He had to go to the pharmacy at Galeries Norgate, near Montreal’s Côte-Vertu Tube station, but first crossed the street to get money from an ATM. When he returned a few minutes later, his SUV was gone. Mulaba found a sign for the towing company that manages the parking lot. When he called to ask for their office address, a woman told him, “No, no, no, no. Look in this parking lot. [lot]”There’s a guy sitting in a Honda,” Mulamba recalls. “Well, it seemed a little strange to me.” They told him that if he paid, they would tell him where his vehicle was. The man in the Honda had an Interac engine and Mulaba was charged $ 116. CLOCKS Cars parked at Galeries Norgate are quickly removed:

Drivers quarrel with a towing company after removing cars

The cars are towed a few minutes after they are parked in a commercial square in Montreal, with confused drivers having to pay on the spot to find out where their car is. 0:57
Mulaba expected to find his SUV in a towing yard or garage, but to his surprise, he was left on a nearby residential road. “This is not normal,” Mullah said. After getting his car, he decided to go back to the mall to watch what was happening. He saw an observer pointing cars at the trailer operator. In less than an hour, Mulaba said, he saw six cars being towed. To make sure it was not just an incident, he returned a few days later and saw the same pattern. He confronted the man who was receiving payments in the parking lot. “I told him, ‘I will expose you,’” Mulaba said. He contacted CBC News, worrying about the large sums of money the company charges unsuspecting buyers.

The vehicles were quickly removed from the batch

Over the course of two days last week, the CBC observed the trailer operator removing cars at a rapid rate, in some cases connecting the car and removing it in 10 or 15 seconds. Within an hour last Wednesday, the operator towed five cars from the batch, each time placing the vehicle on a nearby road. There are several white and red signs posted in the parking lot of the square, warning buyers that unauthorized vehicles will be towed. At the bottom of each sign, it says that the parking is intended for customers of the strip mall stores. CBC spoke with several people who towed their cars during the two days. In two cases, drivers said they had never left the mall. In other cases, the drivers had only left for five or ten minutes to go to a store across the street and intended to continue shopping in the square when they returned. The company that manages the parking lot at Galeries Norgate, a mall in Saint-Laurent, has posted signs warning that unauthorized vehicles will be towed. (Benjamin Shingler / CBC)
To get their vehicles back, they were told to pay a woman in an idle SUV to find out the location of their car. The fee ranged from $ 87 to $ 133. Down in Montreal towing articles of association, drivers can be charged with a towing fee of $ 89. The operator of the trailer may charge an additional $ 30 for the storage of the vehicle, but only six hours after the towing of the vehicle. Towing companies are also prohibited from retaining the car’s position to the owner until they pay.

“It was not even 5 minutes”

Ali Amjad was among those who towed their cars when CBC was on the scene last week. He said that when he found his car missing, he initially thought his vehicle had been stolen. He said he had stopped at the mall to exchange money, but the bank had not yet opened. He crossed the road to go to Western Union, but also found it closed. By the time he returned, his car had disappeared. “I was so shocked: it was not even five minutes,” Amjad said. He was charged $ 133, which he had to borrow from a friend who works in the square. By the time he returned to the SUV to pay, a line had been formed. Amjad said a man who was told he owed $ 120 was arguing angrily with the woman who was receiving payments. He said two others refused to pay and said they were going to call the police. “It was a bad experience,” said Amjad, who recently moved to Montreal from South Africa. A driver looks at his bill after his car was towed from the parking lot at Galeries Norgate. The woman in the SUV receives towing fees for the company that manages the parking lot. (Charles Contant / CBC)
Dr Riaz Uddin was luckier. Uddin said he returned from the pharmacy, located in the shopping square, and returned to find his car tied to a trailer. He managed to get the driver to disconnect the car without paying, but he was upset that it had happened from the beginning. “This is really ridiculous and it’s not fair to people,” Uddin said. Dongmo Ernest Joël saw another man struggling to find his car after he was towed last week and stopped to help. He had towed his own car last November while shopping at the strip mall pharmacy. He said he thought of calling the police but did not do so because he did not think they would do anything.

The director of Plaza defends the tow

The strip mall car park is managed by Solutions des Parcs de Stationnement du Québec Inc. (SPSQ), but the actual towing is done by another company, Gestion RSCM. Last October, the Journal of MontrOfal reported similar complaints about the same two companies from customers in a Tim Hortons car park near Côte-des-Neiges – Notre-Dame-de-Grâce. SPSQ manages the parking lots of many apartment and commercial complexes throughout the city. An employee who answered the phone to the SPSQ said that the owner of the company, Shant Edgar Grigorian, would not comment and referred questions to the director of Galeries Norgate. Gestion RSCM owner Megerditch Batmanian did not respond to a request for comment. Galeries Norgate online reviews include complaints about cars being towed to the square dating back more than a year. Reviews of the shopping square often indicate excessive towing zeal. (Google Reviews)
Christopher Arnaoutelis, vice president of operations for Crofton Moore, the real estate development company that manages Galeries Norgate, confirmed that its contract with the SPSQ stipulates that cars must be removed immediately if the driver sees them leave the mall. He said the policy is aimed at preventing people taking the subway from using the square as a parking lot for the day. (None of the trailers the CBC spoke to had taken the subway.) Arnaoutelis said that the rule also applies to those who shop in the square and then shop elsewhere for a while. “This is something we have to do because anyone could go to the mall, go to the dépanneur, buy a pack of cigarettes or a chewing gum and then leave and go somewhere else and leave the car there all day. it does not work that way. “ This is a model of a revised sign for Galeries Norgate. There is no timetable for when the signs will be posted in the parking lot of the strip mall. (Submitted)
He admits that some people accidentally towed their cars. When asked about the apparently arbitrary amounts charged to people, Arnaoutelis said the tow operator knows the rules, but if there are any questions, the customer must keep proof of payment and contact Crofton Moore. “We tow cars there every day and we have not received any notification from the city that we are violating the regulations,” Arnaoutelis said. Saint-Laurent Mayor Alan DeSousa said he was aware of the complaints and the municipality asked Crofton Moore to add better signage to warn buyers of the risk of towing if they leave the property. Following CBC investigations, Crofton Moore shared a model of the sign. It is larger, cleaner and includes an image of a trailer. There is no date for when the signs will be placed.

Previous investigations, warnings for towing companies

Towing companies have a history of unfair practices in and around Montreal. CBC Survey in 2016 found that a towing company Laval had collected dozens of complaints to the Office of Consumer Protection about its controversial business practices, including the use of bullying and threats. A year later, the Montreal police arrested 13 people are affiliated with the same company, accusing them of seizing vehicles parked in violation of rules advertised on private or commercial real estate and holding them until the owners pay. Police raided the Saint-Léonard area of ​​Montreal in 2016 in connection with what police claimed was an illegal “mass-scale” towing operation. (Kalina Laframboise / CBC)
The Montreal ombudsman’s office has expressed concerns in the past about such practices. In a statement last week, spokesman Pierre Tessier said the ombudsman was still closely monitoring the situation. Montreal police have not confirmed whether there have been any complaints about Saint-Laurent Mall, but police say tug-of-war companies will be charged. Anyone with a complaint can call the police at 514-872-6531 or email [email protected]