Parking in Manhattan is ridiculously expensive. Therefore, I’ve taken to surfing the internet to find parking that is somewhat reasonable. After a thorough search, I downloaded Spot Hero and ParkNYC. I’ve found some good deals on both.
For some reason, I forget to do it during the week, when I need to look. But on Mother’s Day, I decided to see what deals were available. I knew I would be spending the day with my daughter shopping in NYC and wanted to park relatively close to her apartment.
I got a deal for $18 for the day through SpotHero for 400 East 71st Street. Since it was close, I decided to book it for 10 am. I got there at 9:50 am and had to wait to check in. Once I checked in, I showed the attendant that I pre-paid for parking. He told me to show the SpotHero coupon along with a ticket which he provided to me at the time of pickup.
Shopping in the city
My daughter and I had a wonderful day shopping in the city. We shopped for shoes, summer clothing, and bags. It was a ton of fun. After we finished we were exhausted and went to Tao for a drink.
We called up her husband to pick up the car. I had provided him with all the tickets for the car and the spot hero receipt. When he went to get it, they told him my battery was dead.
They charged the battery and then told him that the spot hero prepaid parking was not valid. He gave them a credit card and took the car out to pick us up.
Later that night
When we got home from dinner, I got a call from my daughter. “Didn’t you pay for the parking?” she asked.
“I did. Why?” I said.
“Well, Dan also paid.”
I was frantic. I called Spot Hero immediately and told them what happened. They said they would reimburse but at this point, I still haven’t gotten anything back. I told Dan to dispute his credit card. I’m not sure what happened but it was totally frustrating. Spot Hero said that you should never give your credit card to the parking attendants.
But let me ask you something, what happens if the attendant tells you he doesn’t want to give you the car because Spot Hero is invalid. What would you do?
