Justice, Refund, Apology From Global Parking Management–In Other Words, Hell Freezes Over
As you may recall, a reader of The Expired Meter, had a terrible run in with Global Parking Management. This is the company that has contracts with local businesses who own parking lots, to boot the vehicles of drivers who park there, without patronizing their stores. If not, they immobilize your car and hold it hostage until you fork over a $115.00 ransom.
C.N. was the reader who shared her story a few weeks back. Here is her original Global Parking Management story.
Well, I just received a letter from C.N. who had spent a long time trying to exact justice from Global Parking. Her hard work and persistence has paid off and I’m happy to report her victory as she recently received a full $115 refund from the company.
Dear Parking Ticket Geek,
Yesterday I received in the mail, at long last, a refund check from Global Parking. I spoke to Michael Denigris, one of the company’s owners, on Monday (it took a month of calls and letters, but I finally got him on the phone) and that seemed to do the trick. I insisted all along that Global send me not only a check but an apology — their claim to have “proof” that I did something I never did, continues to make me tear my hair out — and this is not quite an apology. But I’ll take it. I would like to be done with this!
The lesson for those unfairly booted at private lots seems to be: pester, pester, pester. I think I got my money back not because I convinced anyone I was innocent, but because I would not shut up. And a few other points I gleaned from research on this in recent weeks:
(1) When you’ve been booted and the Global lot attendant approaches you and starts his tape recorder, he’ll say (in effect) the following: I am taping now, there’s a boot on your car, it is fully attached, it’s there because you broke the parking rules, do you understand? Try NOT to simply say “yes” in response; apparently that incriminates you, serves as an admission that you broke a rule and deserve the boot (or so explained Global supervisor “Casey” to me). Then be very careful what you say on that tape. It is the primary tool used by Global in their effort to keep your money, especially in lots (like VDO in Roscoe Village) that have no video surveillance.
(2) People seem to lose at their administrative hearings against Global for silly reasons. The booting victim gets the date or time of the incident wrong, or messes up a minor narrative detail, and then the hearing officer concludes that s/he has poor credibility overall, and the incident itself isn’t really considered. This is a pattern that two city attorneys described to me, attorneys who had brought actions against Global before and had never seen the company lose or be penalized in any way. I was told that the city keeps records of all previous hearings and these are public and supposedly accessible at the Daley Center; reviewing them would make sense for anyone faced with an upcoming hearing. In any case, if you’re booted, write down all the details of the incident that day; you’ll need them.
(3) The slip you sign to get your car back after paying the lot attendant says “receipt” at the top and “admission” at the bottom; where you sign your name, it says “violator” and also “I was not forced to sign this paper.” But there is a separate credit card receipt, too. After mulling it over, I now think it might be possible to authorize Global to charge your card (the latter slip) without admitting on paper (their printed “admission”) that you’re guilty — leaving you (perhaps) in a better position to get a refund through the city.
Enjoy the long weekend, and thanks again for your encouragement (and for your one-of-a-kind, invaluable website!).
C.N.
Again, standing ovation for C.N.
I LOVE hearing stories like this. This is the type of pitbull attitude that you need to have when facing even these minor injustices. I’ll admit a $30 ticket or $115 boot fee is small and insignificant in the grand scheme of things. But it’s really the principle that counts. If you allow the government or a company to screw you for a small amount of cash, you become a victim.
If you at least put up a fight, you may lose, but you lose with honor, having at least had the guts to enter the fight. But, like C.N., you may just be victorious.
I am glad to hear that someone was able to get somthing back from these guys. I was ticketed just the other day for parking “legally” in a handicap spot in one of these “private lots”. It was the only handicap spot in the area. I’ll admit that I’m not from Chicago, but I’ve never been in another city where a handicap patron would be towed/booted for parking in any lot — shopping there or no. I called every number made available to me, but no one would accept any reponsibility or own up to having any power to getting the boot removed short of robbing me of $125. Sadly, in my case it looks like the law sides with these heartless extortionists — with no heart for how difficult getting around is for the handicap without these additional barriers. For my part, I will NEVER patron an establishment that contracts with these crooks, and I encourage others to take a similar stance.
A.M.-
I think boycotting businesses that use Global Parking Management is a great idea. If businesses start realizing heavy-handed antics in their parking lots are resulting in long term loss of sales, perhaps they will do things a different ways.
I think the problem is that Global Parking Mgt. shares the loot with the business. So the business is seeing revenue from this perhaps, overly zealous enforcement of their parking lots.
i hope the owners/employees of this so-called business but in actuality they are extortionists,will soon feel the injustices they have done to innocent people by experiencing sickness/diseases among their children and family members whom they feed with the money they got by booting innocent peoples cars.i believe in karma,and the more people they took advantage of,it will all go back to this global parking people and their families in hundredfold calamities,miseries and bad lucks.these kind of people are the kind who dont want to earn an honest living,merely waiting for people to fall into their trap and robbing the innocents with their hard-earned money.
Stop cryin. read the signs posted before you park ANYWHERE. Just doing our job, feeding our children and family, the ones you would love to see with sickness/disease.
JR….
i’m glad u received a boot and i’m glad YOUR hard earned money is snuggly seated inside my pocket. Its dickheads like you that make this job worth it all. THANK YOU VIOLATOR.
job, feeding our children and family, the ones you would love to see with sickness/disease.
JR….
i’m glad u received a boot and i’m glad YOUR hard earned money is snuggly seated inside my pocket. Its morons like you that make this job worth it all. THANK YOU VIOLATOR.
I got booted by these jerks today for parking in an empty lot for TWO MINUTES while I dropped off a box next door. I read the posted signs three times before leaving my car there, and I still say it’s not clearly posted that you cannot park there. The sign said that parking was for people going to the listed stores, but then didn’t have any stores listed. The sign was dated 2004, so after thinking about it, I figured it was for the community strip of stores there. I was gone not more than 2 minutes and I had a boot. The man explained that where the store was listed, it said “Permit Parking Only.” The sign doesn’t make sense and the whole thing is a rip off.
My money is hard-earned too, sir, and the company you work for is ripping people off. It’s not an honest or fair way to make a living.
Hey Booter Advocate
We are interested in doing a followup story on this issue of private booting. I am assuming by your post that you work for Global Parking Mgt.
Would you be interested in corresponding by e-mail and answering some questions?
This website does like to provide both sides to the story and of course, the people actually doing the booting are legitimately part of the story.
I would also be interested in hearing some stories of people who got booted, going crazy–which I’m sure happens.
Make no mistake. I really don’t like the concept of private booting. I don’t like to see people booted in these private lots and have to fork over $115. However, it is a legal business and is somewhat regulated by the city.
In addition, in many cases, it does seem that many people don’t read the signs correctly or are confused and park there anyways.
But, this issue deserves some followup and I would be interested in talking or e-mailing you and/or your fellow workers.
If you are interested, e-mail me at:
info@theexpiredmeter.com
BooterAdvocate, Karma will catch up to you some day. Your car will break down somewhere, and before you know it some tow truck thug will have snatched it away and taken it to the impound lot, hopefully costing you $500 plus whatever it takes to tow your car to the repair shop and fix it. And hopefully you max out your credit card paying for this, forcing you into bankruptcy. The entire time, you’ll be saying that it isn’t your fault but nobody will care.
this is funny because im the son of mike denigris, and its amusing to see how many people in this world are illiterate and cannot read the large signs. and think about it. my dads company kicked out the towing companys which were doing the same job, except with them it costs 3 times the amount, and you have to find it at the car holding area. watch where you park, stop complaining, dont say your a lawyer because no lawyer can make it through law school without being able to read. have fun with your fines because that money just bought me a new ipod
I work for global parking and if u want a inside story about my job well I have the story u want sorry to say but diz company is really full of it.. Trust me I been with this company for 3years.. I got what u need..
D.Dog-
Thanks for the comment. Feel free to email me at:
mikeb@theexpiredmeter.com
Send me a phone number if you’re comfortable, or I can send you my phone number after you email me.
Thanks D.Dog. Looking forward to hearing from you.
Mike