SpotHero: #1 Rated Parking App

I'm in NYC this is THE BEST!!! I hate apps and websites the take forever to setup. This was smooth and easy. Worked first try. I've used it close to 10 times now and trust it enough to pay in advance. It's great! I get better prices to park for 8-12 hours anywhere in NYC. I can see an outside picture of the parking lot and decide if I want to park my car there. If I do, I pay, and have a reservation so I have a spot when I get there. The biggest problem with NYC parking is getting there ontime. The 'Early bird special' if you miss that your screwed. And most garages end that at 9-10am. This app solved that problem for me. I can get there whenever I want and am still paying $10-30 less each time. Update: you have to read the restrictions of the parking garage on the app. I’ve had a garage charge me the difference between the $21 I paid through this app to their regular price $65, because I came in AFTER their early bird special! Tricky and greedy. So here we have a great idea, AND it works!!!

It’s a great tool and saved me a lot of money in NY city. However, my first experience was horrible. On a beautiful day I booked my spot through the app. then an hour or so later pulled into the garage. Garage manager bluntly told me that they do not honor reservations because they can charge more to people who pull in without a reservation and because it’s a beautiful day they won’t have an issue selling out that day. And I should discuss for a refund with spot hero. Or I could pay the difference. It was a shocker. Didn’t know what to do. I depended on the app and it failed me at first use... It wasn’t really the app failing me in reality, which is why I continued to use it, but it was the parking garage management. But app doesn’t have any way to provide me any feedback or warning about places like that, so it’s partially responsible. Then I started checking the garages on google for reviews, before booking on the app. Yes, it’s painful but gives “some” peace of mind. A review option within the app would be greatly greatly useful. Lack of parking space feedback function is what’s taking one star away from my review.

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We reserved 2 spots with SpotHero like we have many times before. Got to the lot, parked and when we came back we had tickets on our vehicles. I emailed customer support and told them what happened. They asked me to provide a copy of the tickets and I did. I the. Received an email saying the tickets had been resolved and there was no issue. About 3 months later we get noticed from and attorney that we need to pay the fines from the tickets that were “taken care of”. I reached out to customer support again and was told that shouldn’t have happened, that my case had been escalated to a manager who would be in contact shortly and was asked to forward all of the information from the attorney. I forwarded everything and awaited a response or contact from the manager. That was the last communication I received from SpotHero. I sent several follow up emails and none of them were ever answered. I never received a phone call from the manager, and ended up paying over $120 in fines and fees for the tickets that SpotHero was supposed to have taken care of. They completely blew me off and had no interest or intention on helping me. Beware that even if you park in the right spot and the operators make a mistake and ticket you, you’re not going to be helped in any way.

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Visiting Chicago and wanted to go to Shedd Aquarium, but we were worried about Parking downtown. I searched for parking online and came across SpotHero. I was super excited and paid $17 for 6 hours of parking in a garage about a mile from the aquarium. We get there, and there are 0 spots available, not only are there no spots available, but the garage is so overbooked that there are 7 other cars who also booked on SpotHero looking for spots. Keep in mind this is a very small garage. So we all get boxed in at the end/top of the garage and cars are having to reverse down to try and turn around. When we finally got to the bottom we had to wait 10 minutes to get out as the gate wouldn’t open without a ticket and there wasn’t an attendant answering the phone. Now all of that isn’t the end of the world. I assumed that if I messaged SpotHero they would refund my card and no harm no foul. I was wrong. I messaged them immediately, they have since sent me several advertisement emails telling me how SpotHero “has my back”, but have yet to actually respond to my open ticket(it’s been a week). I filed a dispute with my credit card to have the charge removed. I will never use this app again and hope this review will help others avoid the same pitfall.

I cannot say enough good things about Spot Hero. Not only is the app easy to use, it takes the worry of the cost and accessibility of parking away. It makes the process so much smoother and more pleasant. I live outside NYC and have used it many times there but I have used it in other cities as well. Recently, the garage I had arranged for was inaccessible due to street closures. I was late for work and didn’t have time to call Spot Hero to make other arrangements so I just pulled into another garage and paid almost 3 times as much. I knew that if I called Spot Hero I would get my original payment refunded. When I finally had a chance to call, they refunded my original payment and when I provided a receipt, gave me a credit for the additional cost of the parking garage that I wound up using. Hard to find such good customer service these days and it has made me a loyal customer who will recommend them to anyone who will listen.