Are booters out of control?
I’ll never forget the day I got booted. In a big, white Atlanta Journal-Constitution truck.
I was sent to cover a story outside the Fulton County jail and I decided to take a company vehicle. My colleagues in television thought nothing of jumping the curb in their monstrous trucks and hopping out. The TV trucks were lined up, on the curb, as if to say “Yeah? So?”
But not me. I’m a reporter, not a stunt driver. And I wasn’t sure the trusty AJC truck could handle the off-road heroics of jumping up onto a curb. Instead, I parked across the street from the jail in front of a small building housing a bail bondsman and some other company I can’t remember. Then I walked across the street and interviewed people who had just been released from jail, along with their supporters.
By the time one of my colleagues pointed out the AJC truck was getting booted, it was too late. I got booted. I paid my $75 to have the ugly metal removed, and no, I didn’t ask the company to reimburse me for my mistake. But I fumed about it, and I learned my lesson, I guess.
My AJC colleague Jeremiah McWilliams has recently written about the tactics employed by booters. Do you think they are out of control, providing a vital service or both?
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51 comments Add your comment
ABC
August 27th, 2012
3:17 pm
It’s very simple. I don’t patronize establishments that employe these people. I don’t go anywhere where there isn’t t proper parking. If everyone would do this, the “private” properties will be out of business.
Laurie
August 27th, 2012
3:17 pm
Most of the complaints I’ve seen have been where people paid for parking at one of those cash only slot boards, only to find that their car has been booted, and have no recoarse since the cash slots do not provide receipts. If the Starbucks on 14th want to boot people for parking on their private lot, so be it. Don’t continue to spend your money there if you don’t like it. But this business of booting cars in paid parking spaces when someone legitimately paid, that crap needs to stop.
Tag
August 27th, 2012
3:27 pm
I no where and where not to park.
NotYourTypicalAtlantan
August 27th, 2012
3:29 pm
Was booted visiting the Vortex on Peachtree Street 7years ago with NO signage that stated not to on a weekend costing me 90 bucks for boot removal!
Never been back to any Vortex establishments since.
Was almost fraudulently ticketed by Park Atlanta 2 years with time still left on my meter while trying to patronize a restaurant in Virginia Highlands, never went back into Atlanta since.
My family and I live in Cobb, where we also work, worship, shop, and play……
We have no need to go into Atlanta for Atlanta’s foolishness, corruption and chaos-
City Of Atlanta, is it’s own worst enemy-
Citizen
August 27th, 2012
3:32 pm
Just quit shopping and eating out in Atlanta.
The business owners will get the message when they start showing losses on their income statements.
There are plenty of parking places in the mall areas of the burbs and no boot leeches.
Stop your whining
August 27th, 2012
3:33 pm
Here’s a simple solution – standardize the signage and take away the scape goat. While I will agree that not all booting situations are on the up-and-up, there are also a lot of people with a serious sense of entitlement who try and play dumb. I live in Atlanta, and there are a lot of businesses with vastly undersized parking lots. Does that mean you park in the lot for the neighboring business (or residence) that also has a vastly undersized parking lot? NO! It means that you either wait for a spot, find legal street parking, or choose to do business with another retailer.
With respect to parking lots where people claim to have paid money for the spots, but discovered a boot upon returning to your vehicle, did you get a receipt? Better yet, did you read the rules? There is a lot in Buckhead off of Roswell Road that has a clearly stated “No Overnight Parking” policy. I can’t tell you how many people I’ve seen pitch fits when they come to retreive their car the NEXT day and discover a boot has been placed on their vehicle. Is that the lot owner’s fault? I think not.
Concerned Citizen
August 27th, 2012
3:43 pm
Several years ago I went to pick up a friend at the Atlanta Greyhound Bus Station. There was a private parking lot next to the station that had payment boxes so I put my money in the box that I was parked in. When I came out there was a boot on my car. The person that put the boot on my car told I had to pay to have it removed. I flagged down a policeman and the policeman had the person open the box. There was no money in the box. I ended up having to pay but without a reciept I had to pay $75 plus the $5 parking fee. It companies like that that give them a bad name.
Greg
August 27th, 2012
3:43 pm
I’ve been downtown to 3 recent events that attracted large crowds. Each time I’ve decline to park in a lot because machine was out of paper and I couldn’t get a reciept.I went to the jazz fest in Piedmont Park. I tired to park on the street but the machine kept malfunctioning so I went a lot on Ptree and paid to park. When I got home I checked by credit card and found I had been charged for space on the street.
I’m not inclinded to back into Atlanta anytime soon because of all these issues.
count_schemula
August 27th, 2012
3:52 pm
In my situation, I could have street parked for free only 50 feet away, so, it’s not like I would not have done that. It was just an old lot with no signs that I noticed and boot guy knew it and had me booted in less than 5 minutes. Then several other people parked there in the amount of time it took him to unboot my car and boot guy was pissed at me for running off $225 in boot fees in about 10 minutes. No, that’s not a scam, it’s just a sense of entitlement. Riiiiiiiiiiight.
ATLBRAVE
August 27th, 2012
3:54 pm
Let’s all be honest! This booting is a problem that takes place in most all major cities. Parking confusion creates or shall I say = $$$. I pay very close attention and detail to all signs and laws when I park having worked downtown the past 7 years and I STILL got a boot one night because the electronic ticket machine changed the parking time from 3am to Midnight. I came out at 2am with a $50 boot because I failed to study the parking ticket the one time they decide to decrease the parking time. This problem will not go away anytime soon. They make way to much money off of each boot/ticket they issue. Rule of thumb for those of you that live outside the city. When you come into the city and park in any LOT you should be paying either a machine or a person before you walk away. If you park on the street read all signs up close because they ALL are made to confuse you by changing the parking times from block to block. In other words don’t ever assume anything and of course don’t ever feel like your car is above getting the boot!