Complaint Review: Cali's Finest Parking Authority

 I was towed by these people on 3/27/17 from our private property parking stall. We tried to stop them from taking our car that they had already looked at twice prior to hooking it up to tow. The first time, we heard the truck and looked out our window to see them looking at our license plates and they drove off. My husband actually came out the second time and stood by our car so if they had questions, they could ask. They did not ask anything, they just looked at him and back away to drive off. When we saw them the third and last time, we stopped them and asked why they were towing our car and we were told that it was out too far. We asked them who authorized this tow and we were told that the security patrol agents gave them authorization. That was wrong, we called them after and they said no, that they do not have the authority to do so. The patrol company actually told me to call it in as an illegal tow! I called the police to get some assistance, but they said that they could only be mediators and that they could not tell them to take it or not tell them to take my vehicle due to it being on private property. When they arrived, the tow driver told him that we were in a fire lane, which we were not. While they were still in our complex parking lot, we asked the tow driver if we could move our 2 scooters we always park behind to possibly be up a bit farther, and they said no. I asked them if need be could we be able to pay a drop fee. They said since I called the police, and that we were being aggressive and confrontational that we did not have the option to pay any drop fee and that they were not going to release the vehicle. The two officers who were there were telling me that it is at the discretion of the tow truck driver if they would let us pay or if they would put it back if we would make the spot have more room. That is also not true. Assembly Bill 2210 states that if you spot a tow truck driver taking your car, and the tow truck is still on private property, the driver must release you car to you unconditionally. We did not give them any consent to take our car off onto the public streets. We have been parking behind our two scooters since we moved in 11/18/15 and no manager, security/patrol agents, owners of the complex said anything to us about how it was parked. We did have a flat tire once, so they put a bright yellow-green violation notification sticker on it to tell me to fix my flat tire, that is all. We were okay. No one called this tow truck company, they were just prowiling around predatory patrolling in the wee hours of the morning to look for certain vehicles to grab when they think people are asleep and cannot stop them. We did not yell at them, become aggresive or confrontational. we just stopped them to try to convince them to not tow our legally parked, completely registered vehicle in our correct stall! The police officers told us to take the matter up with our property manager and that I could not file a police report because it was a civil matter and that they could not do anything, as I did ask to file one due to the fact that it was an unauthorized tow. I did take it up with the property manager when the office opened and she and her associates in the office at the time were shocked that my car was towed. They said that it should have never been towed in the first place and that my car has been parked that way for months with no concern. This company told four different reasons why they were authorized and who gave the authority to tow my car. 1. To me- it was out too far. 2: To the police-it was in the fire lane. 3. To my husband when he called later on that same day to ask again who authorized the tow since everyone they said disagreed and said no it was not them who gave authorization, he ,(my husband), was told that they did not have authorization, nor did they need one because it was a good tow. 4. To my property manager, Alexis Conway when she called to ask them some questions about the ordeal, that the police gave them authorization because it was blocking a driveway causing people to be unable to get in or out. No true again, like I stated earlier, we were in our assigned parking spot when they decided to tow it. The police officers where called by me and they arrived AFTER my car was hooked up and trying to be driven off the premises! She said that since they said the police authorized this tow, they could not do anything. I told her that I called the police to the scene and she seemed as though this was the first time that she heard this! They did not call, I did! The tow truck passenger told us that that he was new, but what does that have to do with us? If he did not know the towing procedures or laws and was so "new" then he should have been more versed on such things before he is a party to illegally taking peoples property.