The Better Business Bureau is warning consumers about a Salt Lake City company called Parking Solutions after a flood of complaints about people having their cars booted in the lot next to Zupas and Jamba Juice near 600 East and 400 South.
According to FOX 13, Jennifer Davis of Salt Lake City was bringing her son home from the hospital on June 13 when they stopped at Jamba Juice. After buying a drink for her son, she walked over to Jimmy John’s, leaving her son in the car. The sandwich shop has its own parking lot and signs warn customers not to park in different lots to reach the restaurant.
“He raced up there and blocked my car horizontally with his car and then he took a boot out and booted my car,” Davis said.
While Davis acknowledged she was using the wrong parking lot to reach Jimmy John’s, she believed it was OK since she bought a drink for her son at Jamba Juice and left him in the car for a few minutes.
After her car got booted, she went to pay for its removal. The worker told her he could only take cash or debit cards. This is in contradiction to Utah law, which states, “a vehicle immobilizer shall accept payment by cash and debit or credit card for the removal of a vehicle immobilization device.”
Violet Wilson, who is 81, has also complained about Parking Solutions. She told the BBB that an employee of the company called her a criminal before demanding cash or debit to remove a boot from her car on the same lot.
“He kept repeating that I was a criminal, and criminals deserve to pay," Wilson said.
The enforcement is starting to affect Jimmy John’s business as well.
“[Parking Solutions] are judge, jury and executioner. There’s nobody we can really complain to,” said Travis Taylor, the H.R. Manager for Jimmy John’s.
After having to deal with customer complaints for months, Jimmy John’s starting having one of their employees sit in the parking lot all day to warn people to not park in the wrong spot.
“To pay somebody to be out here around the clock trying to warn people ... we’d rather have him in making sandwiches and serving customers if we could,” Taylor said.
Davis has started a petition on change.org asking for the city’s help in regulating private parking enforcement. As of Wednesday, it has over 850 signatures.
A representative for Parking Solutions spoke to FOX 13 and said Davis is harassing their employees. But Davis isn’t bothered by the accusation.
“That’s awesome. I love that they said that,” Davis said.
Editor’s note: The Salt Lake Tribune and FOX 13 are content-sharing partners.