Complaints

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.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:09/01/2022

  Type:Customer Service 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.

  My car was towed from my private apartment complex parking lot Tuesday, August 30 in the evening despite my parking pass hanging in the window. I thought my car had been stolen since I pay for parking and never move my parking pass. When I picked up my car, the worker told me that if the pass clearly was in view I wouldn’t be charged. When she showed me my car, my parking pass had been put in my center counsel, which was closed. I always leave the center counsel open. I said that my parking pass had been moved from inside mirror to the center counsel. The lady told me they did not go into my car and had a canned line that people frequently move their parking passes because they don’t want anyone to know where they live. I told her I have never once done that and am certain someone had been inside my car and moved my pass. We spoke to several neighbors who said Hound Dog had done the same thing. They moved their parking pass from the car and gave the same line about how people move their parking passes. I believe my car was unlawfully towed from a private parking lot. Our landlord manager also told us when cars are towed from the lot, they will send him an email to tell him. They did not alert management about towing my vehicle, which tells me they knew it was unlawfully towed. Our landlord manager is working with us on reimbursement but it’s not guaranteed. According to our neighbors, this is a reoccurring issue with this towing company. It doesn’t help that all the employees drive brand new sports cars.
  
  If I clearly forgot to have my parking pass out, I would admit to fault and swallow the cost, as I can afford it. I know based on how my items were moved around, someone was in my car and that my parking pass was moved so the towing company could be paid.

  Business Response

  Date: 09/01/2022

  We do NOT get in vehicles or move parking permits.  We take pictures of every vehicle before it is towed to clearly see the violation.  If a parking permit is not clearly visible then we have no idea that you have one and your vehicle will be impounded.  In addition to the pictures that we take prior to towing, every tow truck is equipped with forward and rear facing cameras that are recording every second that the ignition is on.  We have never moved/removed a parking permit and pride ourselves on doing everything by the book.  It is your responsibility to make sure your parking permit is properly displayed.  Take responsibility for the fact that you didn’t display it properly and quit trying to blame someone else for your mistake.  Our employees are very honest and have no reason to do anything shady like you’re accusing us of.  There are more cars in violation than we are able to tow on any given day.  Our drivers aren’t going to risk their job just to tow your car.  Not only would it be a crime if they did what you’re accusing them of but they know they would be terminated immediately.  I will be consulting our legal team concerning your fabricated story to see what our recourse is as far as filing suit for libel/slander.  We’ve never been accused of something so egregious in the nearly nine years that we’ve been in business and for you to do so now is unconscionable.  Everything you’ve put in writing is a boldfaced lie and I will gladly prove it in court if necessary.  We don’t email any apartment managers when we tow vehicles because every apartment manager has access to our dispatching software and can see everything we tow from their property - including pictures.  We will NOT be issuing any refunds for YOUR mistake.  Blatantly lying instead of taking responsibility for your own mistakes is not going to get us to refund you for a valid, legal tow.  Any further falsehoods will result in legal action so I would recommend choosing your words wisely.  

• Initial Complaint

  Date:08/28/2022

  Type:Service or Repair 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.

  My daughters car was towed by Hound Dogs last night. I’m not complaining she was towed. She should not have parked where she did. My complaint is that they damaged the underside of her car during the tow. I have called 3 times and talked to Gina stating she would have her boss call me. He never did. The last call she said he will not call me, she refused to give me his name and said we can’t prove she did it when she left! She called minutes after leaving that it was damaged last night! I have photos and video of under the vehicle.

  Business Response

  Date: 09/09/2022

  Your daughters vehicle was not towed last night as stated in your complaint, it was impounded on August 28th.  We aren’t accepting responsibility for the damage claim because we have no way of knowing how it was caused.  We spoke to the employee who towed her vehicle and he doesn’t think he caused any damage.  We also reviewed our cameras and didn’t observe any actions on our part that would have caused the damage.  We require notification of any damage claim prior to the vehicle leaving our property because we have no way of knowing what happened after it left our possession.  Your daughter called us approximately an hour after she picked up her vehicle and notified our dispatcher that she had damage to the undercarriage of her car but once it has left our property we don’t know if the damage was there when she picked it up or if she caused it after she left by running over a parking block, curb, etc.  The damage in the pictures doesn’t appear consistent with damage that would have been caused by getting towed with a wheel lift tow truck.  The problem is that we have no way of knowing for sure if anything happened after she drove it off our property.  We can’t assume that we caused any damage when the vehicle had already left our possession prior to the claim of damage being made.  

• Initial Complaint

  Date:08/07/2022

  Type:Billing 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.

  My vehicle was towed by Hound Dog’s Towing & Recovery on July 9th, 2022 for expired registration tags. When I called the following day (July 10th, 2022) to see if they had my vehicle, based on the license plate number (GLG7824), they replied that they did not have my vehicle. I checked the impound website for the City of Columbus the same day (July 10th, 2022) and, again based on the license plate number, it did not show up. As a result, I filed a report with the police since I thought my car had been stolen due to the recent hikes in car thefts. Today (August 7th, 2022), I checked the impound website for the City of Columbus and, based on the car’s physical descriptors, my car appeared. However, the license plate number was incorrectly recorded as “GLC7824” (see attached), which is why it did not show up initially and why the towing company initially told me that they did not have my car. I called Hound Dog’s Towing & Recovery today (August 7th, 2022) to see if they had my vehicle and, indeed, they said they did. Since the car had been parked on their lot for almost a month, due to their error, they want to charge me over $700 to recover the vehicle. Outraged, I explained to them their mistake in recording my vehicle’s license plate number, but they claimed that it “wasn’t [our] fault” when it clearly was. Not only did I waste a considerable amount of time and effort in trying to locate my “stolen” vehicle, but I incurred expenses (e.g., Lyfts, Kroger grocery delivery services, etc.) as a direct result of this error. In addition, the City of Columbus police wasted their time and effort since they were unaware that my car was impounded as a direct result of Hound Dog’s mistake.

  Business Response

  Date: 08/08/2022

  We legally towed the complainant’s vehicle on July 9th, 2022 at 4:48am.  All of our calls are recorded and we also put notes in each account whenever someone calls about their vehicle.  We are not showing any calls on July 9th or 10th regarding this vehicle.  When the vehicle owner called us yesterday and again today he admitted that he didn’t call us but instead called the Columbus Police Impound Lot.  If he had called us we would have been able to promptly inform him that we have his vehicle.  When a customer calls us we first ask for the year, make, model, and color of the vehicle and where it was towed from.  We don’t search by license plate number or VIN with our system.  We called this vehicle into the Columbus Police Records Department immediately after it was impounded and we were given a claim number as is standard procedure.  The vehicle owner says that he reported it stolen but for whatever reason we were never contacted by CPD to do a recovered/stolen report.  When we call them and report an impound we give them the year, make, model, color, address it was towed from, correct license plate number and expiration date, and VIN.  After they input all of that information they give us a claim number.  We have all of the correct information about the vehicle and that is what was relayed to the records technician when we called it in.  If it was reported stolen they should have discovered that it was impounded immediately.  Additionally, on July 12th, we sent certified letters to the registered vehicle owner at the address that was supplied to us by the state of Ohio.  Apparently the registered owner didn’t update his address with the BMV & Title offices like he was supposed to because the letters were sent to a previous address of his.  We are not at fault for anything here.  Everything we did was legal and we followed every law and did everything that we were required to do.  If he would have called us, we would have gladly told him where his vehicle was.  He also could have went to our website and typed in his license plate number and found his car that way.  We have numerous signs at every entrance and throughout the property with our name, addresses, and phone number to call if your car is impounded.  If it was actually reported stolen then Columbus Police dropped the ball by not notifying him, not us.  We make sure we do everything legally and exactly by the book but we can’t do anything to help if CPD dropped the ball.  Unfortunately, since we did nothing wrong we won’t be able to refund any of the impound or storage fees that continue to accrue at a daily rate until the car is picked up.  

  Customer Answer

  Date: 08/12/2022

  [If you do not say why you are rejecting the company's response, BBB must close your complaint.] 
  
  
  
  Complaint: 17684738
  
  
  
  When I contacted the staff at Grant Park, the apartment complex from which my vehicle was towed, on July 10th, 2022, they provided me with “the towing company’s” phone number. This number turned out to be another towing company’s number (not Hound Dog’s Towing & Recovery), congruent with Hound Dog’s Towing & Recovery claim. The blame would then fall with Grant Park on this matter. The managers of Grant Park do contract Hound Dog’s Towing & Recovery to tow vehicles from their lot according to lease terms agreed upon by the tenant. However, Hound Dog’s Towing & Recovery towed my vehicle on July 9th, 2022. Under my previous lease term (from July 30th, 2021 to July 29th, 2022) with Grant Park, there was no stipulation for towing a tenant’s vehicle from the lot related to expired registration tags. As long as the tenant had a parking pass displayed (I had two), and were not violating other rules (I was not), they could park in the lot for free per the terms of the old lease. More to the point, Hound Dog’s Towing & Recovery was not under contract for tenants under the old lease. Therefore, my vehicle was towed illegally. Grant Park acknowledges this mistake. Despite Grant Park's efforts to negotiate with Ground Dog’s Towing & Recovery to return my vehicle, the towing company refuses to do so. Although the following is perhaps superfluous at this juncture, I will mention them for a matter of record. First, when I spoke to both employees of the City of Columbus and Columbus Police Department, they both maintained that the incorrect entry of the license plate number was not their fault but Hound Dog’s Towing & Recovery. Take it up with them. According to the Grant Park manager, Hound Dog’s Towing & Recovery says that “it isn't [our] fault regardless of the license plate being entered in wrong”. Frankly, that is an asinine claim. You cannot enter in the incorrect license plate number without consequence, it leads to exorbitant costs for the owner of the vehicle. Second, the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles confirmed to me that as of November 2021, the mailing address listed for me is the correct address (my current address). Therefore, Hound Dog’s Towing & Recovery did, in fact, send the certified letters to the incorrect address. Whether Hound Dog’s Towing & Recovery or the Ohio BMV is to blame, I did, in fact, have the correct addresses listed and updated like I was supposed to. Moreover, they should have known better given that the address they towed the vehicle from is not even in the same city as the address they used to send the letter to and because I had Grant Park parking passes displayed on my back window. Hound Dog’s Towing & Recovery could have easily contacted Grant Park to obtain the correct address. There may be no law that directs them to contact property managers (there should be), but there is certainly no law against exercising common sense. Since I did not violate the parking terms of my lease on the date of the tow, I cannot be held liable for the towing fees and my vehicle should be returned to me gratis. There are also expenses related to this incident that continue to accrue weekly pending the return of my vehicle and someone will be held liable for them.