$5 Parking Meters?

[oneagain.livejournal.com]

I was in an office on Washington Street in Union Square the other day when a woman came in looking for quarters for the meter (she had wanted to run into the Subway to get food--wasn't planning on being there too long). I did not have any quarters on me, but I offered to put a dollar in the meter for her from my debit card. She thanked me but said she had done that before and a $5 charge showed up on her bank statement; she also said that this had happened to her boss somewhere else in Somerville, not too far away. I am wondering--has this happened to other folks--you went to put in $1 into a Somerville parking meter via debit or credit card and were charged $5?

Comments

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

Uh, why are you asking us? If there was ever a case where calling 311 would be appropriate, this would be it.

[oneagain.livejournal.com]

Because I wanted to know if anyone else reading this has had this experience before. I don't know this woman personally and don't have any real way to verify that this happened except to take her word for it; if other folks have had this experience, it would lend credence to her story and perhaps *then* I would ask. Apologies, I thought that was clear when I asked if others have had this happen.

[avjudge]

"Hi, 311, if I use your parking meters will they rip me off?" Somehow I don't think they'll say "yes, it happens."

[prunesnprisms.livejournal.com]

I have never had this happen to me. That said -- there is a thing that a lot of businesses do to authorize a card, particularly at a restaurant or at a gas pump, to bounce a charge off the card, then update the total later. For gas pumps, this is part of paying at the pump, and for restaurants it's usually to accomodate the tip. If you look at an electronic bank record immediately after one of these types of charges it may not be the correct total.

I have no knowledge of whether this is applicable to the situation.

[drella1966.livejournal.com]

One Word: Somerville
Three words: Sick of It

[tom-champion.livejournal.com]

There are two different parking meter systems that take credit cards in Somerville lots: multi-space kiosks and special single-head meters. So far as I know, neither technology would allow you to buy up to five hours of parking at one time, which is the only way a credit card could get charged legally for that amount. I admit my knowledge on this topic is slightly out of date, because I tend to use to quarters -- and when I do use a credit card, I've never had to buy the maximum amount of parking and I've never had any problems with excessive charges.

But I know for a fact that all of the credit card transactions, regardless of technology, are logged and trackable in real time from a central location. If someone really did get an excessive charge, T&P could track it and return their money.

So I would go ahead and call or email 311 on Monday to ask the question. But I've never heard of this happening, and would like more information if someone has it.

[vibrantabyss.livejournal.com]

The OP seemed to be speaking of debit cards. Some banks are evil and charge a transaction fee on the use under some circumstances, or used to, like using a non-bank ATM. I thought all of that had gotten stomped out. But really, that sounds more like a bank issue than a Somerville issue.

[treacle-well.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's what it sounded like to me too.

[pierceheart.livejournal.com]

T&P could track it and return their money.

Bwahahaha.

[masswich.livejournal.com]

While we're on the subject- assuming you don't think the city is evil, it's worth thinking about the fact that the credit card charges cost the city money. In fact, I have heard that cities actually lose money or at least give most of it to the credit card company when you charge $0.25 or $0.50. So if you want the city to get the money rather than some credit card company, use change when you can.

Not that I have never charged a parking meter fee, even on as little at a quarter, when I was out of change. But if I have the loose change I'd rather give the money to my schools and streets than to Visa or Mastercard.

[intuition-ist.livejournal.com]

I'd rather give my money to schools and streets if i thought any of it was actually being used for that. Alpine St. and Orchard St. in particular are potholed wrecks. :\

[ron_newman]

Orchard Street is on the city's list for repaving this year.

[clevernonsense.livejournal.com]

i heard somerville actually uses most of its revenue to kill puppies.

[srakkt.livejournal.com]

There's the similar practice wherein a payment processing service places a hold (auto rental agencies, hotels, and gas pumps all do this; some restaurants as well) on some estimated amount of funds for debit cards, which is later released. If the cardholder examines their balance frequently, it would appear that the card had been overcharged, but later that charge is reversed by the payment processing company.

[sparr0.livejournal.com]

It occurs to me that I'm very active on the internet and have been paying attention to Boston-area matters for about a year now in planning visits and to move up there, but this is only the second time I've encountered mention of "311", and the first was very recently. How do "normal people" find out about this service?

[cos]

311 is a municipal service. If your town offers it, they use a variety of methods to let you know about it. However, those methods are not aimed at reaching non-residents, so if you don't live there you won't necessarily know.

http://www.somervillema.gov/departments/constituent-services

[ron_newman]

Somerville has 311 and promotes it heavily. To my knowledge, Boston, Cambridge, and Medford don't. I don't know if any other suburb does around here.

It should work on your cellphone based on where your phone is currently located (NOT on what area code and exchange its phone number belongs to)

[intuition-ist.livejournal.com]

clever name! :P

[tom-champion.livejournal.com]

In 2006, Somerville became the first community in New England to adopt a "true" 311 system. (Martha's Vineyard had used the 311 number before Somerville, but it didn't link to trained multi-departmental constituent service reps. Instead, it was used solely to segregate non-emergency calls to the Dukes County E911 call center.)

Last year, Cambridge reserved the number for its exchanges and cell towers but has yet to implement an actual program. In 2006 and 2007, Somerville was the only U.S. city with a population <=100,000 to have both a full-scale 311 system and a mass notification ("Reverse 911") system. A few other cities have joined us since then (including Springfield, MA).

Boston has long had a Mayor's 24 Hour Constituent Service Line, which is a similar but not identical service. Newton has a "311" service, but it's available only through their website: they don't have a phone portal or a call center. New York City, Chicago, Baltimore and many other large U.S. cities have full 311 technology.

The 311 concept -- phone calls and emails answered by trained reps who assign track-able case numbers to every contact and who can answer most routine queries for city information and services (regardless of department) -- is increasingly seen as an integral component of data-driven performance management systems. But many municipalities don't have the resources or the political will to adopt a new system that requires major procedural changes -- and that increases departmental accountability to central management and to the general public.

Within Somerville's borders, most cell calls and all landline/VOIP calls (except for Vonage or Skype calls) should go to our call center. From outside the city, you can reach the center by calling 617-666-3311.

Somerville built its 311 system incrementally -- adding departments, hours of operation and languages over time-- and on a shoestring budget. Much of the software was developed and/or customized specifically for Somerville by small technology companies looking to penetrate the 311 market. We could never have afforded the multimillion-dollar comprehensive turnkey solution pioneered and marketed by Motorola. Today, when Somerville sends out bids for software solutions to support pubic works, or traffic and parking, operations, we specify that it has to interact seamlessly with the 311 back-end database.

It's not a panacea, but 311 is a proven way to improve communications, performance and accountability across the face of city government.

[grateful1311.livejournal.com]

We only do that every 3rd Tuesday of the month....

I'm just kidding, of course.

[pywaket.livejournal.com]

Not every first and third? Except on the even side.....

;-)

[grateful1311.livejournal.com]

Good come back.
;)

[progressnerd.livejournal.com]

I once paid for a parking ticket with a Bank of America credit card and got a surcharge from BoA tacked on. When I called to find out what that was about, they said they automatically tack on a surcharge if you use your credit card to pay for parking tickets or bail bonds, because, well, they could. They probably figure the easiest surcharges to get away with are those against people who already did something "wrong". Anyway, if this were a BoA card, maybe paying at the parking meter is mislabeled by BoA as a parking ticket and incurring that same surcharge. Just one guess.