SHA-MA-LLAMA

Below I have copied the text I just wrote to a private parking service in downtown Wilmington. It's a dispute for a ticket they gave me. For the record, it's completely true. I did pay for the spot and I was really confused about how their stuff worked. I do suspect that something was wrong with their pay station.

Dispute Letter

To whom it may concern:

My name it Nathaniel Sloan and on April 4th I stopped by the top floor of the Water St. Deck and parked in stall 354. Having never parked there before, it took me a moment to get my bearings and find the nearest pay station. Once I found it, I decided to purchase the space until 6 am and I put in a $5 bill, receiving a one-dollar coin in change. At this point I expected a ticket of some sort or a receipt to be printed, but instead the screen flashed back to the “Enter space number” screen. Since I had already entered my space number and that was the first thing that it asked me for, I found this odd. Naturally, I assumed that the transaction had finished and concluded that you folks must have a computer system of some sort that would let you know that my space was taken care of until I left.

Upon returning to the deck later that evening, I saw a large group of people gathered around the same pay station, and didn’t think much of it. When I got to my car I saw that I have a Parking Fee Imposed ticket (invoice number ********) I was puzzled. I looked back at the group of people at the pay station, I don’t know if they were just hanging out there for a long time or if they were experiencing the same problem that I had of not getting a printed ticket. I would greatly appreciate it if you could dismiss this $25 fee due to the difficulties I was having with the pay station.

I really like the location and convenience of the Water St. Deck and appreciate the service that you provide to the community by doing business with us there. I would hate to feel uncomfortable going back due to the trouble caused by either my confusion with or possible malfunction of the pay station. $29 is a steep price for one night of parking, as I’m sure you’d agree. I understand that it’s important to present proof in the form of a receipt to you that I paid for the spot - unfortunately, I’m not able to include that with this letter, as no receipt was ever printed for me. I’m hoping that there is an explanation for this and that will provide me with some clarity on the situation.

Kindest Regards,
Nathaniel Sloan