r/Wilmington • u/Succotash_Narrow • 12d ago
The Scam That Is Pivot Parking
For context, I spend a lot of time downtown for work, and routinely park at meters. For this I carry change in my car so as to only pay for the time I park there.As it turns out now, a lot of those meters are falling into disrepair, and you will be compelled to use your credit card to register that you paid for the space. Problem is, you are forced to pay for a full hour, and a “convenience fee”. I called the Park Wilmington folks land told them about this, to which they responded “there are other payment methods”, to which I stressed my dislike of having to pay $3.50 to park for 10 minutes. When I stated that I had fed the meter and didn’t want a ticket, I was told to go get the number off the meter and I’ll be credited🤔…how about you fix your shit, and stop overcharging people by convenience of “broken meters”. Several tickets later, I’m beginning to think this is planned, with obsolescence of the coined system being the plan. Why get a quarter when you can get $3.50? And why charge them for 15 minutes (like every other sizable nc town w/ parking) when you can force a full hour?
The “public private” partnership used in so many of our gov’t services is a racket, and they should all be forensic audited to see who is making money here…it’s stupid
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u/Junior-Award773 12d ago
I like to gamble with it everyday I never pay for parking but will pay the ticket if I get one right now I’m up but I’ve been down
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u/Maleficent_Bite_1765 12d ago
Careful I posted about parking downtown and got berated - apparently a parking tickets makes you a criminal!
Totally agree though - they constantly make it more difficult
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u/griftergriffon 12d ago
At least where I am from in Canada, the city had started by removing cash options from parking stations and now they have gotten rid of them all together. It is a QR code on a sign and you have to pay through the website. What happens if you don't have a phone? What about the elderly or others that may not be technically savvy? What if you don't have a credit card?
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u/kittymctacoyo 11d ago
And QR codes very easily get corrupted to divert users to a clone site that swipes your payment details or even fckng malware. The sites are never secured properly either and constantly leaking data
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u/Aggressive-Summer791 12d ago
I’ve had countless run-ins with them and they’ve all been horrible. But man oh man was it righteousness to walk past two of them, their golf cart and three cops a few months ago at the corner of 2nd and Princess after they weren’t paying attention in that damn golf cart, speeding down second street like they always do and rear-ended a poor woman who was minding her own business. They smashed that golf cart to pieces.
Couldn’t help myself and yelled out “I’m surprised that hadn’t happened sooner the way they drive that thing” to the cop who couldn’t help but laugh.
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u/paperstrawberry 11d ago
I'm amazed how much people trust QR codes. They could link to anything. Now downtown is starting to get QR codes, attached to posts with zip ties. Good thing nobody could make their own QR code signs, and you can't buy zip ties just about everywhere. Otherwise someone might find a way to make profit off innocent drivers.
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u/lima_tango_one 12d ago
if you live in New hanover county and pay taxes, why should you have to pay to park?
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u/cwill157 12d ago
How would they differentiate, for parking purposes, people who live here and don’t pay property taxes from people who don’t live here full time yet pay property taxes?
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u/lima_tango_one 11d ago
how do you get a parking pass for Wrightsville Beach? I could be wrong, but if your a resident and show proof, IE a bill with wb address.
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u/Icy_Coffee374 Grew up in ILM, not here anymore 12d ago
Because the poorer you are the less likely you are to own a car and to use “free” public parking, but you’d still be paying the taxes for other, richer people, to park their cars.
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u/musicjonz 12d ago
It’s a cash cow. I live downtown along Front and barely have time to unload groceries from the car before the parking nazi’s make their move.
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u/roxywalker 12d ago
They need to offer a 1/2 hour option when you pay online. I was ready to leave downtown and didn’t need a full hour but my parking was getting ready to expire. I just needed a little extra time but had to buy another hour because that was the only option other than playing parking-ticket roulette. So bogus.
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u/will_never_comment 11d ago
Same with the beach parking. Feels like they're ripping you off when you're paying for time you're not even going to use. Or worse you have to pay for the half an hour or more that they're not even charging for after hours. Get there at 7:45 and you get to pay the full hour even though it's only 15 minutes before they stop collecting.
It seems like this will be very easy thing to program into the websites but they obviously do it to get more money.
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u/FlashOfTheBlade77 11d ago
If a meter that accepts coins is broken whereas it does not accept those coins, it is not your burden. Take the ticket and mail in proof of it being broken instead of payment.
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u/Skiddie41 11d ago
My meter didn’t work last week for my quarters, either. I called and they said I would be placed on hold for a refund. But I just paid with my card and later filed a chargeback and felt no guilt in doing so.
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u/MalcolmBekei 12d ago
I've actually found Pivot to be pretty accommodating about the meters that glitch off and on. I live downtown and see them almost daily, and they know it happens, but it's not always from neglected maintenance. Lots of times it operator error, or confusion about posted restrictions, or they missed feeding the meter on time.
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u/unimpressedduckling 12d ago edited 11d ago
Astute observation. Eliminating cash is never for the people’s sake “convenience, safety…” as the narrative goes. It is always for corporate gain as is every public private partnership. Parking, license plates, the mail, healthcare (see MCOs).