I'm going to collections for a parking ticket I paid off 2 years ago..Help

[WillieSacks]

So check this out, Around September of 2003, I get a parking ticket from this meter for $31.00 because my meter ran out of time. So anyway, I use a money order to pay for my parking ticket about 3 weeks later.

I know I did this for sure because I remember driving around downtown phoenix looking for the court to pay the ticket. I finally find the court and I go to drop the ticket off in this mailbox in the envelope they provided for me. The mailbox said to drop payments of parking tickets in there. So I paid it off and didn't think about it again. 2 years later which is today I get a letter from a collections agency saying I owe them $111.00 so I call them and they tell me it was from a parking ticket I never paid off 2 years ago, I'm like "I paid that off with a money order wtf are you talking about" so she gives me the number to the phoenix court.

So I call them up and tell them what happened and the guy is getting smart with me saying that I didn't pay it and I needed to keep my receipt. I implied that he is running a scam to get more money from me because they know I wouldn't have a receipt, he said that they have better things to do and he said I can fax the court with proof that I paid the ticket. Well I don' thave any proof and I ain't paying the $111.00 ticket. Oh yeah, I asked him how come I didn't get a letter in the mail and they said they mailed letters to my OLD address which was in Texas in november and December, at the time I had been living in AZ for 4 months.

What can I do?

 

[Page]

Take it to small-claimas court and move for dismissal. If neither of you have proof of your claims, then it's simply your word against theirs, which isn't enough for them to win, so the case will probably be dismissed by default.

 

[Bible_Belt]

Joe Arpaio is the most corrupt sherriff in the United States.

Of course it's a scam - that's how things work in Joe Arpaio's town.

http://www.prisonplanet.com/archives/arpaio/

 

[spider_007]

i don't know haw long your bank keeps records, but for a small fee (and about a week time) they can find things like "perticular checks" or money orders. Just give them the date around which you paid the fee (should be around the same time you got the ticket).

then take a copy of that money order with the date and shuve it in the guys ass, and tell him he can keep it.

 

[BLUEox117]

Originally posted by spider_007
i don't know haw long your bank keeps records, but for a small fee (and about a week time) they can find things like "perticular checks" or money orders. Just give them the date around which you paid the fee (should be around the same time you got the ticket).

then take a copy of that money order with the date and shuve it in the guys ass, and tell him he can keep it.

make sure you shove it all up in there

 

[S-lemond]

well man this is how i see the situation....just wait it out, and if they try to do anything drastic, then just pay the money, becuase u will spend more trying to get a lawyer and what not.....

 

[Porky]

Originally posted by E_ze05
well man this is how i see the situation....just wait it out, and if they try to do anything drastic, then just pay the money, becuase u will spend more trying to get a lawyer and what not.....

you don't get a lawyer for traffic court.

 

[Page]

Originally posted by Porky
you don't get a lawyer for traffic court.

for a parking ticket (which is not a moving violation) I would assume it would go to small claims court, correct me if i'm wrong.

 

[Porky]

well, at least over here when you get pulled over or ticketed by a cop you go to court, defend yourself, and the cop acts as a prosecutor.

it's different everywhere though, so I bet we're both right.

 

[penkitten]

where is your money order reciept or the reciept from the court?
did you keep them somewhere?

search for them, cause if you find them, you take them to the court and tell them here are copies of your reciepts and they have to contact the collection agency to remove it and they must call the credit agencies to show they were paid on time.

 

[WillieSacks]

thanks for the replies...At the time I thought nothing of it. I went to the grocery store, got the money order for $31 dollars and paid the ticket. It was 2 years ago. I don't have any proof of paying the ticket. I do not have the money order stub. When I have a second I'm gonna just fax a letter to the court and see what they say but I am not payign $111.00 for a $31 parking ticket I know I paid off.

 

[Johnnie5]

this is the exact reason i pay everything with a credit card , if it turns to sh1t you can always produce your bank statement

 

[Giovanni Casanova]

Willie, you are sh*t out of luck.

If you took this to court, all the court would have to prove is that you got a parking ticket (which will be easy to prove), and that their records show you didn't pay it (which will also be easy to prove). Whether or not you ACTUALLY paid it is up to YOU to prove, and we've already established that you can't do that. (Saying, "I remember having to drive to court" will probably not be sufficient proof.

This is why you need to keep receipts or at least draft money out of a standing account so that you can call the bank a year or two later and get proof of what you paid to whom.

In the meantime, you can choose not to pay the $111. Of course, they also (depending on how the laws work in Arizona) have the ability to suspend your license or even put a boot on your car. More likely, though, is you'll just get a dark mark on your credit for an unpaid ticket and they could theoretically get your wages/taxes garnished.

 

[DrMetallica]

Driving around PHX during September is hell, buddy. I feel for ya.

Just pay the ticket.