Man Pays $80 Parking Fine in $2 Monthly Installments
The Original Post
I went to a downtown restaurant last year and as in many downtown areas, street parking is hard to find. I ended up parking in a lot and paid for 2 hours. I can’t quite remember how much it was, but I’m gonna guess it was about $30. I ended up over staying my alotted time by 30 minutes. No big deal, I thought. About a week later, I get a bill from the company that owns the lot. They wanted to charge me $80! for the 30 minutes. I tried calling to dispute the charge and while they did give me $20 off, I was still on the hook for $60…for half an hour of parking.
So, I went to my bank account and scheduled 30 monthly payments of $2 figuring that if they’re going to charge me, I’d create the hassle of them having to process a $2 check every month.
I guess they decided that it wasn’t worth it. Because today, after only 10 payments, I got the 11th check back in the mail with a note that my account has been paid in full. They wrote off $40 just to not have to process my $2 checks anymore, lol
What Reddit Said
Redditors absolutely loved this petty revenge story. Most commenters praised OP’s creative solution to an obviously predatory parking fee. However, many were shocked that a company would charge $80 for just 30 minutes of overtime parking.
The community was particularly impressed by the outcome. In fact, several users noted that the company essentially proved OP’s point about their unreasonable charges. Moreover, many shared their own similar experiences with predatory parking companies.
The Verdict
The overwhelming consensus: this is brilliant malicious compliance. OP turned an unfair parking fine paid in installments into a lesson for a greedy company. This is a perfect example of malicious compliance where following the rules exactly leads to sweet justice. Therefore, Reddit declared this a total victory for the little guy against corporate greed.
Original post from r/MaliciousCompliance (1,465 upvotes, 83 comments)