Preferred Parking Service

Since the start Preferred Parking has just been a hassle for me. When I initially signed up, I never reached the confirmation screen for my down payment until the fourth try. Then two days later they called and asked me why I signed up for four separate accounts. Luckily I was able to sort this out (and in their defense they weren’t too bad during this process). In a two month span they raised my parking rate from $ 60 to $ 72 to $ 80. They also forced us to move our cars on 2 – 3 occasions over the summer for special events, which became an annoyance. In one instance we were emailed the night before that we would have to move our cars by 4pm. I got to my car at 4:02, and if I had been 1 minute later I may have received a ticket because I saw an employee with a preferred parking shirt giving out tickets.

Be aware. Be very aware. There are other options in uptown Charlotte. I suggest you use the other options. Extremely unethical business practices. They’ll ticket you for not paying (paying on app or online you could be a few minutes behind), you’ll return to your car, see ticket, and think… oh, we must have crossed paths. Do this a couple of times, and the boot will be on your car to the tune of $ 195.00. If the app doesn’t work, they want you to pay at another parking lot (that would be yours to figure out) or pay cash. If you call when you’re paying late, the parkmobile people say, it’s alright, we’ve got it noted. But that’s not the preferred parking office. They will boot your car, charge you to park and charge you for the ticket. I’ve parked with them for over 4 years, and this is the customer service they deliver. The Manager also said she would not send anyone out to remove the boot, with payment, until I apologized to her and calmed down. Blatantly against the law. Yes, I have reported to BBB and the Attorney General’s office. It will be my life mission to unmask these thieves.

This is, by far, the most poorly managed parking company I’ve ever used. I have been parking at the Epicentre Charlotte lot for the past two years and since the location was close to my office, I have swallowed rate increase after rate increase — and dealt with the fact that on any given day only half of their entrances/​exits are actually open and functioning… this last increase (addtl. $ 20/​month!) was the last straw and I have decided to move elsewhere.
However, cancelling my parking has turned into an even worse experience — not only can you only do this online — their staff has ZERO customer service service and they are charging me to cancel my parking. GOOD RIDDANCE.

This is the most ineffectively managed company I have ever come in contact with. I cancelled my parking pass and they still accepted an accidental payment from Wage Works and refuse to refund the payment back to Wage Works/​me even though I turned my pass in upon cancellation of my account and have not been parking there for two weeks. I was sent an email a month ago confirming my cancellation but when I called, I was told they «don’t do refunds.»
However, I have an email confirming they will send me a refund from when my pass would not work and the workers at the garage charged me full payment for two days ($ 30), which I have been waiting for for several weeks. The front desk just keeps saying «someone in Accounts Payable will contact you.» I even went to their uptown office and brought my receipts hoping they would finally begin the refund process and was told to return to my office and fax the receipts. They make everything incredibly difficult and their customer service skills are extremely lacking.

When parking uptown, they are really your only option. Which is fine, as some of their lots have reasonable rates. My reason for the low review comes from the user experience side of thing, and their overall customer service.
My main problem with them (aside from rude people), is that there is no way to update your payment information online. My credit card was cancelled, and upon receiving my new card (mid-​March), I called immediately to update my information so, come April, they would have updated information. Obviously I would have much rather done this all online, but alas, there was no other option but to call. They assured me that the new card was placed on file, and we were good to go. Fast forward to April 5^th, and I receive an email saying that my card did not go through and I would be fined an additional $ 25. THEY HAD CHARGED THE WRONG CARD. They sent me this email on Saturday afternoon, and I immediately called, only to be told that the people who handle payments don’t work on weekends and I would need to call back during business hours (the girl could have been a lot nicer).
I call first thing Monday morning, and explain what happen – not in an accusing tone by any means, because I’m well aware that the likelihood of the girl I was speaking to having made this mistake was slim, so why yell at the messenger? She immediately responded in a defensive tone, saying there is no way that error could have occurred, and it was my fault for not giving them the new information. I tried to explain again the course of events, and she would not have it. She updated my credit card information, now for the second time, so let’s see if it goes through for May.
Overall, here is how I feel:
+Tremendous amount of parking options offered in Uptown
–Poor customer service
–Poor user experience
–Overpriced
If you’re going to take hundreds of dollars for me every year, at least give me decent people. And if you don’t give me decent people, then give me a way to do what I need to do online so I don’t have to deal with them.

Want to let everyone know that, years later, Preferred Parking is still the pits. In a recent display of lameness, they refused to clear out lots during the snowstorm for 3 days but then promptly sent their customers an email that they are planning to raise their monthly parking rates. If they weren’t the ONLY company in Charlotte that had parking uptown, I would so so happily go to someone else. Unclear why there isn’t any other competition here. So many people would be happy to throw anyone other than preferred parking their business.

Want to get monthly parking in the city… this place DOMINATES parking in the city.
I needed a pass in my parking deck at my new place downtown for my other car and when I visted their office in the center city, they have a map showing every place they either own or manage… not sure which… and it seems like just about every place they manage… wow.
They had me fill out paper work… provide identification… proof of my lease… void a check. give my first born to them… and provide a sperm sample… well, okay, they didn’t really want my first born.*wink*
After all that… and mind you the person behind the counter was very nice. Copied all my materials, provided me with all the documentations and even told me down to the penny what my prorated charge would be for this month.
All and all a good experience with these folks…