Which is why I now pit you, Dick Beres of Beres Towing.
While the owner was not available for comment, they did manage to get a quote from The Dark Lord Satan on Saturday:
“Wow…that’s pretty fuckin’ cold.”
:eek: 
:mad:
Gotta wonder if there is a relationship between this:
And this:
But then again, I’m not sure we want him driving either:
I called Beres Towing and was very nicely told that the wheelchair had been returned to its rightful owner.
Wonder if this outcome would have been reached, had “The Press” not gotten hold of the story.
… the non-portable kind being what, exactly?
The non-portable kind being the kind that can’t be lifted and carried, wiseass. Some of them are very, very heavy and can’t be folded. Some of them are electric and weigh 300 lbs. with the batteries and all.
Nametag, You obviously failed to notice Ethilrist’s nomination in the smartass thread.
From WFRV.Com:
Quote:
We never had your wheelchair hostage in the first place,'' company owner Dick Beres told Richardsen. We don’t let anyone in the vehicles. Its company policy.’’
She denied suggestions they were insensitive to Cruz or Richardsen, and noted that her husband used a wheelchair himself.
``We’re not like that. Anybody who knows us knows that,’’ she said.
It wasn’t specific to the wheelchair, it’s their normal policy.
And this is pretty normal for any impound company. They want people to pay their fine and get the car out of their lot so that they can make room for the new cars. Abandoned cars (including those whose owners have already removed all valuables, and have no intention of claiming) cost the company time, resources and effort.
Don’t ask me how I know this…
Wonder if Cruz/Richardson would have been in such a hurry to get the car out of hock if the wheelchair wasn’t in it?
Well, they’re obviously just trying to make sure they know where to find him. :rolleyes:
Company policy or not, to even consider not returning a handicapped person’s means of mobility is reprehensible. They can backpedal all they want but someone there made an egregious mistake.
Hopefully, with all this publicity, some kind soul will come along and pay the extorti… ummm… fine.
Of course not. Same shit with everything else, assholes won’t budge until they get called out, or have a fist introduced to their jaw.
In the spirit of being obnoxious, I’ve known several people with electric, extremely heavy wheelchairs. They are indeed portable. You just have to use ramps or little elevator thingies to get the chairs into the transportation you wish to use. The person in the wheelchair often rides along in the chair.
-Lil
Cue knee jerk negative reaction:
Fuck him, and his wife. Being in a wheelchair isn’t a “get out of paying your bills free” card. These two don’t have enough money to pay the $120 to get their car out of the impound yard, and according to this news story they need the portable chair because it can go in a car. Of course, they don’t have a car, they have a totalled van for which they didn’t even have insurance in the first place.
You know what Beres Towing gets out of this in the end? A totalled shitbomb van taking up space in their yard. One that I’m sure they are required by law to keep for XX days before they can get it junked. One that they won’t get a single penny in revenue from because the deadbeat owners have pulled all of the valuable stuff out of it, and gotten themselves another car that they won’t properly insure.
Luckily, the towing company gave back the portable chair so the couple can safely put all this messy business behind them, and never think about the van (or Beres Towing) again.
I’ll wait with baited breath for the update of when this couple actually bothers to pay the towing company for services rendered.
What gives, Cheesesteak? I don’t remember you ever being the insensitive type before.
Cruz and Richardson are way the hell down on their luck. They’re not intentionally trying to screw anyone, they just simply don’t have any money at present. And I sure don’t see any evidence that they called Beres for the tow in the first place. Beres possibly picked up the call of an accident over the police scanner and, if so, incurred the possibility they might not get paid all on their own.
One of the few indications we have of who’s being decent here is this…
Admittedly, it’s a knee jerk reaction, and I could easily be wrong on all counts. OTOH, if I have a dispute with a company, it rarely winds up all over the papers, with said company getting negative publicity, reduced business and harassing phone calls. Richardson may have been quoted as saying she didn’t want to be a nuisance, but she did bring a reporter with her to ‘discuss’ the situation with the company.
According to the article, they were not insured, that doesn’t sit well with me, being down on your luck is no excuse, you expose everyone other than yourself with risk.
There is a reason that the towing companies have rules like this. If there weren’t, I have no doubt that they would forever be towing totalled cars, only to be left completely in the lurch. Unfortunately for them, they picked up a van owned by a fella in a wheelchair, so they need to toss all their rules for fear of insulting someone.
I get where you’re coming from on all counts – really, I do.
But there comes a time to hold compassion over greedy financial gain. The van itself should be impounded, no question. But the wheelchair inside? Knowing the guy can’t get around without it?
It’s a little like holding somebody’s prosthetic legs hostage, don’t you think?
That particular wheelchair isn’t exactly his only mode of transportation. He’s got an electric job that will do fine to get him around (locally) for the time being. It got him down the street to the park, and down the road to the hospital, he’s not bedridden because of this.
His inability to travel long distances (no portable wheelchair) isn’t all that different than an able-bodied person’s troubles if their car is impounded. Just like the able-bodied walking from place to place, he can get around town with his electric wheelchair, while he works out a fair and equitable arrangement with the towing company.
Extortion??? They were in an accident and the vehicle was towed. All perfectly legal. Also, the policy about not letting people in the vehicles until the bill is paid is a sound one. If it is a vehicle that may well be abandoned, it is the only leverage they have.
The van was totalled. I got ten bucks that says the towing company gets stiffed. The Richardson woman will not be coming by to make good on the bill. The towing company does not get paid for work done, they have to hold a wreck on their lot for period of time, then it fall to them to incur the cost of displosal of a large piece of trash. THEY are the victims in this story.
And did anyone spot the bullshit line here:
"*The friend was present on Thursday, but did not have her credit card with her.
On Friday, the friend who had offered to pay the towing bill could no longer do it, so Richardsen returned to Beres Towing to once again ask for the wheelchair. An employee there said he could not release it to her.*"
The friend could afford it and was willing to pay it on Thursday, but didn’t have her credit card. On Friday, she could no longer afford to do it.
The price had only went up $15 bucks.
If they don’t have the money to pay for the towing bill, what possible leverage do they have? What methods do you suggest they use instead? A strongly worded letter?
It’s not necessarily about ‘leverage’ as much as it is an effort to make a deal. It sure as hell doesn’t make the towing company happy to have an unpaid $500 bill, they’d likely much rather have a paid $120 bill and a customer who is legitimately trying to pay. For instance
You know, work with the people, rather than…