Empire Parking Services EPS Predatory Booting Racket Atlanta, Georgia

Empire Parking Services has a predatory car booting racket
in a number of Atlanta locations. A quick Web search will yield complaints in a number of
online forums for everything from being booted for walking away from your car
to treating people of color differently than white people.
 
I discovered this the hard way today. I parked for a meeting
at a lot at 710 Peachtree and paid at the pay station Im a rule follower and
would never think of parking without paying my fair share. When I returned a
few hours later and I was unlocking my car a young man in the parking lot
pointed out that he had just booted my car and that I would have to pay him $75
to have the boot removed. No, I couldnt pay an additional parking fee, even
though I was back to the car only 10 minutes past the expiration time. (The
machine had two choices: 2 hours for $3 and $5 for all day. In the bright
sunlight, I incorrectly read the display to say 3 hours.)

There was no indication on the parking receipt or the signs
at the front of this lot that this would happen. A sign away from the meter
says that unpaid cars will be booted or towed, but not late ones.

In the future, I will not only refuse to park in any EPS lot
but also will not patronize any businesses who hire them.