Residents complain about towing company HOA, apartment complex hired

CHARLOTTE — People in different neighborhoods across Charlotte have been complaining about a tow company.

Natascha Krause lives in the Buckleigh neighborhood in northeast Charlotte. It has all private roads. The homeowner association hired Justt Towing to enforce the parking rules.

“We don’t have a problem with the towing, but we have a problem with the company itself,” Krause said.

She says the company has been “verbally abusive ... Very aggressive. Very rude.”

Krause started a petition, demanding her HOA hire a different tow company.

“From a level of one to 10, I would say we are about an eight at this point (in terms of being upset about the situation),” she said.

People in other neighborhoods, including some apartment complexes, have been venting about Justt Towing on social media.

Since late October, six drivers have even filed police reports about the company. Many claim Justt Towing broke Charlotte’s towing rules (for example, that it only accepted one form of payment and wasn’t available to release a car within the required 45 minutes).

Action 9′s Jason Stoogenke called Justt Towing and the man who answered told him he owns it and that HOAs and apartment complexes hire him to be aggressive in enforcing the parking rules.

He told Stoogenke he does take multiple forms of payment as long as he can verify they’re legitimate. As for being available within 45 minutes, he says he doesn’t man the lot around the clock, but if people call first, he makes sure someone is available within that amount of time.

Action 9 exchanged emails with Buckleigh HOA’s lawyer but didn’t have an official statement to share in time for this report.

If you have a problem with a towing company your neighborhood uses, you can lobby your HOA or apartment complex to contract with someone else — try meeting with the board or landlord as a group, not by yourself (strength in numbers). If that doesn’t work, in an HOA you can vote for new board members when the time comes or maybe think of joining yourself.

Make sure you know what the current towing rules say. Here are some of the main ones:

- There must be signs on the property warning you about towing.

-The signs must be easy to read.

- The tow company must accept cash and two major credit cards.

- The tow company must have someone on-call who can release your vehicle within 45 minutes.

- You are entitled to retrieve your personal property from the vehicle.

Click here to see Charlotte’s full towing ordinance.

(VIDEO: Police charge tow truck worker with impersonating law enforcement)

Police charge tow truck worker with impersonating law enforcement

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