My Experiences with Diamond Parking

Diamond Parking is a Seattle based company, which has been cited in various sources on the internet for questionable, and unethical business practices.  I am one of those people who happened to be caught up in one of their scams.  On January 29, 2011 I attended an appointment at my rheumatologist at 3330 Richter Street, Kelowna, BC - known as the South Richter Professional Center.  I happened to be 10 minutes early, so I went to drop off a prescription across the street, and then entered for my appointment.  The doctor was running late, so about 90 minutes elapsed by the time I returned to my car, to find a violation ticket by Diamond Parking, stating that owner left facility without the vehicle.  On the ticket it was written $33.60 if I paid within 10 days, or $56.00 if paid after 10 days.

I then proceeded to phone the number on the back of the ticket, and the lady who answered the phone was quite rude.  She stated that she's heard it all before, and that I would have to pay the ticket no matter what, unless I got a written letter from my doctor stating I was there.  Unfortunately, I am under no uncertain terms willing to disclose any facts whatsoever about my medical problems - and no one should be subjected to that.  And then I stated to the BITCH that I would not pay, and that they would have to bring the matter before the courts if they wanted their money bad enough.  So I waited, and one month later I received a letter from a collection agency (Wiggins)  this time with a $30.00 service charge added.  And ten days later, they phoned me, and I found out that the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia provides them access to the registry for a $6.00 fee per transaction.  I then sent a letter back, stating that I blatantly refused to pay, and then they followed up with a notice stating that I owed them $199.  Afterwards, I asked my brother, who is a lawyer, and he stated "They Can't do that.  The Criminal Code of Canada Section 347 makes this clear, and anyone contravening this can be punished by up to 5 years imprisonment, and a fine of twenty five thousand dollars.  The Business Practices and Consumer Protection Act of British Columbia licenses collection agencies, who cannot intimidate you, call you after certain hours, or must stop contacting you by telephone and subsequently only by letter.  Furthermore, it is quite difficult for them to tarnish your credit rating, and there are ways you can fight back quite easily as well, and they are very, very unlikely to take you to court.