I got nasty tow notice for legitimate dentist visit

[squid]

I have a 7 year old RV which is short and I had a legit dental appointment, I showed up about an hour early due to the long drive, and just waited reading a book in the RV with the door open.  I went to the appointment then they asked for the referral sheet so I went back to the RV to find this fluorescent orange notice on the RV windshield, it said the name of the complex printed on one side, and then in handwriting said "this is private property and your RV has been photographed and the tags noted and will be towed".  I showed it to the receptionist and she asked all of the building managers in this huge medical complex who put it on the vehicle of their patient, but they all denied it, probably because they should not do that with actual patients.  The receptionist said she's even left her car there overnight over the weekend and never had a problem, yet in one hour I had this notice.  
My rig is smaller than delivery vans parked nearby, so it couldn't be due to the size, it fits in a single parking space. 
Is there a hostility to using a small RV as your general vehicle?  I'm not a dweller, I was just contemplating taking long excursions starting later this year, I only tried out the RV this time because dental work makes me very tired and with the long drive back I thought it would be nice to take a rest.  I just didn't expect this.

 

[lenny flank]

Some towns have local laws against parking RVs (or any other "oversize vehicle") on the street. They consider it a traffic hazard because it's hard to see around.

 

[squid]

^
OK.
In this case it was in the med/dent complex parking lot, in a regular parking space.

 

[Fivealive]

Yes, RV's and campers or any vehicle that appears to be someones dwelling will get discriminated against like this. Don't take it personally, and park on the street instead of a private lot when possible. I am not saying Lenny is wrong, but in my personal experience of 6 years full time in vehicles I have never been harassed on a non-residential public street and I have had many instances like yours while parked in private lots.

 

[maki2]

If you want to get them to act more responsibly then complain to the better business bureau about the policy of that particular parking lot enforcement company discriminating against people who have RVs parked in lots where they have a legitimate business relationship.

You can't effectively attack a whole industry but you can make a difference in how one individual employee of a particular company acts. Be sure to include in your complaint the date, the time of day and the physical street address of the lot as well as the name of the Dental business. Tell them that the resolution you wish to have is a letter of apology to both yourself and to the Dentist.

 

[Kaylee]

squid:
It's just a single bully.
Sorry you had to experience that!
I'm new to this, and have already had a couple of bully experiences, albeit in an old but decent appearing camper van.

I'm glad you brought it to the attention of your dental team.
That will decrease the likelihood that it will happen again, at that facility. Bullies are cowards.

If you feel at all nervous about leaving your vehicle while at an appointment, a clearly visible note should help. Something along the lines of "in case of emergency please contact me @" the name of the dentist/whatever.
I did something similar, recently, and it lowered my stress.

 

[ZoNiE]

I drove my 35' Diesel Pusher to a doctor's appt. Parked on the side street. Got funny looks, but hey, it was in-between the house and the storage lot so I figured what the hell...

 

[maki2]

If an employee is doing what their boss has told them they must do then that employee is not necessarily themselves a bully.

If the place where they were parked has had problems with illegal RV parking by boon dockers in their lot then it is unfortunate for the customers who have RVs and unfortunate for the businesses too.

It is not a perfect world and people don't always behave responsibly. I have seen many cases in Seattle where a boondocking RV dweller drive off and leave piles of trash including their 5 gallon toilet buckets behind when they move on. Not just one individual, there are several caravans that move from place to place so it is a giant mess when they move on. Of course then sidewalk tent dwellers do the same thing. It is a very common site that I see most every week when I am out running errands through the industrial areas.

 

[RoamerRV428]

sounds like a big old Ahole put a nasty notice on ya. stinks but yea I think a few places don't want that 'camping' stereotype vehicle in their lot. Minds goes to sleeping and using space as a zone instead of you are there on legit biz. and going on your way. takes all kinds. ugh

 

[MrAlvinDude]

Too bad you had this experience. But good thing that the receptionist could clear up this misunderstanding, and assure you that you did nothing wrong.

In the town where I live, it is very common that you will need to get a parking permit/slip with the receptionist, when you park on private property.
The permit/notice/slip must then be located in the front window of the vehicle.

One place I recently visited, I just needed to tell the receptionist, the licence plate of my vehicle, and all was good with the "parking police".

Where I live, it has become increasingly difficult to risk parking on private property, these past ten years or so.
So much so, that it is now required (by law) that a special parking sign must be placed at the entrance of a parking lot, so anyone will know that they MUST investigate what kind of local/private parking agreement is in effect.

 

[B and C]

These sound like cities, not towns.

 

[Natgreen]

You get discriminated against. Just comes with the territory. I was parked ON STREET out side of a hospital for an hour. The hospital rent a cop came out pounding on my van. I ignored him until I heard him say he was going to climb the roof and look down the vent hatch. Then I stepped out and cursed him out. Asked him wtf he was doing and to piss off before I bent my him over my knee and spanked him( he was a young kid) he talked to someone on the radio and they said There s nothing they can do. There was some stupid sheep passer by standing there too. He was laughing and encouraging this want to be cop until I stepped out.

 

[crofter]

I had the same experience parking on the street when the van did not fit in the hospital parking structure. Although I did not receive a ticket when I got back to my vehicle, there was a police officer there who was circling my vehicle, and told me to leave immediately, again for no reason. When asked, the officer could not come up with a reason he was telling me to leave. 

I would not wait around for a letter of apology from anyone. The people who think they own the streets do not apologise for any of the bad things they do. At least you didn't get towed.
-crofter

 

[Chloe]

Yep, I was recently visiting a friend in the hills of northern Georgia at a permanent campground behind a regular campground and I was just driving to his trailer in my Chevy van (air vent and solor panel on top) and a resident stopped me and told me I couldn't come in. Of course, I had every right to come and visit my friend. He ASSUMED, due to the appearance of my vehicle, that I was looking for a camp spot. That's profiling, plain and simple.

I have visited another friend in an HOA neighborhood, parking in her driveway, and had neighbors yell at me to go home. It's not an RV, it's a van. It's in pristine condition. These haters are just pre-conditioned to fear even when there is no evidence of anything.

Here's hoping it's better out West nearer to BLM. I'm currently taking shorter trips but have come back to suburban Atlanta to get some van work done.

 

[maki2]

The territorial instinct is stonger in some humans than in others. There are no geographic limits as to where you will see that behavior as it is species related, it is not geographically limited. Greater population density means more likely to run into individuals who have extremes off behaviors because the group contains a larger number of individuals.

 

[Morgana]

Crofter said

I would not wait around for a letter of apology from anyone.

 Correct me if I'm wrong, but: I think when you make a complaint to the BBB you need to specify some action that you want taken. If the business refuses to do it, then that becomes part of the record of the complaint, too. You can tell a lot about businesses sometimes by how they respond to complaints.

Also:

The people who think they own the streets do not apologise for any of the bad things they do.

How true!