Back in December, I was invited to the Country Music’s Hall of Fame to view a panel discussion of Women of the Bakersfield’s Sound. This was a really cool event and worthy of a story in its own right. But, unfortunately that’s not what this is about; this story is more of a consumer warning. As per usual, when you park in Nashville, you pay to do it, especially around the downtown Riverfront area. I think I can safely say, nobody enjoys paying to park, but if you are going to park in downtown Nashville, you will have to pay for the privilege. And, if Premier Parking Lots have anything to with it, there is a good chance you will pay dearly for it. Premier owns many lots in the Nashville area. I can’t tell you how many and where, because their site does not list where their parking lots are and when asked, they are very reluctant to divulge that information. I can, for a fact, tell you that they own one across from the Country Music Hall of Fame. The reason I know this is because I had the unpleasant experience of parking there. The initial parking fee was $8 an hour and I paid for 2 hours. I had stand out in the rain and deposit money into a teller type machine, which in turn regurgitated a ticket that I had to place in my window of my truck. After doing so, I made note of the time and entered the building. The show started a little late and by the time I got my poster signed by the artist, I was 10 minutes over my limit. I went outside to put more money in the teller machine and discovered that inside those 10 minutes, I had received a $40 parking ticket from Premier Parking. When I arrived it did not appear as though anyone was monitoring this parking lot, because no one was present to answer any of the many questions of those who had just parked there. This lack of help was evident when I returned to the parking as there were visibly upset people who had received steep parking tickets for simply placing their parking permit in their window in a manner which didn’t comply with Premier Parking rules. This is apparently a lucrative practice for Premier Parking because, by my count, about half (we’ll say appox 10) of the people standing alone in the rain to use this overpriced parking facility had received tickets. I could tell by the expressions on the face of many of these people that they felt anger, frustration and the feeling of being a victim of a strong arm tactics. I can only assume, as I am sure premier parking assumes, that these good people just paid this extortion and left Nashville with a bad taste in their mouths, maybe to never return. I, however, could not be satisfied with just paying this ransom and moving on with my life. To start with, the fee is obviously excessive. I was 10 minutes over my limit and that should cost me and additional $40. How come I can’t just pay for another hour? What is the justification of charging a fee that was more than it would cost to park all day? At least they were thoughtful enough to clearly indicate how you could pay this extortion by credit card or by phone. I’m sure that will also include a Sur charge. I decided that instead of paying this dubious fee, I would call and ask Premier Parking to justify this inflated ticket. I called Premier Parking several times only to be funneled through a phone tree to an answering machine of the person with whom ticket complaints are to be registered. As you might have figured, my calls went unanswered. So, I decided that if that was the case, then the ticket would go unpaid. And so it went, till right after the first of the year. Just in time to make sure my new year wouldn’t get off to a good start, I received correspondence from Premier Parking in the form of a ticket for $65 and a threat. They threaten to turn over my delinquent extortion over to a collection agency. Just for the record, a collection agencies has no real power to force a payment from you for any debt. What they do, is annoy the hell out of you until you pay them. You have the legal right to stop this and can do so with a simple letter. If you don’t wish to remit said letter yourself, most attorneys will do this for a fee. Anyway, with this new information, I decided to call again and this time, I can only guess that someone either picked up the phone to make a call or accidently answered the wrong line, because a person, a real honest to God, human being answered the phone. My spirits rose and I felt for the first time since making the unfortunate mistake of “parking” that I might get some reason and fair play from Premier Parking……I was wrong. After introductions, I informed the person on the other end of the phone that I had received an expensive parking ticket for being over only 10 minutes. During my explanation I was interrupted and given a well rehearsed speech about how Premier parking should have the right to levee penalties just as any municipality should. My response to this was silent astonishment. After recovering my faculties, I decided rather than try to argue the point that no business should have governmental powers; I opted to ask how I was supposed to know about this steep penalty for running out of time in their parking trap. Mr. Helpful on the other end of the phone informed me that it was clearly posted in the parking lot. I openly admit, I cannot argue this. Not because I agree with it, but because it was cold and raining that day and I didn’t bother to stop and read their rules of extortion. And since I have not been back and will not return to that parking lot, I will have to grudgingly accept his words that it was posted, I do however, completely reject the fact that it was CLEARLY posted. Realizing that I was having a discussion with someone who either could not or simply would not see any other point of view, I changed my tactics. I enquired if there was a way to reduce the price of this fine. My adversary on the other end of phone the belched forth this gem, “Well if you had called dat day, we might of reduced it to one hour” Again from me, quiet astonishment. After once more regaining my composure, I asked the follow questions, “Why didn’t you just do that in the first place & How can anyone know this important information if it’s not printed on the ticket?” It was his turn for silence. Bear in mind reader, that these are rhetorical questions, the answer to both is naked greed. At this point, I want to change gears for a moment, and then I will tell you how our conversation ended. What I am going to do here is share with you my solution for this problem. First, it needs to be known; that other than sue you for the price of the ticket, Premier Parking has no power to enforce this extortion. It is my guess that they will not sue you over $40 to $65. What they will do is put a boot on your vehicle if you again park in one of their tourist trap parking lots. I don’t know what the fee is too have the boot removed, but I can say with certainly that it is too damn high. Probably something along the lines of signing over your grandmother’s house or indenturing a small child for life (again just a guess). I will not at this point advise you how to approach this information about Premier Parking, but I can tell you what I have done. At first, I decided that I would never pay these parking thugs a dime, but I reconsidered. I decided to pay because I needed an exact tally of how much money I needed to cost Premier Parking for us to be even. As I figure it, the ticket cost me $65 plus $3 handling fee, I spent $32 on the initial parking fee, for 2 vehicles, and I have to include the $40 that my girlfriend decided to “just pay”. That comes to a total of $140, so far. Given the personal time, effort and frustration I have suffered for this injustice, I will add a modest $100. So it is now my goal to cost Premier Parking at least $240. , this is how I am going to do it. First is the information I am giving to you. I can’t adequately measure the impact of this article on Premier Parking, but every time this article stops someone from using their facility, I gain $8 an hour back. If anyone uses this info to never park there again, this article pays it back in full. If this article so effects you, I’d love to hear from you! Secondly, I will personally forever boycott Premier Parking. I go to Nashville several times a year and it won’t take long before I have cost them more in lost revenue than they have cost me. You can double my efforts with that of my girlfriend, as she has vowed to never use Premier Parking again. I have also advised many of my friends to do the same as I have shared with you. A little information coupled with a resolve to save my fellow traveler some anguish and very quickly, and we are on the plus side of Premier Parking. That my friends, is the power of the consumer. As stated before, I will now tell you the conclusion of my phone conversation with Mr. Premier Parking. The call ended when I explained to him that I was going to do a consumer report story for The Pulse and that my goal was to cost Premier Parking as much revenue as possible he grunted somewhat like a person who just had his arm twisted by a strong arm tactic and blurted out in his best Shakespearean fromage,” Well, dats on you. When I asked him to provide his name for the article, there was a pregnant pause, followed by the statement “I gots to go, dere’s anudder call” and then a dial tone. And there you have it.
Posted on: Fri, 20 Sep 2013 20:18:34 +0000
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