Complaints

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:10/04/2024

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  On September 29, 2024 at 3:17 pm, I paid $3.50 at the meter with an end time of 4:09 pm of that same day. At 3:30 pm, on September 29, 2024, I was issued a parking ticket - EXPIRED METER. Invoice *********, by Parking Supervisor AJ, ID Number: 281. I called customer services a few times, the first call I was unable to reach anyone at the phone number provided on the back on the invoice, upon the second call, I was connected to a representative in whom I provided the invoice number, and the had informed them that I have a receipt from my credit card company displaying I paid the $3.50 and a receipt from the ParkSmart website with a date and time stamp that would refute the claim. I asked how I could dispute the invoice online as stated on the back on the invoice, and was told I am only able to do so by mail. However, I have seen through transactions on this platform via ParkSmart it is possible to dispute a claim by phone. Personal information is of high concern nowadays, providing, a non-government entity personal information via mail considering crime is unreasonable and alarming.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 10/04/2024

  We were unsuccessful in our attempts to reach out to ********* he did not provide an accurate phone number or mailing address.  We did send Mr. ***** an email to the address he provided, but we have not yet received a response.  

  Customer Answer

  Date: 10/06/2024

   
  Complaint: 22379298
  
  I am rejecting this response because: I received an email from ParkSmart on Friday, October 4, 2024 at 4:40pm, the business closed at 5pm. In that short amount of time I was unable to respond during business hours. Preferred method of contact is email, and I was unaware I would be reached via phone as I am out of the area for the next few weeks. I responded to the email from ParkSmart within 24 hours, and was informed that the company had questions regarding the complaint, though, failed to include those questions in the email for a response to be given. The form from BBB does not require a full address to submit a complaint. 
  
  
  I am not a *** please do not address me as so. 
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ******* *****

  

  Business Response

  Date: 10/07/2024

  Per our email today, the Invoice has been dismissed.  

  Customer Answer

  Date: 10/07/2024

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ******* *****

• Initial Complaint

  Date:08/30/2024

  Type:Billing Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Upon leaving the parking structure, my ticket was unreadable and I was unable to leave. Simple problem to fix right? Apparently not. When asking for assistance on the machine, communication was absolutely horrible and I spent 15 minutes trying to get a hold of someone so I can pay my way out of the parking structure. After being hung up on the first interaction, I finally got a hold of someone (who I could barely understand) and they requested personal info from me such as phone number and license plate number. All while other peoples tickets were perfectly readable and they were able to leave the parking structure with no problems.What if I had a legitimate emergency? I initially just wanted to pay for my ticket but apparently its too difficult to set up a reliable ticket system. Now I want a refund for this disrespect and inconvenience.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 09/02/2024

  Hi ******,

  We are not affiliated with Parking.com.  *********** is ParkSmart, we are based in ************, ********** and do not operate outside of the Bay Area.

  Can you please remove your BBB complaint ASAP.  

  Feel free to give us a call if you have any questions:  ******************

   

  Thank you,

  ***

  Customer Answer

  Date: 09/09/2024

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***************************

• Initial Complaint

  Date:04/21/2024

  Type:Billing Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I park in the Bay St mall and used the ParkSmart app to pay for parking and used *** to get it validated today. I came back to my car and it showed a ticket on it. This is the second time this has happened where I payed and got a ticket. I ignored it the first time, because I had paid. The second time came with a warning that I had two outstanding tickets and I would get towed. Despite the ticket saying there are ways to dispute the ticket online, there are none. There is not even an email address on the website. I have pictures of the validations, but more importantly, ParkSmart has all this information because they charged me for these times, and it obviously conflicts with the time of the ticket. It's not OK to make it easy to pay the ticket using a thousand different methods, but be so incompetent that disputing the ticket requires mailing paper copies of all the evidence to them within 21 days.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 04/22/2024

  Sri,

  We received your parking payment and parking validation.  However, as you can see in the screen shots you sent, it appears that you accidently transposed two digits when entering your license plate number, you entered ******* however your correct plate number is 7ZQS809. 
  
  We do not use the BBB platform for parking charge disputes.  However, you can contact our office via phone and explained what happened, our dispute supervisor will be able to dismiss it for you.  

  Thank you,

  ***

  Customer Answer

  Date: 04/23/2024

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me. 
  I ended up connecting with the ParkSmart business. They noticed that the License plate receipt has a discrepancy (there was two letters that were transposed) that led to the ticket. They are refunding the ticket amount and we have now resolved the issue. I would like to rescind the complaint (or **** it satisfactorily resolved). Thanks for the help on this matter.
  
  
  Sincerely,
  
  Sri ******

• Initial Complaint

  Date:02/28/2024

  Type:Product Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I was ticketed with minutes left on the meter I paid with coins not a credit card they claim there's no way to check that I paid. The light was green when I got back to my car.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 02/28/2024

  In order for us to investigate your claim, we will need the Invoice or license plate number.  This will enable us to see the photograph taken of the parking meter your vehilce was parked at and run a report to see how much you paid and when the meter expired.

   

   

   

• Initial Complaint

  Date:01/04/2024

  Type:Customer Service Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  The ticket was given to me after 6 pm and I had a handicapped placard. She herself was parked in a no parking handicapped spot while giving tickets to everyone.She went ahead and gave tickets to other cars unnecessarily as well even though they were parked in free parking spots after 6 pm.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 01/04/2024

  Per our conversation, the Invoice was voided. 

  Customer Answer

  Date: 01/05/2024

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***********************************

• Initial Complaint

  Date:11/04/2023

  Type:Customer Service Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I parked in **************** parksmart area, paid for parking for 2 hours. After ~30 minutes, I came back to my car and found a ticket asserting that I had an expired meter. The machine still read 1:25 remaining.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 11/06/2023

  ******,

  In order to start our investigation regarding your complaint, please provide us with the Invoice number and last 4 digits of the credit card you used at the parking meter.

  Thank you,

  ***

  Customer Answer

  Date: 11/07/2023

   
  Complaint: 20825499
  

  The invoice number is 616270590

  Last 4 digits from card used are 0345

  
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *****************************

  

  Business Response

  Date: 11/09/2023

  Based on our investigation, you paid at the wrong parking meter, see the attached phographs and report.  Based on our dismissal guidelines, we would do a onetime dismissal, however, you will need to follow our dispute instuctions, click on the link below. 

  *********************************************

  Feel free to give us a call if you have any questions.

  Thank you,

  ***

   

  Customer Answer

  Date: 11/09/2023

   
  Complaint: 20825499
  
  I am rejecting this response because: 

  You have all the information already. I am attaching the requested doc with fields filled out as required. If this is acceptable I will close the case
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *****************************

• Initial Complaint

  Date:09/28/2023

  Type:Billing Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Received a parking invoice in the bay street park lot, invoice #*********.I couldn't get the kiosk to work and the ** codes have stickers / graffiti on them. I went to the movie theater to get my parking validated and that wouldn't work either.In order to dispute their tickets you must mail in (with your paid postage) a hand written letter. To pay them, they will gladly give you qr codes, websites, and phones numbers. They use the excuse that not everyone has access to the Internet so they *just have to* do it that way. This is obviously predatory. When I called, any issues that were brought made them aggressive and dismissive. They remind me of loan sharks or debt collectors.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 09/28/2023

  Per our conversation and based on our backend software report, all 16 parking pay stations were functioning appropriately.  You stated that the ** Code had graffiti and stickers on them so your phone was not able to read them.  In our investigation, we did not find this to be the case, you later said that the graffiti was throughout the parking garage,but we have not yet found the graffiti you are talking about.  We have over 250 signs with ** codes posted throughout the property, including a ** Code located directly in front of the movie theater.
  We instructed you to simply scan the ** that was given to you so you could pay for your parking and we would waive the ALL-DAY parking charge, but you stated that you dont have a card and became extremely angry and hung up on me.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 09/29/2023

   
  Complaint: 20671237
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  I should not have to contact the BBB to get the "privilege" to discuss my dispute with a rude, interrupting, debt collector. 

  My issue with the business is the fact that they can (a non government agency) ticket your car, and my only recourse is to write a hand written letter and pay for postage. This is when they have multiple ways you can pay using smart phones and the internet.

  The discrepancies between payment options and dispute options is highly predatory. People shouldn't have to contact the BBB to elicit a response from the company. Based on reviews and claims here I not alone in these feelings.

  Sincerely,
  
  *********************

  

  Business Response

  Date: 10/02/2023

  A dispute can be made over the phone, however, in rare cases like yours, you stated that the garage and one of our over two hundred ** code signs posted throughout the parking garage had graffiti on them preventing you from paying, in addition, you stated that our 1 of 16 parking pay stations were not functioning.  Based on our investigation, we found no evidence of the pay stations not functioning or graffiti the ** code signs. You can request an in-writing or in-person Level II hearing, for instructions, click on the attached link.

  
  *********************************************
  

  Feel free to contact our office during the hours of Monday-Friday, 9 am-4 pm if you would like to speak further with us about this.
  
  Thank you
  

   

  Customer Answer

  Date: 10/05/2023

   
  Complaint: 20671237
  
  I am rejecting this response because:
  People shouldn't have to write a letter or contact the BBB in order to get a resolution, especially when you have so many ways to pay. You guys are predatory scumbags.
  Sincerely,
  
  *********************

• Initial Complaint

  Date:09/09/2023

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I paid $6 for parking on the ParkSmart app at ************** parking lot. I have a screenshot that proves my car was paid for until 8:38pm. I paid at 5:38pm, got back to my car by 7:45pm. I got a ticket at 5:57pm. 19 MINUTES AFTER I PAID. I talked to the parking enforcer in the garage and verbatim he said, it takes 20 minutes for the system to register the payment. Essentially, they have that 20 minute gap which is a prime scam to ticket people. Im so incredibly mad. Its a $30 ticket for something I should have been covered for. They only allow you to mail in a dispute. This company is a scam and is trying to steal your money. They know people wont want to bother with mailing in a dispute.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 09/10/2023

  Hi ***,
  It was a pleasure talking to you this morning.  Per our conversation, the ALL DAY parking charge has been waved.  Based on the photographs, you chose the ground level parking area in our app, but you were parked in the garage zone.  

  
  When paying on our app, pay stations for QR code option, license plate or stall numbers are pushed to our LPR vehicles & app within a few seconds.  After interviewing our employee, it appears that you misunderstood him, what he said is; He doesnt know if you paid 1 minute or 20 minutes prior, our system only shows what stall numbers or license plate numbers are valid at the time is is checking.

  
  Enjoy your Sunday!
  
  
  ***

  Customer Answer

  Date: 09/10/2023

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *****************

• Initial Complaint

  Date:08/16/2023

  Type:Billing Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  We went to see a movie, parked for two hours, and were unable to pay for parking. None of the ** codes in the garage worked, and the ParkSmart app is absolute garbage.Further, the fact that I can pay this ticket online but not dispute it without mailing a letter is a dark design pattern (******************************************) intentionally built to make paying a fraudulent citation FAR faster and easier than disputing it. Shame on ParkSmart and every company that resorts to dark design to extort money from the public.I will not pay the all-day rate when we only parked for 2 hours as customers of the movie theater. ParkSmart should cancel it, and suspend their operations at ********************* until their system actually works.I'll also be forwarding this complaint to the management at *********************, *************************, about this incompetent, deceptive company they've hired to manage their parking. They should be fired.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 08/17/2023

  Ziad,

  We are sorry you had an issue using one of our parking payment options (QR Code), we have 16 easy to use parking pay stations located through out the parking garage shopping center portals that you can use if you are not comfortable using our app or QR code options. 
  

  Please contact our office ************** between the hours of 9am 4pm Monday Friday and provide the Invoice number to one of our customer service representatives and they will be able to assist you getting your issue resolved.
  
  Thank you. 

  Customer Answer

  Date: 08/18/2023

  Complaint: 20479428
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  See the attachment. I already provided the invoice number: 607840070.

  Sincerely,
  
  *******************

  

  Business Response

  Date: 08/22/2023

  We were unble to locate your parking payment, we are only seeing a 30 free parking option that was slected for your parking stall number (462) 23 miuntes after the All Day charge notice was issued.  The parking discount only applies if you pre-pay for your parking.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:08/16/2023

  Type:Billing Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Paid $6 for parking at **********************) today for 4 hrs. Came out to a $30 ticket on the windshield, timed approx 35 min after I paid for parking; ticket said I hadnt paid for parking. There are many, many, many posts on NextDoor about the same issue with this company. Will avoid this shopping area entirely now if this is the only parking option. Can upload receipt if needed.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 08/16/2023

  Hi Cate,

  In order for us to start our investigation, please provide us the Invoice number of the All Day parking charge.  You may have made an error when entering your license plate number or ********************** stall number.  A quick way to get this resolved is to call our office beteen the hours of 9am - 4pm M-F, we will be able to quickly pull up your transaction.

   

  Thank you.