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$19 Parking In Hoboken... For 10 Minutes... AND HE GAVE ME A DISCOUNT!!!!

By
Real Estate Agent with Liberty Realty, LLC

$19 Parking In Hoboken... For 10 Minutes... AND HE GAVE ME A DISCOUNT!!!!

If you're from the area, most of us have already heard the sad news.  One of Hoboken's landmarks, Barnes & Noble, is closing it's doors on March 31, 2010.  Which of course means HUGE discounts on books!  SO... I decided to stop in this afternoon and see what was left. 

If you've been to our Mile Square town of Hoboken, you know available parking spaces do not exist.  Barnes & Noble has always done a 'noble' thing by validating your parking ticket if you park in the lot next door (Washington Street & Observer Highway), The Central Parking System.  If they validate you're ticket you only pay $1.00 for an hour. 

I'm in the store 55 minutes, so I run out to just make my hour.  As I waited in line, waited for the guy to take his time shuffling through keys... waited, waited, waited.. He finally gets to me and scans my ticket.  I hand him $20 and he hands ME a dollar back.  I said.. "Umm.. buddy... I think you mixed that up... YOU take the dollar and give me $19." 

He tells me I was 9 minutes over the hour which means "actual rates apply".  $9 for the first hour, $5.00 each additional hour and $5.00 for having a larger vehicle.   What!!!!??? 

He gives me this pre meditated speech ... "It's not me, it's the computer.. blah blah blah"... I started to get worked up over it, but quickly realized where I was.  Everybody knows everybody in Hoboken.  I right away thought, with my luck, my Broker or a client or another agent will be watching somewhere... plus the little !#*%er already had my money.  Then he tells me some crap that it should be $24 but he gave me a $5.00 discount... I didn't even waste my time or my sanity asking what THAT $5.00 was for. 

I couldn't believe it!  It's cheaper to park in New York!  For 1 hour and 9 minutes $19.00.  What a scam!  So much for a discount at Barnes & Noble... who needs it anyway with discounts like that at The Central Parking System!

Posted by

Vienna Bello, GRI, SFR
Licensed Real Estate Agent 
Liberty Realty, LLC
1 Marine View Plaza
Hoboken, NJ 07030
O: 201-610-1010
C: 201-725-8102
F: 201-526-4520
E: vbello@libertyrealestate.com

Eric J
Eric J - Dream Home Financing - Freehold, NJ
Dream Home Financing

Vienna, I am not surprised. The other thing is if you paid cash the guy may have scammed you putting the $1 in the register and the rest in his pocket.

Mar 27, 2010 01:30 PM
Tom Boos
Sine & Monaghan Realtors, Real Living - Grosse Pointe Farms, MI
Providing the very best of service to Sellers and

There is NO WAY I'd frequent any store where I had to pay parking fees of this magnitude.  Maybe the store owners had better re-think their validation policy since it's to their benefit to have customers spend MORE TIME shopping in their stores.

Mar 28, 2010 03:50 AM