Des Moines City Clerk

"I was issued a parking ticket with 12 minutes still showing on their ParkDSM phone app. I provided screen captures and receipts appealing the ticket and conclusively proving the ticket wrong. The Administrative Review Panel apparently never even looked at the hard evidence I provided by "Not Voiding" the ticket. Appeal process would have required taking a day off from work to personally schedule the court date, and another day off work to appear in court. Obvious extortion knowing that I would reluctantly pay the unjust $15 fine rather than spending much more to fight it -- as much as I wanted to drag them before a judge."

"Attention to all visitors of Des Moines Iowa! If you find yourself parked at a faulty parking meter, do yourself a huge favor and find a new parking spot. You will be ticketed! I received a ticket for being parked at a faulty meter that would not accept a credit card, so if you have no change to feed the meter, find a new meter. You will be ticketed in less than 15 minutes, and if you go ahead and report the faulty meter to the city they will continue to waste your time for the foreseeable future!!! (Continue reading only if you enjoy IDIOCRACY) Step#1 (Report a faulty meter within the first 24 hours of receiving the citation, just to remain on hold for 28 minutes before their office closes and sends you to voicemail) Step#2 (Wait for the return call for further instructions and confirmation that they received your voice message) Step#3 (Follow the instructions provided by their return call and call back to check the status of the faulty meter evaluation the next morning. You then find out that you were provided inaccurate information and need to call back later) Step #4 (Call back later and be informed that the meter is not faulty. You then ask how the meter was inspected only to be informed that nobody knows, the parking meter is just faulty, that’s all they can tell you) Step #5 (Visit the provided website to contest the parking ticket within 7 days of reporting the faulty parking meter) Step#6 (Complete the online form to appeal the parking ticket where the instructions state “Be complete, and include any documentation and/or diagrams, as this is the only evidence that will be considered by the review panel” Step #7 (Grow increasingly more angry when they limit you to a 500 character limit as the only evidence that will be considered as part of there administrative review process. Don’t even waste your time trying to attach pictures as documentation because the file size will be to large) Step #8 (Wait 3 weeks to call back and check on the status of your contested ticket just to be told that your appeal was declined and you will receive a letter in the mail) Step #9 (Receive a letter stating that your appeal was declined because the meter was not determined faulty!) Step #10 (Pay your ticket!) Step #11 (Waist more time writing this review) In summary, as I explained to the city in my appeal process, I have absolutely no problem paying for parking, but paying a ticket due to a faulty meter and following all the steps that were asked of me is an absolute atrocity and I strongly advise that no one waste their time trying to follow the steps of this broken process!!! Please fix your parking meter’s Des Moines, it’s 2021, and everyone knows how to insert a credit card correctly, your meter is faulty!"