Welcome Centre

Stupid place. This stupid place can still get 2 stars. Everyone is responsible.

Yay let’s ticket students for driving to acquire an education! Paid my fair share to this place during my time at UoM. 2 hour parking limit with 3 hour exams. Limited parking passes for students. Cash grab from students who can barely afford tuitions.

I pulled into the *only* available u lot visitor parking spot one morning after going around a photo enforcement vehicle that pulled off to the side to let me in. I got out of my car and went to the pay station to pay for *all day* parking. I get a ticket at the exact same time as my payment receipt is issued. I go into the welcome centre the next day to get the ticket waived. The lady at the front desk waives the ticket. Okay that’s good. I ask how this could have happened. She is immediately defensive, saying the enforcement cars are told to not take note of who was driving as not to target people. Fair. But i took the only spot. This person had to get out of the car to put the ticket on my windshield. I was all of 20 steps away at the pay station. Again i took the only spot available. Seems like targeting to me. “It’s a system mistake. ” Then why is there a person in the enforcement car? I know this has happened to other students. It’s unfair to prey upon busy students and assume they don’t have time to contest a ticket so they’ll probably just pay. It’s unfair to tell the student or any customer that has other customers best interests in mind that “it can’t change”. It reflects poorly on u of m as a whole when the *welcome centre* doesn’t treat their customer right. Being given a ticket for $70 for 30seconds of parking (while I am paying) is not fair at all.

They will gladly take your money but none of them can answer a phone. Would give them a 0/5, if i could.

Extremely poor customer service, the girl at the counter was rude before I had even had a chance to explain my situation. Parking Services is an unfair business sucking money out of struggling students with 0 empathy or decency as they do it.

As I wait a second day for the U of M parking services to answer the phone, I begin to imagine that their phone is not on a desk, next to a salaried employee, but instead in the center of a crudely decorated room on a small altar. They dance around the phone as it rings, sensing my frustration and drawing power from it. As I am helpless to do anything but continue phoning I imagine them calling out to each other in ecstasy. Soon they will have all the strength they need to summon their deity and bring evil out into the world.