Yeah, thought about that afterwards. If they tried contacting me again, that was going to be my first demand.

...and they are in the news AGAIN!

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/britis...rked-1.2252085



A company that says it’s the world’s largest privately-owned parking firm is again under fire from drivers, who complain they were slapped with unjustified $110 fines.

“If they are doing this over and over — they are probably making quite the profit,” Jade Messiah, 20, who was hit with the fine from Diamond Parking in September.

“I think maybe it’s just a money scam.”

Diamond patrols 1,000 private parking lots in B.C., Alberta and several U.S. states.

Go Public has received several complaints from people who believe the company fined them unfairly, over the last two years.

Messiah’s complaint stands out, because she has hard evidence showing she was nowhere near the Diamond-patrolled parking lot, when it claimed she was parked there.

“I was like, there’s no way I am paying this. I know I wasn’t in the city,” she said.

Proof she wasn't there

Messiah is a student who lives in White Rock, B.C., but spends much of her time in the city of Richmond.

The morning she got the parking ticket, she said she left home after 10:30 a.m. and stopped for gas.

Messiah then drove to Richmond, a 35 to 40 minute drive away.

She parked in a Diamond-patrolled lot, which has two hour parking for mall customers.

“I knew there was a two hour parking time limit so I made sure to get out before two hours,” said Messiah, who said she was back at her car around 12:30 p.m.


She said she was shocked to find a $63 ticket on her windshield, suggesting her car was there almost an hour before she’d arrived.

“There’s no way it was possible at all,” she said.

Diamond attendants place chalk marks on vehicle tires then write tickets if they find the vehicle still parked there beyond the lot’s posted time limit.

Messiah’s ticket said her car was ‘chalked’ at 10:27 a.m.

She has a bank records to prove she was actually buying gas, at a Husky station at 10:38 a.m. The station is in White Rock, near her home.

“I really do think they need to be brought to justice about this and I would like to see it stopped,” said Messiah.

Fine jumps, told to pay

She later got a past due notice in the mail from Diamond, which stated that her fine had jumped to $110.

“I did call [Diamond] and I explained my situation. All the supervisor said to me was, ‘No I’m sorry we can’t listen to you. Our patrol officer says he was there, therefore you were there. You have to pay the ticket.’”

Kevin Roman of Maple Ridge, B.C., is another driver who was upset when a $110 fine from Diamond arrived inexplicably in the mail.

“He got a past due notice. And he was like — ‘wait a minute, from what?’ He didn’t even know what it was about,” said Roman’s brother-in-law John Leonard, who then complained to Diamond on his behalf.

Roman didn’t park in the local mall’s parking area. Instead, he pulled up curbside for a few minutes, in a no-stopping area, where he said he’d seen couriers stop many times.

“I was in my half-ton with a trailer and we were going camping,” said Roman. “Because of my over-length vehicle, I pulled over there.”

He stayed in the vehicle, while his wife ran in to use the nearby bank machine.

Roman said a security guard tapped on his window and told him he couldn’t park there, because it was a fire lane, so he left immediately and parked on the public street.

“And I didn’t get any parking ticket,” he said.

What Roman didn’t know was, a Diamond attendant patrolling the lot also snapped a picture of his licence plate. Diamond then mailed him the fine for a parking violation.

Diamond attendants record vehicle licence plates, then B.C.’s provincial licensing agency gives the company the address of the registered owner. The Insurance Corporation of B.C. has said this is perfectly legal. It is how Diamond knows where to mail its violation notices.

Fines cancelled after complaints

The company acknowledges what happened in these cases and told Go Public it has cancelled the fines for both Messiah and Roman. In the second case though, Diamond maintains the fine was justified.


“We are under contract with the mall property manager to enforce this exact form of infraction for the safety of the general public,” said Diamond’s Vancouver manager Michael Murray. “This area is clearly marked as a fire lane.”

Roman’s brother-in-law, who is a bylaw enforcement officer, questions how Diamond can issue tickets and fines when there is no law explicitly giving it authority to do so.

“I don’t see anywhere in legislation that says a private parking company can even write those tickets in the first place,” said Leonard, who said the company said if his brother-in-law paid $40, the fine would be cancelled immediately.

“He’s being told we’ll give you a deal if you just pay… As a bylaw officer, when I write a ticket, I have to prove that in court.”

Diamond says it has sought legal opinions on its practices and it points out, in most cases, it is working for private clients on private property.

“We can designate any area as, 'no parking' for any reason and enforce it accordingly,” said Murray.

It also says it cancels many of the fines when people complain.

“Inevitably, a small percentage of consumers that are issued notices are going to feel that they have been wrongfully ticketed and will contact us,” said Murray.

“I can tell you that we void a significant percentage of the notices we issue as a courtesy to those that receive them, or on behalf of our client that we have been contracted to serve.”

Others still pay

Messiah and Leonard suspect many more people simply pay, because they’re intimidated by the official looking fines and they fear the bill will be sent to collections, which Diamond does regularly.

“People are afraid. They don’t want the hassle. They go, ‘what is this? Oh I’m just going to pay this because I don’t want my credit ruined’,” said Leonard. “It’s just bonus money in [Diamond’s] pocket.”

“It’s rare that people will go to this extent to get something taken care of,” said Messiah.

Hamilton, Ont., lawyer David Thompson tried unsuccessfully to mount a class action against Impark — another large private parking company — for issuing similar parking fines in Ontario.

He is calling on provincial governments to bring in consumer protection laws to govern the practices of these private parking companies.

"Consumers have no bargaining power to negotiate or alter the terms of [private parking] agreements. Consumers typically do not realize that they will be charged significant fines if they overstay at a lot," said Thompson.

"They might enter a lot with a maximum daily parking rate of $5.00... If the consumer overstays, even let’s say by half an hour, they could face a violation fee of close to $70.00... [which is] 14 times the maximum daily rate."

Consumer Protection B.C. said it has had 55 inquires about Diamond Parking in the last five years. In Washington State, regulatory authorities have adjudicated 64 complaints against the company since 2009.

A handful of claims have been filed in B.C. small claims court, but it appears all were settled before trial.

The common theme among all complaints is that when the driver pushes back, Diamond cancels the fine.

Okay, I have heard this over and over again in the news, so I was extremely nervous when I got my ticket from DPS, thinking it was going to be some huge ordeal.

I was ticketed unfairly. I was parked in a parking lot where it was free for customers from the store, thing was I parked far away from the store so I wouldnt get door dings, so I guess the guy thought I wasn't shopping in there and gave me a ticket.

I had my receipt from the store which was issued about 10 minutes before the receipt I had from the store. I sent a picture of that receipt to the email that is clearly on the ticket, and I got an email back within 24 hours saying that it was a manually entered ticket and it would take up to 7 days to enter the system. after about 5 days I followed up and the person assigned to the case told me like 2 hours later that the ticket was cancelled.

So DPS did right by my mind.

The thing is it clearly says that disputes must be filed via email, and that they must be filed within 7 days (this 7 days I found out is not from when the ticket it issued but from when the ticket is entered into their system, usually about 10-14 days from ticketing date).

It sounds to me like some of the people going to extremes are just taking things a bit to far, if they slowed down and just went through the steps and talked to DPS maybe they would find resolution. Instead the media likes to hop all over this shit, because the last time they did a news story it was a huge deal for some reason...


Now for the idiots that do get tickets for no reason and end up paying them well then we are back to the John Chow ordeal, where pretty much everyone, except for Manic and myself, was on the side saying, "if they are stupid enough to pay for it that's their problem, and they deserve to lose their money".

^^^
You parked legitimately, and you got a ticket. You had to take time out of your day to dispute a bullshit ticket.

Fuck those assholes at DPS, up the ass with a rusty, barbed rod.

said rod must be heated over an open flame or heating element

Very true...

No go apply that same logic, at least in some part to this thread:

http://www.revscene.net/forums/68959...it-police.html

I swear RS's ability to Paradox itself is mind boggling...

Simple effective solution boycot businesses with lots patrolled by dps.
Make it a very public boycot, all this publicity Canada wide about their questionable practices I'm sure it would be easy to raise public awareness to such a boycot. This is shortly before christmas as well I'd bet malls restraunts etc would advertise they are not patrolled by dps to pick up the clientelle lost by others.

Has this ever worked? I just don't think you will ever have enough people to boycott to make a difference...

it was discussed on RS before (probably in this very thread) that it probably won't work because the building managers hire guys like DPS, not the retail stores themselves. you can potentially influence the the retailers but not the building managers, unless the building is really hurting for tenants.

Speaking of never hearing from them, I started getting calls from a collection agency asking for money for this ticket. :lol

Fuck 'em.

I've been getting unjustified tickets from Impark recently -_- even when calling in they try to find excuses for me to pay the ticket hoping i dont know the rules of the lot after pointing it out to them they're like "oh yeah we're just trying to find out why you're getting the tickets though" (like they knew the rules of the lot and they weren't trying to convince me to pay the ticket)

they must sucker so many people into paying tickets this is ridiculous

I got one from EasyPark last weekend, and fair enough, it was my own fuck-up - I used the Pay By Phone app but forgot the change to the proper plate... but I DID pay for the whole time I was there. Figured I'd try registering a dispute right away through their website, see if they'd be nice about it...

It's been over a week now, haven't heard a peep. Fine is $40 if paid in the first 20 days, $100 after that. Wonder if the plan is just to ignore the dispute completely until it's too late?

Don't pay.

If the tenants complain enough the building owner will get rid of Diamond. The money they make from tenants is way more than they make from Diamond.

Someone should start a website of Diamond patrolled parking lots and get a list going of people that will not go to stores that have lots patrolled by Diamond.

I'm waiting for a lawyer to get screwed over by DPS. I smell class action law suit!

A lawyer did. His advice don`t pay.

If dps is already in the news for proven unfair ticket practices I'd think a boycot would be an easy story for the news to bite into. The businesses that use them for patrolling their lots dont get kickbacks from the fines collected and they sure as hell arent going to risk loosing business over questionable ticketing practices. If I was using them I'd drop them like a bad habit as soon as they were in the news, even before a boycot.

Pick up the phone and simply say:

"I'd like all communication between us to be through mail. If you don't comply I will file a harassment lawsuit."

Then hang up.

The lawsuit will stick too if they keep calling, as you gave them notice. :ilied:

Got an email from EasyPark this morning....

:fuckyea:

I was hoping someone from DPS or the guy in the dashcam video would sign up here.

I'm only praying that it isn't a troll.[/quote]

Finally I have read from the beginning until the end of "Diamond parking rage". I have been here b4 but today is the 1st time I read from 1-12. Until I see user jb0518 and I were thinking jb0518 is my behalf but after a confirmation from her it isn't her. So I just want to say FUCKING thank you to jb0518 for pulling the tricker. 凸😡凸

Hello I'm the 1 that u guys have mentioned. But just b4 anythings start I would like to "APOLOGIZE" to asr which I was thinking of doing that way earlier, if u still remember after the incident I have saw u parked @ Paloma's pay area and I was trying to approach however u have took off b4 that. Anyways...

ASR:$
"I'm sorry for the mistake that I have made. I admit that I have mistakenly issue u a ticket that u shouldn't deserved." SORRY.

Btw I just want to let u know the ticket was cancel @ the same date that I wrote. At the beginning of received your invoice I have said " this is not your invoice" and I have made a wrong judgement with that however after I get back to my car and I review the time gap and I think is reasonable then I have called our office and do a cancellation.$
I admit that I have made mistake during my shift which I have tried not to. And every tickets that I wrote I must place them on the windshield. I even tried to leave the lot after I see all the violators gone because I don't want to serve a ticket to those who shouldn't and if anybody that I have mistakenly ticketed I'll approach them and take them back. But for those who not deserved a ticket and which they did they can just fax a receipt to the DPS office, if u are reasonable mostly they will cancel it and reply u with a message that ticket have been cancel.$
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You sure must read slow...:troll:

Its been months. We've moved on...:fuckthatshit:

Just trying to make things clear.
Thought everybody should know how to deal with this shit.
When I was still with diamond and I was told by the senior
" unpaid ticket will affect credit... If people who have more than 3 outstanding unpaid tickets their vehicle may consider to be tow on the next violation. Just like most people have mentioned earlier $18 is good enough to slove the problem of not getting tow. And their meaning of affect your bank credit this apply to people who are trying to make any big transaction or a big loan for example: purchasing a house or whatever.....

Conclusion...... 識柒佢
Posted via RS Mobile

I have MULTIPLE Unpaid parking tickets form DPS.

Never got a tow, or had my credit affected.

Collections thinks I'm dead. :)

Brother in law also has multiple tickets from both Impark and DPS. Hasn't affected his credit, and he just bought 2 acres of land in Richmond.

DPS can burn in hell.

Who names their kid "Messiah" anyways?!?

That's what I'm trying to mention and though u drivers should know these already...???
I don't think any realtor will ask u to pay off all those tickets b4 selling u the land.
Is all B💩 other than those city's.
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