Location: Colorado - I Received A Violation Notice From A Private Parking Company

Hello! Location: Durango, Colorado.

I tend to be long winded (apologies in advance). So, feel free to read the details below, but for those who would rather not...

TL;DR: I pulled into a private parking lot to wait for my husband, was in the lot for a total of 2 minutes (and 7 seconds). Received a violation notice for not paying and being in the lot for 20 minutes (15 minutes is their grace period). I've disputed twice (I have video evidence) and received the same auto email stating that I am wrong, and need to pay or it will go to collections. The price currently is $95 and going to $125 (not including their processing fee). There is no other way to contact the company (as far as I am aware) and this company is all over the internet listed as 'scam' and 'fraud.' Can they really send me to collections? I am worried if I do not pay and happen to be in one of their lots in the future (I cannot find their locations online easily) they could tow my vehicle as well. What is my next course of action? Any help would be appreciated.

Now to my long winded and detailed post:

Earlier this month I was downtown, as I dropped my husband off to pick up some pastries before heading to a friends house to watch a hockey game. Downtown was busy that morning, so I circled the block.

I began my second loop, passing the store he was in. He called me, stating that he saw me drive by and he was on his way out. Since there was no street parking spots available, I pulled into a dirt lot. I've never used this lot, but it clearly is a 'pay to park.'

Essentially, I pulled in, turned around, waiting a few moments (he was only a block or so away) and when I saw him, pulled up, waited for him to put the items inside, get settled, put on his seatbelt and off we went.

A few days later, I received a notice in the mail that I was in their lot for 20 minutes (10:16am arrival, and departing at 10:36am). I looked up my phone record of him calling me (10:16am), and his text message to our friends saying that we were on our way (10:18am). This must be a mistake, we were nearly at their house by 10:36am (the game started at 10:30am, and I recall being annoyed that we were a bit late).

I emailed to dispute. I received a notification that told me their violation notice was accurate, that I was in the lot for 19 minutes (it changed from the original document). They offered me a 'one time reduction of cost' to $45 (the ticket is for $95, soon to be $125 if I do not pay).

Quick research then showed that this parking company does this all the time. Scam and fraud. I am guessing that people just pay, because they threat collections and it seems impossible to get ahold of a person. (I'm starting to think I should too.)

Lucky for me, my vehicle has five cameras that record while the vehicle is running (we have an external hard drive that keeps the data). After the dispute response, I went and snagged the videos. Sure enough, we were in the lot about 2 minutes (give a few seconds).

I wrote back to the original dispute email, with screenshots. I received an autogenerated email stating that a decision was made and final. It also said that my email thread would no longer be reviewed or monitored. Cool...

Since the auto-email was likely based on my email address and subject line...yesterday I went crazy with screenshots from the recordings. I showed all 5 sides (when needed) and compared to the violation photos. All people and vehicles were there in my entry to make it credible, and also in my exit photos. I couldn't send the full video as it was too large for an email. I changed the subject line and added a period in my email address so their system wouldn't notice I was the same person.

Cut to this morning...I received the same exact email from the same exact 'person' saying that they reviewed the videos and I was there for 20 minutes and did not pay. They would give me a courtesy reduction in 'good faith' of $45 and I must pay that by EOD. What the heck??!

Now to my questions:

• Can they really send me to collections? $95 (or $125) is a lot of money for just over 2 minutes and not in violation of their rules (15 minutes). I can't justify even paying the $45 for their 'good faith' reduction when it is all lies.
• How can I find a real person to dispute this? I am worried that if I wander into one of their lots while traveling (it looks like they are in multiple states) that they might tow me.
  
• Should I just pay and be done with it? It truly feels like this is the best course of action, unfortunately. But come on, what a terrible business! It really irks me to no end and I'd hate to pay for what is clearly a lie...

Also to note, I looked up their BBB. They have 318 complaints and 311 have been unanswered. So not much to do there. I also found a local article about someone else in town having (different) issues with them and they provided a state site to report fraud. Happy to do that, but I also doubt it'll give me a resolution (at least not soon). I don't want my credit impacted nor do I want the possibility of being towed and owing more.

I've thought about finding the owner of the lot, but would that even be worth it since they clearly picked this company to maintain their lot, and there's no way they didn't see all the noise on the internet if they did research.

If you read this far...you are a trooper! Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!