My friend and I attended an event in Hollywood, where Chuck's Parking was offering their valet services. At 10:00 pm I handed the attendee the ticket to get my car. After waiting 20 minutes in the freezing cold I found out my car was no longer there because they had given it to someone else. I immediately asked how they could give a car to someone without a ticket. They explained to me that a woman had lost her ticket, but swore up and down that the car belonged to her. I again questioned how they could give a car to someone without a ticket, just because she claimed it was hers, or without even bothering to check her ID against the registration, but the response I received was vague. I told them that I was going to file a police report, which they tried to convince me not to, because the car "was not stolen." I'm sorry my car is in the possession of someone I do not know, so yes it's stolen. The valet service eventually got the woman's car and found a contact number for her husband. The husband said he would bring the car back as soon as she arrived home. Apparently she was only 10 minutes away. Well, about 2:30 am, over 5 hours later, I finally received my car back. The whole situation was handled very inappropriately, I was not made to feel at ease, and I had to beg to be reimbursed for gas. Mind you the person who took my car lived over an hour away (so that's 2 hours round trip of gas). We were offered a ride home, but the valet attendant that was supposed to take us home started making inappropriate comments about having "a two for one special tonight" and isn't he lucky to have "two sexy ladies with me" and "they should just put us up in a hotel and we can party." Needless to say we didn't take the valet shuttle home with him and had to call someone else to pick us up.
The next day when I called to file an official letter of complaint was not any better. I spoke to the vice-president, Joel Groves. He barely let me speak and made it seem like there was nothing his company could have done to rectify the situation other than what they did. Not once was I apologized to nor was I asked if the gas money I had to beg for was enough, or did I need to be reimbursed for the days work I had to miss and the extra hours my friend had to pay her baby sitter. When I asked for an email and mailing address to send an official letter of complaint the response I got was, "Well, you can write it, but it's just going to come to me." As if to say my letter would not be important because he would be the only one to see it.
I was really disappointed with the way the whole situation was handled, especially considering the fact that I didn't yell or scream or get crazy, as I know others would have. I am even more upset that when I spoke to the vice president, Joel, that he didn't even seem apologetic and was in fact quite rude and demeaning, almost as if this situation was not his company's fault. I will never use Chuck's Parking Service again, nor do I recommend you do either. read more