Hello, my name is Coty Gradney. I run a trucking Company and decided to take my family to Louisiana for a family vacation. We drove from Texas and arrived in New Orleans and parked at premier parking lot 408. Right above the parking spot, there are signs that say sit in your car and pay for parking. Signage states to text a number, see pictures attached below, followed all the directions, take picture of license plate and parking spot number then we were off to explore New Orleans. We paid for 8 hours of parking, see pics. We came back in 4 hours, our car was booted. We called the number and they dispatched a thugged out guy in a Grey Honda Accord with spray painted clear cover over license plate so you can’t read it. We showed him the receipt, and the pics of doing the signage is directions, he told me he didn’t care the boot won’t come off unless we pay 130. I refused to pay an extortion fee, noticed 3 others having Same issue. One of the other ladies said she checked on google reviews and this happens a lot, we are not the first! I noticed this scam has been reported many times on google maps so I called 911 to report it. Police would not help, I called sheriffs office, still no help. We fought with the man for 2 hours before having to pay. We will never return to New Orleans again after this happened
Cody
Burleson,#2Author of original report
Mon, July 03, 2023
Hello, I run a trucking Company and decided to take my family to Louisiana for a family vacation. We drove from Texas and arrived in New Orleans and parked at premier parking lot 408. Right above the parking spot, there are signs that say sit in your car and pay for parking. Signage states to text a number, see pictures attached below, followed all the directions, take picture of license plate and parking spot number then we were off to explore New Orleans. We paid for 8 hours of parking, see pics. We came back in 4 hours, our car was booted. We called the number and they dispatched a thugged out guy in a Grey Honda Accord with spray painted clear cover over license plate so you can’t read it. We showed him the receipt, and the pics of doing the signage is directions, he told me he didn’t care the boot won’t come off unless we pay 130. I refused to pay an extortion fee, noticed 3 others having Same issue. One of the other ladies said she checked on google reviews and this happens a lot, we are not the first! I noticed this scam has been reported many times on google maps so I called 911 to report it. Police would not help, I called sheriffs office, still no help. We fought with the man for 2 hours before having to pay. We will never return to New Orleans again after this happened