Car wrongly towed. Options?

[Shazam]

Originally Posted by FanIn80

Yeah it was at the Calgary Impound Lot. https://www.calgaryparking.com/impound.html

Yeah you're basically screwed. Maybe you'll get your money back. I wouldn't hold my breath.

Or you could sue them for extortion lol.

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by FanIn80

Yeah it was at the Calgary Impound Lot. https://www.calgaryparking.com/impound.html

What did Calgary Parking Authority say? Give them a call, they've been surprisingly reasonable and often willing to reverse tickets when I called or emailed them.

If it's a legit screw up, I think they wouldn't drag their feet in making things right.

[jwslam]

Somebody f'ed up hard so you at minimum you need to demand for:

-Reverse the ticket charge
-Reverse the tow charge

Then also ask for:
-Compensation for time wasted, including calls, time to travel to get to your car, lost time from work, time waiting at the counter for the clerk
-Compensation for the uber you took to get to the impound lot

[Shazam]

Originally Posted by DoubleF

What did Calgary Parking Authority say? Give them a call, they've been surprisingly reasonable and often willing to reverse tickets when I called or emailed them.

If it's a legit screw up, I think they wouldn't drag their feet in making things right.

You must be very pretty, I tried to get a ticket reversed because I forgot to update my license plates in the app, they told me to go pound sand.

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by Shazam

You must be very pretty, I tried to get a ticket reversed because I forgot to update my license plates in the app, they told me to go pound sand.

Pretty? I'd say I'm pretty lucky that all those who love me typically need corrective eyewear.

Normal parking? I've had to do that before too for my parents. They changed license plates after my dad retired, spun the vehicles out of the company to personal and had the old corporate plates in the app instead of the new personal plates. I emailed CPA showing they paid in app but also attached proof that they had updated/changed their license plate. They reversed it them all.

I've done this on like 3-4 occasions where I'd often end up reversing 2-5 of these at the same time. My parents would use different vehicles when taking the grandkids or cousins to the zoo/science centre, not update the plates appropriately and then it's just a stack of them because they go several times in a month. Other than waiting for a week or two, I've never had a major issue getting them reversed when sending them the emails. I think I did like 8 or 9 of them in the few months after they changed plates on both their vehicles for the zoo, science centre and street parking downtown.

I've also had several tickets reversed for my parents when they were loading/unloading or stopped to change the GPS or they stopped, started a session, realized it was a no stopping time zone, went to a diff location and forgot to change it in app... and a CPA vehicle drove by (honestly speaking "I'm old" is such a ####ty cop out for not paying attention to details). Again, no major issues in getting those reversed. Some of them were absolutely brazen and it pissed me off. But I'm just being a dutiful son or my wife is being a good daughter in law and my parents were like like, "We'll pay in full plus penalties if they say no. It's still worth a try because *insert some borderline reason that they might not be totally wrong* was the situation and it might be allowed". CPA accepted the reason or sometimes rejected the reason and made up their own/gave no reason reason why they were canceling the ticket.

[iggy_oi]

Originally Posted by Shazam

You must be very pretty, I tried to get a ticket reversed because I forgot to update my license plates in the app, they told me to go pound sand.

Hypothetically perhaps it’s not so much about how pretty DoubleF is but rather how not pretty you are?

No judgement, I’ve had my fair share of difficulty getting out of tickets too. The struggle is real.

[DownInFlames]

I should be able to get out of parking tickets because of all the times I’ve forgotten to end a ParkPlus session and paid $5 instead of $1 or $2.

[Locke]

Oddly, I've only ever gotten 1 parking ticket in my time and I must admit, I was pretty pissed about it.

Because I paid for parking.

So I was not letting this go.

It was in one of those older lots where you have to put the proof of payment on the dash. No problem.

Get the ticket in the mail and "nope. Not having this. I paid!"

Contact the company, get in touch with whichever person answers the phone..."We have a digital photo of your dash, would you like to see it?"

Yes. Yes. I would.

*Sends me Photo*

"Uh yeah. Theres the proof of payment right there. Its clearly on the dash in the photo that YOU took and YOU sent me. So why am I getting a ticket? I clearly paid for parking."

Uh. Crap.

Ticket cancelled. Damn straight ticket cancelled.

[You Need a Thneed]

Originally Posted by Locke

Oddly, I've only ever gotten 1 parking ticket in my time and I must admit, I was pretty pissed about it.

Because I paid for parking.

So I was not letting this go.

It was in one of those older lots where you have to put the proof of payment on the dash. No problem.

Get the ticket in the mail and "nope. Not having this. I paid!"

Contact the company, get in touch with whichever person answers the phone..."We have a digital photo of your dash, would you like to see it?"

Yes. Yes. I would.

*Sends me Photo*

"Uh yeah. Theres the proof of payment right there. Its clearly on the dash in the photo that YOU took and YOU sent me. So why am I getting a ticket? I clearly paid for parking."

Uh. Crap.

Ticket cancelled. Damn straight ticket cancelled.

I had several tickets for a place I would park at on Sundays.

Every other parking sign along that street has no "days in effect" notation. But I'd always park under the one sign on the street that clearly said "Mon to Fri" (The sign was very likely the wrong sign for what was intended.

So I respond to all of the tickets, and said, please read the sign in your own photo, and note what day of the week these 4-5 tickets were from.

All of them ended up cancelled.

[Locke]

I hate paying for parking, but I pay for parking.

[Shazam]

Originally Posted by You Need a Thneed

I had several tickets for a place I would park at on Sundays.

Every other parking sign along that street has no "days in effect" notation. But I'd always park under the one sign on the street that clearly said "Mon to Fri" (The sign was very likely the wrong sign for what was intended.

So I respond to all of the tickets, and said, please read the sign in your own photo, and note what day of the week these 4-5 tickets were from.

All of them ended up cancelled.

Sure, but that's their fault.

The ticket I got was my fault. OTOH it was literally the only parking ticket I've gotten in like 30 years, so maybe the guy saw that and was like "this schlub's only gotten one ticket in forever, he can pay it" ha ha

[blankall]

I never started getting parking tickets...until this year. I've had 5 and gotten out of 4.

1) I parked in the lot adjacent to the one that I'd paid for monthly parking in. I disputed this, as it was difficult to see where one lot ended and another started, unless you were already aware of the situation and specifically looking for that signage. I gave up on this one and paid.

2) I was ticketed for parking between the time I parked and the time I went upstairs to validate my parking at the gym. They cancelled this one.

3) They didn't process my monthly parking payment properly. Cancelled.

4) Their app didn't process one of my payments and they ticketed me between two payments. Cancelled.

5) I accidentally entered my license plate in wrong, was off by a digit. Cancelled.

It's a huge hassle dealing with these people. The one time I did pay for the ticket was in a lot (technically adjacent lot) where I was paying monthly. I'm their F-ing customer, and they refused to help me out. Parking is the worst. It's a world of strict liability, where the customer is presumed to be wrong and barely trained minimum wage employees have the power to ticket.

The stress and time spent on the phone was probably not worth the $60 I saved not paying the tickets.

[Shazam]

Are these CPA experiences or Impark/Indigo etc?

[blankall]

Originally Posted by Shazam

Are these CPA experiences or Impark/Indigo etc?

Sorry. Impark. Private lots.

[FanIn80]

I called CPA about it before I even went down to the lot, they told me I have to pay the charges and fill out a form to appeal it. She was pretty rude and kept cutting me off. She pointed out to me that "there's nothing she can do about it becuase she's just in a call center."

Like, come on. Out of the two of us involved in that conversation, the only person with a right to be upset was me - yet it felt like she was the one that got her car towed.

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by Shazam

Sure, but that's their fault.

The ticket I got was my fault. OTOH it was literally the only parking ticket I've gotten in like 30 years, so maybe the guy saw that and was like "this schlub's only gotten one ticket in forever, he can pay it" ha ha

What did you do? Park 130 minutes in a 2 hour parking zone or something?

I've gotten those before personally. I paid it and never bothered to challenge it.

Now, I just use the Park Plus app and cancel before time is up, then start a new session in the same zone after a few minutes to give me that extra 10-20 minutes of time I need. I haven't gotten a ticket for that yet.

Originally Posted by FanIn80

I called CPA about it before I even went down to the lot, they told me I have to pay the charges and fill out a form to appeal it. She was pretty rude and kept cutting me off. She pointed out to me that "there's nothing she can do about it becuase she's just in a call center."

Like, come on. Out of the two of us involved in that conversation, the only person with a right to be upset was me - yet it felt like she was the one that got her car towed.

I'd try to ask someone else or email them to ask if what she said was the appropriate procedure.

I could maybe see that she's correct, but why be rude on the phone explaining it?

[Shazam]

Originally Posted by DoubleF

What did you do? Park 130 minutes in a 2 hour parking zone or something?

I've gotten those before personally. I paid it and never bothered to challenge it.

Now, I just use the Park Plus app and cancel before time is up, then start a new session in the same zone after a few minutes to give me that extra 10-20 minutes of time I need. I haven't gotten a ticket for that yet.

I didn't register my then-new plate into the app. So I started a session but of course that vehicle wasn't applied.

[FanIn80]

Hi there,

My car was towed from in front of my house for “being on the street with expired plates.” My plates are valid until 2025. When I called CPA and explained that, they said I had to pay the fees anyway. When I went to the impound lot to get my car back, I showed them my valid license, registration and insurance… they handed me a ticket for expired plates and told me I had to pay $260 to get my car back, and that I could fill out a form to dispute it. The document I sent them with to show them the valid registration was the one my car dealership sent me when I purchased the car (they renewed and transferred my plates for me). The doc was dated June of this year, and I pointed that out to the guy at the lot, to show that the plates have been valid all along. They also wanted me to pay the parking ticket right there at the lot too, which I refused to do because I knew I hadn’t done anything wrong. It’s a good thing too, because when they handed me my copy of the ticket, it says on the back that paying it is an admission of guilt and therefore makes it unappealable.

So, essentially, they took my car from in front of my house, locked it up in a secured lot, demanded I pay them $260 to get it back and tried to get me to pay the ticket too so I couldn’t appeal any of it. Do you guys get many stories like this? Is there some avenue you might know of that would help me get my money back?

I’m after a couple of things here. The first is to get my money back, but more important than that, I want things changed so that this doesn’t happen to me or anyone going forward. I’m sitting here trying to figure out how to resolve all of this, and I have absolutely no idea, other than to just get the word out and maybe put some public pressure on them to change their policies.


Thanks, and I’m hoping there’s something we can do here.


Sincerely,

This is my first time ever doing anyting like this, but here's an email I just sent to CTV News (it was just the first network I thought of). Hopefully I'm not embarrassing myself. I'm still pretty mad about the whole thing though.

[Titan2]

Originally Posted by FanIn80

This is my first time ever doing anyting like this, but here's an email I just sent to CTV News (it was just the first network I thought of). Hopefully I'm not embarrassing myself. I'm still pretty mad about the whole thing though.

Post here as well: https://www.reddit.com/r/Calgary/

[Captain Otto]

Originally Posted by FanIn80

I woke up this morning to a missing vehicle. The reason they have was "expired plates" but I'm literally holding a copy of my registration in my hands, and it's valid until 2025.

I called them and they told me I have to pay the full charges and then I can fill out a piece of paper to complain about it.

Anyone know what I can do to get this sorted out properly? I'm fine paying to get my car back, but I obviously want the money back. What are my options?

Edit: it was towed from in front of my house

Apologies if this has been asked and answered, but I am assuming that you received a tow bill? Basically a triplicate document that details everything about the tow. You should have received at least one copy.

I believe there is a box there where they had write in your plate info including registration expiry date. If so, what does it say there?

Also, who towed it? CPA or CPS?