Thursday, July 03, 2014

RE: File Number 1402323

To whom it may concern:

Park Select is a private parking lot management and monitoring company that has been in business for over a thirteen years offering parking lot owners customer-specific parking management solutions. We establish parking plans for privately owned lots, and customize solutions that will work for the business or businesses that rely upon the lot. We design lot management strategies for private-permit-only lots, public-pay lots and even cross-utilization strategies that allow for multiple uses. Through ample signage and consistent hourly monitoring, Park Select discourages parking violations and optimizes parking availability and revenues. Park Select manages the lots of over 50 lot owners in the Wilmington area alone, and we now represent lot owners in four states.

The lot utilized by Mr. Williams’ party is known as the Dock and Water Street Lot. It is a cross-utilization lot, serving monthly permitted tenants as well daily parking patrons. (Please see below.)

As Mr. Williams explained, daily parking is available for a $5 flat rate per day and payment is made at an “honor box” style payment station. Persons without a permit, who are parked in a space that does not have a payment deposited into the secured, Plexiglas encased receptacle that corresponds to the space number are identified as a “parking violator” and issued a $25 invoice. We have found that a reasonable “fine” is a much more effective deterrent than the more aggressive forms of violation deterrents, such as towing or booting. Persons who are invoiced are allowed 21 days in which they may pay the $25 or dispute it. The dispute process is easily accessed either online or through the mail, and directions for dispute are printed on each invoice. (Please see example below)

DISPUTE PROCESS:

To contest this invoice, you must do so IN WRITING WITHIN 21 DAYS FROM THE DATE OF ISSUANCE. You may post your dispute online at www. ParkSelect.com or you may dispute through the mail at the address listed on the invoice. NOTE: DISPUTES CANNOT BE PROCESSED BY PHONE OR IN PERSON. Your fine will not increase while in dispute.

Outside dispute arbitrators are used in all Park Select disputes. These arbitrators telecommute and answer disputes based upon:

• The information they are given by the alleged violator
• The information to which they have access about the lot's use requirements
• Any plate history that may exist for the plate in question in Park Select databases
• The photos of all signs and lot markers

Based on this information, arbitrators may reduce, enforce or dismiss a fine at their discretion and their decisions are final. There are very few corporate policies that govern the decisions of the Dispute Arbitrator. As taken directly from the Park Select Dispute Arbitrator’s Manual, those policies are as follows:

CORPORATE POLICIES GOVERNING ALL DISPUTE ARBITRATION DECISIONS

The following are the five Park Select corporate policies that govern ALL dispute decisions. While they are few, these policies must be understood and honored in all dispute arbitration situations. Creating a fair and practical approach to all dispute situations is an intrinsic part of protecting the integrity of the Park Select brand.

1. Park Select corporate policy for all lots with revenue generating Honor Box systems, dictates that any disputing party who received an invoice/ticket for non-payment or under-payment, yet claims to have paid the full parking fee in cash, and thus claims that they were invoiced in error, will be due a “courtesy void” if they meet the following two criteria:

a)     They must not have received a courtesy void at any time in the past for the same type occurrence.

b)     They must not have any open invoices/tickets in the Park Select ticketing system. Note: If open invoices/tickets are present, the dispute arbitrator may render a courtesy void decision based on the prompt resolution of the outstanding invoice(s)/ticket(s); but, the courtesy void is ONLY to be voided if and when the outstanding invoice(s)/ticket(s) are paid in full.

If a disputing party meets these requirements they MUST be given the benefit of the doubt and issued a one-time courtesy void of the invoice /ticket in question.

1. Dispute Arbitrators MUST read all notes associated with the plate of an invoiced/ticketed disputing party.

1. If an arbitrator finds in favor of reducing or dismissing the invoice/ticket of a disputing party, BUT the disputing party has other outstanding invoices/tickets in any Park Select location, the arbitrator MUST demand that all outstanding invoices/tickets be paid in full BEFORE a dismissal can be granted.

1. All arbitration decisions MUST be communicated within 2 weeks of dispute entry

1. All arbitration decisions to lower or enforce a fine MUST contain a deadline that expires no later than 2 weeks after the decision is communicated. A notice that non-response or delayed response nullifies any settlement or decision must be included in the letter. (Refer to “Dispute Lowered” draft letter)

Our policies are written to ensure that mistakes are easily rectified and consumers are protected from unfair decisions that may not account for such human error. We are very proud of our fair process for dispute and it is regrettable that Mr. Williams’ dispute was never received. I personally ran a search through the Dispute email database, entering Mr. Williams’ information, the plate information and the invoice information. There was NEVER such a dispute received. Our invoice database has no notations that would indicate that the invoice had ever been disputed and our email server has no record of the entry. In addition, telephone operators at our toll free number and at the local levels (both of which are printed on our invoices) are required to enter any calls in regards to an invoice as notes. No such notes were ever entered for the invoice Mr. Williams named.

Had Mr. Williams placed a dispute online, he would have received an automatically generated dispute confirmation. Perhaps Mr. Williams can perform a simple search of his email to see if he ever received this confirmation. If Mr. Williams has this dated email confirmation we will of course void his invoice immediately, and assume that he was the victim of a technology snag. Otherwise, I must assume that Mr. Williams did not avail himself of the dispute process, which only takes moments and, according to his reason for dispute, would have resulted in an automatic void.

When an invoice is neglected completely, and is not disputed or paid within 21 days, the invoice is turned over to our collections department and amount increases from $25 to $50. The increase is designed to cover the cost of collections and is printed on the front of each invoice. (Please see example below)

"Parking Fees:

Payment 1-21 Days: $25

Payment 22-60 Days: $50

NOTE: After 60 Days Payment Due will increase to $100 to include collection costs."

I am happy to give Mr. Williams the benefit of the doubt that he did pay that evening as he claims, but at this point the increased costs associated with collections will require a void fee of $10 to clear the information. This is the cost Park Select has incurred due to Mr. Williams’ failure to call or otherwise dispute within the 21 day period. It is only fair that he assume that cost. Unless of course he has the confirmation email to which I referred earlier. In which case I will gladly absorb the cost and apologize for his inconvenience.

I am sure that you can appreciate that there are numerous invalid claims against our organization. Very few appreciate the invisible work of enforcement officers keeping their spaces open for their use. Parking violators tend to assume that parking enforcement is unfair. But, this may not be the case on this one occasion, so I will await a response.