On Saturday, December 27th my sister and I went to Lenox Square Mall in Atlanta, GA. Because the parking lot was full, I began to look for alternative parking around the mall area. There is a shopping plaza directly across from the mall and most folks would probably assume that it is a part of the mall. So anyway I parked over there, got out of my car, and cross the street to the mall.
After a couple of hours I returned to the car only to find a boot on my car and a sticker on my window, informing me that my car had been impounded. I called the number on the sticker and before I even got the first ringtone; a white van pulled up with two guys inside telling me their company was responsible for the boot. I was told by one of them that I needed to pay $50 to have the boot removed and that it was illegal to park at this shopping plaza unless you were going to shop at one of the stores within the plaza. They said there were several signs posted notifying folks of this little rule. Well I only saw one sign that warns about cars being impounded, but, unless you stop to actually read it — you would certainly assume its the usual sign warning of illegal parking such as parking there overnight. No one would ever assume they would have to fork over $50 for parking there without patronizing one of the stores.
I asked one of the guys how did he know whether or not I had not shopped at one of the stores. His response was well we watched you park and leave. And I then said if I was doing something wrong or illegal why did you not just ask me to move. No response. I then asked him why would he just assume that I was not planning on shopping at one of the stores because I did not go in one of them first. It is perfectly logical that I wanted to go to the mall stores first and then hit 1 or 2 shops there afterwards. Again no response.
I saw I was getting nowhere with these two surfer, brain dead dudes; so I gave him my credit card so I can get the boot removed. When he asked for my signature on the credit card receipt, I made sure to sign it in an unusual way as I was planning to place this charge in dispute. He tried to give me the receipt and I told him to keep it, but, fortunately for me — the jerk did toss it out the window.
I have already begun the process of disputing this charge with EPS and my bank. I have also notified the management of the actual Lenox Square Mall that they need to warn their patrons of this little "ripoff" that the management of the plaza connected to their mall is running.
I don't know if what these clowns are doing is legal or not (I plan to find out by contacting the city of Atlanta) but it is definitely unethical. And I will do everything in my power to make this kind of "muscle-to-make-a-buck" business illegal.
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