I have worked downtown for a year now. Every morning I pull in and pay the electronic parking meter the $7 it costs to park for the day. Today was no different. Parked...PAID...and came out after work to a bright orange boot on my tire. To say I was furious is an understatement. I peered in my car to be sure I had remembered to place my ticket face up on the dashboard. Sure enough, there it was. Face up and timestamped for 8:28AM. I had not left at any time during the day, yet there was a boot on my tire. So, in my anger I called the booting company only to be sent to voicemail after being on hold for 20 minutes. Not knowing what to do, I called my father who sent me this article about the very same booting company that I was dealing with.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/metro/5871253.html
Getting even more angry, I took photos of my car and called the police. I finally spoke to the booting company's dispatcher, who told me that the person who responded to the call would have a video of why my car was booted. The employee showed up, now nearly an hour after I arrived at my car and surprise surprise, there was no video when I asked to see it. He was very persistent that I must have left the lot because he was the one who patrols and my back tire had not been "chalked." I kindly informed him that I had called the police, had already taken photographs of my car and planned to take him to small claims court if I was made to pay the $100 fine. His attitude changed 100%. Suddenly, he informed me that he did have the authority to take off boots when he felt the individual was truly being honest about the situation. He said, you know "mistakes do happen." I certainly agree that they do, just thought it was funny that this only became a "mistake" after I told him my action plan about the situation.
Anyone else experience anything like this parking downtown?
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/metro/5871253.html
Getting even more angry, I took photos of my car and called the police. I finally spoke to the booting company's dispatcher, who told me that the person who responded to the call would have a video of why my car was booted. The employee showed up, now nearly an hour after I arrived at my car and surprise surprise, there was no video when I asked to see it. He was very persistent that I must have left the lot because he was the one who patrols and my back tire had not been "chalked." I kindly informed him that I had called the police, had already taken photographs of my car and planned to take him to small claims court if I was made to pay the $100 fine. His attitude changed 100%. Suddenly, he informed me that he did have the authority to take off boots when he felt the individual was truly being honest about the situation. He said, you know "mistakes do happen." I certainly agree that they do, just thought it was funny that this only became a "mistake" after I told him my action plan about the situation.
Anyone else experience anything like this parking downtown?
