DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — People who say they paid to park their car have been getting a second bill in the mail.
Customers who valet parked at C&S Seafood in Brookhaven tell Channel 2 Action News that about week later, they received parking noncompliance notices in the mail.
“I followed the rules, so it’s very surprising,” said Brookhaven resident Tamara Wakhisi, who received a $104 bill.
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The bills, sent by Parking Revenue Recovery Services, threaten collection actions if not paid within 30 days.
“I stared at it, wondering where I had been, and it dawned on me that this is from the night of the restaurant, where I paid to valet park,” she said.
Wakhisi told Channel 2 Consumer Investigator Justin Gray she thought it was just a mix-up until her brother-in-law also received a notice and appealed the citation. Even after providing evidence that he paid the valet, his appeal was denied.
PRRS wrote the customer in an email, “We have carefully reviewed your dispute. Based on the provided information, you did not pay to use the facility. As a result, this notice is valid, and the dispute is denied.”
Coworkers Saundra Appleton and Rhonda Curney got notices from PRRS, too.
The pair work in our Cox Media Group corporate offices and after comparing notes, they realized several employees who went to a dinner at C&S Seafood all got similar bills in the mail.
“So how did we all get tickets? It’s just baffling,” Curney said.
Appleton parked in the deck and had a ticket validated in the restaurant. Other coworkers used the valet.
“What kind of company will give you a ticket, whether you’ve valeted, self-parked, or parked in the parking deck. It didn’t matter,” Curney said.
So, Channel 2 Action News did some digging into PRRS.
The company uses AI technology to monitor parking lots across the country.
In 2023, the Colorado Attorney General reached a $106,000 settlement with the company over similar issues of collecting fees for parking that was already paid or not owed.
“Whether they were told to pay meritless fines for parking they already paid for, or they received a notice in the mail from somewhere they never even parked, hundreds of consumers fell victim to this company’s dishonest tactics,” Attorney General Phil Weiser said.
PRRS denied wrongdoing as part of the settlement.
This year, a proposed class action lawsuit was filed against PRRS claiming, “Its systems are engineered to confuse consumers and extract unauthorized fees.”
John Conway, co-founder of PRRS, acknowledged mistakes in handling the situation.
“Everyone involved with this situation could have done better ... We are providing additional training to our dispute professionals ... And we are encouraging the valet company to provide additional training to their valets to assure that they are managing the validation process properly,” he told Channel 2 Action News in a statement.
He blames some of the confusion with his staff on multiple other valet companies not associated with the restaurant or the property illegally parking cars in the garage.
Conway hosts his own podcast, “All things parking” and this year discussed what he thinks about customer complaints in an episode.
“All these complaints surrounding parking have gone up and it’s like well, that’s because the technology now is holding people accountable,” Conway said.
Wakhisi believes it is PRRS should be held accountable.
A spokesperson for C&S Seafood told Gray they are fully aware of the parking issue and have taken steps to address it.
“This system began issuing fines to guests whose vehicles were not registered immediately upon arrival - an issue entirely outside of C&S’s control,” the spokesperson said.
C&S says the parking enforcement has now been stopped and encouraged affected customers to contact them directly for resolution.
The valet company, Eagle Parking, never responded to multiple calls and emails from Channel 2 Action News.
PRRS claims in their statement that, ”Of the millions of parking spaces that PRRS monitors, fewer than 5% are noncompliant, generating notices. And of that 5%, only a handful of notices are issued mistakenly. But when mistakes do happen, we are committed to correcting them quickly and fairly.”
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