I agree, but would actually do it in writing and in person. Make a copy of the ad in the phone book and a copy of the bill showing the towing charges and attach the copies to a letter describing their deceptive business practices that’s addressed to your state’s attorney general, the Better Business Bureau, any regulatory agencies for mechanics (BAR?), the telephone company that publishes the directory the ad appeard in and the local television station(s). Hand carry it in, show it to the owner and let him know you are dead serious about sending copies to every entity listed if he doesn’t refund your $35.
During the summer after my second year of law school, I volunteered for the Illinois Attorney General’s Office. I worked in the Consumer Fraud division and we dealt with this stuff all the time. It sounds like what you encountered is fraud and most people just ignore it, allowing places like this to keep doing it over and over again. If I were you, I’d tell them that you plan on filing a complaint with your state’s AG. And don’t feel like the $35 isn’t worth it. A lot of these places already have complaints lodged against them. And some of them can get hit with contempt of court charges if they have had problems like this in the past.
The BBB is always a good option, but a lot of these places don’t care much about getting on their shit list. Most of them, however, have no desire to have the AG snooping around.
I say don’t just “suck it up and pay it.” They’ll just keep screwing people if nobody fights back.
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I once fought a $5 traffic ticket tooth and nail.
Why, you may ask.
Let me tell you.
I got a letter in the mail telling me I owed Houston $5 for running a tollbooth. They had my liscense plate, name, addy, etc. No picture of my car. So, I sat down and thought about it for a minute. Have I ever been to Houston? Well, once I passed through the outskits of Houston to go to Ozzfest in Baytown. About 6 months before. In my friend’s truck. Which I wasn’t driving. While my car sat happily in my driveway.
Wait, there’s something wrong with this picture.
So, I called the little number on the ticket every other day for about two months, leaving a message each time. Completely ignored. Finally, I gave up and called in the Big Guns (which I rarely, rarely ever do) - my mom. Told her what happened, she got pissed, and took care of it.
It’s the principal of the thing, really. It would’ve been easier just to pay the damned $5.
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The only problem I have with “taking time to calm down” is that quite often, they ‘calm down’ to the point where they don’t care at all anymore. Not that you would do this, I just wanted to add something more substantial than ‘good idea’.
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I filed a couple of complaints about local businesses to my state’s consumer protection division and I couldn’t believe how quickly things were resolved to my satisfaction. On one, I’d have been willing to settle for much less than the full value of the goods I complained about if the business had been willing to deal with me. Much better than small claims court when you have a solid case, which I believe you have.
