Towed at Vegoose?

12:22 PM PT, Oct 30 2006

Vegoose took place in a field next to Sam Boyd stadium. That location happens to just be a mile from my apartment, so it was a short commute.

To get there I drove past something called the Silver Bowl Regional Park (I looked it up in the phone book) which is a generic sort of soccer-type park. I have driven past it lots and it usually looks underutilized and not very well maintained. After the paved shoulder but before the park's lawn there is a large dirt track that looks like a perfect place to park. It is right next to the stadium. Locals know better than to park there, so along that side were about a thousand feet of parked cars with California plates and what I assume were rentals.

As I commuted back and forth during the day between my home base and Vegoose, I saw the tow trucks (platform trucks that could take multiple cars) taking cars away. Obviously, the vacant spaces were replaced by other arrivals for the festival who would then be towed away too. I should note that Sam Boyd is not near the Strip, and not the easiest place to find a taxi late at night.

I wondered just how much of an inconvenience being towed like that would cost. Looking through the program for Vegoose, I found a tiny note about towing that listed a company called SST Towing/Quality Towing and a phone number without an address. I called that number first thing Sunday morning. It was unbelievable. Remember, this was day two of Vegoose and anyone who got towed would want their car back ASAP to return for the rest of the concert. But when I called the number a touchtone main menu sorting system sent me to the wrong destination.

When I signaled I wanted instructions on what to do if my car was towed their system sent me to a recording on how to get my car towed. I tried again with the same result. On the third attempt, by hitting numbers randomly I was able to get a live person. It was the wrong person. When I asked her what to do if my car was towed near Vegoose she told me that was a question for "customer service." She transferred me to customer service where I was put on hold.

I waited on hold for more than 10 minutes. As I waited, a recorded voice repeated a looped message. I learned over and over that if I've been towed, I should forget about checks and credit cards: the company only takes cash. Also, the charge for towing is cheap but the cost to store a car is expensive.

I eventually hung up and tried again. I had the same experience, except this time I asked "customer service" lightning quick how long I would need to hold. The rep said she couldn't say for sure, but she had about a half dozen other people on hold ahead of me and a customer in person too. After taking care of those people, she could talk to me.

The charge for towing is cheap but the charge for storage is expensive.

I blurted out that I just wanted two quick questions answered. One: Could she guesstimate how much cash it would cost to get a car back that was towed near Vegoose yesterday? And, two, where do I have to go to get the car back? She said the amount of money was impossible to guess at without a VIN number (it was even more complicated for rental cars) and as for where the car was, they had seven lots. I was then back on hold and I gave up.

Anyway, if you were one of the many people towed this weekend, how much did it cost you? How long did it take? Do you think Henderson plans for this revenue stream at Sam Boyd events? The stadium is in Las Vegas but the next door park is in Henderson. And how serendipitous for the towing company to have such a slow and confusing customer service department in the midst of a festival that is filling up seven lots with Vegoose cars, you know since, as they warn, they are set up to charge only a little for towing but a lot for storage?

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