Mid April, I was introduced to Cactus towing. Parked on Winn Street in the Valley at 7PM. Was meeting some friends that hadn't arrived and sat down to wait for them at Ben's Burgers. Literally 2 minutes later, friends came running over, "Your car is being towed!".
I ran over, was questioned if the car being pointed at was mine. I immediately said yes and that Ill remove it, as they had not connected the towing strap up to the car. "Sorry were already towing it, youll have to go pick it up". At this point, I, unfortunately, lost all rational thinking, here my car wasn't even on the tow truck and it appeared like there was nothing I could do. I asked if I can just pay them now and for me to just leave, "Sure, that'll be a total of $660". I didn't argue with this, as previously stated, I lost my cool and Im precious about my belongings. Paid and angered I drove home.
Like many here I did my research, the maximum towing charge is $325.75 for the first 50KM with additional $6.45 per KM (Maximum Towing Charges -
https://www.legislation.qld.gov.au/legisltn/current/t/towtruckr09.pdf).
With their parking lot not located more than 50km away, how can they charge a total of $660. Of course, I assume there is a "fee" which is paid to the property owner that has contracted the towing service. But if that is the case, this should be listed separately, fine being with additional towing costs, as the property owner can also instruct those to move their car without requiring immediate towing.
This was going to be the grounds for my discussion, my vehicle was never actually towed away, so at maximum, I should only pay the fee/fine for a parking violation. I had proof (based off timestamps on the photos they had taken and my EFTPOS receipt, that the car was never towed ( about 2 minutes between the image taken and timestamp on receipt).
Someone mentioned in this thread before that they wanted to dispute the charge with their Bank (via credit card dispute). I didn't like the sound of this idea because I think that this is falsely abusing the system, it is not in place for you to get out of paying for someone, just because you don't like the course of events. However, in my specific case, where my vehicle was never actually towed, I never truly received the service of having my vehicle towed. I lodged a dispute with my bank and it has been over 45 days (their dispute period) with no response from the Merchant.
Again, I want to strongly empathize, please do not misuse the dispute system, if your vehicle was towed away and you had to pick it up. I don't believe you have enough backing to apply this method.
Either way, this was an experience for me, and I've learned my lesson.
