Unfair parking fees in SM
September 2nd, 2007 by twixterI went to Megamall to meet up with my
honey. We were supposed to kill our time before i report for work, but
what happened was such hellish!
Parking was full, they still had let me in. When I got there, there
were SO MANY cars waiting for vacant slots. I roamed every level until
I reached the rooftop, but to no avail.
I called my hon and we decided to leave the mall and go somewhere
else where we can have a decent parking. At the 4th level cashier, the
lady was demanding that I pay P45 (flat rate). I said, “I wasn’t able
to get a parking space, why should i pay?”. She said it’s a policy. I
insisted to get a supervisor, many cars have been waiting on queue. She
asked me to go to the next level.
I thought the supervisor will wait for me at the next level. I
roamed the whole level, no space still. A lot of cars are still waiting
for their spaces. My hon arrived. We demanded that we leave. We
haven’t reached their 15-minute mark at the previous level, now they’re
asking us to look for a parking space at lower levels. Waste of time, waste of gasoline. I still demanded for a supervisor, the next cashier told the guard, the guards told the other guards, they asked us to wait.
A “parking slot” for TaBY
After for probably 5 minutes, no supervisor. They looked for a slot
for me. They asked me to follow the other guards. A guard led me to a
“parking slot” in between a big post and a metal barrier where cars
shouldn’t be parked at all.
If you could just imagine Megamall’s parking, once you go up the
ramp, my car’s the first one you’ll see, er, bump. It is alanganin. all
the cars are like, I I I I I , then my car is like — at the end, where
cars are making u-turns.
Customer Relations Office
So we were still expecting for a supervisor. The guards asked us to
go to an office, which is their customer relations office and talk to
another guard on duty and their commander. Seemed like they were not
informed of our complaint despite all those radio communications they
were “doing”.
We explained our side.. their policies of charging people P45 and
the expectations they’ve set that we’ll be talking to a supervisor. I
should have taken down the names of all those people. They were all
very helpful, Mr. Fernandez and Mr. Limbangon, but, we decided to leave
the mall instead. The “parking slot” they alloted for us was a danger.
We were in no mood to go to that mall anymore.
Our points:
- Other parking areas in other malls will not charge you anything if
you leave in 15 minutes, especially if you’re not able to find a
parking slot. You’re paying for the parking space anyway. Besides,
you’ve wasted enough gas already.
- 45 pesos? That’s nothing. We can pay for that, but hey, be FAIR. be fucking fair.
- Some parking areas have a pay-per-entry policy, but they won’t let you enter not unless there’s a vacant slot.
- If anybody asks for a supervisor, aren’t they entitled to speak to
a supervisor? These cashiers and guards told us they’ve contacted their
supervisor. THEY ARE SUCH LIARS.
- They do not have procedures for such complaints, or any complaint for that matter. If they do, they have a lot of loopholes.
The guards waived our P45 parking fee when we left, but the cashiers were like palengkeras
who were blaming each other for what happened. That’s not our problem.
If they had just called for a supervisor, they wouldn’t be whining like
that.
I’m not complaining about the parking fees if we are able to use
their services. They always have a disclaimer that it’s not their
responsibility for any loss or damages in the car, anyway, right? so
parking should be cheap, or free. Sen. Bong Revilla and the others should push for the ban on imposing fees in shopping malls.
We then headed to Trinoma instead. Larger parking lots, bigger mall, better ambiance.
at first, it was a movie i was hesitant to watch. When Rich mentioned in 
