Mayhaps I spoke too soon...
regarding how good of a day Friday turned out to be, inspite of everything else.
To break it down into simple terms:
1. I paid two tolls more than needed because I misread my mapquest directions.
2. I became lost in downtown Richmond because of street closures.
3. My car was towed.
4. It cost me $100 to get my car back.
It's really number 3 and 4 that bothers me the most. On the way to dinner in Shockoe Bottom last night, I took 195 instead of 95. When I figured out my mistake, I went back, and then became entrenched in the holiday festivity traffic. I stopped a woman on the street for directions, and I found my destination around 6:30pm. When I arrived, I parked in a lot adjacent to the building. Since there was a huge sign painted on the side of the building that faced the parking lot, the impression given was that the parking belonged to the establishment. I went in, had a cap'n and diet coke, tried a fried olive, and then walked from 22nd street down to 17th street to see the Farmers Market. I shopped, drank warm cider, bought a brooch for my mom, and then had dinner and dessert.
On returning to the original establishment at approximately 11:15pm, I discovered my car was gone. This caused a little bit of panic. Okay, I lie--ALOT of panic. I asked the bartender why they had towed my vehicle, as I had been a paying customer that evening, and was told, "That's not our parking lot. It's marked for residents of the apartment building."
Yeah, it wasn't marked clearly at all. I parked in the 4th parking spot next to the building. At parking spot number 9 (5 spots past my vehicle) was a small sign approximatley 6 inches by 8 inches that stated "Parking for residents only". Does anyone else see the reasoning behind this? I parked under the 5 foot by 7 foot sign of the restaurant. How do you even SEE a sign that small, in the dark, 20 feet away from where you park? Yeah, I didn't think so--I didn't see it either. It was a TOTAL SCAM!
Luckily, the friend I had dinner with was nice enough to drive me all the way out to the westend (Staples Mill past Gaskins) to pick up my car from this seedy car towing company at midnight. THEN the lead goon and his two buffoon drivers had the nerve to act like they were doing ME a favor, they flirted with my friend, and then they THANKED ME for my patronage in that snide way that only true shysters can. WTF! It's midnight, you stole my car, AND you get to act like complete buttheads to me when you charge me $100 of my hard earned money that was supossed to be part of my rent in order to get my own car back from you?
ARRRRGGGHHHH! I am still angry about this, and probably will be for a few days. If I had the time and money, I would take them to small claims court and fight it. I think I would win if I presented the evidence as it truely is. I am RIGHT and they are shady business taking advantage of poorly placed signs in unlit parking lots. I'm not the first person that has been scammed like this--and I'm sure I won't be the last.
To break it down into simple terms:
1. I paid two tolls more than needed because I misread my mapquest directions.
2. I became lost in downtown Richmond because of street closures.
3. My car was towed.
4. It cost me $100 to get my car back.
It's really number 3 and 4 that bothers me the most. On the way to dinner in Shockoe Bottom last night, I took 195 instead of 95. When I figured out my mistake, I went back, and then became entrenched in the holiday festivity traffic. I stopped a woman on the street for directions, and I found my destination around 6:30pm. When I arrived, I parked in a lot adjacent to the building. Since there was a huge sign painted on the side of the building that faced the parking lot, the impression given was that the parking belonged to the establishment. I went in, had a cap'n and diet coke, tried a fried olive, and then walked from 22nd street down to 17th street to see the Farmers Market. I shopped, drank warm cider, bought a brooch for my mom, and then had dinner and dessert.
On returning to the original establishment at approximately 11:15pm, I discovered my car was gone. This caused a little bit of panic. Okay, I lie--ALOT of panic. I asked the bartender why they had towed my vehicle, as I had been a paying customer that evening, and was told, "That's not our parking lot. It's marked for residents of the apartment building."
Yeah, it wasn't marked clearly at all. I parked in the 4th parking spot next to the building. At parking spot number 9 (5 spots past my vehicle) was a small sign approximatley 6 inches by 8 inches that stated "Parking for residents only". Does anyone else see the reasoning behind this? I parked under the 5 foot by 7 foot sign of the restaurant. How do you even SEE a sign that small, in the dark, 20 feet away from where you park? Yeah, I didn't think so--I didn't see it either. It was a TOTAL SCAM!
Luckily, the friend I had dinner with was nice enough to drive me all the way out to the westend (Staples Mill past Gaskins) to pick up my car from this seedy car towing company at midnight. THEN the lead goon and his two buffoon drivers had the nerve to act like they were doing ME a favor, they flirted with my friend, and then they THANKED ME for my patronage in that snide way that only true shysters can. WTF! It's midnight, you stole my car, AND you get to act like complete buttheads to me when you charge me $100 of my hard earned money that was supossed to be part of my rent in order to get my own car back from you?
ARRRRGGGHHHH! I am still angry about this, and probably will be for a few days. If I had the time and money, I would take them to small claims court and fight it. I think I would win if I presented the evidence as it truely is. I am RIGHT and they are shady business taking advantage of poorly placed signs in unlit parking lots. I'm not the first person that has been scammed like this--and I'm sure I won't be the last.
posted by ~ruthie @ 1:03 PM
1 Comments:
At 3:04 PM,
Tee/Tracy said…
Oh man!!! That totally sucks. Nothing will prob come of it, but you should write a letter to the owner of the garage. That isn't right :( What a waste of $.
Post a Comment
<< Home