Kelowna woman stressed out over private parking ticket
A Kelowna woman is worried her credit rating could take a hit because of an unpaid parking ticket, but it's not quite that simple.
Marissa Johnson works on Tutt Street as a nursing supervisor. She said she parks in front of her company's building all the time.
In September she got an $80 parking ticket issued by Diamond Parking Service, a private company.
Johnson said she called Diamond, explained that her parking pass was on her dash, she was told that Diamond cancelled the ticket and that was the last she thought of it.
Much to her surprise, she recently got a letter in the mail from a collections company indicating she owes $111, plus $6 in interest for the unpaid ticket.
Johnson said she called Diamond for an explanation and that the parking company told her they didn't have anything on file -- supporting her belief that the ticket was waived. But she said that doesn't explain why the ticket went to collections.
READ MORE: Why you really don't have to pay that private lot parking ticket
Johnson said she's too intimidated to call the collections company, Wiggins Adjustment Limited out of Langley.
The company's operations manager, David McGuire, said he could not comment on Johnson's file for privacy reasons.
He said Diamond has a policy of waiting up to four months before sending un-paid tickets to collections.
"Because they want to give the person they issued the ticket to ample opportunity to take care of it with them before they send it to collections," McGuire said.
McGuire said it's Diamond that adds any surcharges to unpaid tickets.
"We receive the account at $111. Diamond charges the interest," he said.
Johnson admits she's feeling stressed out and fears that her credit rating is going to be affected if she doesn't pay the ticket.
"I want to pay it right now. I'm a young girl in my twenties and getting these kinda things scares me," she said.
But the collections company said Johnson's credit rating will not be affected unless Diamond takes her to small claims court and wins.
However, McGuire said private parking companies do have the power to tow and impound a person's vehicle if they have more than one unpaid ticket and are found on private property they patrol.
Calls from iNFOnews to Diamond were not returned.
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