Nice Try

I'm currently following up on something that didn't "sit right" with me and, as it turns out, my instincts were probably correct. Now it's just a matter of what to do about it.

On Halloween I worked the morning shift (9:15-3:30). I'd driven Linds to school beforehand and had cleared the windshield as I warmed the car up - I'd pulled the wipers out to get the outside of it done. Linds helped me with her side. This is relevant because I know there was nothing there - no parking ticket.

After work I noticed something blue on the windshield. When I took it off, I was surprised to find a parking ticket and was completely baffled, as I hadn't been anywhere except to work. I work in a very large "strip" type mall that's actually two malls sharing one piece of property. The south side is known as Richlea, the north side, including the building that I'm in (that "overlaps" onto Richlea) is called Broadmoor. Many (as I wasn't) aren't even aware that it's two separate malls run by two different management companies. It's a weird set up and there's really no way of knowing it isn't one big mall. The building I'm in also houses two banks and their ATM's are facing south and border on the south parking lot (Richlea side). There's never been any problem with any of it - I've lived just up the road for twenty years and parked/shopped there. Until now that is.

I was rattled by the $50 ticket and looked over it carefully when I got home. I'd always parked there, in front of my bank, and gone in through the mall to get to work, often stopping to use the ATM along the way. Most who use the "Richlea" mall park and enter the Broadmoor building first...using the banks before going off to shop. It's common for people to start at one end of the strip and carry on right through to the other, doing business with both Richlea and Broadmoor in one swoop and stopping in the middle (my building) to eat and rest. Apparently there are going to be problems with that. People are being ticketed (immediately) for "leaving" the Richlea lot upon parking then entering Broadmoor (the banks), even if it's only for a moment before returning to finish their shopping. This came without warning and is a very aggressive ticketing campaign, catching everyone off guard. The parking has never been a problem and it's unrealistic to consider parking in one side of the mall to shop there, then having to move the car to the other end to finish shopping at that end. Not environmentally sound OR practical, by any means. It makes no sense at all.

When I inspected my ticket a little closer, I noticed an error - although it was Halloween when it was issued, the ticket was dated Oct. 2. I checked my schedule/calendar to discover that I didn't even work that morning and wasn't parked there at that time at all. I'd already planned on calling/fighting the ticket - I WORKED there so the two hour parking limit hardly applied to employees, right? Wrong.

When I called Diamond Parking, I was informed that the Richlea side had hired them to ticket people who either 1) parked longer than the two hours alloted (me) 2) parked on the Richlea side but went into the Broadmoor mall/side (me). The manager was quite friendly and advised me to send him a fax/letter from my boss, stating that I was unaware of the parking set up and that I wouldn't park on the Richlea side anymore, as an employee of the Broadmoor side. Fair enough. I did that. I also told "Mike" of my concerns about the incorrect dating on the ticket - to which he suggested that it had been there for four weeks, through a week long torrential rain/wind storm. I quickly shot that down - the ticket didn't have so much as a "smear"/watermark on it and was in mint condition...impossible. "Oopsie, must be a mistake" was his new explanation. He assured me that he'd look into it. I guess he forgot.

Fast forward to Nov. 9 and I received a letter (pictured), stating that my $50 fine had jumped to $96.01, as I was "deliquent" in paying it. I immediately called Diamond and they said "disregard it...your fine has been waived", as they'd received the fax that I'd been instructed to send. Now, that should've been the end of it, but things still didn't sit quite right with me. I was infuriated by the fact that they'd tried to extort extra money from me on a ticket that wasn't actually even due yet! And that their dating "mistake" obviously hadn't been corrected, as Mike had promised. Another "oopsie"? I wanted to know how a ticket issued on Oct. 31/06, giving 15 days for payment, was considered late and had resulted in extra charges only 9 days after issue?. Besides that, the ticket clearly indicated that if it hadn't been paid within 15 days, the fee would then jump to $65, not $96.01? It hadn't even been fifteen days yet. The breakdown of costs on the letter was very misleading (intentionally?) and made no sense at all. Did they really think I was stupid and they could bamboozle me with a bunch of numbers? Ha, nice try. Funny how nowhere on this "late payment" letter did it indicate the original fine of $50 - that amount was completely omitted? So, supposing I had decided to just pay the ticket and Mike had adjusted it to correct the date - how did the costs jump to $96.01 in 9 days? According to them, it should've been $50 and not jumped to $65 until Nov. 16. Despite the fact that I wasn't "on the hook" for the ticket, I still wanted to know exactly how they'd arrived at this $96 amount. For many others wouldn't have their tickets waived and would therefore be expected to pay...what process took us from a $50 parking ticket to $96.01 in a matter of 9 days? I want to know. Suspicious. Criminal?

I hope I haven't lost you...it IS confusing and I think that was part of their "game plan"...to throw out a whole bunch of stuff that didn't make sense in the hopes that we'd just "pay up". They tried to confuse me (and others) with some very professional looking documents that didn't mean shit and are invalid (if not fraudulent). You simply can't go making up tickets for people and pre- date them, with the intention of gouging them even more, for late fees. It's immoral and illegal.

The "buzz" at the mall is the Richlea "ticketing" - EVERYONE is furious. Confused. Talking. Questioning. People who park at Safeway and run in to the ATM first are being ticketed within a minute....someone from Diamond is "watching" and not considering that the customers are shopping in both locations. The management company for Richlea is somewhat of a mystery - they've issued a statement that, for those ticketed, they can simply keep their receipts as proof of their shopping and submit them in order to have the fines waived. I say I'll be damned if I have to go through that and it's none of their business what I do when I'm over there - as long as I'm not leaving the property while parked in their lot they can take a flying leap. (And I suggested to them that the '2 Hour' limit is hardly enough time...there are hairdressers there and it sometimes takes over two hours for a perm. Or that some of us eat in the family restaurant, then go rent a movie and grab snacks at Safeway. This easily can take longer than 2 hours. There are dentist offices there - it's common to have a two hour appointment if you factor in the wait when you arrive.)

The bottom line here is that this company is falsely dating these tickets, resulting in bogus "late" fines..this needs some serious investigating and is a criminal activity as far as I'm concerned. And, further to that is the fact that loyal, longstanding customers are being treated this way by the management company that's responsible for the hiring/activity of these thugs. Most people who shop here use both malls in one trip and that's being conveniently overlooked.

People are outraged and have been coming in, complaining to me for the past couple of weeks (my booth looks like an information booth). Understand here that the ATM's are situated on the south side of the building that overlaps both malls, into the Richlea parking lot. But they are still considered part of Broadmoor mall. It's a stupid set up. Picture it like this - one long strip mall (which is two separate buildings). A building smack dab in the middle, which is considered part of the borth mall (Broadmoor). Yet the bank aren't accessible from the north and their entrances are on the south, on the Richlea side. How are bank customers to know that the front entrance isn't to be accessed from the front...that you need to go to the back and enter through the mall to access them? So there is no parking in front of the bank/ATM...it's a walk around (or through - the mall closes early) the building. If it sounds confusing, just trying shopping/parking here. These new parking regulations mean that, in order to access the ATM when the mall is closed, customers must park in the north lot and walk all the way around the building to the ATM's on the south side. They walk all the way back around the building, to the north lot and their car, move the car back to the south lot and continue shopping there. The mall has turned a blind eye to the rampant drug activity in their parking lot and it's very common to be approached by panhandlers on a regular basis in the parking lot there - now they want us to walk around at night with a pocket full of money? Who was the brainiac who devised this plan. It does nothing to consider customer safety. Safeway & Blockbuster are the only shops to stay open late (midnight), everything else is closed by 9. This means the lot's virtually empty...so what's the problem if people park in front of the bank to use the ATM in an empty lot?

Expecting us walk to and from our cars on the north side after banking on the south side, only to have to drive back around to the south side of the building and park in front of the ATM that we've just used/walked to is absolutely fucking ridiculous! Who the fuck came up with this plan....George Bush? If nothing else, it isn't very green to drive from one spot to another when the establishments you're using are right next door to each other.

As an employee, "our" side (Broadmoor) has a buggy return cage for the (Richlea)Safeway buggies. So I guess they figure it's o.k. to use our parking, yet we can't use theirs. They shouldn't need a buggy return there because, according to their standards, their customers shouldn't be parked over here either. And all day long Safeway (Richlea) employees use our mall to "cut through" and retrieve their buggies from our lot, where they're secured. Double standards really piss me off. I know, it's a lot to follow. It's a ridiculous, blatant attempt (by Richlea management/Diamond Parking) to extract money from unsuspecting "violators" (otherwise known as paying customers), while breaking all the rules themselves.

The aggressive ticketing procedures drew the attention of the local paper, who ran a story on it. Funny thing is, in trying to locate an address/contact for the management company (who'd hired Diamond Parking), it was proving to be a near impossible feat. I tried the name of a manager that was printed in the newspaper article - when I searched the internet it came up as someone in the Dominican Republic. I got a friend of mine, who is a Safeway employee, to get me the number/name that they have as a contact for property management and she passed it along to me. When I called it, it was a recording...and there was no company "name" specified on the recording - it simply said "you've reached the Richlea mall property management". I looked through the Yellow Pages under Property Management Companies and couldn't find the number anywhere. Who the hell is running this joint and trying to gouge patrons? I wand to know. And it seems like they don't want us to know who they are. Seems very suspicious to me.

I called the number and left a message and have yet to hear anything. But, over the past few days several people have been complaining to me that their tickets were "misprinted" and the dates were wrong. There's an uproar here, as long time customers are being "dinged" (reminds me of that stupid commercial) as fast as they leave their cars.

I don't think the incorrect dates are mistakes at all. I reported my "mistake" on Oct. 31/06...it's now nearing the end of November and they haven't resolved the problem or rectified the situation? I'm pretty sure that these so called "mistakes" are nothing less than a strategic move by Diamond Parking to (fraudulently) collect "fines" for "late" payment on tickets that aren't deliquent (or even valid, in some cases) at all. They're initially suggesting to people who call in that perhaps they've "missed" the ticket on their windshield and the dates are correct. They tried it with me...nice try boys, I'm not buying that bridge you're selling either.

They then offer the "mistake" theory. But, guess what?...they've had ample time to rectify the situation and when a mistake is identified and it continues it's no longer a mistake...it's then called negligence. Or, in this case, an attempt to pull a "scam". I'm livid about the entire thing. I "caught" their atttempt to gouge me...others (my seniors) aren't looking closely enough and are simply paying the fees that they're being intimated into paying (by these very official looking letters - funny how Diamond Parking doesn't have a return address, other than a PO Box number, on their correspondence? Do they not have an "office" somewhere?...again, I'm having trouble locating anything in the Yellow Pages). Hhhmmm, this isn't sitting very well with me at all. I don't like liars/cheats and I'll be damned if this will just blow over with me.

I've written the local paper with my concerns. I'm going to follow up with the BBB and the City Licensing Dept. These crooks have not heard the last of this.

(There are several other people "blogging" about this....it's becoming quite a story. And I have proof that this company is well aware of the "dating" issues, yet continue to issue "pre-dated" tickets that result in extra payment to them. I hope their asses get canned. And we can resume our parking/shopping as we've done here, for twenty + years. In the meantime, I'm warning everyone over there about the parking scam and that, if they're smart, they'll avoid the Richlea mall completely until they quit trying to rip us all off).