Parking garage operator sued for alleged ‘deceptive’ practices

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) — A company that runs a number of parking garages in Providence, Newport and East Greenwich is being accused of a slew of shady business practices.

In a filing with the state’s Superior Court on Tuesday, Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha’s office claims that UPP Global, LLC, “has engaged in a pattern of unfair and deceptive trade practices” targeting Rhode Islanders.

The filing says those alleged practices include:

• Charging customers a fee identified as a tax, then keeping the proceeds
• Charging customers a junk 10% “service fee”
• Failing to disclose the price of parking until a customer has already parked
• Advertising “hourly” parking but requiring customers to pay for multiple hours at a minimum
• Refusing to accept cash payments
• Issuing “citations” mimicking government-issued parking tickets without notice to the customer that falsely threaten consequences from the Division of Motor Vehicles, threaten the customer’s credit or ability to rent a vehicle and claim to offer an “appeals” process that may not exist

According to the AG’s office, the “citations” say that if a customer fails to pay a $63 “fine,” it could affect their driver’s license renewal. The filing calls the threats “false and misleading.”

“The Rhode Island Division of Motor Vehicles will not refuse to renew someone’s license or registration based on the demand of a private company,” the filing explains.

This suit is also reportedly the first of its kind enforcing Rhode Islanders’ right to pay with cash. Neronha’s office said the right to pay with cash was enshrined in law back in 2019, prohibiting businesses from discriminating against people who either do not have access to credit or debit cards or choose not to use them for privacy reasons.

UPP is a parking management company with 300 locations in nine different states. The company runs a number of garages in Rhode Island near popular venues and normally uses an automated gated entrance or an automated pre-payment kiosk.

According to the complaint, the company runs the following parking lots and garages:

165 Washington Street, Providence

233 Weybosset Street, Providence

87 Weybosset Street, Providence

121 South Main Street, Providence

321 South Main Street, Providence

5 Memorial Boulevard, Providence

87 Weybosset Street, Providence

136 Dorrance Street, Providence

250 South Water Street, Providence

449 Thames Street, Newport

458 Thames Street, Newport

10 Washington Square, Newport

250 Bellevue Ave, Newport

333 Main Street, East Greenwich

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“Our goal whenever we bring a consumer action is that consumers are treated fairly,” Neronha said .

“A lot of people sometimes equate that with being ‘anti-business.’ That’s not what that is at all,” he added. “These parking lots, we allege, are making way more money than their competitive parking lots are making because they’re being misleading.”

Neronha’s office said it asked the court for an injunction on Wednesday.

NewsNation affiliate WPRI reached out to UPP’s Chief Operating Officer Derek Brandt, who said he would call back once conferring with his attorney.

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