ComplaintsforDoss Towing, LLC

• Initial Complaint

  06/06/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  On 4/13/23, ** State Highway Patrol contacted Doss Towing to assist us after an accident on Highway *** We were shocked when we received the bill, totaling an unbelievable $43,425.00 for towing our equipment approximately 8 miles. This is so far beyond the realm of reasonable pricing that I do not know where to begin. When we complained about the cost, they offered a "courtesy discount" of $3750, since they agreed that they did not use that much fuel to go 8 miles. Since we did not have any choice in selecting this particular service since State Highway Patrol contacted them, we feel this is a clear example of price gouging. This provider should be removed from the State Highway Patrol wrecker rotation, and we should be given a partial refund.

  Customer response

  06/19/2023

  I have not heard from the business in response to my complaint.

  
  

  Business response

  06/20/2023

  Doss Towing, LLC
  3809 North Patterson Avenue
  Winston Salem, NC 27105
  336.745.1128
  
  
  To Whom it May Concern,
  
  On April 13th, 2023, we assisted with a recovery of a loaded tractor and trailer on Highway 52 that was involved in an accident. When we arrived on scene Service Transfer’s tractor and trailer had struck a vehicle that had previously been involved in an accident, after the tractor trailer struck the vehicle, he rode the guard rail close to 100 feet where he ended up resting against it blocking the fast lane of the highway. When we arrived on scene with our rotator and medium wrecker, we evaluated the scene and saw the tractor and trailer had lost all air pressure and the trailer tire was practically off the rim. We worked diligently to cage the trucks brakes and recover the tractor and trailer out of the fast lane of the highway since rush hour morning traffic was flowing so a third accident did not occur. A lot of effort was given to make sure Service Transfer’s truck and trailer was not damaged any further during the recovery. Once we recovered the tractor and trailer, we had another truck of ours follow our rotator hauling the tractor and trailer back to the storage facility closely just in case the tire did end up coming off the trailer no other vehicles would be endangered on the highway.

  Once we submitted the invoice to Service Transfer, ******** ***** called us to discuss the invoice. The only line items she questioned was the tractor and trailer recovery and the fuel surcharge. We explained to her we charge a 10% fuel surcharge on every heavy recovery we perform. This charge i**ludes, any fuel used, cleaning, detailing, and restocking our units, which keeps our trucks ready for the next emergency on the ** DOT Interstates. We also charge 45 cent per pound based on the GVW Rating of any commercial vehicle. In this case the tractor and trailer had a GVW Rating of 80,000 pounds.

  We told ******** we could work with her on the invoice. The recovery charge per pound was our standard recovery rate for any commercial vehicle accident so we could not discount this item. But si**e she questioned the fuel surcharge instead of giving her a percentage off, we would just discount the entire line item. She told us she was going to have to call roadside repair to change the trailer tire si**e it was off the trailer. We told her even though our office was only open 8:00am to 5:00pm Monday thru Friday we would open our office up anytime even after hours if needed free of charge. We also told her we would allow the truck and trailer to sit at our storage lot for up to 7 days free of storage o**e the bill was paid to allow her time to remove it from our lot. We have paid invoices from different companies for the same type of recovery service we performed for Service Transfer where each customer was completely satisfied with our recovery preformed and invoice rates. We did not have to offer a $3,750.00 discount off the total bill, free storage of up to 7 days, or 24-hour convenient access to our storage lot outside of business hours, but we did to be helpful and easy to work with since ******** stated the trailers load was urgent and had to be delivered in **** ******** by noon that Friday. ******** at Service Transfer was very appreciative of us for what we were willing to offer.
  

  Unfortunately, when a loaded tractor and trailer is involved in an accident blocking the fast lane on the highway this involves a recovery and not just a tow. We work diligently to open back the lane of travel on the highway, so another accident does not occur. It is very critical that we recover the unit and open the highway back as soon as possible to avoid another accident that could take place. Until this happens with no warning signs or traffic control our team, law enforcement, and Service Transfer’s driver is placed in dangerous situation. A car was already involved in the first accident, and Service First was involved in a second accident, so we made sure a third accident did not occur. We had over a million dollars of equipment on scene of the accident along with a safety supervisor and certified recovery specialist, with the cost of equipment and experienced personal the cost of such recovery does not run cheap. With our company’s fast response time, expertise, and efficient recovery; our team, law enforcement, and Service Transfer’s driver remained safe during this recovery which is our ultimate goal during any recovery. 

  Customer response

  06/20/2023

   I am rejecting this response because:
  
  This does not reflect fair industry-standard pricing. We understand all of the hard work that goes into recovering and towing crashed vehicles. However, the pricing was 4-8x higher than similar incident costs we have experienced. The pricing structure is unfair and unorthodox. Usually tow companies charge per equipment piece used or per hour, but not per pound. This is unfair and arbitrary.

*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. ↩