California Parking Systems

Leaving Flemings the other night, one of the attendants, Victor, flew by us in the parking lot. A friend yelled for him to slow down. At which point Humberto came and started yelling that we should be on the sidewalk and got aggressive. Ok, given, we’re in a parking lot and didn’t think we’d see cars flying by. Either way, I’ll give them that. Then Humberto continued yelling at us. At this point Rodrigo came and called my boyfriend an asshole. Really? What kind of parking service calls someone names? This is a very dangerous and unprofessional parking service. Beware parking your car at Flemings and Roy’s in Woodland Hills.

THIS COMPANY’S VALETS ARE DANGEROUS. Three times now, I have felt unsafe in their parking structure at Café Le Grande Orange in Pasadena, CA. The drivers drive recklessly and way too fast with the lights off. Not only do I not feel safe walking to my car, but I would NEVER trust them with my car. PARK ON THE STREET.

I parked my car at this company’s parking structure (located at 6417 Selma Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90 028). I’m a musician and had a show to perform on the night of Feb 19^th at the nearby piano bar. The signs outside the parking structure said «$ 6» for parking. Once I had parked in there, I was told it was $ 10. I questioned the attendant but had no other choice as there were no parking places available anywhere on the streets outside. They take cash only.
There were no obvious signs anywhere that I could see that stated they closed at 2am — and — more importantly — that stated this parking structure would actually be inaccessible after this time. I was also given no verbal warning of this scenario whatsoever from the parking attendant. (I have never had a single issue before gaining access to my vehicle at any other parking structure in Los Angeles, at any point whatsoever in the past 12 years living in this city, whether they were open or closed), there is an entrance with 2 lanes to drive in and out of on the front of the building, but to the untrained eye — ie: someone just looking for a parking space — the rolling steel door is not visible at all when the place is open for business, it’s hidden rolled up behind the wall above the entrance — very misleading, especially in the dark (I got there about 10:30pm.) You wouldn’t even know the steel door was there until it’s down.
After my show at the piano bar I was asked to join a group of people at a nearby eatery (which stays open way beyond 2am) and I returned to the parking garage around 2:20am, only to find myself in front of a building with a steel door drawn down at the entrance and nobody around. My car was locked inside. So there I was, stranded, on a cold night at 2:20am on the street (I live in Glendale which is almost 6 miles away) however, very luckily for me I managed to contact a very kind acquaintance who lived a couple of miles away who said I could sleep on an air mattress at their house for the night. I had to get a taxi there, which was an additional $ 12. So with the $ 10 I had already spent on parking, the cost was now at $ 22, on top of the more than inconvenient scenario of not being able to get to my car and therefore, get home.
I stayed overnight in a stranger’s house on their floor, got up the following morning and took another taxi back to the parking structure. The costs incurred (not to mention the highly compromised situation I was being forced to deal with) were now at $ 34. When I walked into the parking structure (around 11am) to finally retrieve my car (and therefore be able to finally get home) I discovered my car was blocked in by another vehicle parked in front of it. I spoke to the parking manager (a guy called Carlos) and he demanded an additional $ 20 for «overnight parking»…
I tried in vain to explain to him what I had been through in the last 9 hours, and in light of my awful experience due to their highly questionable actions against an honest paying customer, could he please just move the car blocking mine in and let me go. He kept on interrupting and talking over me the entire time that I was trying to get him to simply treat me like a human being, and I was forced to hand over the $ 20, bringing the grand total to $ 54 (a considerably higher total than the $ 6 being advertised very prominently in signs on and outside the structure the night before…) This was nothing but unadulterated extortion and underhand trickery.
I tried calling them on the phone to speak to a supervisor about getting my $ 20 back, and eventually spoke to a supervisor named Eric. He said that he would call me back and that he would get me back my $ 20. The call wasn’t returned. After multiple calls throughout the day today, I have been put on hold and disconnected, on other call attempts, I was told that Eric isn’t in and «can I take a message and he will get back to you» — I left multiple messages — at one point a guy who was extremely rude told me to «stop calling because you’re not getting back your $ 20» and then hung up on me.
DO NOT PARK HERE if you wish to avoid running the risk of getting stranded with no wheels and then punished fiscally when you finally return to retrieve your vehicle the following day — this is a reprehensible «business» running on extorting money out of unsuspecting motorists — especially those like me who are first timers at their facility and you, like me — probably won’t realize or suspect that they will roll down a steel door at precisely 2am between you and your ride, coupled with a gross indifference and cynicism toward any hardship that you may experience at the hands of their further actions against you, and your wallet.

Had my car towed, even though there was no attendant, no signs, no gates. Called to let them know of this, and found a labyrinthian system of answering services, property management companies, and individual employees all trying to pass blame on each other. Avoid if possible.