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A HOSPITAL parking garage’s new payment system caused drivers to be hit with unexpected fees while focusing on medical emergencies.
Residents of Louisville, Kentucky have been complaining about the University of Louisville Hospital’s new automatic license plate scanning system for months.
The hospital garage’s new parking payment system catches many drivers off guard[/caption]
The resident said that focusing on getting treatment for his parents’ health issues caused him to be stuck with an $80 bill[/caption]
Patients and their families have a hard time juggling the medical problems that they go to the hospital for and disputing the garage’s billing system, NBC affiliate WAVE 3 reported.
The charging system also catches many drivers off guard as there are no ticket machines or manned booths anymore.
There are signs inside of the garage that instruct car owners to pay by phone, adding that a license plate scanner will handle the rest of their parking payment concerns.
One driver’s mom was in the hospital for a heart issue.
Additionally, his dad elsewhere for a quadruple bypass.
The Louisville resident complained to WAVE 3 about his issues with the hospital’s parking garage charging system.
He stressed how urgent his mom’s health was at the moment.
“Downloading an app was the last thing on our minds,” the car owner admitted.
He said that focusing on getting treatment for his parents’ health issues caused him to be stuck with an $80 bill.
UofL Health’s parking garage company signed an agreement with UofL Health back in 2022 to install new technology, a contract shows.
A spokesperson for the hospital wrote an apology for the confusion with the new system, according to WAVE 3.
“A parking violation feature, automating bills for vehicles not registered within the system, was activated for a limited time this past spring,” the representative admitted in a statement.
“It has since been deactivated, but some of the bills for those previous violations may still be arriving. Patients, and visitors of patients, who believe they were wrongfully charged,
“Should contact [email protected]. It is important to ensure each vehicle using the garage is registered on an account.”
Despite the change the hospital said was made, there are other local drivers who were hit with even bigger bills.
UofL Hospital's Statement on the Garage System
UofL Health’s parking garage signed an agreement with UofL Health back in 2022 to install new technology.
A University of Louisville Health spokesperson apologized for the confusion with the new system.
“A parking violation feature, automating bills for vehicles not registered within the system, was activated for a limited time this past spring. It has since been deactivated, but some of the bills for those previous violations may still be arriving. Patients, and visitors of patients, who believe they were wrongfully charged should contact [email protected]. It is important to ensure each vehicle using the garage is registered on an account,” the UofL representative said.
SOURCE: WAVE 3
“We’ve been to that hospital so many times that we didn’t pay attention to it,” local driver Randy Romans said.
“Kind of reminds me of the toll bridges. Nothing but problems.”
He and his wife had been battling the hospital’s parking garage contractor since April after she had surgery.
The problem stemmed from their license plate validation not working.
“Up on registration I asked them ‘do you need to validate my parking ticket?’ I didn’t get a ticket,” Romans explained.
“[They said] ‘no we go by plate numbers now, that’s why we got your plate number.’”
It wasn’t until weeks later that he learned he was even hit with a ticket.
“About a month later, I received a violation for the parking garage showing I owed $170,” Romans confessed.
Romans let Metropolis Parking, which operates the system, know what was going on as he didn’t get a voucher from the hospital’s registration for parking.
He explained that his wife had been in the hospital for knee surgery.
A representative cheerfully emailed back informing him that there was no free parking.
“Little upset,” the husband admitted.
“Especially when I contacted them, and they said, ‘everybody pays for parking.’ That’s not what we were told at the hospital when we checked in.”
There are signs on parking garage floors with the QR code for drivers to download the Metropolis app but there’s also a sign that urges car owners to remember their plate number to get it validated.
