A broken tie rod would only affect one wheel.) Additionally the tie rod was sheared from impact, not corroded as the tow operator claimed.

      Since then Koskinens has been hard to get ahold of, given me the run around, and in my most recent conversation with the owner, he called me an “ass,” at which point I hung up on him.

      Additionally, according to the guys at the repair place, Koskinens does this sort of thing to vehicles in their care so often that they are banned from the lot of many repair places in town, and have to drop cars on the street to avoid causing more damage.

      It’s worth pointing out that this collision with a parked car is the BEST possible outcome of letting an unlocked pickup truck swing out into oncoming traffic on a busy road at 10:30 on a weekday. Someone could have been killed. These guys need their trucks taken away before someone gets hurt.
    • Initial Complaint

      Date:07/14/2023

      Type:Product Issues
      Status:
      AnsweredMore info

      Complaint statuses

      Resolved:
      The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
      Unresolved:
      The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
      Answered:
      The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
      Unanswered:
      The business failed to respond to the dispute.
      Unpursuable:
      BBB is unable to locate the business.
      I was towed by Koskinen's Towing from the Cayuga St. ****'s customer parking on Friday, July 7 at approximately 1:30pm.

      I was towed less than 10 minutes after purchasing a drink from the Cayuga St. **** in order to use their customer parking lot. I crossed the street, dropped off a book at the library next door, and was towed immediately. The customer parking signs only state that you have to make a purchase to park there. There is no time limit provided or indication that if you cross the street, you are no longer a customer.

      I was unable to refute the tow, and was made to pay $215 to get my car out of Koskinen's impound.

      The Koskinen's tow truck is parked in this ****'s lot daily, and employees of the **** told me that a store manager, who's name is ***** ***, sits out in the parking lot and waits for customers to cross the street in order to get them towed as quickly as possible.

      This is not a typical practice at **** locations, and I suspect that the store manager receives payment from the tow company for every tow she initiates.

      I am looking for a full refund of the $215 I was made to pay to get my car out of impound. I am also hoping to end this predatory towing practice.

      The final complaint I have against Koskinen's is that they are harassing my mother at her place of employment. She works at the ******** ****** ****** ******** right across the street from the ****. Both ***** ***, and Koskinen's have called the library director to report that my mother is harassing them. This is not true, in fact they are harassing her by calling in these false claims to her boss. I do not know why they are doing this, and this gives me more reason to suspect that something is going on between the manager and the tow company.

      Business Response

      Date: 07/17/2023

      We are sorry to see this complaint. Unfortunately we cannot provide refunds for private property tow aways. The best course of action would be to contact the entity that requested the towaway which in this case would be the corporate office for ***** You can also contact the City of Ithaca as they regulate all tow away incidents and set the rates to release vehicles. The towaway signs at this particular location do state "7/11 Customer Parking Only." The qualification of being a customer or not is determined by the staff and representatives of 7/11 not our company. As far as the harassment goes, a women did approach our employees and began an altercation with them. After which we contacted the director to provide information on the incident and discuss ways we can improve the communication between the library and ***** Our owner did suggest to the director to place a sign on the library door to remind patrons that the 7/11 does towaway vehicles in which the customer has left their property as they are no longer considered customers of ***** Our company has had no malicious intent with the library or their staff. We are simply carrying out the tasks outlined in our contract with both the City of Ithaca and *****  

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