On Saturday, 11/05/2016 I was moving my 71 year old mother from PA to WV. Just past the Meander Reservoir on I-76 in Ohio, a tire blew on our utility trailer. We had Jeswald Towing change the tire. Approximately 5 miles down the highway, that tire blew again because the first tire blowout had bent our axle. I contacted Jeswald again looking for a long distance towing company who could take the trailer home on a flat bed. Jeswald did not do long
distance so they refereed me to several other towing companies.....eventually I was refereed to A & M Towing. I spoke to "Buzz" at A & M towing and told him the maximum distance would be 250 miles (total trip is 254 miles and we had come approximately 20 miles). Buzz asked a lot of questions about why the move, etc. and gave me the impression he needed the info for any discounts. I explained I was disabled and that my 71 year old mother had a
stroke and was no longer allowed to live alone, so was moving to West Virginia with me. Buzz quoted me $1000 maximum at flat rate $2 per mile both ways from point of pick up to destination. Seemed expensive but we did agree to it. Problems started from the get go. While waiting for the flat bed, Nick Laneve from A & M towing called back and asked if they could take the trailer back to their base and deliver on Sunday or Monday because their drivers had been working all day and were tired. Nick Laneve stated there would be no additional charge for storage or mileage, so I said okay.
Sunday, 11/06/2016, came and went with no contact.
Monday, 11/07/2016, I called about 1 pm because I had not heard from A & M towing. Spoke to a woman, who said someone would call back with a delivery time. They called back and stated the cost was now $1126 and had to be paid up front by credit card before they would even leave the garage. I objected as the actual mileage was 233 miles from point of pick up to destination as I had clocked the mileage when we went home, so it should be $932 according
to the quote they gave me. Nick Laneve stated they refused to deliver the trailer unless I paid the higher price and that if I didn't like it, I needed to have someone else pick up by the end of the week. Stated they would not charge me storage as long as the trailer was picked up by the end of the week. I contacted Freedom Auto Transport and after several conversations/delays, arrangements were made for a driver to pick up the trailer on Friday 11/11/2016 and deliver on 11/12/2016. At 3:30 pm I spoke to Nick Laneve and confirmed that there were no fees owed and that driver could pick up the trailer on Friday.
On 11/11/2016 I was told by Freedom that a driver would be picking the trailer up from A & M Towing after 4 pm and delivering on Saturday 11/12/16.
11/12/2016 and 11/13/2016 no trailer and unable to get hold of anyone at Freedom or A & M Towing.
On 11/14/2016 I got hold of Freedom and was told they cancelled the pick up because A & M Towing told them the trailer was 5000 lbs and 22 feet long. This was an OUTRIGHT LIE....as the trailer is 12 feet long and was under 2500 lbs. So A & M Towing's lie caused the pick up to be cancelled (fraud). Freedom contracted another driver to pickup....when that driver contacted A & M Towing they now said we had to pay a $25 per day storage fee before they would release the trailer.
I called them and Nick Laneve demanded we pay $25 per day from 11/5 to present, then stated it had to be paid my Money Order or cash only. Now he wouldn't take a credit card. We ended up overnighting by UPS a USPS Money Order to A & M Towing for $250 (which paid the storage fee up to Wednesday)....By then the driver couldn't pick up until Friday 11/18/2016.
On 11/18/2016 the new driver, Earl of E & N Trucking, was supposed to pick up our trailer from A & M Towing. When Earl contacted A & M Towing, he was told that there were additional fees due of $100 for storage and they would charge $100 to help him load my trailer onto his flat bed. Then they told Earl that the tongue of my trailer was at a 90 degree angle and so couldn't be moved with a normal truck (this was another lie-fraud).
At that point, Earl was going to cancel the contract again because there would have been no way to unload the trailer at my end. After several phone conversations, I convinced Earl to pick up our trailer anyway and we would find a way to unload it on our end. Earl picked up the trailer and discovered that A & M Towing had lied about the condition of the trailer. Our trailer was finally home on 11/19/2016.
A & M Towing cost us $250 (money order) for storage fees, another $100 in storage fees (cash), $100 in loading fees and $106.86 for mailing of the money order, a total of $556.86 through extortion and fraud. We NEVER agreed to these fees, they literally held our trailer hostage and through extortion forced us to pay these fees before they would release the trailer.
A & M Towing & Road Service Reviews
On Saturday, 11/05/2016 I was moving my 71 year old mother from PA to WV. Just past the Meander Reservoir on I-76 in Ohio, a tire blew on our utility trailer. We had Jeswald Towing change the tire. Approximately 5 miles down the highway, that tire blew again because the first tire blowout had bent our axle. I contacted Jeswald again looking for a long distance towing company who could take the trailer home on a flat bed. Jeswald did not do long
distance so they refereed me to several other towing companies.....eventually I was refereed to A & M Towing. I spoke to "Buzz" at A & M towing and told him the maximum distance would be 250 miles (total trip is 254 miles and we had come approximately 20 miles). Buzz asked a lot of questions about why the move, etc. and gave me the impression he needed the info for any discounts. I explained I was disabled and that my 71 year old mother had a
stroke and was no longer allowed to live alone, so was moving to West Virginia with me. Buzz quoted me $1000 maximum at flat rate $2 per mile both ways from point of pick up to destination. Seemed expensive but we did agree to it. Problems started from the get go. While waiting for the flat bed, Nick Laneve from A & M towing called back and asked if they could take the trailer back to their base and deliver on Sunday or Monday because their drivers had been working all day and were tired. Nick Laneve stated there would be no additional charge for storage or mileage, so I said okay.
Sunday, 11/06/2016, came and went with no contact.
Monday, 11/07/2016, I called about 1 pm because I had not heard from A & M towing. Spoke to a woman, who said someone would call back with a delivery time. They called back and stated the cost was now $1126 and had to be paid up front by credit card before they would even leave the garage. I objected as the actual mileage was 233 miles from point of pick up to destination as I had clocked the mileage when we went home, so it should be $932 according
to the quote they gave me. Nick Laneve stated they refused to deliver the trailer unless I paid the higher price and that if I didn't like it, I needed to have someone else pick up by the end of the week. Stated they would not charge me storage as long as the trailer was picked up by the end of the week. I contacted Freedom Auto Transport and after several conversations/delays, arrangements were made for a driver to pick up the trailer on Friday 11/11/2016 and deliver on 11/12/2016. At 3:30 pm I spoke to Nick Laneve and confirmed that there were no fees owed and that driver could pick up the trailer on Friday.
On 11/11/2016 I was told by Freedom that a driver would be picking the trailer up from A & M Towing after 4 pm and delivering on Saturday 11/12/16.
11/12/2016 and 11/13/2016 no trailer and unable to get hold of anyone at Freedom or A & M Towing.
On 11/14/2016 I got hold of Freedom and was told they cancelled the pick up because A & M Towing told them the trailer was 5000 lbs and 22 feet long. This was an OUTRIGHT LIE....as the trailer is 12 feet long and was under 2500 lbs. So A & M Towing's lie caused the pick up to be cancelled (fraud). Freedom contracted another driver to pickup....when that driver contacted A & M Towing they now said we had to pay a $25 per day storage fee before they would release the trailer.
I called them and Nick Laneve demanded we pay $25 per day from 11/5 to present, then stated it had to be paid my Money Order or cash only. Now he wouldn't take a credit card. We ended up overnighting by UPS a USPS Money Order to A & M Towing for $250 (which paid the storage fee up to Wednesday)....By then the driver couldn't pick up until Friday 11/18/2016.
On 11/18/2016 the new driver, Earl of E & N Trucking, was supposed to pick up our trailer from A & M Towing. When Earl contacted A & M Towing, he was told that there were additional fees due of $100 for storage and they would charge $100 to help him load my trailer onto his flat bed. Then they told Earl that the tongue of my trailer was at a 90 degree angle and so couldn't be moved with a normal truck (this was another lie-fraud).
At that point, Earl was going to cancel the contract again because there would have been no way to unload the trailer at my end. After several phone conversations, I convinced Earl to pick up our trailer anyway and we would find a way to unload it on our end. Earl picked up the trailer and discovered that A & M Towing had lied about the condition of the trailer. Our trailer was finally home on 11/19/2016.
A & M Towing cost us $250 (money order) for storage fees, another $100 in storage fees (cash), $100 in loading fees and $106.86 for mailing of the money order, a total of $556.86 through extortion and fraud. We NEVER agreed to these fees, they literally held our trailer hostage and through extortion forced us to pay these fees before they would release the trailer.