DENVER — When a parking ticket showed up in the mail, Casey Hillenburg couldn't figure it out.
He remembered paying for parking, then he checked his credit card and saw the transaction went through. But he was still on the hook for an $80 ticket.
"I’ve paid there before. I haven’t had an issue," Hillenburg said. "I ended up paying this time $20 for all day parking, and they ended up giving me an $80 ticket."
Hillenburg parked at a surface lot located at 16th and Wazee streets in downtown Denver. He attempted to dispute the ticket with a company called Parking Revenue Recovery Services.
"I called them, and then they say the proof of my credit card statement is not proof enough to prove that I paid for parking," Hillenburg said.
He has parked at the lot before, but this time the machine wasn't working, so he paid using a QR code. Hillenburg said he didn't remember receiving any kind of receipt.
"It just went 'Thank you for purchasing,' flew back to another screen and there was no kind of proof."
Contact Denver7 reached out to Parking Revenue Recovery Services. The company's executive vice president, John Conway, said Hillenburg should not have been ticketed. He said he was able to find out that Hillenburg paid and voided the ticket.
Conway also added that the parking lot uses license plate recognition software, and they've flagged this as an issue. He said anyone paying with a QR code should keep their proof of payment.
Hillenburg is relieved he doesn't have to pay the ticket and thanked Contact Denver7.
"I work two jobs, I usually get about one day off a week," Hillenburg said. "I don’t have enough money to be giving it away."
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