Tony’s Towing

Originally wrote up a much longer rant, but I guess I’ll spare the company some bad press.
Basics: Made a request for roadside assistance, got an ETA of 1 hour and 37 minutes. 7 minutes after the ETA, I get a call from the driver saying he’d be there in 20 minutes. 25 minutes later, the guy shows up. Total wait time is over 2 hours and 23 minutes. Long 2 hour wait, bummer. Oh wait, there’s more? As I rode back with the driver, he decided he should be able to smoke in the car. My window wasn’t opened and the second hand smoke was killing me. Not sure why my insurance company even used them.

It’s an unusually warm, sunny Sunday and the «Dog Beemer» decides to spring a leak (as in coolant) as the «kids» and I are leaving Stern Grove. I pull over on Sloat and after figuring out how to use my AT&T Roadside Service, get assigned Tony’s Towing with an ETA of 45 minutes. This nice, no-​nonsense driver shows up in ~20 minutes, collects a bit of info, and then, puts the X5 on the flatbed. No muss, no fuss and he called afterwards to let me know that it was at Miraloma Auto Care (which is where I asked to have it towed). Because I had 3 dogs with me, I had to «hike» home but otherwise, no hassle.

Nelson from Tony’s Towing was extremely helpful and towed my favorite Porsche into the shop. Friendly, professional and attentive. Generally, I know I’m going to feel some pain with most tows, but not this time.

Wow. I just had a terrible experience. Tony’s Towing was dispatched from my American Express Roadside Service. The serviceman called and said he was outside my house (where my car had a flat). When I went outside, nobody was there. I called him back and said he must be in the wrong place. He was already abrasive and grew more so even as I gave him detailed driving instructions on how to get to my house (and where I live is not complicated!). He yelled that he was going to cancel the car because I was lying to him about where I live and not being outside my house. I hung up and cancelled the dispatch, at which point, the driver finally made it to my house where I told him that I cancelled the call. He made an unpleasant remark and so did I. I called Tony’s directly and whomever answered the call said in a detached way that he was sorry and would talk to the driver. Ugh.