Kent’s Towing accused of overcharging students in Stevens Point

A Stevens Point towing company has been repeatedly accused of targeting university students, overcharging and intimidating them when they attempt to get their cars back, according to public records.

One of them was Josh Ballard’s son.

The 20-year-old called his dad in a panic after his car was towed in September by Kent’s Service Center and Towing. Ballard’s son told him he was hit with a $450 bill he couldn’t afford and that the owner screamed and swore at him while demanding an immediate payment in cash.

Ballard called the police. The department told him they were very familiar with the company.

But the police said they couldn’t do anything.

So, after reading about Milwaukee towing companies accused of overcharging, Ballard emailed Public Investigator.

Public Investigator contacted state and local authorities about the problem – and found a system that appears unable or unwilling to enforce existing towing laws.

“I asked the cops, ‘How is this happening? How can someone not be able to do something?'” Ballard said.

Kent’s Service Center and Towing owner Kent Worzalla said no one is ever happy about getting their towed. However, the lot where Ballard’s son parked is for student apartments and requires a parking permit.

For every unhappy student that gets their car towed, there is someone glad a car is no longer parked in their prepaid spot, Worzalla told Public Investigator in an email.

“We have been in business for 35 years and treat all our customers with respect and in a professional manner,” Worzalla said

Towing company claims ‘special equipment’ justified $450 charge

When Ballard first called Kent’s, Worzalla said the charge was justified because he had to use special equipment.

So, Ballard decided to do his own research, finding state statutes that regulate how much a private towing company can charge.

According to the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, companies that tow cars from private property may charge $150 if they use a flat bed, hook and chain, or any other normal method.

However, fees may be added when special equipment is used, like if a car is particularly heavy or parked in a space that’s difficult for a tow truck to access.

According to a Wisconsin DOT spokesperson, the term “special equipment” isn’t defined.

However, the special equipment must be necessary for the vehicle’s removal, the DOT spokesperson added.

“For example, a tow company cannot blow a whistle and claim that whistle as special equipment since the equipment did not further the tow,” the spokesperson told Public Investigator in an email.

According to the American Transportation Research Institute’s 2023 report, the two most common types of predatory towing practices are excessive rates and charges for unnecessary equipment.

Based on DOT regulations for storage and transportation fees, Ballard calculated the cost should have been closer to $225.

With his new knowledge, he called Worzalla back — only for the company owner to repeat the same reasoning for the price.

This time, Ballard said Worzalla offered him a deal. If his son came with a payment “right now,” he’d lower the price to $400.

When Ballard told him the charge still didn’t make sense, he said Worzalla hung up the phone. So, Ballard called Stevens Point police.

That’s when Ballard realized he wasn’t the only one to complain about Kent’s Towing. Before he specified which company he was talking about, Ballard said police asked him, “Are you talking about Kent?”

Police told him the department had received multiple complaints about Kent’s. But because complaints were “more of a civil matter,” police recommended he hire a lawyer, Ballard said.

But Ballard thought of another idea. He told his son to obtain security footage from the apartment building facing the parking lot.

“He called me back a little while later and said, ‘Dad, I got a business view of the parking lot. I recorded it,'” Ballard said.

Footage obtained from The Reserve Student Apartments, the apartment complex where his son parked, also viewed by Public Investigator, appears to show his son’s car being towed without special equipment.

Security cameras capture the moment a car was towed by Kent’s Towing

Kent’s Service Center and Towing said it used special equipment to tow this car, justifying a $450 charge.

Provided

The day after, Ballard’s son went back to Kent’s to retrieve his car. Ballard requested a police officer to accompany him.

But according to Ballard, Worzalla again insisted that special equipment was used on Ballard’s son’s car, despite being unable to see any such equipment in the video. However, Worzalla said he’d give him a break with a new cost of $350, which his son agreed to pay.

Ballard said he still doesn’t think $350 is justified by state law.

State law says companies can only tow from private properties upon the property owner’s request. Derek Taylor, the registered agent of the company that owns The Reserve apartments and COO of development company Three Leaf Partners, declined to confirm if he hired Kent’s or is aware of complaints about the company.

Complaints about Kent’s Towing go back to 2016, records show

Records show similar complaints about Kent’s Towing have been filed with the city and state.

Stevens Point assistant police chief Mike Rottier said the department has received many calls about the towing company.

Through an open records request, Public Investigator obtained five police reports dating back to 2016 detailing people’s stories of being overcharged or intimidated by Kent’s Towing.

The reports show that others, like Ballard, also asked for a police officer to go to Kent’s with them.

For example, in 2016, a woman asked an officer to stand by while she removed her items from her car that was stored at Kent’s.

Records also show that this September — the same day an officer accompanied Ballard’s son to retrieve his car — another man called for help with getting his keys back from Kent’s.

According to the police report, the man said Worzalla was refusing to give his keys back. Police contacted Worzalla’s son, an employee, to ask if he could “convince Kent to just throw the keys outside” so officers didn’t need to get involved.

Worzalla refused, the report said, but by the time police arrived, the man “had finally gotten his keys back from Kent and left.”

The Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection received one complaint about Kent’s Towing in the past four years.

According to records obtained by Public Investigator, the complaint was filed by a college student last year who claimed Kent’s overcharged him by $200 and refused to accept card payments “despite showing signage they accepted Visa.”

“This business has a history and reputation of predatory practices and preying on locals who simply parked in the wrong place,” the student wrote to the DATCP.

His complaint requested an investigation into Kent’s business practices, “hopefully resulting in some kind of justice,” it said.

Records show DATCP investigator Shawn Reinke wrote to Worzalla to resolve the student’s complaint.

However, Worzalla wrote back denying the claims.

“As far as his claim for predatory practice, for every unhappy college student that gets their car towed for parking on private ‘PERMIT ONLY’ parking lots without a permit, there is a land owner, maintenance company and dozens of other college students who are happy they can come home and have their prepaid parking spot open for them,” Worzalla wrote.

Because Worzalla’s response didn’t offer a resolution, Reinke told the student his complaint would have to be solved in court.

“Our department does not have the authority to make a determination as to who is correct,” Reinke said.

DATCP spokesperson Caleb Kulich said the department’s authority to address unfair business practices is limited to what is prescribed in state law. In this situation, DATCP doesn’t have authority over “the towing actions that took place,” but offered mediation services, which were unsuccessful.

“The parties offered contradicting explanations of what happened and DATCP was unable to verify which facts were true,” said Kulich.

Other city and state officials struggle to regulate towing companies, records show

Stevens Point officials said they’ve met similar roadblocks with enforcement.

Stevens Point city attorney Andrew Logan Beveridge told Public Investigator that a private person who believes their rights have been violated can file a small claims case.

However, because these disputes are usually over a few hundred dollars, most people “aren’t too eager to make a lawsuit out of it,” Beveridge said.

DOT rules spell out how much tow companies may charge. However, a DOT spokesperson told Public Investigator the department does not enforce these regulations.

“(Local police) can issue a citation and refer the matter to their local court,” said the spokesperson. “This becomes a matter of local enforcement discretion and priorities.”

Beveridge said he’s been consulted about Kent’s many times over the years. However, he said cities don’t have much power to enforce towing rules.

‘While there are rules within state law that govern the practices, fees, etc., city governments are not the entity that enforces those,’ said Beveridge.

Beveridge said Worzalla retained an attorney, Lee Turonie, in 2021 “to work with him on compliance matters.” Turonie contacted Beveridge that year asking for the city’s towing regulations, he said.

In an email viewed by Public Investigator, Beveridge sent Turonie links to state statutes and explained these weren’t the city’s rules, but the state’s.

Beveridge also told the attorney about past complaints of Worzalla charging excessive fees and withholding a customer’s personal property.

“I would ask you to encourage Kent to review the provisions I’ve linked and take steps to consistently comply with them,” Beveridge wrote.

Turonie did not respond to Public Investigator’s request for comment.

The American Transportation Research Institute’s study on predatory towing acknowledges how the “wide range of jurisdictions regulating the towing industry” can make it difficult for people to know their protections. That’s why the institute compiled all towing regulations for each state, which can be viewed online.

However, Beveridge said there’s still confusion surrounding towing regulations.

“In fact, it’s not even 100% clear who is supposed to enforce those rules,” Beveridge told Public Investigator.

Ballard said he plans to speak with a lawyer about Kent’s Towing. However, he admits doing so is likely more hassle than it’s worth.

Either way, the city should take action, he added.

“Something should be done,” Ballard said. “We have video proof.”

Quinn Clark is a Public Investigator reporter. She can be emailed at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter at @Quinn_A_Clark.

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