Beware Construction Paper Parking Permit
We travel with our baseball team quite often, not every LaQunita is the same. At this location, we were given a parking permit to place on the dash board even though our vehicle information was given at the time of check in. On Sunday, my son and I were ready to go to his baseball game 30 mins away, only to find our vehicle was not there, our first thought was it was "Stolen", so we went inside to report it to the desk clerk who didn't seem too concerned, stated "it was probably towed, this happens all the time". She then asked if we put the Permit (piece of construction paper) on the dash, which I didn't . So she proceeded to tell me that's why you got towed and she would try and locate our vehicle. Right then and there felt like it was a Scam and we got caught up in it. She stated they use 3 towing companies of which neither of them had my vehicle. . She had to call the police dept to locate where the vehicle was stored. They were able to give her the information, of which she called only to ask why the vehicle was towed, and said it loud enough for us at to hear that the Permit was not placed on the dash, which I had already admitted. She then let me speak with wrecker driver, who stated that the hotel is the one who gave him the list of 7 vehicles to tow and there would be a $180.00 fee to get the vehicle released, and he would be there until 12:30pm. After the conversation, I asked the clerk how we were suppose to get to the towing company, she stated "don't know what you want me to do". I explained to her what means of transportation were in the area, she said she could call a taxi. After 10 min the taxi picked us up, I called the wrecker driver, to let him know we were 5 mins away. At which time he stated "Oh I had to leave, have a car I needed to go pick up, and he would return around 1:15pm and we would just have to wait, and the time now is 12:00pm. The taxi cost me $17 for a 5 mile ride, which dropped us off, basically on the feeder road. Luckily there was a tree, my son and I sat under in this 95 degree heat. The time now is 1:30pm still no driver. My husband then called the driver and explained that he didn't feel safe with his family sitting on the side of the road, could he please get ther ASAP. The driver agreed. It is 1:45pm and the driver did call my husband back to say he was around the corner. The driver finally got there almost 2:00pm with No Car on his wrecker, imagine that. He gets out and says "what's going on?" I said what do you mean, You towed my vehicle and I was a guest of the hotel, showed him the parking permit that was in the vehicle and he stated the hotel gave him the list and that he was just doing his job. So I voiced my opinion and felt the necessary steps were not taken, before the vehicle was towed such as, (1) the Permit did not say, If this is not placed on dash your vehicle will be towed. (2) There are no Signs posted in or outside in parking lot, that say No Permit, you will be Towed, and (3) List of vehicles were not verified with the hotel guest information. So he says he felt bad and knock off the Storage fee so now it only cost me $162.50 to get our vehicle released. This was still a total Rip Off! We never made my son's baseball game due to the amount of time it took us to retrieve the vehicle. We did follow up with Customer Service on Monday and made a formal complaint and expressed our 3 points of why this should have nerver happened, of which they took statements to send to hotel. The manager did call my husband and tried to work something out. My husband explained our 3 points again and made it Clear if parking is such an issue, with Fast Eddies, and their customers parking at the hotel, then Signs should be posted in parking lot, to discourage others from parking in Lot, which also may help guest to remember to place permit on dash or even give out the permits that hang on mirror. In the hotels defense, she did state that the desk clerks didn't have time to verify the vehicle information before they give list to wrecker due to too many guest. But my husband stated that the clerk had time to walk the parking lot and write down 7 license plate numbers that night. At which time she did offer a Complimentary Room to any LaQuinta, and since I had such a bad experience at that hotel, she would comp any other nights, if we would chose to stay there again. So this past weekend, we were in Austin area again for baseball, so to give manager the benefit of the doubt, called manager, to make good on her word, took 2 days for her to return our call. Once she returned the call, she offered to comp Sat night only and we would need to send the Voucher back to her that she just put in mail to us. So needless to say, this is not what was discussed and don't feel their actions were justified; therefore, I wasn't going to Waste the voucher on this hotel, so we stayed elsewhere, this weekend. So just beware of the Construction Paper Parking Permit!