WEST KELOWNA – A grieving West Kelowna family believes they were taken advantage of by a local towing company.
On Sunday morning, Cory Lee Harasivich was killed when the vehicle he was driving rolled over after striking an abutment on Highway 97 near the intersection of the Coquihalla Connector.
The family wanted to retreive Harasivich’s belongings from the Jeep which had been taken to the storage yard of Del Oro Towing.
“When we got there the price had more than doubled,” says Aaron Peterson, a brother of the crash victim. “They wanted more than $300 after the manager had just said (by phone) it was $150.
Peterson says Del Oro was unsympathetic to the family’s situation.
“We just wanted to grab his stuff and it kind of felt like extortion to us. There was just a box of some shirts and a couple pair of shorts but that meant everything in the world for my family.”
The family didn’t have the extra money, but after posting their situation on social media, a complete stranger paid the complete bill.
“We thanked him profusely for helping us out,” says Peterson.
A Del Oro manager says he can’t comment because police are investigating the crash but he did say the family was charged for towing fees and not to retreive the personal belongs.
The vehicle Harasivich was driving didn’t have collision insurance so ICBC doesn’t cover the towing charges.
The ICBC payment schedule for its approved tow jobs suggests a fee of about $100 is appropriate for the distance involved in this situation.
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