Ben Olsen writes in with a predatory towing story:

I’m not sure if you are still looking for people’s predatory tow stories, but I recently experienced one. I have to say that among all the stories I’ve found on the web, blogs, and other publications regarding the “predatory towing” stories is that there is one underlying theme: Retriever Towing.

This is pretty long, so catch up after the jump…

My story involves Retriever Towing as well. I had parked my vehicle at a strip mall off of Beaverton Hillsdale Highway, with what appeared to have a common parking lot (it shares the lot with the surrounding businesses). My wife and I had met up with friends and decided to have some Korean BBQ, so I parked in front of ******** ****** (****** SW Beaverton Hillsdale Hwy Beaverton OR 97005 - located next to the Korean restaurant, it was in the evening so Portland Music was closed and there were only two other cars in the lot) and we went in to eat. Not five minutes later a man came into the restaurant (a neighboring business owner) stating that “a vehicle was being towed.” I ran out to find that my vehicle was already hooked up and ready to tow. I asked the driver why I was being towed, and he responded, “it’s because you are not a customer of ******** ****** and the owner of the store called to dispatch us here to tow you.” I stated that it appears that this was a common lot shared by all the neighboring businesses and there must be a mistake; he told me that “it isn’t (a common lot).” I kept talking to him to find out why he was attempting to tow my vehicle and for a couple of minutes he insisted that “he was dispatched by the owner of ******** ******.” So I asked him to provide the name or phone number of this person, feeling that I could plead my case to them in a polite and tactful manner, proving to them that I was a customer of their surrounding business, hoping to avoid paying the $75.00 drop fee the driver was demanding. Well after I pleaded with the driver, it finally became apparent that no one had called him and said that his company, Retriever Towing, is contracted by ******** ****** to tow “at will.” I then noticed that all the surrounding businesses in the development were also contracted by Retriever Towing (which seemed odd, given the neighboring business owner told me that I was the fourth customer of theirs to be towed that week. So, why would they maintain a business relationship with a company that is cannibalizing their own business?) After my two to three minute discussion/negotiation with the tow truck driver, he became impatient, probably due to me calling him on his lies, and he threatened me saying, “if I have to call an officer, I am charging you $150.00.” It took me a moment to register what he had said, and then I thought out loud, “you mean a police officer?...yeah, go ahead.” He didn’t like that comment and stated, “this is the last time I’m gonna ask, are you going to pay the $75.00’s? If not, I’m taking your car and it will cost $300.00 to get it from impound.” Stuck with this choice I pulled out the visa card and paid his extortionate fee. The entire encounter was unsettling, as the employee from Retriever Towing was quite abrasive and threatening during our interaction. I went into ******** ***** the following day to discuss the ordeal with the owner and/or management in hopes of making them aware of what their relationship with Retriever may be doing for their reputation (if they weren’t aware already). This experience didn’t go much better than that of the previous evening with the tow truck driver. The manager insinuated that he didn’t really care that I was towed, and stated that I shouldn’t have parked in front of his (closed) store. I was quite shocked by his lack of concern. But then again it’s not his neighbors that are having his (******* ******) clients towed for parking in a nearly empty lot during non-business hours. After reading many other stories of similar caliber, I don’t think mine is necessarily worse. None the less, this “vigilantism” that is being played out by the tow truck companies needs to come to an end. They should not be able to regulate or dictate law, as they see fit.

A representative from Retriever is calling us back shortly. We're also trying to get in touch with the representative of the ********'d business.