Pacific Towing and Recovery

These guys are awful. They over charge and are a scheduling a nightmare. Want to talk to a manager or owner about their employees or practices??? No chance! They threaten the customer with outrageous charges and give you a ONE HOUR window to pick up your car… If you’re a minute late you can go ahead and tack on an extra $ 150!!! But don’t expect Mr. Neck tattoo to show up on time… He arrives at his leisure… Free of charge!
Thanks Pacific Towing for making what might have been a mere inconvenience, a complete nightmare!

This company does not provide good service. I got my car towed for parking in wrong space. So T 7 am I realize they towed my car. I call them and said I was on my way I will get there on taxi. The taxi came within 7 minutes and I got to pacific towing in approximately 10 minutes only to find the toe truck driver not there. He left to do a towing in San Diego. Now I’m sitting here waiting. I call the call center and they said I didn’t get there on time. No concern at all for service. I guess they feel they’re doing the right thing. But its not customer service. It used to be that way when only gas stations had tow truck and they were saviors when your car broke down. Now it’s just making money regardless who gets hurt. Good job. Pacific towing. Good job.

This company needs to be shut down! They tried scamming me out of an extra 300 dollars. They towed my car right out of my own parking space at my apartment complex. I had backed up to hook my trailer on to the car, I realized I forgot to load a few things up so I ran inside. I came outside less then 10min later to see them haling my car off. I called and asked if I could get my purse out of my car and he proceeds to tell me it will be 300 just to grab my purse and he made it clear that was not going towards getting my car out!

This ridiculous company needs to go under for PREDATORY and ILLEGAL towing practices! I wish there was a way to give zero stars but I’m mostly writing this review as a warning to others…
Last Friday 4/​3, I drove my handicapped friend home (broken ankle and on crutches) who lives in a complex of privately owned condos in Vista and parked in a handicap spot open near her condo so that I could get her safely up to her condo. I did not have a handicap placard but left my hazards flashing and belongings (i.e. purse/​iphone) inside the car because I planned on the trip to her condo and back being short (which it was; around 10 min)
When I came back, my car was gone. We immediately called the police thinking it was theft because how else does a car disappear that quickly?
Luckily, thanks to Steve Jobs, a wonderful little app called «Find my iPhone» led us and and sheriffs department right to my car, which was parked in a shopping center, on the backside of a CVS pharmacy. The Sheriff began to obtain fingerprints since it was assumed this was a case of theft. Shortly into this procedure, a tow truck from Pacific Towing & Recovery pulls up…
The Sheriff questions the tow driver as to why it was towed as well as the reason for towing it to a hidden spot behind a building. The driver proceeds to tell him that HE FOUND multiple illegally parked vehicles and was gathering them in this spot so that he could take them back to the tow yard. If that doesn’t scream «shady», then I don’t know what does…
Next comes one very important piece of information… THE DRIVER DID NOT HAVE AUTHORIZATION TO TOW. Under Vehicle Code section 22 658, it is explained that there must be proper written authorization from those who report the tows. When asked if an authorized signature was obtained, his answer was no. The Sheriff explained that I could have the driver arrested on the spot and prosecute. He explained that there are companies that drive around looking for parking violators and quickly tow them away before the owners can discover what has happened, which was illegal in my situation because he did not have an authorized signature.
I’m kicking myself now for not having the scumbag arrested, but I was in such shock from the situation that I wasn’t thinking completely clear at the moment. Pacific Towing & Recovery… if you’re reading this, please know that you can only get away with DISHONEST and ILLEGAL practices for so long. If you’re going to engage in predatory towing, you’d better know the law. It’s only a matter of time before karma will come bite you in the ass… it’s no wonder you have an «F» rating with the better business bureau… the «F» stands for «F*cking A**holes»
For all of the Unilocalers reading this, KNOW YOUR RIGHTS! This is a great article that outlines the codes and legalities of towing:

I came here to retrieve my car from being parked on the road and road work was scheduled to be done there during that time. I can understand why my car was towed, and I’m at fault at it. My biggest complaint is the way to reach this company and the pricing.
I was not notified, nor were my roommates about the aftermath of the car towing or who was responsible for it.
The pricing was superinflated! $ 257 to retrieve my car… $ 210 was for towing and $ 47 for storage.
I don’t even know what else to add… the pricing just seemed too much for towing. Just sheesh. :-/

My homeowners association terminated their Contract with this Company based on many complaints from the homeowners.. My fiancé was towed last night. He just retired from the Marine corp and moved out here from Virginia. He brought his son with him for a mini vacation before he goes to boot camp. He has marine Corp stickers all over his truck and gets towed on veterans day. Nice way to thank a vet for protecting your freedom. I’m not saying that makes him above the law, however his son came back and parked by a fire hydrant which is not marked with red and hard to see. The protocol is for us to get a warning when parked incorrectly, and the tow company has to then contact our homeowners before the tow. None of the above happened. And as I mentioned they are no longer our tow company. It’s pretty convenient that the tow company and our security have personal Contact numbers on their cell phones. John denies there are kick backs. You decide. We then had to make an appointment to get our truck in which we were a little late and John made sure to bitch about that, however their hours on the door say 8 – 4:30. No exceptions. Hopefully you guys don’t have to wait for our Marines to make an appointment to protect your freedom.

Pretty sure they are in with the TRI CIRY PATROL and give them a cut of each row they call in. Vehicle has been towed for the 3^rd or 4^th time with no tickets on it yet when I called last night they said it had 5. Sound like good ol Tri city patrol putting all 5 on at once and back dating the tickets and throwing some chalk on the tire.

Mike, Owner/​Rep was Abusive, Bully, Schemer, Aggressive, Loud, Mean. I called 911 for assistance. He said it wasn’t the first time. He is a Large/​Tall Man, I am a Small Petite Woman, REALLY, you need to talk to me like this. He charged me an additional $ 100 for gate fee (new total $ 357.00), showing us it was now 4:36 pm and late fee is charged after 4:30. This is after we had been standing at his counter listening to him make complaints and allegations of our timeliness, we had called while on route to let him know we were having difficulty finding his location and he wouldn’t disclose accurate cross streets. Other reviews show that he had charged others late fees and was rude, making comments on their financial status based on vehicle type. Additionally he does vehicle release by appointment only, yet he is the only one working both as driver and as office personnel. It is extremely difficult to get in contact with him and make any type of appointment, especially when he won’t pick up his phone or respond to messages left with a return phone number. I think this company should have its business license revoked. No one should be allowed to operate a business with such scandalous practices and abusive behavior toward customers. I approached the situation with a calm demeanor only to be treated with condescending disrespect. Please if you use this company as a vendor for your property, DON’T. FIRE THIS COMPANY IMMEDIATELY! If you are in need of towing assistance, DON“T call this company, He WILL RIP YOU OFF! Take a moment and look for another towing company. Any other company would be better than this one.

This tow company is a scam operation that preys on people by towing their cars and and basically holding them for ransom. I don’t understand how they are allowed to operate as a business? Make sure you have your parking permit displayed on your dashboard so you don’t have to deal with these Scumbags! l

This place is so shady. They scheduled an appointment with us to pick up a car they unlawfully towed and didn’t show up on time. Some shady crooked guy with an attitude was talking all sorts of crap and didn’t wanna take anything besides cash. Umm shady. This place is gross too. So dirty. I don’t understand how this place is in business. Well actually I do, they harass people and tow their cars for dumb reasons…
L

OVER PRICED! Horrible customer service! Workers do not know the laws! They will take advantage of anyone! Never do business with these people unless you want to be treated like crap and be hustled to pay a ridiculous amount of money!

Terrible This place is terrible… I called at 8 am and set up an appointment for 10 am to pick my car up (because no one is present in this crap hole to release your vehicle to you during the posted business hours.) The individual that answered the phone told me that someone would be there at 10 o’clock sharp. To make a long story short they showed up half an hour later and didn’t even have the common decency to inform us they would be late… This was the most poorly operated business (if you can call it that) that I have ever come across. These people are Very rude and inconciderate… you have to make an appointment to get your car out of this place and they will not be on time for it… The owner should be ashamed of this «business» he operates!!!