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Old 10-22-2017, 06:09 PM   #21
Northendzone
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It surprises me that the tow truck driver would mislead you as based on what I have seen on tv, most tow truck drivers are solid family guys, despite their gruff and crusty exterior
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Old 10-22-2017, 06:17 PM   #22
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I can't help with advice but bottom line is you called AMA, they showed up and now it's their job to reimburse you. If the truck driver is contracted out, that's AMA's problem. If the driver wasn't supposed to charge you, that's also AMA's problem. If he should've charged you less, yup, still AMA's problem. Let's hope AMA sees it that way.
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Old 10-22-2017, 07:00 PM   #23
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You called for AMA service and the driver attended under those contract conditions. He commenced providing the service under those conditions (according to your story, the 'options' we're not presented until your vehicle was on the truck and you were en route home). He then convinced you to take a step seriously to your detriment and significantly to his benefit by giving you a statement of his opinion that you would be better served (easier to have one contact etc) and also his opinion that you would have insurance coverage (which he could not possibly know).

I would look at the provisions of the Alberta Fair Trading Act. It is broad consumer protection legislation that allows you to void a contract arrived at through an unfair practice. On its face it appears to me the driver may have committed multiple unfair practices. You cannot contract out of the act's protections...so your 'agreement' to his suggestions would not matter.

Service Alberta has Fair Trading Act investigators and caseworkers who will very likely assist you sorting this out. I would contact them ASAP:

http://www.servicealberta.gov.ab.ca/...-practices.cfm
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Old 10-22-2017, 07:04 PM   #24
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Originally Posted by Northendzone View Post
It surprises me that the tow truck driver would mislead you as based on what I have seen on tv, most tow truck drivers are solid family guys, despite their gruff and crusty exterior
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Old 10-22-2017, 07:16 PM   #25
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lol provisions under the Alberta fair trading act? Omg you guys are cranking this up to 11 way too soon. My guess is this is sorted out with a phone call to AMA.

Don't really understand how you let a guy run through $1300 on your credit card when you could have handed him your AMA card and it would have been free.
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Old 10-22-2017, 07:33 PM   #26
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I would imagine AMA will take care of this. It is one of their contractors, and if he's acting like this I would imagine AMA will have a chat with the driver and the driver's employer. They don't want their contractors doing this - that may hinder AMA's reputation.
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Old 10-22-2017, 07:56 PM   #27
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If you’re sick, recovering from an eye appointment, or for any other reason you don’t think you can drive home safely, use one of your regular service calls per year. We’ll send a tow truck to get you and your vehicle home again.
I have nothing to add other than this is amazing.
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Old 10-22-2017, 07:57 PM   #28
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I have nothing to add other than this is amazing.
For some people this alone is probably worth the cost of an AMA membership.
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Old 10-22-2017, 07:59 PM   #29
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For some people this alone is probably worth the cost of an AMA membership.
Oh for sure. My GF actually just had an eye appointment the other day and had to wait around before she could drive. This would have been amazing, but I'll let her know for next time.
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Old 10-22-2017, 08:10 PM   #30
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Phone the tow truck company and tell them that you are the long lost brother of the tow truck driver and you want to surprise him with a visit. Get his home address.

Drive over to his house and sneak in, tie up his family and then tie him to a chair while you brandish a skinning knife in front of his face.

Then lean in on him and say

"I don't know who you are or what you want, you took money that I don't have a lot of, but what I do have is a very special set of skills, skills I have acquired over a long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. If you give me back my $1300 bucks now, that'll be the end of it, I will not look for you, I will not pursue you. But if you don't I will look for you, I will find you and I will kill you"

Then pause and yell

"And give me back my son"

Then when he gives you the money, look him in the eyes and say

"Have you ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight? I ask that of all my pray, I like how it sounds"

Then do errr what you have to do.
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Old 10-22-2017, 08:12 PM   #31
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Originally Posted by Iceman90 View Post
From the AMA Website (https://ama.ab.ca/auto-and-driving/r...-assistance/):

Safe Ride Home can help you get back to your home base if medical treatment, physical injury, or another physical impairment keeps you from driving.

If you’re sick, recovering from an eye appointment, or for any other reason you don’t think you can drive home safely, use one of your regular service calls per year. We’ll send a tow truck to get you and your vehicle home again.
Sounds like they can give you a ride home after a night of binge drinking
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Old 10-22-2017, 08:14 PM   #32
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Sounds like they can give you a ride home after a night of binge drinking
That's exactly what Traditional_Ale said he uses it for.

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...many times I've called AMA for a ride home with my car from the pub. I've never been charged anything for it. Its sweet.
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Old 10-22-2017, 08:28 PM   #33
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They can refuse due to intoxication if the driver is concerned for their safety...
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We all want to get home safely. Service or space in the tow truck may be refused due to intoxication, abuse, or concern for our service provider’s safety.
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Old 10-22-2017, 08:36 PM   #34
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I can't help with advice but bottom line is you called AMA, they showed up and now it's their job to reimburse you.
Ya - thats not at all how contracts or the law works. The guy offered to have them charge it to their credit card and they accepted. If they were at all unsure of the coverage they should have declined, as others have mentioned, and just charged it to AMA.

AMA is not at all responsible, but knowing they're a good company, they will likely do something about it - while I agree it is somewhat shady practice on the drivers part, it is totally legal and no one forced them to agree to anything. I think the OP is aware they made a bad choice.
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Old 10-22-2017, 08:54 PM   #35
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I'd like to hear the Tow Truck driver's point of view.

The OP prepaid for towing services, not once, but twice, via AMA and private insurance, and then was somehow convinced to pay for the tow up front anyway. Granted, he hit a deer, that's traumatic. The tow truck driver appears to be a helper. In this case he was not, based on the story as told.

I expect your insurer will pay for the tow but not for $1300, but also, AMA would apply their tariff if the vendor will accept it after the fact, and you will get a refund.
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Old 10-22-2017, 09:44 PM   #36
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I bet there's a chance the tow truck driver is getting paid twice. He got your $1300 and he probably still submits the tow to AMA for whatever compensation they provide. If he even has to. You called AMA and they sent him out, so perhaps it automatically gets accounted for on the regular payments to the tow company.

Insurance wouldn't know that your tow could have been covered by AMA if you just send them a bill from a private tow company. AMA wouldn't know that the tow truck driver convinced you to also pay.
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Old 10-22-2017, 11:50 PM   #37
Flabbibulin
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Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch View Post
Phone the tow truck company and tell them that you are the long lost brother of the tow truck driver and you want to surprise him with a visit. Get his home address.

Drive over to his house and sneak in, tie up his family and then tie him to a chair while you brandish a skinning knife in front of his face.

Then lean in on him and say

"I don't know who you are or what you want, you took money that I don't have a lot of, but what I do have is a very special set of skills, skills I have acquired over a long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. If you give me back my $1300 bucks now, that'll be the end of it, I will not look for you, I will not pursue you. But if you don't I will look for you, I will find you and I will kill you"

Then pause and yell

"And give me back my son"

Then when he gives you the money, look him in the eyes and say

"Have you ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight? I ask that of all my pray, I like how it sounds"

Then do errr what you have to do.
In other words, Monster Joe's gonna be disposing of two bodies...
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Old 10-23-2017, 12:11 AM   #38
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1. the fact you called AMA for the tow demonstrates your intention to pay AMA rates - an important piece of information here is whether the driver asked to see your AMA membership when he arrived and before he hooked your vehicle. If he did, at that point you and the driver have entered into a contract on AMA terms. If not, you still may have done so on AMA terms but it is less certain and much depends on the conversations you had.

2. from what you've described - you were misled in the truck on the drive back into paying extra for the tow - ie. $1300 plus whatever the company has billed AMA

3. I'd be surprised if your insurance company doesn't cover your tow ... but when you are on the phone with the insurance rep ... ask about whether you have coverage for fraud such as this (completely apart from your vehicle collision .. and would not be an at-fault claim)

4. Phone AMA - but this is unlikely to get your $1300 back from AMA ... more likely is AMA will contact the company and you will get your money back from them ... for the reasons others have noted ... this is not a story AMA wants passed around

5. Give AMA a chance to fix this ... if not to your satisfaction ... go to the media with this

6. File a small claims in prov court against the tow company and the driver.

7. follow the advice on the fair trading act as well ... sounds like another mechanism to apply pressure for the tow company to return your cash.

I think you'll get your $$$ back via one or more of these steps. But it may take a little while. Your insurance company will give you some time to decide whether you want to make the claim for the tow - so hopefully in that period you get a good sense as to whether one or more of the other steps will get your cash back first.

Last edited by Corral; 10-23-2017 at 12:22 AM.
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Old 10-23-2017, 01:15 AM   #39
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1. the fact you called AMA for the tow demonstrates your intention to pay AMA rates - an important piece of information here is whether the driver asked to see your AMA membership when he arrived and before he hooked your vehicle. If he did, at that point you and the driver have entered into a contract on AMA terms. If not, you still may have done so on AMA terms but it is less certain and much depends on the conversations you had.
This part I can see. This will be an interesting conversation with AMA.

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2. from what you've described - you were misled in the truck on the drive back into paying extra for the tow - ie. $1300 plus whatever the company has billed AMA
Was he, though? He was presented with a different payment option. He was not forced to take this option, it was presented as an option. At a cutout here, he could have said "No thank you, I'm sticking with AMA only".

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3. I'd be surprised if your insurance company doesn't cover your tow ... but when you are on the phone with the insurance rep ... ask about whether you have coverage for fraud such as this (completely apart from your vehicle collision .. and would not be an at-fault claim)
As mentioned above, he's not yet been frauded since he doesn't know if his policy will cover the tow or not. His reading/interpretation of his policy (long after the incident) appears to say that he may not be. But he may call up his insurance company today, they'll listen and go "Yeah, you are totally covered. Just send over the receipt, sorry for the issues over the weekend." From my understanding of his story the driver presented this option as a different way to pay, but because he was not able to contact his company to speak about his policy properly, he didn't know if he was actually covered or not...and when he was paying for it, he did so gambling on the HOPE that his insurance would cover it, not based strongly on the knowledge that they WOULD cover it. He was in no way misled about the price of the service he received. He just took a gamble on who ends up paying for it.

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4. Phone AMA - but this is unlikely to get your $1300 back from AMA ... more likely is AMA will contact the company and you will get your money back from them ... for the reasons others have noted ... this is not a story AMA wants passed around

5. Give AMA a chance to fix this ... if not to your satisfaction ... go to the media with this
Yup. But keep in mind that they are not at fault here. They provided the service that they were supposed to. It is not their fault or responsibility that the driver provided an other option and their client took it. He had several 'outs' that he could have taken, but kept deciding to go in a different direction. This is not AMA's fault.

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6. File a small claims in prov court against the tow company and the driver.
That would be an interesting court case, I think. The OP was provided a service, given a price, and paid for the service. He wasn't misled as to the price he was paying for the service he received, he just wasn't sure his insurance would cover it. I have a feeling that this case would go against the OP.

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7. follow the advice on the fair trading act as well ... sounds like another mechanism to apply pressure for the tow company to return your cash.
I just kinda shake my head at this. I also wonder where the FTA would come into play and if it would. Again, could be an interesting court case about who's responsible for what. From my read of the OP, it seems like the OP made a handful of compounding bad choices, and that this is likely to end up being a $1300 lesson.

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I think you'll get your $$$ back via one or more of these steps. But it may take a little while. Your insurance company will give you some time to decide whether you want to make the claim for the tow - so hopefully in that period you get a good sense as to whether one or more of the other steps will get your cash back first.
I still think his best bet is in talking to AMA about the behaviour of their subcontracted company. Given how good AMA is usually about these sorts of things, I can see him getting his money back and the contractor getting dropped or 'on warning'.
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Old 10-23-2017, 05:42 AM   #40
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Was he driving an AMA branded truck?



Not much to add except many times I've called AMA for a ride home with my car from the pub. I've never been charged anything for it. Its sweet.


Just like a taxi except you have to wait 2 hours and you get to ride in a tow truck
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