surprise parking bill of $90 from trader joes lot in Bethesda

[Anonymous]

Same thing happed to us at Chevy Chase Lake. We were there for 20 min getting ice cream at the Charmery and we and just about every car there had a ticket. I walked around to see if there was a no parking sign anywhere and saw a small sign behind my car with a thing to scan to park. We’re never going there again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm honestly scared of the collections issue. Bc it seems legit. One of the BBB complaint says this:
07/13/2024

Complaint Type:
Billing Issues
Status:
Unanswered

I paid an attendant $15 for Special Event Parking in *********, ** to park in a lot with a sign stating $15 for parking. I receive a bill **** Vanguard parking solutions for $59.4 saying I had not paid for the parking with photos of our license plate which I disputed. I was told that while it was under dispute not other charges would occur. I received a second bill for $91.80 and then was told the owner of the lot would have to give permission to resolve the issue. There has been no other correspondence with them so I thought the issue was resolved until I received a bill from Penn Credit collections. I have already paid for this parking and shouldn't have to be blackmailed to pay again.

In this case, it seems like that fear is the whole business model.

MUNICIPALITIES can double your parking fine if you don’t pay it on time. Random businesses cannot. Anyone can print out a letter and declare themselves “collections.” That doesn’t mean it will ding your credit score.

I would just ignore this, personally. This is a scam. That shopping center has always been a failure and whoever is allowing this parking scam should be held responsible, but I would not respond to the letters. Send them to your county council person.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here--there is now a *federal* regulation called the No Surprises Act that outlaws what happened to you. It was made for ERs and those situations, ambulance rides, etc., specifically. I'm sure you're aware but there hasn't been a ton of coverage on it.

Sounds like you're still being harassed by the collections+ point of origin. There are fines they should be subject to, at the least.

Here is a link from the Maryland AG that may be more user-friendly than CMS

https://www.marylandattorneygeneral.gov/Pages/CPD/HEAU/NSA.aspx

I qm 99% sure that the No Surprises Act does not apply to parking bills. But the FRCPA probably does. I’ve been referred to collections twice for debts that I didn’t owe and I just wrote them a nasty letter and threatened them with legal action if they persisted.

[Anonymous]

Thank you. So glad to learn of this. In the service of protecting others, this should align with the MD AG mission too.

Here's the link for FDCPA for ppl interested: https://www.ftc.gov/legal-library/browse/rules/fair-debt-collection-practices-act-text

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Same thing happed to us at Chevy Chase Lake. We were there for 20 min getting ice cream at the Charmery and we and just about every car there had a ticket. I walked around to see if there was a no parking sign anywhere and saw a small sign behind my car with a thing to scan to park. We’re never going there again.

We’re never going to the Charmery again because the ice cream is more expensive than the parking ticket probably was!

[Anonymous]

There totally need to be laws about informed assent for these parking situations. Such a shanda that scammers can [expletive deleted] with, extort, and harass ppl in this way.

[Anonymous]

I'd ignore it. Private companies have no effective enforcement mechanism for small claims like this. This value of the claim is too small for an attorney to be bothered with it, and while it could be referred to a collections agency it makes no financial sense for such an agency to spend more than a minute or two cranking out a toothless form demand letter which you can safely pay no attention to. It's not worth the continuing cost of postage to a collections agency to try to collect such a small amount.

[Anonymous]

I shop at that TJs all the time. It's pretty clear that they have a 2 hour max and when you check out they have a QR code system for payment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I shop at that TJs all the time. It's pretty clear that they have a 2 hour max and when you check out they have a QR code system for payment.

I just went there last Thursday (to Target) and didn't see a damm thing.

[Anonymous]

Here’s another thought: reach out to the local journalism/ community blogs like the moco show/ moderately moco/ 360 Montgomery.

[Anonymous]

Looks like surprise parking charges resulting from signs possibly posted somewhere with a barcode are an issue. Def need better laws and practices around this.

Also looks like the owner of this location is dealing with, among other things, recently defaulting on a $52 million loan with multiple properties as collateral.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think this is the most relevant forum for this but pls correct if wrong. Hope to make people aware of this to prevent harm.

I got a surprise bill in the mail from Vanguard Parking Solutions in Hollywood Florida, with photos of my license plate, for $58+ (more if not paid now, with threat of collections) for parking there for 2 hours on the day of a tornado and failing to see a barcode to scan. This is new there. Warning ppl--I'm not sure how folks will deal with this who are don't see the sign, don't scan barcodes (I asked around and many ppl I know esp elderly ones who shop there don't even do this) etc.

fwiw I called them and left a message explaining, with my phone # listed 3 times, no response and today got another bill for $90 with same threat.

It's a thread on reddit, mostly in Florida but new to Bethesda.

Any insights--should I just pay this, do my civic duty with MD Atty General's office, and never park there again?

Forward it to Trader Joes and ask why their landlord is billing your for their free parking lot.

[Anonymous]

Kind of off topic, but I'm guessing that TJ's will close that location when the one in Chevy Chase Pavilion opens.

[Anonymous]

It's intentional predatory behavior. Parking garages are very underregulated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That location is just so annoying anyway! The parking lot is cramped with tight turns, the building is dingy and has a weird, unpleasant, layout. The elevators take forever and the stairs are outside. The aisles of the TJ's are super narrow. The Target had sewer smells the last time I went, and always looks like a dump.

I bet this extra issue brings a lot more business to the new Trader Joe's, also in downtown Bethesda. Parking is great there.

Have they resolved the walk-off parking issue at the new TJ's in Bethesda? I stopped going there because the garage was full of cars but clearly not all of those people were in the store. The last time I was there, I had to wait for a spot, and there were maybe 3 other people shopping in the store. Even factoring in employees, that's a lot of other cars.

The parking situation at the new TJs in Bethesda is really bad. Every once in a while now, they have an employee checking car plates. So that’s some progress. But it seems that many many people from the apartment building over TJ and also just folks going to other stores are parking there, especially when the lot is full but then the store itself is not busy at all. I have literally driven out several times after unsuccessfully finding parking even at odd hours. It’s super annoying for those of us who want to do our shopping at TJs.