Complaint Review: Central Parking/Rivercenter Mal

On Sunday 8/15 I drove into the Crockett St Rivercenter Parking Garage (run by Central Parking) with a ticket stamped for 2:24pm.  I ran into the food court, bought 2 drinks and a slice of pizza, and was out of the mall shortly before 3:00.  Returning to the parking garage, I was originally amused to see cars backed up in both directions, thinking that people were holding things up by pulling in and out of parking spaces.  I quickly found myself locked into my own parking space, but finally got out and noted the time as 3:13.  So, 10 minutes was spent simply waiting for the traffic jam to give me space to get out of my spot.

I then spent the next 20 minutes sitting in a long line of cars trying to exit the lot.  When we finally turned the last corner, we split into 2 exit booth lanes, and I chose the right lane.  I was ~the 5th car in that line, and watched as the other lane moved its occupants thru about 3 times faster than my lane moved.  The car ahead of me took almost 5 full minutes to be allowed to exit. 

When I finally reached the booth, I turned in my ticket and the $3.00 owed for 1 hour of parking - only to be told that I owed $6.00 since I'd been there longer than an hour.  I pointed out that I'd been sitting in an exit line for over 30 minutes, and that their own policy states they don't charge for delays in exiting the garage.  The clerk told me that was only for events, that there was no event going on, and it's not their fault everyone chooses to leave at once!  Rather than continue to hold up the cars behind me, who I'm sure were also overcharged for the garage's inability to handle their business, I paid the $6.00 for my 18 minute overage. 

This is outrageous and nothing but theft.  San Antonio is a wonderful tourist town, and we never object to prices, taxes, etc., but the policies of this parking garage will ensure that we never use a Central lot again, regardless of how convenient it might be.