Big Ben's Towing & Recovery MD 20602

S

Steven Bazemore

This towing company has been illegally towing vehicles from my neighborhood every night around midnight. One of the workers appears to be on the spectrum, which makes it difficult to communicate with him, and the other usually wears camouflage overalls like a hunter. Their towing fees are outrageously high — nearly double the standard rate in D.C. When I returned to the spot where my truck was towed, I noticed a piece of duct tape about 20 feet from the stop sign — I can only assume that’s their version of “proper signage.” I plan to bring this issue up at the next HOA board meeting, as companies like this have no place in our community.

B

Brittany Longino

This company is not worth the 1 star I’m forced to give it. Big Ben's Towing is predatory and shameless. My family member had a medical emergency at his house, in which I arrived at 01:01 and parked in a visitor’s parking space. The paramedics were present and left at 01:22. At 01:35, once his medical emergency was addressed and stable, he went out to put a visitor’s parking tag in my car, only to find Big Ben’s Towing Truck loading my car on the vehicle. When asked to get my car, the driver agreed at first to put it down for $125, but got aggressive once the homeowner questioned him for predatory towing and left saying that now it would be $280 to get it back. We were also explaining to the driver of the medical emergency in which him and his assistant saw the ambulance had just left, but he just shrug his shoulders and said that it had nothing to do with him. It's clear they were waiting for an opportunity to tow, and the circumstances didn't matter to them. Given the situation, it was impossible for me to put the visitor's tag in the car any sooner. The homeowner wasn't coherent enough to assist me until after the paramedics stabilized him. Big Ben's Towing's actions were unconscionable, and I would advise everyone to avoid them at all costs. I truly think that they would’ve towed my car sooner, but couldn’t get past the ambulance to get it. That leads me to believe that they were lurking the entire time, waiting for the opportunity to tow my vehicle. I really hope the HOA Board considers a different towing company in the near future.

N

Nathan Farquharson

This is easily the worst tow truck company around. Straight scammers. I went out to my car on Friday night (04/18) and seen a green sticker posted on the driver door window. The sticker said I have 72 HOURS until my car was going to be towed because of “expired tags/registration”. I knew something had to be wrong because we have always kept the tags of this car up to date and never had any problems with registration (I’ve had the car since 2016). And I had just registered the car not to long ago (new registration expires 2026). Knowing that, I called the company and asked them why they had left this note if my tags aren’t expired. The lady who had answered the phone (I believe her name was Amy ). Had told me the reason they left the sticker is because a driver had seen the tags on the back said 2018. So after she tells me that I get out of my car and go straight to the back to read the license plate. When I get to the back to read the plate, I see that the registration sticker has been ripped off and I could barely see the number on the sticker. But it seemed to say 18 Now like I said the car was purchased in 2016 and the car gets registered every two years like it’s supposed to. And every time we get the new registration sticker for the license we just put it right over the old one. So the fact that 1. The sticker is halfway ripped and 2. The sticker on there is reading 2018, tells me that somebody had to have tore it off or something. Not saying it was anyone from this company, but we’ve never ever had this problem or anything even close to it ever since purchasing the car. I share this with the lady on the phone and tell her that everything on the car is up to date and I have all the paperwork to prove so. The lady told me that a driver would be coming Monday (04/21) which would meet the 72 hour warning that was placed on my window. After her hearing that I had everything up to date and everything was fine with the car, she told me to put my current registration paper on the dashboard for the driver to see when they come. She even told me that she would let the driver know to expect a registration paper on the dashboard for them to see. She then said as long as I do that everything will be fine. Come Monday I make sure to do exactly what she said. I made sure to put the registration in plain clear view for the driver to see as well as the warning note they had left on my car. And luckily I trusted my senses that day because I took a picture of me doing exactly what the lady on the phone told me to do. That was around 12 pm- 1 pm on Monday. I come back out Monday night and the car was there. Nothing moved or touched, and my registration was sitting in the same place I left it. I came back the next morning (Tuesday) and the car is still there. Everything seemed fine. So the next day(Wednesday) I go in my car headed somewhere and decide to put my registration back in the glove department after having it out for 2 DAYS over the time they were expected to come. Come back Wednesday night park my car and go inside. I come back out Thursday morning (04/24) To my car completely gone. I called the company to see why was my car took if I followed the instructions given to me BY THEM!!? I explain what’s going to a lady at first but she seemed to not really know what to do so she put me on hold to get me who I’m guessing is the manager. After being on hold a man who said his name was Larry came to the phone and asked what was the problem. So I explained the situation again calmly. Larry tells me “they took the car because it read 2018 on the back”. I explain to him that the tag looks ripped, and that I literally followed the exact steps I was told to do in order to prevent anyone touching my car. I then told him I have the proof that I did exactly what they told me to do because I took the picture of me putting my registration on the dashboard. Larry then told me exactly “well are you coming pay for the car or just talk?” Just rude, unhelpful, and unprofessional. He had a careless attitude.