My mom parked outside a diagnostic clinic that she's been going to for over a decade. She was extremely stressed about her medical appointment, and she parked and went into the clinic as she has always.
When she emerged, she had a $65 parking ticket on her car from Indigo. Apparently, the lot switched to being a private paid lot just a month ago. The first two hours of parking were free, but my mom didn't know she needed to register her license plate.
My mom phoned Indigo, and they reduced the amount to pay to $50.
Is there any further reprieve for her? The back of the ticket describes the possibility of contacting a collection agency if it is not paid, but I am just furious.
__________________ KIPPER IS KING
Last edited by Kipper is King; 07-18-2018 at 02:49 PM.
I won't tell you what to do, but they can't send you to 'real' collections.
Personally, I wouldn't pay. IF I genuinely screw up maybe I would. But something like that I wouldn't. There won't be any further punishment as long as you pay to park in the lot in future.
Last edited by Weitz; 07-18-2018 at 02:40 PM.
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My mom parked outside a diagnostic clinic that she's been going to for over a decade. She was extremely stressed about her medical appointment, and she parked and went into the clinic as she has always.
When she emerged, she had a $65 parking ticket on her car from Indigo. Apparently, the lot switched to being a private paid lot just a month ago. The first two hours of parking were free, but my mom didn't know she needed to register her license plate.
My mom phoned Indigo, and they reduced the amount to pay to $50.
Is there any reprieve for her? The back of the ticket describes the possibility of contacting a collection agency if it is not paid, but I am just furious.
Sure, and they already gave it to you, dropping the ticket from $65 to $50.
You can google Indigo Parking and find tons of angry posts. My dad got a ticket from them a while back as Indigo took over part of the parking lot at North Hill mall.
Unless there is something egregiously wrong (ie. ticket shows a different license plate number than your car), they won't do anything beyond their initial ticket reduction offer. They deal with (I'm sure) hundreds of complaints a day, so they have no sympathy for your situation, no matter how compelling.
Common advice is to ignore their threats of towing your car or court action. A $65 ticket is too small for them for court action, and they can't tow your car unless they catch you in their parking lots in the future.
However, for us, peace of mind was more important and we ended up paying the fine, but then vowing to never park in an Indigo lot again.
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Sure, and they already gave it to you, dropping the ticket from $65 to $50.
Point made, but I feel that parking enforcement outside medical facilities is a predatory practice that adds duress for people who have much greater concerns.
Point made, but I feel that parking enforcement outside medical facilities is a predatory practice that adds duress to people who have much greater concerns.
I get the impression that they are proud of their predatory practices.
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Did you try speaking with the Diagnostic clinic about it? If you explain the situation to them, they might have enough influence with the landlord to make it go away.
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Sorry to hi-jack the thread somewhat, I have a different situation about my dad....
So he was ticketed for speeding on the highway near Cochrane by RCMP in person. He is ok with the fine, but he is worried about demerit points. Is there a traffic court for this sort of infraction and is there a justice of peace you can go and "negotiate" about fines and demerit points like at the Calgary courthouse downtown?
Did you try speaking with the Diagnostic clinic about it? If you explain the situation to them, they might have enough influence with the landlord to make it go away.
I feel like the Debbie Downer in this thread. I read a lot of complaints sent to the North Hill Mall facebook site regarding Indigo tickets there. Their repeated response was that it was out of their hands, that they weren't happy with the way their customers were being ticketed, but Indigo had the right to issue those tickets and the mall couldn't do anything.
I'm guessing the clinic will have less clout than a mall. I hope I'm wrong.
You're probably right, but if you go high enough up the food chain eventually there is somebody who can get it done.
Some medical clinics have been around for decades with a close relationship to the landlord, and often make for very desirable tenants, so you never know.
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How is parking enforcement outside a medical clinic predatory?
I presume the clinic is either by the hospital or c-train and people were abusing the free parking which is why the enforcement is happening. It sucks that your mom was stressed and didn't get the free parking slip, sometimes you just have to suck it up and go with it.
Or don't pay the ticket and see if they try and collect later, say you forgot and deal with it then.
__________________
Quote:
Originally Posted by calgaryblood
Looks like you'll need one long before I will. May I suggest deflection king?
How is parking enforcement outside a medical clinic predatory?
I presume the clinic is either by the hospital or c-train and people were abusing the free parking which is why the enforcement is happening. It sucks that your mom was stressed and didn't get the free parking slip, sometimes you just have to suck it up and go with it.
Or don't pay the ticket and see if they try and collect later, say you forgot and deal with it then.
They have no way to collect except for small claims court.. And good luck with that.
Quote:
Companies like Impark, ParkLink and others make money by charging drivers to park on private property, often slapping large invoices on the windshields of any car they deem to have broken their rules.
Those invoices look and feel much like the legal tickets that parking enforcement officers leave on cars parked on city streets — with one subtle but important difference: they're not tickets.
"It's not a parking ticket," Toronto lawyer John Weingust says.
"They're issuing tickets that look like the same as the [real ones]," he says. "People think it's from the city ... and they get frightened of it and they pay it."
But if you get one, "you can throw it in the garbage," he confidently declares.
Indigo can't do ####. I had a nice run of getting tickets in their lots, got sent ''collection'' letters, and nothing happened. They won't do anything. Somehow they are able to get your address, but unless it's an official city ticket that will impede your ability to renew your vehicle's registration, you have absolutely nothing to worry about. Throw out their letters when you receive them and take solace in the fact that it cost them money and time to send to you.
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Sorry to hi-jack the thread somewhat, I have a different situation about my dad....
So he was ticketed for speeding on the highway near Cochrane by RCMP in person. He is ok with the fine, but he is worried about demerit points. Is there a traffic court for this sort of infraction and is there a justice of peace you can go and "negotiate" about fines and demerit points like at the Calgary courthouse downtown?
He'd have to appear in Cochrane to fight the ticket.
Unless he is at risk of a license suspension due to accumulating too many demerits or has a job that only cares about demerit points and not convictions, there is no point to getting the demerits reduced. He'd be much better served either taking the full demerits and a reduced fine or just paying the whole thing if it will cost more to go fight it than he could get reduced.
Insurance doesn't really care about demerits, they base it off of convictions. So a conviction with demerits for speeding is the same as one you negotiate all the demerits away. Demerits drop off your driving record in two years and stop affecting insurance in three years, both from the date of conviction.
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Well, what sort of special entitled treatment is he looking for? He was in the wrong, he got caught, he pled his case, they gave him a deal, and he's still not happy. What else does he feel entitled to?
There was a marketplace episode a year ago about the worst places to park in Canada. Based on what is said at 13:50, I personally would just throw it out, but that's me. You may feel different. It also points out that equifax will not accept parking ticket fines from collection agencies.
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