Estimated read time: 5-6 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SALT LAKE CITY — The Better Business Bureau has received several reports from consumers detailing unethical behavior by one Utah booting company, Parking Solutions. According to a news release sent Tuesday, the company implements “questionable business practices,” especially in a parking lot on 400 South.
One such negative experience came from Jenn Davis, a Salt Lake City resident, when she stopped at Jamba Juice on 400 South, according to the release. Davis told KSL TV she was taking her 18-year-old son home from the hospital, where he had just had surgery, when the pair stopped for drinks.
After getting the drinks, Davis walked to the Jimmy John’s located in the same parking lot. Her son, unable to walk, stayed in the car.
While on her way back from getting the sandwiches, a man pulled up to Davis in an unmarked Toyota Corolla and asked where she parked, the release states. Davis told the bureau she figured the man had wanted to park in her spot since the lot was crowded, but instead, he pulled up next to her car and booted it.
The man, later identified as a Parking Solutions employee, put four boots on her car — while Davis’ son was still inside. In a statement to KSL.com provided after this article was published, Parking Solutions said its employee was “acting in the capacity of a Parking Enforcement Officer.” The company also added the employee was wearing a uniform and identified himself as a Parking Solutions employee.
“It is perfectly legal, and ethical, in the state of Utah, to immobilize a vehicle with an immobilization device (a boot) if someone violates the posted rules . . .” the statement reads.
Davis recorded the encounter on video and reported the incident to the Better Business Bureau. She told KSL TV she was gone from her car for about 20 minutes. In its statement to KSL.com, Parking Solutions claims Davis left the Fourth South Market property and went to Jimmy John's, despite several signs “clearly visible from the 4th South Market parking lot area in question.”
According to the Better Business Bureau release, in Davis’ video, the employee can be heard refusing to accept credit card as a payment to remove the boots and, instead, repeats “debit or cash” several times.
Davis then tells the employee she doesn’t have another means of paying besides credit cards, to which he suggests Davis should get a cash advance from a local payday loan store. Parking Solutions said in a statement that the employee instructed Davis to get a cash advance at a credit union and not a payday loan store.
The man then threatens to tow her car because she was not paying immediately, the release states.
“Can you tow a car with someone in it?” Davis asks in the video, the release states. The employee doesn’t answer directly and rolls up the car window.
In the bureau’s press release, it notes Utah Code 41-6a-1409 Subsection (4)(e) states that “a vehicle immobilizer shall accept payment by cash and debit or credit card for the removal of a vehicle immobilization device or any service rendered, performed, or supplied in connection with the removal of the immobilization device.”
According to Davis, only when she called a close-by police officer did the employee then say he could get special permission to accept a credit card. She was charged $75 to remove the boots, according to the release.
“Only with the approval of the owner do we accept personal credit cards, due to the high rate of credit card fraud when personal credit cards are used,” Parking Solutions said in its statement.
He then made Davis sign the receipt eight times “until he was satisfied that her signature on the tablet matched the one on her card,” the release states.
"It's just a dirty way of going about it," Davis told KSL TV.
The Better Business Bureau said other than not accepting a credit card, the company isn’t operating outside of the law — just unethically.
"They have an 'F' rating because they're not responding to complaints. They don't care. I mean it's obvious they don't care,” said Jane Rupp with the Better Business Bureau. “Their business model is boot the people, get the money, get out and that's it."
Jimmy John’s employees confirmed Davis’ statement, according to the bureau. Travis Taylor, the human resources manager at the restaurant, told the bureau they have hired employees “specifically to sit in the lot and caution customers,” the statement reads.
"We're doing everything in our power to try to let people know what's going on so they don't pay $80 for a sandwich,” Taylor said.
One of these employees is at the 400 South location from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. to warn customers about Parking Solutions’ behavior.
"We have 13 1-star reviews that are related to getting the boot," Taylor said.
Taylor told the bureau more than 400 drivers were saved from tows in the past two months thanks to these measures.
Jimmy John's has another landlord than other properties in the lot and patrons of the restaurant aren't allowed to park in the shared lot — instead they must drive to the restaurant's designated lot or park on the street. The landlord didn't immediately respond to KSL TV's request for comment.
In June, another woman reported a different Parking Solutions employee called her a criminal after booting her car in the same lot.
Violet Wilson, 81, said a Jimmy John’s employee did warn her about the booting company but she wasn’t able to move her car in time before it was booted. Wilson told the bureau the Parking Solutions employee demanded cash or debit to remove the boot and he kept calling her a criminal.
Wilson didn’t get the name of the employee but the press release stated his description didn’t match that of the other employee.
Parking Solutions didn’t immediately respond to requests from the Better Business Bureau, the press release noted. KSL TV also tried to contact the booting company before broadcast, but was told the owner was out of town.
“You don't even have to leave the property and they can boot your car," Davis said.
Contributing: Andrew Adams, KSL TV
Editor’s note: Parking Solutions sent KSL.com a statement regarding this matter on July 10. This story has been updated to reflect the company’s statement.
