The other day I went to a concert and parked my car at a parking lot. When the concert ended, of course there were masses of people trying to exit the parking lot. There were only 2 cashiers to pay the parking ticket — no automated machines. So we waited over an hour to pay our ticket. Time that we ended up paying with our ticket (per hour parking). The cashier didn’t want to refund us for the waiting time. If the law doesn’t require any standards requiring waiting times — why would a parking operator ever be incentivized to have an efficient checkout system? Especially if they are the only parking in town. Anyways lots of sketchy consumer violations in this space.
Had an attendant try to pull a similar stunt once. I simply told them that I was willing to sit at the booth until it was resolved to my satisfaction, or the cops showed up, while cars piled up behind me. A few moments of hemming and hawing, and out I went no charge. I was willing to pay what was owed, but I imagine “the system” couldn’t handle that, so write it off.
Awesome. If more people stuck to their guns like this, the whole system would fall apart, and this racket wouldn't work. It does work though, because most people are pushovers and seek to avoid confrontation. If more people would stand their ground against obvious fraud, the world would be a better place!
While I agree that's a hassle, I don't think this should result in a refund. It's like ordering dinner, eating it, and then wanting a refund for the meal because you waited a long time for the meal.
No it's like renting a car for a daily rate to be returned any day by midnight, coming back to return the car at 11:45pm and having to wait till after midnight to pay and being expected to pay for another day. ( yes not perfect analogy, but same idea. You were ready to return it, and they were not )
Incidentally, if you go to a restaurant, and you waited a long time for your meal (that is longer than their required service time) most restaurants will comp your bill, or at least give you free bottle/desert for the inconvenience. For reference, I've worked in half a dozen restaurants over as many years, and they all did this.
It's like if you were paying for a meal by each minute taken to eat it, then the waiter left your food on the counter for an hour before bringing it over because they were busy, then they charged you for that hour because "it already left the kitchen"
Adding insult to injury caused by their own lack of preparedness.
It's more like eating dinner, finishing, and then no one being willing to take your money for an hour after you're ready to leave. A scenario that I've been in, and considered walking out, but the restaurant was too close to my house and I wanted to avoid any unpleasantness in the neighborhood.
i like it when i am asked to pay up front. on one side it feels pushy, like "you don't trust me, or what?", on the other it feels like a relief. it means i can relax, take my time as i want, as i don't need to account for additional check out time. also no more attempts to upsell me on more drinks, etc...
Until the food arrives, you don’t know how long it will take. When it arrives then you just... what, leave hungry?
I’m not paying just for food. I’m paying for the entire dining experience. I also probably have plans after the restaurant that are now delayed or a babysitter waiting at home for me to return. If you not only don’t deliver on a good dining experience but also inconvenience me I should get a refund. In my experience, restaurants generally understand that and I don’t even have to ask for the refund.
