falconbrad
Junior Member
I live in California...
Alright, so here's the deal. My friend lives in a complex in San Diego that has (well, had) a ton of free guest parking. My girlfriend was taking a long trip, so I took her car, which I was driving at the time while staying at my friend's place and looking for a new apartment.
One day, I realized that there was a "ticket" on the windshield from a private parking firm (the security company that the complex uses). Apparently, the last time I had moved the car, I had moved it into a space that they had re-designated as "Overflow" parking, and these spots now require permits. That's all well and dandy, and I would have moved the car into another spot if I had known that I was parking in a bad spot. But due to a miscommunication with my friend, I thought this change was happening in another area, and not the area that I was parking the car in. To further complicate matters, there were no signs posted anywhere the last time that I had moved stating that these spots were to be re-designated (nor are there any signs anywhere in the complex dealing with parking). They were relying on the residents to tell their guests (which obviously didn't work well in my case).
To FURTHER complicate matters, my girlfriend's car is registered under her father's name in the state of Washington. I did a search on the firm's website for the ticket, and they have photos of the car and where it's parked, so they do know that it has WA plates (that isn't written anywhere on the ticket itself).
So, what to do? I don't want them hounding my GF's dad, but I sure as hell don't want to pay this ($40) ticket, particularly given that they could have easily posted a sign, and this seems like a money grab to me. I don't see that they can enforce this and I know that you can give them the runaround with the collections agencies under the FDCPA. However, I don't want it to get to that point. To dispute the ticket online, you have to give them the name and apartment of the person whom you were visiting (which I'm obviously not going to do), so I would think a reversal of roles is called for. I was going to call them and spew a bunch of (true) legal crap.
Anyone have any thoughts?
Alright, so here's the deal. My friend lives in a complex in San Diego that has (well, had) a ton of free guest parking. My girlfriend was taking a long trip, so I took her car, which I was driving at the time while staying at my friend's place and looking for a new apartment.
One day, I realized that there was a "ticket" on the windshield from a private parking firm (the security company that the complex uses). Apparently, the last time I had moved the car, I had moved it into a space that they had re-designated as "Overflow" parking, and these spots now require permits. That's all well and dandy, and I would have moved the car into another spot if I had known that I was parking in a bad spot. But due to a miscommunication with my friend, I thought this change was happening in another area, and not the area that I was parking the car in. To further complicate matters, there were no signs posted anywhere the last time that I had moved stating that these spots were to be re-designated (nor are there any signs anywhere in the complex dealing with parking). They were relying on the residents to tell their guests (which obviously didn't work well in my case).
To FURTHER complicate matters, my girlfriend's car is registered under her father's name in the state of Washington. I did a search on the firm's website for the ticket, and they have photos of the car and where it's parked, so they do know that it has WA plates (that isn't written anywhere on the ticket itself).
So, what to do? I don't want them hounding my GF's dad, but I sure as hell don't want to pay this ($40) ticket, particularly given that they could have easily posted a sign, and this seems like a money grab to me. I don't see that they can enforce this and I know that you can give them the runaround with the collections agencies under the FDCPA. However, I don't want it to get to that point. To dispute the ticket online, you have to give them the name and apartment of the person whom you were visiting (which I'm obviously not going to do), so I would think a reversal of roles is called for. I was going to call them and spew a bunch of (true) legal crap.
Anyone have any thoughts?
