Phones at a Polk County towing company have been ringing off the hook and they have received hundreds of bad reviews on Facebook, but it’s all a case of mistaken identity.
“A lot of reviews, people calling us cuss words, bad names, bad review,” manager of Eli Towing John Morrow said.
“We probably had 150-200 phone calls early in Wednesday morning. We sat down and said, ‘hey did y’all have a bad call last night? What happened last night?'” Morrow said.
Turns out, the angry mob was meant for a business in South Carolina that is also named Eli Towing.
A driver there is accused of price gouging sandbags.
“The tow truck driver there in South Carolina got the bags for free from a local high school, with the intent of going out and delivering them to those who need them. He turned around and sold them for $6 to $10 dollars a bag,” Morrow told News Channel 8.
News Channel 8’s sister station in Myrtle Beach has been following the alleged sandbag scam and Horry County Police are investigating.
“We started getting contacted about the social media posts last night. Our priority is trying to get in contact with people who have had direct contact with this individual so that we can get the exact circumstances of what occurred,” said Captain John Harrelson with the police department.
Meanwhile, the company in Florida posted on Facebook to clear up any confusion. The comments have since been removed.
Now the company is turning the situation into something positive by collecting supplies to send a different message to the people still struggling in the Carolinas.
“We want to go up there and do the right thing since he couldn’t do it,” Morrow said.
Eli Towing in Florida plans to collect donations Saturday at Love’s Truck Stop in Davenport. They plan to drive the donations to the Carolinas by next week.
