Extreme Towing & Recovery

Fair warning: this review is based soley on my experience with their driver today and his utter disregard for California traffic law and public safety. I am not — and will not become — a customer of this company based on my experience.
As I was commuting to lunch southbound on 405 between the Bristol and 55 North exits, an Extreme Towing and Recovery truck performed a dangerously unsafe lane change across multiple lanes of traffic without using his blinker. In doing so, this driver cut me off. Happens every day, right? Sure. However, if you’re running a towing business whose success relies on its reputation of safey and quality, you better put that driver in his place.
I’m no astrophysicist, but a loaded tow truck traveling at speeds in excess of 80MPH with a late model SUV in tow, during 12:30PM 405 traffic does not sound like the best idea in the world. OK, I get it, maybe the driver had an emergency meeting with the Porcelain Throne that he could not miss. Everybody poops. Luckily, his meeting with Number Two wasn’t cut short by a near-​miss with the random guy on the road, now writing this review from the safety of his desk.
Sadly, Dear Unilocalers, I missed the driver’s ID number. I can provide an exact time, place, and vehicle towed during this incident so that Extreme Towing and Recovery can continue to operate a safe, complaint-​free towing business.
Date: Wednesday, October 14^th, 2015
Time: Approximately 12:25P — 12:30P
Location: Costa Mesa, CA. 405 Southbound, between Bristol and 55 North exits.
Vehicle Towed: Late model Jeep Wagoneer, Red/​Orange with wood paneling.

Predatory towing. This company does not follow California law and steals cars without being called by property owners. They arrive 20 minutes prior to the time your car should be moved and hook your car up before its even been parked past the posted time. I saw this as I was running to get to my car to move it at the posted time. My car was already on the back of the tow truck by the time I got to it and the driver refused to give me my car back without a cash payment of $ 80 for his trouble. I offered a credit card and the driver refused. Once given cash he refused to give me a receipt. The more I look up the more I realize that this company stole my car and demand ransom. This is illegal and I have reported to the police. Now I know why he refused to give me a receipt, but I will watch and call the police next time I see these thieves in my complex!

I called extreme towing after my work can broke down and everyone else Couldn’t get a tow truck to my location on the 405 and Bristol after talking to dispatch she gave me a price if $ 120 to have my van towed to irvine I can honestly say Monday was the worse day but being able to call them after being stranded made my day a lot better and the driver mike made it better by cracking jokes with me to easy the drama that i had going on

Worst towing company ever! Rude customer service and they don’t return calls and hang up on you! They towed my tool box and it arrived flipped over and damaged. It’s been 3 – 4 months and they haven’t resolved this matter in a timely and professional way. I’ve left several messages and faxed and emailed the invoice and still nothing. I will be taking them to court and will get my money. I was hoping we could’ve resolved this outside of court but I guess I will have to get my money the hard way. Now I got to waste my time and their time to handle this matter!

Rude service and questionable ethics. Rude drivers that are not helpful and were even harrasing AFTER the work was done, a management team that does not manage nor respond to the customers request, and the worst I have ever dealt with for such simple request. DO NOT WORK WITH THIS COMPANY, multiple contacts for concerns and nothing was ever handled properly.

These guys are awesome!!! My car broke down (obviously) and I called extreme towing. Paul was there so quick I couldn’t believe it. I thought I was stuck for a while but he was there in like 15 minutes! He was a total sweetheart and super helpful. It turns out I just needed a jump. I would definitely recommend them, and I have their number saved in my phone just in case :)

The horrible experience with Extreme seems to never end. The initial non-​service was an extreme-​ly disappointing and miserable experience, which was bad enough. But the ensuing drama here on Unilocal says a lot more about the company.
If everything goes smooth, they’re probably fine as evidenced by the other reviews they received. But that is not the true test of a good company.
When things don’t go well, how do they respond?
Based on my experience, if something goes wrong (as things automotive often do), I am confident that you will rather gouge your eyes out, douse them in lighter fluid, burn them, then urinate on them to put the fire out than deal with Paul B. and Extreme.
If they are incapable of owning up to keeping me waiting for 2 – 3 hours then not answering their phones, would they own up to damage caused to your vehicle during recovery or transportation? Food for thought.
But I digress. Back to the latest.
Extreme towing asks via private message 8÷27÷2011:
«If we were supposed to be there at 2 and at 2:25 you told us to pound sand then where do you get 2 hours lost in your day»
I would reply privately, but true to the increasingly douchey form, I have been blocked from responding by Paul B. of Extreme.
I guess the private message that included a question was meant to be rhetorical?
Well, I’ll answer anyhow, in public:
First, note that I claimed 2 and a half hours of my day wasted, not 2.
Going back to the call log (photo 6), my first call to Extreme was at 11:19 AM. This initiated our dealings: I needed a tow, Extrme said they would arrive «within 45 minutes», so I left work and got home around 11:45 and began my «Extreme wait».
We spoke again at 12:13 PM after they weren’t there within the promised 45 minutes. Something about an accident on the 55 or similar. It was almost a year ago, so maybe it was the 405.
Take note here: they will drop you and not honor their word for a police call. Fine, CHP and the Po-​Po are regular customers, and we’re just dog meat. Besides, it’s an accident… I get it. At this point I wasn’t upset.
They rescheduled for 2 pm. I called at 2:00 when they had not yet arrived, and they didn’t even answer my call.
Simple math will show that was about 2 hours after they were originally supposed to pick up my White 2005 Dodge Ram 2500 4×4 with their 2 ton flat bed.
They finally called at 2:25, just after I had talked to MetroPro.
More simple math will tell you that’s roughly 2 and a half hours from the originally scheduled time. It’s not rocket science. It’s 1^st grade addition mixed with second grade time reading.
If Extreme kept records, they would know this.
The calls in between and not highlighted were to my mechanic, whose day was also f’ed up by Extreme. I’m sure he’d be more than happy to post a similar review to corroborate.

So my car breaks down on the 73 freeway just off of Jamboree road and I need a tow. I call Extreme Towing and some lady gets on the phone and gives me a quote of 65 dollars, which sounds reasonable. When the towtruck finally arrives, I tell him that I need to get to Costa Mesa, which is about 7 miles from there and he tells me that it will be 170 dollars. I’m like… what???
I told him that the lady only quoted me 65 dollars after he put my car on the flatbed and he said that he didn’t care. I then told him to put my car back on the road and I will call another tow company who has more reasonable prices. He refused and started driving off against my will. I then got on the phone with the owner and he told me that I had two choices…1) he’ll drop my car off on the side of the road and I owe him 65 dollars for hooking it up (even though I didn’t want him to) or 2) he’ll call the CHP and have them store it if I refused to pay.
WTF kind of company does this? First, they lie to me and then they try to extort money from me after I said I would prefer not to utilize their services?
Case in point: Do not use this tow company! I hope this review helps someone stuck on the road somewhere.

My MBZ broke down in South Orange County and I was reffered to Extreme Towing. They were very quick, professional and very careful with the handling of my Mercedes.