I live in a complex that holds a contract with Safari towing to tow cars parked in unauthorized spaces, tow nonresidents, people without visitor tags, etc. I live on the first floor and have one vehicle. There is never any parking available. My car was towed by Safari Towing with no notice and they charge nearly $300 to get the car out of impound.
Because this is a lot of money to me, we looked up information about our rights and found out that there may be cases when a tow company committed statutory violations. I researched this before getting my car out of the lot. When I arrived at the lot I was kicked out of the building for asking questions. In order to make sure I was not arrested for trespassing I called 911 to back me up, as I was told to do by a website that lists towing ordinances in Texas.
The manager at Safari towing also refused to provide business licenses of his employees, names of people who authorized the tow, etc. My mother was with me and she got the car but he refused to give this information to her also.
I let the apartment know that there were numerous statutory violations regarding the company's towing practices and they did not care. Instead, they sent me a notice to vacate. When I talked to them, they said they were upset about a few issues, but she sounded the most upset about the towing incident. She stated that I caused problems with their towing company.
I looked up the towing company on Facebook, and I can see that the owner drives an extremely expensive sports car.
If this company wanted to behave ethically, it would tow people without visitor parking tags or without resident stickers but instead, they only tow from the covered spaces. At $300 a pop, any towing company could make bank at my apartment complex because of the inadequate parking.
I was told that this company provides kickbacks to landlords. I believe it but I do not have any proof. I am more than a little miffed that an illegal tow would result in my being kicked out of my apartment. Now that they know I know what's going on they have started to harass me, calling the police on me and my husband and threatening to tell future landlords bad things about me.
One last thing, on the Facbeook page for Safari Towing, the manager brags that only 1/100 people complain about their "services." I can only guess that this means most people don't know what's up. If you look up illegal towing schemes, there are actually judges who have been sentenced to life in prison for participating in them. Someone should take these guys to the cleaners.
I hope that enough people will complain about this company to get their licenses pulled at the very least. People with few skills committing what amounts to legal theft of cars in order to extort hundreds of dollars per person belong in jail not in business.
Safari Towing Reviews
I live in a complex that holds a contract with Safari towing to tow cars parked in unauthorized spaces, tow nonresidents, people without visitor tags, etc. I live on the first floor and have one vehicle. There is never any parking available. My car was towed by Safari Towing with no notice and they charge nearly $300 to get the car out of impound.
Because this is a lot of money to me, we looked up information about our rights and found out that there may be cases when a tow company committed statutory violations. I researched this before getting my car out of the lot. When I arrived at the lot I was kicked out of the building for asking questions. In order to make sure I was not arrested for trespassing I called 911 to back me up, as I was told to do by a website that lists towing ordinances in Texas.
The manager at Safari towing also refused to provide business licenses of his employees, names of people who authorized the tow, etc. My mother was with me and she got the car but he refused to give this information to her also.
I let the apartment know that there were numerous statutory violations regarding the company's towing practices and they did not care. Instead, they sent me a notice to vacate. When I talked to them, they said they were upset about a few issues, but she sounded the most upset about the towing incident. She stated that I caused problems with their towing company.
I looked up the towing company on Facebook, and I can see that the owner drives an extremely expensive sports car.
If this company wanted to behave ethically, it would tow people without visitor parking tags or without resident stickers but instead, they only tow from the covered spaces. At $300 a pop, any towing company could make bank at my apartment complex because of the inadequate parking.
I was told that this company provides kickbacks to landlords. I believe it but I do not have any proof. I am more than a little miffed that an illegal tow would result in my being kicked out of my apartment. Now that they know I know what's going on they have started to harass me, calling the police on me and my husband and threatening to tell future landlords bad things about me.
One last thing, on the Facbeook page for Safari Towing, the manager brags that only 1/100 people complain about their "services." I can only guess that this means most people don't know what's up. If you look up illegal towing schemes, there are actually judges who have been sentenced to life in prison for participating in them. Someone should take these guys to the cleaners.
I hope that enough people will complain about this company to get their licenses pulled at the very least. People with few skills committing what amounts to legal theft of cars in order to extort hundreds of dollars per person belong in jail not in business.