>I think the only way you can understand is by having a really bad
>experience and a good experience. All to often the good guys and the
>bad guys are paid the same wage. I think that the good guys deserve a
>little extra.
Along these lines, has anyone else ever had a terrible tow, only to have the
driver ask "Where's the tip?"
My Plymouth broke down in a college town in PA (Ray knows which school!),
and I called the local towing joint about having the car towed out - I was
visiting a friend, and wouldn't be able to accompany the car. I told them
that if they were extra careful, I'd tip well, and I'd like their best
driver on the job. After my visit, I got home to figure out why the car
died - and the car was in shambles! First mistake, the guy must have towed
the car through the woods to get it to my place. The exhaust had been
ripped off at the catalytic converter and was nowhere to be found. The
inside was bad too - someone smoked half a pack of cigarettes, leaving the
butts in the once-pristine ashtray and BURNING A HOLE IN MY SEAT! The real
killer was the outside, two scratches, and half of my rear window louvers
gone!
I fixed the car, then drove back to the garage to complain. Along the way,
I found the other half of my louvers along a bumpy road and my exhaust along
a set of train tracks. Steaming, I pulled in to gripe, and they were kind
enough to give me an insurance write-up (which netted me nothing, BTW).
They claimed that they delivered the car as it was found - obviously not
true, but all they could do was lie about the exhaust and stuff. The
cigarette burns "were there" as they said, until I pointed out that the car
was never smoked in before, and I was a non-smoker. Pissed, I vowed never
to return and to call the Better Business Bureau. As I was leaving, the
driver says, "So what about that tip you promised? I got kids to feed!" I
threw him a nickel and left.
As an aside, the scratches were caused by using the slings on a
urethane-bumpered car. The fact that he had the front-end raked so high
caused the exhaust to catch, which may or may not have had anything to do
with the louvers breaking off...
Oddly enough, later that year, I had to deal with these guys again...I was
visiting the previously mentioned University on a college tour and they
towed my car for not having a college sticker. Guess who was the
University's contracted towing company? And, if anyone reading this is a
college official, DO NOT have prospective students car's towed!!! They WILL
NOT come to your school!
Michael S. Lishego
http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/Speedway/3706/
|