11/26/25
Shady towing practices
The Babcock had my car towed by some sketchy third party towing company because my license plate tags were expired, and I then had to pay $315 to get it back. I got a notice on my car telling me that they were expired, but the notice did not tell me how long I would have to get new tags before they would tow me (they towed my car less than 48 hours later) or that I could pay the tax office for them online and put the receipt in my windshield (I was not made aware of this until AFTER my car was... towed and my husband called the company). The Babcock requires parking decals (which cost an extra $40 a month if you have more than one car) and I can understand needing to make sure cars parked at the building have these decals, but I don’t think it is any of the Babcock’s business whether my license plate tags are expired. If the Richland County or Columbia police departments want to ticket or tow me for having expired tags, I think they are capable of handling that. I also think I should note that my tags expired in September but my car was not towed until November, after my husband and I notified the Babcock in October that we would not be renewing our lease. In the future I hope the management can find the time to clearly communicate the parking and towing protocol to their residents so other people can avoid this situation. Thankfully my husband and I had a second car to go get mine out of the (again, incredibly sketchy) towing lot and we could afford the $315 (cash only, handed off to a random woman who pulled up in a personal car because this lot did not have an office or any kind of identifying signage that I could see) they charged, but not everyone has multiple cars or can just waste that much time and money.
Review from Apartments.com








