Monster Towing

Monster Impound and Recovery should be out of business. Tempe and Phoenix Police have numerous complaints about them. They have been running this bait car, towing scam in Tempe at the Jack in the Box on Mill by ASU for several years. They tell you that they take cash only and it needs to be paid before getting the vehicle. After talking to the police I found out that this is not true. Also if you don’t have exact change they will take the extra money and tell you it is their tip. When I tried calling this business they kept hanging up on me and would not answer any questions. Any company that bullies and intimidates people should not be allowed to operate a business by a school or anywhere for that matter. Shame on the manager of Jack in the Box for continuing to use this company.

This company is complete garbage. They towed my minivan when I didn’t even know I could be towed for where I was I am currently sitting in a parking lot in the rocks crying with two babies in my arms. They did not care that I did not have any car seats to get my vehicle. I have no diapers I have no food and my babies are crying because I’m crying and it is completely dark out. This is unacceptable.

These people are complete and utter scam artists. Was parked at the Jack-​in-​the-​Box on Mill Avenue where I stopped in and got a soda and left my car for there for TEN minutes while I went and got a Christmas present for a friend. Come back to find my car towed. Had to pay $ 135, which is about the money I had set aside for Christmas presents. Looks like none of my family will be getting xmas presents this year. Turns out they have been caught for being criminals before. Check this out:

I have never experienced a company so corrupt. I mean, honestly. I was parked at the Jack in the box on Mill Ave. & was away from my vehicle for 30 minutes & it is unreal that they towed it in that time! I honestly think they had to have been somewhere around watching & waiting or something. That’s not a company that’s a scam. They dont care if you are a customer of theJack in the box or not, if you step foot off the property, they will swoop in and tow your car away charging you $ 155 to get it out of their impound yard! I cant imagine that Jack in the box is ok with this, it is scaring off customers! As another Unilocaler mentioned, it is only natural to walk around Mill after you’ve visited Jack in the box & youre not going to move your car wherever you go! Ridiculous! Not to mention that the guy was a total jerk and completely condescending and had his kid in the tow truck with him the whole time! Way to role model thievery to your child. Unprofessional, scamming, losers! Their company name is well deserved, they are Monsters!

On Sept 17, 2014 I parked at the Jack-​in-​the-​box at Mill Ave and Seventh and entered as customer buying a soda. I was suppose to meet up with a woman that day, but it was going to be across the street, so I left the parking lot on foot. I left my soda clearly visible in the cab of my truck. I knew I wasn’t going to be gone that long, so I wasn’t too worried. I did notice there was a sign that said you have to be a jack-​in-​the-​box customer to park there, which I was. Unbeknownst to me, there was a different sign on the complete opposite side of where I parked that said you could not leave the property. This sign was nowhere near where I parked. When I returned to my truck, about 60 minutes later, my truck was gone. There was a cabbie there that explained to me what happened. The cabbie was clearly just preying on people that fell victim to the trap, so he could get his cut.
Since my vehicle was being held hostage, and I was dealing with criminals that use color of law as a cover, I had no choice but to pay the $ 155 ransom they demanded to get my vehicle back in a reasonable time frame. Incidentally, under state law, if you don’t have the money when you pick up your car, then they can’t hold your vehicle. If they insist on holding your vehicle, you’ll want to call the police to mitigate for you.
When I arrived at Monster Towing sometime after 7:00pm the man there was trying to defend his unethical practices. At that point, I wasn’t even arguing, because if you’ve dealt with criminals before, you know there’s nothing you can do but acquiesce to their demands. But I did tell him that what he was doing wasn’t right. I even asked him if he believed in God just to see what he would say. In response he said, «Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s». I asked him point blank if he stole anything out of my truck before I signed any paperwork. He told me there was nothing in my vehicle to steal, nothing he didn’t already have and there was nothing of value in it, but he had a right to go through it. He went through a fairly lengthy spiel about how they were bonded and licensed professionals. It turns out, he (or one of his accomplices) did steal a SOG specialty knife from my glove compartment, a knife I had for years. List price is about $ 72. He obviously knew a good knife when he saw it. I don’t normally keep it there, but I was walking around near the ASU campus, and didn’t want to have it on my person, in case there was some law I had to worry about. That should tell you right there categorically, that there is nothing legitimate about this business. He wasn’t interested in looking at my Jack-​in-​the-​box receipt either.
For whatever reason, he later followed me and a female friend I was with on the way home, at least part way. He was mostly following my female friend in her car, not me. So not only was this guy a thief and a liar, but he was a creep too.
It goes without saying, that these people are complete and utter slime, and they’ll eventually get what they deserve. It’s only a matter of time. I will do what I can, contacting local politicians, but this criminal racket absolutely needs to stop. This sort of thing should not be allowed to go on any longer. As is, I will never go into Mill Ave again, it’s not safe. I will never visit that particular Jack-​in-​the-​box again. That area has completely lost all my business. Nevertheless, the Jack-​in-​the-​box manager and employees were fairly sympathetic, and even gave me a free drink while I waited. But clearly, they should own their own parking lot and not be contracted with a criminal towing company.
It’s common for most people to park somewhere once, and enter multiple establishments in the same area, and then return to where they parked. This is just natural human behavior. It saves you from having to constantly move your vehicle. This experience now makes me wonder whether it’s safe to park anywhere.
There was a towing company that operated similar to this one a few years back. They were called SWAT towing. They were all arrested in a sting operation called ‘Operation Wrecking Crew’. The name of this towing company may be different, but they operate almost identically. For example, Monster Towing does not accept debit/​credit cards; they will just claim their card reader doesn’t work. If the police are mitigating for you however, their card reader is likely to magically work.
If you’re reading this Monster Towing, I urge you not only to refund my money, but you should return my knife as well. I suggest you do this BEFORE I file a suit against you. When you stole my knife you made it personal. Also, if you care about your soul at all, you will stop robbing people. With a clear conscience you don’t need to defend your immorality.

It would appear the lot owner & towing company have a nice cash producing product.
Will be nice to watch the State of AZ & cities of PHX & Tempe audit these fine thieves.
A precise example of what is wrong with society.

They do their jobs perfectly. They offer prompt and speedy service. My truck was towed within 10 minutes of parking… they seemed to have it to their yard in record time considering I had to fight traffic all the way back… the guy at the yard is a certifiable nut job… told me if I didn’t come back to pay the account would go to collections and my ID would end up in the wrong hands… What else can I say? They are good at what they do…

If I could rate these people 0 stars I would. They are absolutely awful. They towed my friends car from the jack in the box parking lot when jack in the box didn’t even call them. They are a bs company and the fact that they only accept cash just concretes the fact that they should be shut down as soon as possible.

We were in Tempe near Mill Ave. on 4-​13-​2013. We parked in a lot with other parked cars that had no clearly visible tow away zone or no parking signs. We came back after 40 minutes and the car was gone. After searching the lot we found a small sign in the back corner in the dark that said it was a tow away zone. One would have to hunt for this sign, as we can attest.
We retrieved our car the following Monday for 120.00 from Monster Towing.
I have done research on line and discovered that this is a common practice by Monster Towing. They tow from unsuspecting people who park in what appears to be a safe place because the signs are not clearly visible. I also discovered that Monster Towing has an F rating from The BBB.
How unfortunate to go to Tempe, spend money to support their economy and get punished with an expensive and inconvenient tow charge.

It would appear Monster Towing is operating outside the boundaries of good standing as imposed by the lovely state of AZ. They are a Limited Liability Company and their license has been flagged as «not in good standing». A brief check at
followed by Arizona indicates they are not in compliance. Hmmm. Anyone comment on the implications?
Additionally, and perhaps because of the 24 plus negative BBB complaints, Monster Towing is now «perhaps» operating as Charity Towing… amazing how you can pay someone to sign on as your agent and «true» company ownership slips under the doormat.

You have to love tow-​n-​impound places. I’m not sure if my HOA started hating me but I’ve had to deal with this place twice now, about 14 days apart.
While they seem fairly nice, they aren’t so nice to your wallet. Their hours are squarely at times when you are working, meanining that when you call them «after hours» they will charge you extra to bring someone «off-​duty» to get your car out. What a racket.
When I was there the second time someone else had their car towed by Monster as well, only they said Monster just picked their car up in a legal parking spot and hauled it off and never told anyone. While I can’t say whether the car was parked legally or not I can say that taking someone’s car and telling nobody (mainly the police in this case) seems wrong. To me, that seems like vehicular ransom. The first time they towed at my place I called the police and the police had no record of it being towed. The police called back and said Monster had informed them they were in posession of the car. The second time I didn’t call the police so I don’t know if they ever informed the police (I already knew who took it so I called them first). I wouldn’t doubt if they were into that type of thing honestly.
2-​stars for being fairly nice. And 1-​star if I could confirm that they were into car-​ransom schemes.