Had a buddy get his bass boat towed from his apartment. When he went to pick it up, the boat and trailer were damaged. He went to small claims and won. The tow company simply ignored him. He was told to file a lien on the companies property. In talking to someone else, he was told that a lien won't mean a thing, because the company would never seek to sell the property, making the lien inconsequential. I don't know a thing about liens, so I am not sure if this is true. Needless to say, after another 18 months of back and forth in small claims court, he got,....wait for it,......nothing. He finally gave up and fixed the boat and trailer out of his own pocket. A few years later the movie "Liar, Liar" came out with the infamous impound scene:
Fletcher (played by Jim Carry): You scratched my car!
Impound Guy: Where?
Fletcher: [Showing him exactly] Right there!
Impound Guy: Oh. That was already there.
Fletcher: You - liar! You know what I'm going to do about this?
Impound Guy: What?
Fletcher: Nothing! Because if I take it to small claims court, it will just drain eight hours out of my life and you probably won't show up and even if I got the judgment you'd just stiff me anyway; so what I am going to do is **** and moan like an impotent jerk, and then bend over and take it up the tailpipe!
Motorpool Guy: You've been here before, haven't ya? [winks]
If it was a different situation, like it was damaged by a shop, you could call a local media consumer advocate and lean on them with the threat of bad publicity. Unfortunately, tow companies are so reviled, that the publicity doesn't hurt their bottom line.
The whole thing stinks and there aren't a lot of viable courses of action for the little guy!
cricman
Fletcher (played by Jim Carry): You scratched my car!
Impound Guy: Where?
Fletcher: [Showing him exactly] Right there!
Impound Guy: Oh. That was already there.
Fletcher: You - liar! You know what I'm going to do about this?
Impound Guy: What?
Fletcher: Nothing! Because if I take it to small claims court, it will just drain eight hours out of my life and you probably won't show up and even if I got the judgment you'd just stiff me anyway; so what I am going to do is **** and moan like an impotent jerk, and then bend over and take it up the tailpipe!
Motorpool Guy: You've been here before, haven't ya? [winks]
If it was a different situation, like it was damaged by a shop, you could call a local media consumer advocate and lean on them with the threat of bad publicity. Unfortunately, tow companies are so reviled, that the publicity doesn't hurt their bottom line.
The whole thing stinks and there aren't a lot of viable courses of action for the little guy!
cricman
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