A tenant posted a viral video saying her apartment wrongfully towed her car.
Shay (@shayysday) has reached over 224,000 views and 15,000 likes on her TikTok by Thursday.
She starts her almost four-minute video by saying, “Bro, this apartment complex has me all the way f*cked up.”
Shay says she’s been at the complex for over a year and just renewed her lease.
“Tell me why, like, maybe four months ago, they decided to change everything,” she adds.
Shay says her complex changed owners and towing companies, making her feel like she “basically got a new apartment.”
Next, she says that when the towing companies changed, tenants had to enter their car information into an app.
“Four months go by, and everything’s cool cats and dandy,” she says, “and I walk out there, and my car is f*cking gone.”
She says her first reaction was that this had to do with the new towing company, so she immediately called them.
“They’re like, ‘Yeah, your car’s here,’” Shay says, “I’m like, ‘Why? Why did you guys take my car?’”
Shay says the towing company told her that her car “wasn’t in on the app.”
“I definitely had my car in on the app,” Shay insists. “My VIN number is on there.”
Shay says the company responded, “You’re not supposed to put your VIN number. You’re supposed to put your license plate.”
“Regardless,” Shay starts, “even if it is my license plate or my VIN number, it’s still my f*cking car.”
Shay adds a screenshot from Casetext that states, “A towing company must keep record of every nonconsent tow including, but not limited to, the following information: vehicle description, including license or vehicle identification number, if available; a statement describing the reason for towing the vehicle; location vehicle towed from; and vehicle storage location.”
Next, she says the towing company told her she would either have to pay to get her car back or send an email to appeal the towing.
Shay then adds a screenshot of six emails she sent, all titled “WRONGFULLY TOWED.”
She says the company is basically telling her, “We never asked you to put in your VIN number, so that sucks for you.”
At this point, Shay says she began to wonder why she put her VIN number in if no one had told her to.
“You also have to get approved for this,” she adds. “So I went back to my email, where it says it was approved by their company.”
When going through her emails, Shay says she found the approval document from her complex stating to enter your “Vehicle Number.”
“When you see vehicle number, I’m thinking of a VIN number,” she says.
@shayysday IM LITERALLY GOING INSANE like I totally understand I may have put it in wrong but its still registered to the same car. 😭😭😭 #horrorstory #lawyer #apartment #whymetho #storytime #pissed #amiwrong ♬ original sound – shayy ✨
A viewer told Shay in the comments section of her video, “You’re right. Vehicle number is your vehicle identification number. (VIN).”
Then, Shay says she asked the towing company for their corporate number, but “they refused to give me a number, so I found it online.”
Shay says the man she was speaking to started getting angry with her after a couple of minutes on the phone. She says he very bluntly told her, “You’re gonna have to pay for that. Bye,” and hung up the phone.
“I call the police, and I’m like, ‘I don’t know what the f*ck to do, man,’” Shay continues.
She says the police told her it sounded like a civil lawsuit and that she would have to film a small claims report.
“I don’t got money for a lawyer,” she says. “I’m really ready to represent myself.”
She says she got in contact with her complex the next day and asked if they had any correlation with what happened with the towing company.
She says she told them, “I got approved. This is my VIN number. It’s been in there for four months.”
Shay says the complex responded, “Oh, it’s our fault.”
“Look at that: It expired on December 2nd of 2023,” the complex reportedly continued. “That was when your first lease ended.”
Before ending her video, Shay says, “I still have not received my refund.”
In a TikTok direct message, Shay told the Daily Dot that her complex “basically took it off of my rent!! It was such a hassle LOL.”
