CARDINAL-REFERRED ‘DOMINION TOWING’ BUSINESS PRACTICES DON’T INCLUDE RECEIPTS FOR McLEAN HILLS VICTIMS: Vague signage, spaces, pricing make condo parking lot feel like heaven to predatory tow trucks



Only Cardinal Management Group Inc
knows how many thousands of dollars
in owner monthly dues were wasted
on bad signs: Should the McLean Hills
Condominium Association give Cardinal
a THIRD chance to get the signs right?

 A McLean Hills visitor writes-in about his recent experience as a guest...

Date: Wednesday, 25 July 2012
Subject: McLean Hills Predatory Towing
From: rluera@gmail.com
To: MHBlogette@live.com

Hi MH Blogger,

Thought you might enjoy this letter I sent to Cardinal Management about the predatory towing practices at McLean Hills.

To Cardinal Management Group, Inc.,

I’ll relate to you here an incident at one of your properties that left me feeling like a victim, rather than a guest. I’ll give you the benefit of assuming that Cardinal Management employs contract towing companies with the intent of removing uninvited cars taking advantage of open spaces, rather than an attempt to generate revenue from the misfortunes of the unwitting guests of its tenants.

At 3pm on the afternoon of Saturday, 30 June 2012, I arrived at Cardinal Management Company’s McLean Hills Condominiums. I observed the towing warning sign, which indicates that parking is allowed only for residents and their guests. I was a guest of a tenant in the complex, and possessed a written invitation to a birthday party at McLean Hills Condominiums. Prior to parking, I scanned the area for indications of resident vs. visitor parking and found no indications. There were several open spaces in the parking lot. I parked my car near the pool area and walked my child into the condo area to drop him off at the party.

At 3:15 the pool lifeguard told the party parents that someone’s car was being towed. I went to investigate and found my car being towed by Dominion Towing. The driver had red hair and tattoos down his arms. He was polite, but insisted that he be paid $50 to release my car. My host paid $20 and I paid the remaining $30 and the tow truck driver released my car. Afterward, I drove around the entire parking lot looking for a visitor space and found no clearly marked visitor spaces. I was later told that the visitor spaces were designated by yellow parking lines and the resident spaces by white spaces. This is not a clear system of marking the spaces.

What I did find on my drive around the lot however, was the tow truck driver hooking up to another car and pulling it away. This was less than 10 minutes after my tow, so the driver could not have waited more than that to tow this car. I believe that Dominion Towing engages in predatory towing practices on your parking lots. Further, I feel like a victim of predatory towing practices for three reasons: the car was parked for about 15 minutes, there were several other open parking spaces in the area, and the driver did not provide a receipt for the “drop fee” he charged me, despite this being a requirement of Fairfax County Law.

I later attempted to secure a refund from Dominion Towing, but to no avail. Thus, I appeal to Cardinal Management Company’s sense of justice and fair play and ask that you refund $50 ($30 to me and $20 to my host) and consider speaking with Dominion Towing about upright business practices and the potential damage they can do to the Cardinal brand.

Thank you for your consideration.

__________________________________________
File a complaint...

Virginia Board of Towing and Recovery Operators
C/O Department of Motor Vehicles
Post Office Box 27412
Richmond, Virginia 23269-0001
Office 804-367-0714
Fax 804-367-0718
Email BTRO@btro.virginia.gov
http://www.btro.vi.virginia.gov/fileacomplaint.shtml