Westgate Mall Parking Scam (Phoenix, Glendale: loan, theater, university)

[Magnum Mike]

We had a dinner get-together yesterday at a restaurant located at Westgate Mall in Glendale, in the vicinity of The Gila River Arena (Home of the Coyotes), and University Of Phoenix Stadium (at the 101 and Glendale Ave). When we got there we were surprised to find out about the $10.00 parking fee. I paid it and I was given a receipt and a small piece of paper with list of places in the facility that will give you a $10 discount on whatever you buy, and the restaurant we dined at was one of the places on the list.

The reason they charged for parking was because the Phoenix Coyotes were playing at the Gila River Arena, from what I understood, they only do this when there is a sporting event. Now I understand that they have to accommodate a larger mixed crowd on a Saturday night, in a mixed use facility, when the Coyotes, or maybe the Cardinals play, but I'm not sure about this parking fee you're forced to pay if you just want to go there to dine or watch a movie at the AMC theaters, or go bowling. Yes, the parking fee will be refunded IF you go to one of the participating vendors at the mall, otherwise, you'll be stuck with the fee..

I don't know if they do the same thing when the Cardinals play, but they could have come up with a simpler way to impose the parking fee only on sporting event attendants, like add the parking fee when the tickets are purchased.

Also, the restaurant check was a little inflated, even after they subtracted the $10 parking fee, which I had to show the receipt to the waitress as proof. In my opinion this is nothing more than a scam to squeeze more money out of regular customers who just want to go there for reasons other than sporting events and it'll drive customers away.

What do you think?

[DetroitN8V]

That mall is dreadful.
No one is forced to go there.
It was only $10.
It was refunded back to you.
Not a scam.

[locolife]

This isn't a scam, this is free market economics at it's finest. A privately owned property is charging the general public for use of it's property to store your vehicle for a set period of time. Not only that but you were refunded your $10 by doing exactly what you said.

The venues do sell parking with their tickets, it's optional but on the other side of the stadium from Westgate. Patrons can choose to park at Westgate or they can go into the stadium specific parking on the South and East sides of the stadium. You can also park on the West side of the 101 during Cards games and get shuttled in from the furniture store.

I actually like what Westgate is doing, I can go to a Cards game, pay a meager $10 to park, grab some grub afterwards and end up not paying anything to park. They're making a smart decision to entice game attendees to wine and dine while out there, which as you can imagine is the only reason Westgate can exist.

[MN-Born-n-Raised]

I've been to Westgate before when there' was a hockey game. I simply park farther away. Unless things have changed, there we still free spots to park in.

Heck, you could go to a restaurant in Scottsdale and the valet parking attendant is there. He will park your car 30 feet away and charge you. I'm allergic to Door dings. So I take the "shuttle bus" as I like to joke so that I get an end spot. I maximize the distance from my side door to reduce the chances of door dings. So I punt going to restaurants that pretend they need to give valet services when the need is non existant.

[Finger Laker]

No free parking during hockey games for the past couple seasons

Last game I went to the arena owned spots were $20. Westgate owned spots $10 with the ability to recoup. Much harder that night to access the Westgate spots.

Can't blame them as they don't want all their sports taken up by the hockey crowd.

Not sure how the Tanger Outlets handle things

[fluffythewondercat]

I think you didn't like the surprise and your mind went instantly to "scam." It doesn't seem like much of a scam unless they're somehow making money loaning out your $10 bill for the two hours you spent at the restaurant. And if they are doing that, I want in on it.

Parking is a zoo there, for sure. I'm surprised there isn't a parking garage. Or if there is one, I missed it.

[Burning Madolf]

How was your bill "a little inflated"?

[JGMotorsport64]

West gate is the worst.

[fluffythewondercat]

Originally Posted by JGMotorsport64

West gate is the worst.

And you say that because...

[JGMotorsport64]

Originally Posted by fluffythewondercat

And you say that because...

It’s a poorly executed miserable mall of chains and asphalt. Several cities have the same concept, Plano, Myrtle Beach, Austin, but all of them executed it significantly better

The acres of parking lot would have been better served as a garage with the farm land surrounding. Or better yet it could have never been built and our stadiums wouldn’t be all the way over there