Car Booting - Atlanta, GA review: $50.00 fine for visiting the store 67

I got booted today at 463 Peachtree St. for being late 10 minutes. I bought a ticket for 2 hours and the Social Security Office kept my mother waiting forever so it made us late getting back. I run all the way (3 blocks) to the parking lot only to find my car booted and a sticker with a number to call EPS. When I told the guy I was only 10 minutes late and that I never expected to have to pay 75.00 dollars for being 10 minutes late his anwser was I should have read the sign. There is a sign but it has over 100 words in it and there where other people in front of me in the line and standing by the sign. The ticket says nothing about a 75.00 fine. Is this legal? Can I fight it based on the fact that the ticket doesn't give out any of this information? I have the mind to dispute the charge with my credit card company.

You are an idiot Zachary S. All you have to offer to this forum is insults and sarcastic comments. You probably work at minimum wage job and or have no job at all. I on the other hand make over 100, 000 a year, I am well educated and understand what is right and wrong. And this type of activity in Atlanta is only going to drive everyone away, so in the end you may loose your minimum wage job because of it...if you have a job at all...my guess is you probably still leave at mommy and daddy's home and have no job. I am all for people parking illegally getting what they deserve but there is a difference when someone parks in a parking lot pays the fee and then finds themselves paying a stiff $75.00 dollars fine for being a few minutes late...or they get fine for IN and OUT when they didn't - that is an OUTRAGE and if you can see that you should keep your comments to yourself...[censor].

Oh, yeah and since I have a life...I am not going to wait for an answer from you and play ping pong with these messages - I have better things to do with my time. So have a nice day STUPID. Over and Out.

I had to pay $75 to a guy who said he work for Advanced Booting Services. I just as well got robed by a gun and made me give him my hard earn money. I took someone to the bus station, they were going to North Carolina, while I was sitting in my car this guy gets his boot device and put it on my car. After telling him to take it off he said he could do it until he gets $75. America, don't you think its time to stop this foolishness and call this what it is, a rip off. I filing a complaint and law suit against the worker Phillip Appiah and the owner Jeff Phillips to get my money back plus damages.

All Boot Companies Should be Locked up like they do to so many people cars, and then they like to threatening you by showing that they have a gun on their hips. Change in these practices are need Now.

Hello! I just wanted to say that while I sympathize with all of you because I have recently found myself in the same position, I haven't seen that you as the consumers made sufficient efforts to contact these companies to possibly dispute these situations. I too parked in a public lot (legally I might add) and found myself returning to a boot on my car. I was approached by the same comapny EPS and charged $75.00 to have the boot removed. Yes I was furious and I wanted some answers. However, just like I explained to my husband, there are proper ways to handle situations like this. My husband and I were meeting friends for coffee at Starbucks and I decided that I wanted a hotdog from Woody's. He was nice enough to go get one for me and bring it back. Well, according to EPS we were being watched and because Woody's is off the premises and my husband was seen leaving the premises, they placed the boot on our car. RIDICULOUS! Yes I agree! But getting mad and complaining about it does not get my money back, nor does it prevent it from happening again. NO! Calling the manager and politely explaining to him the situation is what got my money back and although it might not prevent it from happening again, it has made them aware of their mistakes. We must remember that they are not a scam, they are a business and they were hired by the very same shops that you and I have decided to visit. I was very pleased with their professionalism and sense of urgency to correct this situation. Again, I do not think anyone on this forum is wrong for feeling the way they feel because believe you me I was very upset and I felt confused and violated. However, it only took me a little time and communication to fix this problem and it felt good not having to say negative words about someone's business. I hope this advice helps some of you and your troubles. Please try communicating with the companies. It may not be too late. Remember to keep all of your documents and receipts.
Thank You EPS for all of your help and great customer service

Just wanted to point out a few things:

A) A Boot should NEVER be put on your vehicle unless you have somehow violated a rule that would be listed on either the signs on the parking lot, or the parking permit itself ( Sometimes, and usually, both! ) Video evidence is ALWAYS taken for these boots. We will NOT waste our time booting you unless we can prove the violation. If you are booted for an "in-and-out" then there will be video proof of your vehicle not parked on the property after the original permit purchase time ( time is printed on all permits ) If you are booted for an in and out, you know it, don't waste your time lying about it, if the vehicle had really stayed there all day, demand the proof next time, it can be provided literally right there on the scene, booters DO keep video logs with them at all times.

B) No Swap out, or "Non-Transferable" tickets, are clearly marked as such. If you take a permit from someone else, without reading that it is not transferable, that's your responsibility.

C) Parking lots that are licensed to have booters or tow truck drivers working their properties MUST be inspected by city officials for proper signage. If you disagree with the requirements of signage, that unfortunately is not something that is in the hands of the booting or towing company. You would be required to take your complaint to the city, as the enforcement company is simply complying with the law.

D) Getting a boot sucks. We all know this, of course, no one wants to spend $50-$125 on a penalty on a parking lot that only costs $5. That being said, if you violate the rules of the lot, and a penalty is going to be applied, be happy it was a boot and not a tow. Towing costs $150 to $250 plus storage, plus you need to find your car in whatever impound lot. They both are expensive, and a headache, but learn your lesson with the lesser of two evils.

E) The WORST problem is the fake parking attendants. NEVER, EVER, EVER, pay a person if you can help it. ALWAYS pay a meter, and get a recipt with the time, date, and location printed on it. ( Make sure you pay the meter for the parking lot you parked on ) If someone claims to be an attendant, they MUST be in uniform with a proper ID visible. If you pay some homeless bum ( HOUSTON [censored] ) and do not pay the meter to park, expect a boot. PLEASE pay attention to who you give your money to, you are responsible for what you do with it. Call the local police if you see a fake attendant scamming on a parking lot, they give booting and tow operators a miserable rap.

I am from out of state and was driving to this location because I believed the shop I wanted to visit was there. It turns out that it was next door. I walked over to the shop and spent all of 10 minutes there. With in 15 minutes, I had returned to my car and found it booted. As this was my first trip there, I did not realize that I had done anything wrong. The EPS guy said, "Dude, that is some bad luck" and then requested $50.

While I can understand the policy, I don't agree that out of state people spending 15 minutes next door should be fined for not observing signs posted across the parking lot. I had intended to visit a number of shops in the area but was so disgusted, I simply left. Despite living and working in the area, I will not likely return to any of these shops anytime soon. I am going to write a bulk letter to each of the shops and express my discontent with lack of leniency even under extraordinary circumstances.

Here is the list I compiled:

Wireless Universe
Weight Watchers
Georgia Cigar & Tobacco
Coast Dental Services Inc: Perpall Abigail M DDS
Lotus Sushi Bar
Long Beach Tanning Salon
Relax The Back
Atlanta 24 Hour Lock Out Service
Eye Gallery
Kroger
Cost Plus World Market
Jamison Shaw Hairdressers
The Eye Gallery & Artful Eye
Nail Groove
Coast Dental Buckhead
Massage Envy Buckhead
Buckhead Alterations & Reweaving
Soto
Sushi Bar Yu-Ka
Chastain Cleaners

Colony Square management--Tishman Speyer- is still booting at Colony Square. They contract with an independent contractor from what I can tell. I got booted a few months ago--honestly didn't see the two hour parking signs. (A relative has an office there for a family business.) Went to security desk in lobby of Colony Square, got the Tishman management phone number, called and apologized, but no luck. Had to pay $75 fee on the spot--and even better--also had to pay the parking fees for that day. I later emailed local management to explain my mistake--and they couldn't have been bigger jerks. I no longer visit Colony Square for anything--don't even visit my relative's office--we go elsewhere for meetings. Life is toooooo short to put up with this type of behavior.

I received a boot on 7/11/11 while visiting the Sam Nunn Federal building in Atlanta, GA. I parked at the lot on the corner of MLK and Forsyth at 2:45 PM, paid the three dollar required and went to my appointment. When I returned at about 3:45 I had a boot on my car. This was the first time I've ever parked at the garage so I missed the sign that said to leave my receipt on the window or you will be booted. I call the garage office number explained what happen and they said call the boot number, show my receipt and they will take off the boot. When the boot man came I showed him the receipt. He said I had to pay the $75.00 dollar charge because I parked over the hour limit, I ask why couldn't I just pay the additional parking fee and said that I didn't see any posting that said I would be booted if I stayed longer than one hour. I ask him where could I file a complaint and was told to call the number on the receipt. Well the number does not work, I called the parking garage owners and just got voice mail, no one every called me back. After reading all of the complaints posted on this site, I really do feel that we all need to come together and file some kind of legally action against this type of rip off. I plan to contact the city parking enforcement department to see what if anything I can do, in addition I will contact my credit card company to see if I can file a complaint with them.

They are now charging $75 dollars for not paying to park in an empty lot that does not appear to have a functioning pay box. i should think it be illegal for them to expect people to shove dollars into a coin slot and not receive a receipt. Only other people that are local or who have been booted before will know the procedure to park there. Could have parked a few feet away on the street, on a Sunday in downtown Atlanta. It's a scam and the constituants need to do something about it if they want this person to be visiting their town again.

Got me too! 2 boots, $75, and an hour of my time for a non-legal handicap scam spot. Yellow lines instead of blue lines. Black paint much clearer than the faded handicap blue like the one next to it. They will never repair their money maker. I complained saying I would take pictures & dispute this and the unprofessional agent said "Do what ya gotta do". I am a Birmigham resident and shocked this scamming behavior became legal.

51 Peachtree Ave - Beware of spot 93 Handicapped scam spot. No blue lines, no sign, no sticker at pay slot, but a faint old blue square. Hopefully evidence for someone.

And lastly the contact info on "Bootman's" car. Feel free to contact and harass in return. BOOT SCAM in space 93. 94 is still not legal without blue stripes, but more obvious.

EPS is charging $75 dollars for not paying to park in an empty closed starbucks parking lot. This happened on new years eve when I droped in for few minutes to myfriends place infront of Starbucks, located on Peachtree Street at the corner of 7th street. Starbucks was closed and I parked in empty parking lot. I found my car booted at 11.15 pm on december 31st. I callled the number and no one replied forcing me to call 911. At 11.30 PM, I recieved a phone call asking me for location and model of my car. I was told that a technichian will be there in 10 minutes as he is in next parking lot. Cops dropped in suggesting that there is nothing they can do and I can Starbucks to civil court. I was forced to spend my hard earned money for what I feel wasnt an offense.At 12.15 EPS techi comes and charges me 75$ . I have learnt a good lesson spending begining of 2012 in my car waiting. I will never visit to this starbucks again in my life.

I park in midtown down the street from Opera nightclub, at least three nights a week, because I work there and I have no other choice. I and my co-workers are tired of getting booted, when we have clearly paid. I parked in the same 5$ lot near cosmolava every day, I know it costs 5$ in the evenings and I pay that amount and it sucks to get off work at 4:15am, wait 30 minutes for a boot man who then lies and says I didn't pay the full amount when I clearly did. I paid an extra 75$ to get the damn things off my car. I filed a dispute the next day online with the boot company and have not heard anything back. I am sick of it and will pay extra to park in the lot next to it from now on. The boot man was a damn liar, saying he had video evidence of him pulling my 3$ out of the box (when it was actually 5$), and when I asked to see it, he said "oops, I already turned it in" and couldn't show me. I am looking into buying a boot key online to just handle matters myself next time.

@ Peace101, some parking companies do not cooperate so speaking with them is of no assistance. I called one and was hung up on. When I proceeded to call back, their voice mail picked up. In these type of shady instances, there is no way to solve the issue with the company because they are unprofessional and refuse to accept the calls.

In my case I was able to remove boot of my car by putting spare and I release air of the booted wheel and got that sh... off. Now I'm waiting for consequences of that, they (ABS booting) said that they will call police and charge me with theft. waiting for that, and btw my booting fee was $75 not 50.

No kidding they absolutely play games to get people to park in spaces just so they can boot you...The Shame is on City of ATLANTA for allowing this racket and the APD for supporting such a racketeer .. They see you park and when you cross the street there putting the boot on... Damn! If it's not the pan handlers and the muggers on the streets to worry about now there are the #@*! en Booter Racketeer. APD dosn't do nothing about it and they will arrest you for disputing it on site... Don't go to ATLANTA if you don't have to!

The supervisor “Mike” called me a ni**a. Called to speak with a supervisor regarding our car being booted for $75 (by attendant Quinton Brown [protected]) after the $3 parking fee had been paid. “Mike “ the supervisor told me “That’s the problem with you f*cking ni**as you don’t read”. Quinton and another coworker, whom is African American unlike their supervisor, thought the comment was hilarious. I am four months pregnant had to stand in 90% heat from 1pm-6pm, with my oldest child. We had not eaten nor had anything to drink all day. How does this company continue to take food out of our family’s mouth and charge people $75 on a $3 parking that was already paid. How dare “Mike” call anyone such names and continue to keep a job. This company “Advanced Booting Services” should be shut down. Michael G Jacob and Jeffrey Phillips are the owners.

We are filing a class action and would like to talk to anyone who feels they were illegally booted. Email me for contact info

I BEAT THE BOOT ! WHile the boot guy was parked, but idling, in the lot, I walked up behind his p/u truck. Whne he got in to leave, I got on my cell phone and turned away from him so I could pretend not to hear his plea for me to move. When he pulled up to maneuver around me, I stepped even closer, trapping him tighter inot his parking spot. Frustrated, he tried slowly backing into me. I slapped the back of his truck, yelped out loud in pain and fell to the ground. Now, I had effectively BOOTED him! He could not move his car and I was not going to move until my boot was removed. The smartass called an ambulance. A fire truck, a paramedic and an Atlanta policeman showed up. When I told them my story, and that I was fine and regretted that their time was wasted, everyone left but the cop. He continued to press the boot guy (and his boss's who showed up during all the excitement) for a resolution to this situation, since they had made the emergency call. They continued to get me to pay $75 for the boot to be removed and I stood fast, refusing to pay a dime and refusing to move out of behind their vehicle. After about an hour of fun, they finally conceded and removed the boot from my vehicle for FREEEEEEEEE !

Nowhere in the O.C.G.A. (GA Code) is booting mentioned, or is it regulated in any way or licensed in any way by the state. State law trumps local law. Furthermore It isn't in the Atlanta city code either. The GA Governors office of consumer protection plainly spells this out in reference to O.C.G.A 44-1-13: " Please note that this Georgia law does NOT cover booting, non-consensual immobilization of an automobile, or consensual towing; nor does it cover towing from government property or towing within a municipality." The last boot I got in Buckhead, I told the 18 year old pothead boot man that I ran over a big piece of metal and that he needed to leave me alone because I felt threatened and compelled to defend myself with a lug wrench. I put on the spare tire and drove home, then used a saw to cut off the boot . I refuse to pay these gypsies for slapping a piece of metal on my vehicle on private property, especially when the property isn't even theirs and furthermore the state of Georgia doesn't have a single law in place making the practice legal.

Be careful when you go shopping to the "Disco Kroger" parking lot at 3330 Piedmond Rd in Buckhead, Atlanta. That mall is officially named Piedmond Peachtree Crossing and belongs to a real state company called Equity One, Inc.
Equity One, Inc has a company called EPS working in their parking lots. EPS is located at 1039 Grant St. Atlanta, GA. EPS places a yellow tire lock on your tire if you leave the parking lot, even for 5 minutes, EVEN IF YOU ARE A CUSTOMER shopping at the center. EPS charges between $50 and 75 to have the boot removed.
I had my car booted yesterday in that parking lot. I went to drop off an envelope at the office building located across the street and came back to the mall to have lunch at "Piu Bello Pizzeria Restaurant". It did not take me more than 5 minutes to drop off the envelope and come back to the mall to eat. Lunch took about 30 min. When I left the pizzeria I found my car booted and there was an "immobilization notice" on my window that said: $75 per day - Visa, MC, Cash. We accept credit cards 24 hours a day. Please have payment ready when technician arrives". The note was signed by "technician 102" and had a phone number to call [protected].
I called the number and the "technician" asked me to have the payment ready. I told him I WAS A CUSTOMER AND HAD A RECEIPT. The technician did not want to remove the boot without pay. I called 911. A police car came and the police officer told me that there was nothing he could do. I called the EPS office at 404. 605.9242 and a rude female voice told me to pay. My next move was to go back to the pizzeria and ask for assistance calling EPS. The business responsible was "busy" with other customers and asked me to wait. I reminded him that my husband is a regular customer at his place and then he called EPS. Finally, "technician 102" removed the boot with no pay.
The ordeal took 2 hours of my valuable time. That afternoon, I called Cymona Casey, Equity One Inc property manager responsible for the "Disco Kroger" or "Piedmond Peachtree Crossing Mall". I told her that I could not believe how customers were mistreated in that shopping center and expressed a complaint. As of today, I have not received a written apology from her company or EPS.
My questions are: Is car booting legal? Is car booting of CUSTOMERS legal? Is Equity One Inc profiting from this scam? Is their CEO Jeffrey S. Olson aware of what is going in his shopping centers? I wonder if Equity One Inc, based in North Miami Beach, FL and quoted in the stock market knows what's going on.
For my part, I am scared to death of that mall. I will definitely think it twice before going to that mall to spend my $$$s. There are other malls and other shops where the shopping experience is more pleasant, to say the least. No one likes to see gorillas asking for money to remove a boot.

I parked at the Caribou coffee on 1000 Piedmont Avenue Northeast Atlanta, GA. I had several times gone across the street to Flying biscuit for food and came back to Caribou for coffee before leaving. This time, some dude was there from the company and he booted me the minute I left the parking lot. These companies are vultures on Atlanta and need to be stopped. $75 dollars is outrageous for a parking ticket (if I could consider that what the booting is). I will no longer be going to any of these places for lunch because of this practice. If businesses want our money, they have to help us get rid of these booting companies.

same thing happen to me I went to flying biscuit then went to caribou coffee came back to a booted car...the guy didn't even want to hear me out...I went into a business on that parking lot! Scammers!

I anyone has been booted at Skyhouse Midtown or Skyhouse South in Atlanta, GA by CPS booting, contact me at drum1805@yahoo.com subject "Booted". I found that both locations are in violation of City of Atlanta Code of Ordinance Section 162-261 item 1. Atlanta, GA Code of Ordinances Section 162-261, Signs, item (1) clearly indicates;
"Signs shall be located at each designated entrance to a parking lot or parking area where parking prohibitions are to be effective. Where there is no designated entrance, such signs shall be erected so as to be clearly visible from each and every parking space."
At Skyhouse South (located at 7th and Juniper Street, there is one sign and it is well aft of the entrance. In fact, it looks to be at a different entrance. I was parked forward of the sign and got booted. At Skyhouse Midtown, there is one sign at only one of the two entrances, and it is NOT visible from the parking spaces. Violation of the ordinance carries a fine of up to $1000 and a 30 day suspension of their contract and or license.
I sent them a certified letter with pictures and a copy of the ordinance. I'm offering for them to settle out of court for $150, or if they choose court, I will add lost tips and wages, and they could be fined up to $2000 and a 60 day suspension for the two violations combined. If anyone who has been booted there still has their receipt, we can each do the same, or all of us file small claims as I will depending on their response. Just 10 people would be almost enough to shut them down.
Here's the link. Go to Section 162-261.
https://www.municode.com/library/ga/atlanta/codes/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=COORATGEVOII_CH162VEHI_ARTVVEIMSE_S162-266VENOIMUPOPVERE