Yep, they took my car. Nope, I did not and will not pay. I was in the store whose lot I was parked in at the time of the tow. I came out and talked with the Police. They gave me the following information in a very long in personal conversation. They also asked me to write complaints to every City official I could to get these scammers to stop making the PD deal with the aggrivation they cause.
SWAT Towing, DBA Auto Citi Towing: Tom O'Brien, Troy Myers, Pete Colantoni, proprieters. This is a notorious towing company who pay commercial land owners to sign contracts to tow from their properties. There are many parking lots all over the valley patrolled by their meth addicted drivers, looking to find suckers who inadvertently parked in a lot by assuming no one would mind. The truth is that it is rare that someone does mind; it is an opportunity to unethically make money.
This company had lots of problems when they started towing in Tempe because they were not meeting their legal responsibilities. (read: breaking the law.) They responded by joining the Tempe Chamber of Commerce and greasing palms. (Who got new cars?) Soon enough, they singlehandedly had the City change the very laws they were breaking in their favor: (Tempe City Code 32.)
If they tow YOU and a police department did not order the tow: Shockingly, thanks to that same law it is still illegal for them to extort money from you by witholding your car. They HAVE to give you your car when you come to claim it, even with no payment. You will have to get a ride to their Chandler office and then to the offsite holding lot to do so, since they have your car.
You WILL need to sign a letter in accordance with the law they changed. On this letter above your signature, handwrite: "My signature does not imply acceptance of liability or debt. This is not a promise to pay." Plan to NOT sign for a subpoena in the mail from them within a few months...
(Check Tempe City Code 32 for updates)
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