“Dear PoPville,
My boyfriend and I live in Shaw, and because we live in a building that has a parking garage (at a price tag of over $200 a month) we are not eligible for a DC street parking permit. We pay DC taxes, we have DC plates on our car, but we cannot park on the streets of the city where we live.
Because we cannot park on the street, we have to deal with the parking companies. The company that runs the lot in our building is U Street Parking. They own a significant amount of the parking garages and lots in DC (between U Street Parking and Laz, they seem to own almost all the garages). In this particular garage, they seem to make most of their money off of valet parking and those who park in the garage for work.
The company and the garage have the worst service of any company I have ever experienced (maybe save for Comcast). The parking fob that we use to get in and out of the garage almost never works. We have frequently been stuck in the garage unable to get out or outside of the garage unable to get in because the fob does not work. This is especially infuriating on a weekend when there is no one in the office. They will assign us a new fob, and the new fob is also non functional. When we call, staff is unapologetic about the recurring issues. I have left endless unreturned voicemails with the “manager,” but I’m sure my calls are going to some unanswered line. I know this is a very first world problem, but because we cannot park on the street, we have no other choice in where to park our car (and U Street Parking knows this). They get away with poor service and I feel like we are flushing money down the drain every month. Our building accepts our complaints, but claims they cannot do anything because the parking lot is owned and managed by U Street Parking and is not within their domain.
I wish we could get rid of the car, but my boyfriend needed the car to get to work in a non-metro accessible area of Virginia. And with all the track work and general metro dysfunction, without the car, we wouldn’t be able to get anywhere outside of the District on the weekends. I know others in our building are frustrated too, but other than moving, we don’t seem to have any options. Have others had similar experiences and/or dealt more effectively with this company?”
