On March 7, 2012, I parked at the Shadyside Plaza to get pizza or hoagies after my son was just about done getting his first tattoo in memory of his friend that died very young. I was originally parked down the street for the 2 hours that he was there. I moved my car when the tattoo place said he was just about done. I put it in the Shadyside Plaza on South Highland Avenue where Pizza Parma was located and went and looked at the menu and also checked out the Chinese place next door to see what they had since I knew my son would be hungry when he was done. I then walked across the street to get my son, they were just about done, so I waited maybe 15 minutes to 20 minutes at the very most to find out what he wanted to eat at the Pizza Parma. We came out, ordered our hoagies and while waiting for them, I got cold and went to my car to get my coat; only to then realize that my car had been towed and I would have to pay $150.00 to get it back from Howard's Towing!!! I explained that I only walked across the street to get my son and find out what he wanted to order. There was no sign saying that you are not allowed to walk off the property even for a second before ordering. I explained this all to the tow truck driver and he said that the moment I walked off the property, no matter what the reason, I abandoned my car and he was then allowed to tow it!! He said that he watched me go to the Pizza Parma and then check out the Chinese Restaurant then proceed to walk across the street and instead of telling me that I couldn't walk across the street to find out what my son wanted to eat, he just towed my car!!!! I realize NOW I should have told the Pizza Parma while looking at their menu that I was just running across the street to get my son to see what he wanted to eat so that my car wouldn't have gotten towed, but living in the suburbs of Pittsburgh, I did not think that anyone would do such a thing for a few minutes!!! I did not have $150.00 cash on me and they were closed in the office to use a credit card. The only good thing was that my son had his car too, or I would have been stuck just for not ordering first before getting my son, even though I did not know what he wanted yet!!! The tow truck driver damaged my front bumper scraping it against the cement blocks in the parking lot and was just out to make a buck, not do the right thing. My intention was never to use their lot without being a customer, I just needed to first find out what my son wanted to eat!!!! The young tow truck driver was very rude and pocketing money from other people he was going to tow, but they caught him before he actually towed their car from the same lot. The idea is to make sure there is parking for paying customers and I was a paying customer!!! Once he realized, he should have brought my car back or at least not charged me an absurd rate of $150.00 for 15 minutes of parking, even though I was a customer there!!! These people do not care and are just out to rob people!
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