ATLANTA — The company brought in to improve parking enforcement in Atlanta has been hit with so many consumer complaints that the Better Business Bureau has given ATL Plus Mobility a rare grade of F.
The city signed a five-year deal with ATL Plus in 2016 after consistent driver complaints about the previous parking contractor.
Then-Mayor Kasim Reed promised customer service would get better. The evidence suggests it’s just the opposite.
A year after the Chicago-based company took over parking enforcement in Atlanta, the BBB opened a file on the company, and a steady flow of complaints started piling up.
"We started getting and seeing a trend,” said Mike Boynton, of the Better Business Bureau.
Boynton told Channel 2 investigative reporter Richard Belcher that the complaints fell into three categories:
- Drivers receiving tickets in areas not clearly marked as requiring a parking fee.
- ATL Plus adding penalty fees when customers disputed a charge.
- Consumers saying they’ve paid tickets but were not being honored.
“They said that there was a question about we've already paid it, and now they're coming back for more," Boynton said.
Boynton said drivers complained of an inability to reach anyone at ATL Plus to get information or pursue a protest.
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It wasn't any better when the BBB said it tried to get answers from ATL Plus.
The bureau left messages asking whether ATL Plus worked for the city, the Atlanta Police Department or another government agency.
“No response to that,” is what Boynton said the agency got.
Boynton told Belcher that the BBB got the same response to the question of how do consumers find you.
The BBB also struggled to find any records showing that ATL Plus was registered with the state.
“Again, no response to that,” Boynton said.
So Boyton said the BBB awarded ATL Plus its lowest grade last fall in order to alert consumers.
“An F rating was given, and that's where it stands today,” Boynton said.
The BBB said ATL Plus has finally contacted the bureau and is promising to make changes.
The city sent a statement to Belcher saying that the allegations are disconcerting, and the city is taking a very serious look into the matter.
ATL Plus did not respond to Belcher’s request for a comment on this story.
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