First of all, I have already reported this incident to the Cincinnati Better Business Bureau. I would encourage you all to do the same. Plus complain to the Ohio Attorney General, Cincinnati City Council (especially PG Sittenfeld), and the parking lot owners who employ Kenwood Towing.
Several weeks ago Kenwood Towing towed my car in error. I was an authorized customer of a restaurant at the time my car was towed from the parking lot. I had ordered a dinner and was waiting for it to be prepared. The restaurant employees had no idea which car I, or any other customer, was driving and they told the tow truck driver that they did not know. The driver made the decision to tow my car. As far as I understand, Kenwood Towing is responsible for monitoring the parking lot, not the restaurant. The police, for example, were surprised that Kenwood Towing does not mark tires with chalk in order to help determine which cars do not belong to authorized customers.
Minutes after KT hijacked my car, the restaurant employees alerted KT that it had towed my car in error, but the driver refused to return my car. He even refused to tell us his supervisor's telephone number or have the supervisor call the restaurant. Thirty minutes later the driver finally did give the telephone to the local police. The restaurant and the local police both asked the supervisor to return or release my car at no charge, and he refused.
When I spoke with the supervisor on the telephone, he was very rude and customer unfriendly. For example, the supervisor said that he did not care whether I had a restaurant receipt showing that I was an authorized customer, and hinted that he would change his driver's records to show that my car had been towed at a different time. In addition, he accused me of having two or three beers at the bar next door and said that I shouldn't be drinking and driving. Unbelievable! I can't imagine any company wanting to have such an unprofessional person in a position interfacing with the public.
And, oh yeah, Kenwood Towing said that I had to pay more than two hundred dollars in fees to rescue my car -- an amount that is way above the legal limit according to the recent Cincinnati Enquirer articles.
The issue was quickly resolved the next morning when a more reasonable and professional supervisor came on duty. But by then Kenwood Towing had already wasted four hours of my time (plus two hours of police time) and I still had to find someone to drive me across town to their lot. Let's all work together to compel this company to change its lousy business practices!
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