Parking issues in Avon face greater scrutiny after settlement with Colorado attorney general

Since Hoffmann Commercial Real Estate began charging to park in the lots it owns in Avon, frustration with the new system has abounded throughout town. A settlement with the office of the state’s attorney general has only increased scrutiny on the Florida-based company and the Aurora-based agency it uses to collect parking fees.

Hoffmann Commercial Real Estate uses Parking Revenue Recovery Services to issue fees of $87 to those who do not pay for parking in its lots. In August, Parking Revenue Recovery Services, which is based in Aurora, entered into a settlement after the Colorado Attorney General’s office found that it had wrongly served nearly 450 people with collection notices that totaled more than $31,000 in fees.

The office of Phil Weiser, Colorado’s attorney general, found that Parking Revenue Recovery Services wrongly served the notices for three main reasons. First, people were mistakenly billed who had paid for parking but accidentally mistyped their license plate number. Second, people were billed despite never parking in the lot — either because someone mistakenly entered their plate number, or their license plate was captured driving through the lot, not parking. Third, people were billed because they paid for parking but did not submit the payment within a 15-minute grace period.

As a result of the settlement, going forward, Parking Revenue Recovery Services is required to dismiss all notices billed to consumers who paid for parking but entered the wrong license plate number when paying, dismiss all notices billed to the wrong consumer, and increase the grace period before sending a fee notice to 20 minutes.

The terms of the settlement apply to everywhere the company operates in the state of Colorado.

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“The settlement applies to the entire state, so anyone in Avon who believes that they have been mistreated, believes the company has not followed the terms of the settlement, should first let the company know about it, and then let us know about it,” Weiser said in an interview with the Vail Daily. “And that includes the grace period, it includes the situation where a consumer may have entered in the wrong license plate, or if they were given erroneous notices.”

The Attorney General’s office will be watching Parking Revenue Recovery Services through August for potential violations of the settlement and is prepared to take action.

“If consumers don’t get satisfaction, they should let us know about it,” Weiser said. “We have this agreement which provides us a tool to protect consumers.”

Timeline woes

The settlement between the Colorado Attorney General’s office and Parking Revenue Recovery Services was signed by both parties on Aug. 29. Parking Revenue Recovery Services, under employ by Hoffmann Commercial Real Estate, had already begun installing parking monitoring hardware — cameras — in Hoffmann-owned lots as of Aug. 21, according to emails shared with the Vail Daily.

Whether or not Hoffmann Commercial Real Estate staff was aware of the legal proceedings when first deciding to work with Parking Revenue Recovery Services, the settlement was published online on Aug. 30.

“Any entity can look up what we found PRRS did, and can decide, based on that, to do business or not with them, but once PRRS is doing business, they have to comply with the agreement that we have in place,” Weiser said.

Does the Hoffmann grace period violate the settlement?

Some of the signs posted by Hoffmann read that customers have a grace period of 15 minutes to pay for parking. According to the terms of the settlement, Parking Revenue Recovery Services cannot fine customers within a mandatory 20-minute grace period.

“Pursuant to our settlement, they have committed to a grace period of 20 minutes, and they’ve committed to allow us to inspect their books and their records to make sure they comply with that requirement,” Weiser said.

According to Weiser, it is permitted for the signs to claim a 15-minute grace period, so long as Parking Recovery Revenue Services does not send a fee notice until after a grace period of 20 minutes.

“If consumers aren’t given the 20-minute grace period, they can complain, and the requirement under our resolution is that all consumer disputes need to be shared with us until this August. If consumers have a problem, they should complain (to Parking Revenue Recovery Services), and we should hear about it,” Weiser said.

Who might have a case?

The Attorney General’s office is monitoring Parking Revenue Recovery Services through August to ensure the company adheres to the requirements of the settlement.

“We are watching and waiting to see if we do hear about more violations, or learn about a basis to take further action,” Weiser said.

The Attorney General’s office relies on people submitting complaints to spur action.

“We need to hear from you when a company is breaking the law or violating requirements imposed on it,” Weiser said.

Weiser encouraged those who believe they have been issued a fee notice by Parking Revenue Recovery Services in violation of the settlement to complain to the company, and also file a complaint with his office.

“We really do value the input. We do look at each one, and because we rely on people, everyone’s voice matters,” Weiser said.

Substantive complaints submitted to the Attorney General’s office will be examined, and potentially investigated. If the Attorney General’s office investigation finds substantial evidence that Parking Revenue Recovery Services has violated the terms of the settlement, there are several possible courses of action, including taking the company to court.

“(The settlement) is a binding requirement, and, depending on the nature of the violation, we have the right to follow up, and to go to court and to seek additional damages,” Weiser said.

“We’ve had that situation before, where we had an agreement that has been put into place, and then companies have breached it, and we’ve had to go to court, and that is something that we are willing to do when and if a company fails to follow the law and following binding requirements,” Weiser said.

The Attorney General’s office is ready to take action to protect consumers, should the need arise.

“As a general matter of my enforcement philosophy, I reserve a special emphasis and disapproval for companies who engage in willful violations,” Weiser said. “This company is on notice that what they’re doing is wrong, they’ve been required to operate clearly within the bounds of the law, and if we continue to hear from consumers that they’re not, we take that very seriously.”

Anyone who believes they have been billed by Parking Revenue Recovery Services in Colorado in violation of the terms of the settlement can file a complaint with the Attorney General’s office at StopFraudColorado.gov.