{"id":34078,"date":"2024-08-21T14:52:36","date_gmt":"2024-08-21T14:52:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vosa.tv\/eng\/?p=34078"},"modified":"2024-08-21T14:52:36","modified_gmt":"2024-08-21T14:52:36","slug":"mayor-adams-commissioner-mayuga-announce-lawsuit-against-way-com-for-putting-consumers-in-harms-way-by-supporting-illegal-parking-companies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vosa.tv\/eng\/archives\/34078","title":{"rendered":"Mayor Adams, Commissioner Mayuga announce lawsuit against Way.com for putting consumers in harm\u2019s way by supporting illegal parking companies"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEWYORK: New York city Mayor Eric Adams and New York city Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) Commissioner Vilda Vera Mayuga announced a lawsuit against Way.com, one of the most well-known parking apps, for pointing consumers to unlicensed and dangerous parking garages and lots with the tools and platform to operate illegally and prey on New Yorkers.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Way.com\u2019s digital marketplace has aided at least 46 unlicensed parking companies in violating New York city laws, leading to consumer harm and disturbing local communities, particularly in the high-demand area surrounding John F. Kennedy International Airport.<\/p>\n

DCWP is seeking a court order to prevent Way.com from continuing to aid these companies\u2019 unlawful operations in New York City. Way.com also faces civil penalties for each day that they continue to aid unlicensed parking companies\u2019 illegal operations.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith this lawsuit against Way.com, we are going to the root of a major quality of life issue affecting our residential communities and one that poses a real danger to drivers: illegal parking garages,\u201d said Mayor Adams.<\/p>\n

\u201cWay.com has allowed unlicensed and dangerous parking garages and lots to operate on city streets, take up residential parking, and exploit consumers through their deceptive practices. We will not tolerate any company that takes advantage of consumers or puts them in danger, and we will continue to ensure that this industry has safeguards to protect the public\u2019s safety and the pocketbooks of hard-working New Yorkers.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen New Yorkers use platforms like Way.com to search for parking, they are hoping to save time. Instead, they are unwittingly booking with unlicensed garages and lots that have a track record of harming consumers,\u201d said Deputy Mayor for Housing, Economic Development, and Workforce Maria Torres-Springer.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur administration is laser focused on ensuring that New Yorkers are protected in their interactions with both brick and mortar and online businesses alike and holding unscrupulous actors accountable.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cToday, we\u2019re seeking to put the brakes on illegal parking companies\u2019 ability to operate and harm our neighbors and local communities,\u201d said DCWP Commissioner Mayuga.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe strive to build a culture of compliance, but despite our attempts to get them to comply with the law, Way.com continues to allow unlicensed parking businesses to flourish in our city and prey on unsuspecting consumers. Anyone hoping to use a parking garage or lot should use our license lookup tool to make sure the lot is licensed before using them.\u201d<\/p>\n

The lawsuit argues that Way.com has assisted dozens of illegal and unlicensed parking garages and lots in violating the law.<\/p>\n

In addition to attracting consumers by promoting these lots on the app, Way.com gives these companies the appearance of legitimacy and professionalism because consumers have no indication that these businesses are unlicensed.<\/p>\n

Many of the unlicensed companies lack a physical brick-and-mortar location, like an office, and would not be visible or even identifiable to the public if Way.com did not list them on their app.<\/p>\n

Some of the unlicensed companies operate a temporary \u201cvalet\u201d sign and park customers\u2019 cars on residential streets without the owners\u2019 permission, disturbing the surrounding community by reducing the parking available for local residents. Way.com also helps these illegal parking companies operate by providing them a digital marketplace, allowing consumers to complete their entire parking transaction online and keeping a portion of the payment as commission.<\/p>\n

Worse, the suit claims that Way.com\u2019s support of these illegal businesses has directly led to consumer harm. Not only do illegal parking garages and lots pose physical danger to consumers and their property, but consumers have submitted complaints alleging that they were charged more than initially advertised.<\/p>\n

Others have complained that an unlicensed company has damaged the vehicle they left in the company\u2019s care or that items left in the car went missing, and in some cases, consumers have even been left stranded without access to their vehicles.<\/p>\n

Finally, the regular lack of a physical location for many of the garages and parking lots undercuts DCWP\u2019s ability to inspect and take enforcement action against them. In addition to the actual lots being difficult to identify on the street \u2014 making them challenging to send inspectors out to \u2014 in cases where DCWP is actually able to inspect and issue summonses, inspectors have been met with threats of physical violence.<\/p>\n

In most of these cases, the businesses ignore DCWP\u2019s attempts to enforce the law, refusing to appear at hearings or pay fines, and simply continue operating under alternate names by creating new accounts for consumers to book on Way.com.<\/p>\n

DCWP began receiving an increasing number of consumer complaints about unlicensed parking companies in April 2023 and quickly launched an investigation.<\/p>\n

The investigation revealed that many of the unlicensed parking companies rely on Way.com\u2019s services to operate their illegal businesses. In June 2023, DCWP sent a cease-and-desist letter to Way.com, informing them that they were aiding illegal activity and sharing a list of unlicensed parking companies listed on the app.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, Way.com has continually refused to come into compliance and de-list the unlicensed companies offering parking through their app.<\/p>\n

DCWP provides licensed parking companies with a checklist of legal requirements in order to help them avoid violations.<\/p>\n

New Yorkers should use DCWP\u2019s License Lookup Tool to make sure a business is licensed with DCWP before using them.<\/p>\n

A DCWP parking garage or lot license is required to operate a business that is open to the public and charges for parking.<\/p>\n

DCWP currently licenses more than 1,600 parking lots and garages around New York City.<\/p>\n

DCWP urges consumers to report unlicensed garages and also file a complaint if they have a problem with a garage or lot at DCWP\u2019s website or by calling 311.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NEWYORK: New York city Mayor Eric Adams and New York city Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) Commissioner Vilda Vera Mayuga announced a lawsuit against Way.com, one of the most well-known parking apps, for pointing consumers to unlicensed and dangerous parking garages and lots with the tools and platform to operate illegally and prey […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":33109,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1469,31,1378],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34078","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-new-york","category-news","category-us"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vosa.tv\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34078","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vosa.tv\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vosa.tv\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vosa.tv\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vosa.tv\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34078"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.vosa.tv\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34078\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34079,"href":"https:\/\/www.vosa.tv\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34078\/revisions\/34079"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vosa.tv\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33109"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vosa.tv\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34078"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vosa.tv\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34078"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vosa.tv\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34078"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}