Nobody likes to pay to park, but in today's world, you're pretty much going to have to do so in any kind of a city. I've parked in Unified Parking Partners' lots all around Portland. The lots are clean, and nicely maintained. The machines have never given me an issue, and the lots that I've been in that are "manned" have always had a friendly face to help me out. read more

We had the same horrible experience as other reviews here. Starting with misleading signs touting "city lot" and "lower pricing." How astronomical were the parking prices before? Charged 2 hour minimum of $24 for small town parking! We were in a nearby restaurant and went a few minutes over the time limit and when we went to add more time, found out that they only allowed you to add in 2 hour increments. So we rushed back only to find a huge $68 ticket on the windshield. For an unattended lot, someone must have been lurking around. What should have been a fun Saturday ended up leaving a bad taste. We like Portmouth but will not be coming back anytime soon. Unfortunately, downtown businesses will suffer eventually as more people get turned away from these scammers. Is the city listening? read more

Awful and misleading. Intentionally had blue "P" parking logo and called themselves a public lot so we paid the city meter right next to them only to find a $63 ticket on the dash read more

Unified Parking Partners - City parking meter right next to the private lot calling themselves public parking with the same blue P logo - Parking Near Me - Portland, Maine

Total ripoff, too bad the city of Portland doesn't give $h!t. We were staying in Portland and have no interest in seeing the downtown if it's going to cost $10 an hour to park. read more

Paid for plenty of parking through the parking passport app, we even returned to the vehicle an hour before the parking expired, yet I was still written a ticket for $63. Very frustrating, I have never had this experience before from a private lot, Unified Parking Partners is very dishonest and a complete scam. read more

I got a $63 ticket for parking just 10-15 minutes while stopping at Standard Baking on Commercial Street in Portland. When I talked to the parking staff, I explained it was my first time visiting the bakery and I thought the spot belonged to them. They told me the ticket would be canceled, so I didn't worry about it. But a month later, when I checked online, the ticket was still there -- now with late fees added. Honestly, it feels like legal robbery to be charged that much for such a short stop, especially after being told it was canceled. read more

Goodwill can go a long way in attracting repeat business. Unified Parking has bought up enough of the parking lots in Portland that they feel like the only game in town. We were literally 2 minutes later than the amount of time we paid for. Two minutes added a $63.00 penalty!! There is no reasoning with them. Charge a penalty if you must, but in effect, this was more than $30.00 per extra minute. In other words it was flat out robbery. I'll walk, Uber or (sadly) just avoid Portland rather than give Unified another chance to rob me. The way they run their business should be illegal. read more

Rip off. I left the parking lot at the 2 hour mark and they already had a new notice with an extra hour charge.

watch out for any parking lot managed by these guys! I just parked at one for one hour, and got a ticket telling me to pay $63 as a fine for nonpayment. I looked up this company, and learned that they were were sued by the Attorney General of Vermont and had to pay $150,000 for misleading customers...the company is as crooked as they come. read more

Way too expensive! They control ALL the parking in Portland, Maine that isn't city-owned. Monopoly that charges as much as it wants.

Would only let us pay by the hour, despite what was stated on the kiosks. Additionally, came out a single minute past the paid time to add more time to the kiosk to find a $68 dollar ticket. Nothing but parasites. read more

Leeches. I paid upfront for two hours, assuming that if I stayed longer it would either be charged automatically or I would pay the difference as I was leaving. Nowhere on the lot did it state differently. I came back after 2 hours 45 minutes to a $63 ticket. Companies like this are why the Better Business Bureau exists. I guess technically they provide a good or service, but barely. Mostly they just rip people off. I assume they know that they are scum, but as long as they're making money they probably don't care. Eff em. read more

If I ran the Portland visitors bureau, I would put billboards all over town that say, "If you want to enjoy your stay, do not park in any lot owned by Unified Parking Partners". First, they don't post their rates. You park, then go to their kiosk to find out it is $47.00 for 3 hours. They give you no way to extend your time and if you are even a few minutes late they issue you a $63 ticket, like they are the police. They threaten to double the fine and ruin your credit rating if you don't pay. The ticket has a charming note pleading with its victims to please respect the rights of private ownership and follow the policies. What a joke! Hey you money grubbing so called business people, how about treating customers with respect. Display your prices. If your guests choose to pay them, show some gratitude. If they overstay, give them a chance to pay the additional time. You have an attendant there putting tickets on cars. Instead of having him hide, how about you have him cheerfully thank people for parking, and give him the means to charge a reasonable hourly rate for any overage. Be a business, not a shake down factory. read more

Unified Parking Partners - Ironic ticket message - Parking Near Me - Portland, Maine

Absolutely awful! We paid $47 for 5 hours of parking for a show at Merrill at 5:20 pm. We got to the car 10 min after the time ran out. Annoying but we were late. Looked at the ticket and they ticketed us at 7:40!!!! And they wanted to charge us another $ 65-80 depending on when it was paid. Total bs. After looking them up and seeing the reviews. I opted to not pay a damn cent more. It it had been a honest 10 min over amount no problem. But the last straw was the lying about how long we paid for. Don't let them con you into paying tickets!!! read more

I would give a negative rating if I could. parked in one of their lots. Asked the parking guy if I was all set or if I needed to do anything. He told me I was good. Then I come out to a ticket. Liars and crooks read more

I was charged $50 to park for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Don't park here under any circumstances! read more

Unified Parking Partners - I was charged $50 for 1 hour and 15 minutes of parking - Parking Near Me - Portland, Maine

Do not park here. There are no prices listed and it is crazy expensive compared to other parking places. They seem to have a monopoly all over Portland so do some research to not end up at one of these. You'll be charged $30 for less than 2 hours. read more

I parked on lot on Congress St. there was no notification that license plate should be reported before leaving lot. I was told misleadingly that I could put my plate in after. I assumed license place were monitored on video. I returned after 45 minutes with a $43 Rickey This is so misleading to the average person. It should be clearly posted that license plate required first. It is not and park attendants don't make it clear either. This is a scam and I believe intentional. I will never park in a Unified lot again and will warm everyone against it. I have heard they have a monopoly on lots in Portland. Many have paid then still received citations. They should be investigated for misleading the public read more

I parked in downtown Miami, could not be farther away from Portland Maine nothing said how much it was to park and I was billed $35.00 for 1 1/2 hours by this people in Maine this must be a scam since valet parking in that area is a maximun of $20.00 for the whole day this is a total scam who can I complain to? read more

ZERO STARS. Terrible company. Three times, I've used SpotHero (an execellent app for finding parking spots) to prepay for parking in a UPP-operated lot in Portland. Two of the 3 times, UPP has cited me for parking illegally in a spot I had already paid for, leaving me a $63 ticket for an $8 prepaid spot. They cancelled the first citation after I provided proof of their error. Still waiting to hear on the second. It's not clear if they are just operationally incompetent or deliberately double-bill their customers as a profit strategy. As other reviews point out, their over-billing and double-billing certainly seems intentional. Either way, they completely fail at the one task required in their business model - to collect fair payment (and only fair payment) from customers who park in their lot. They offer no email or phone customer service, forcing customers to fill out an online form and pray for a response. read more

*DO NOT PARK at 496 Congress street #3* Friend just paid for parking today in Portland at 1:15 PM (paid $23 for two hours of parking) Got a ticket from this company at 1:50PM for $43 (if you pay within 30 days but $68 if you pay after 30 days) How is it even legal for them to operate like this? Does anyone know if they have been investigated by the Portland Parking Division in the past?? read more

BEWARE - our experience with merely wanting to park and catch a boat ride and eat/shop in downtown Portland was horrible and stressful. The kiosk screen was extremely hard to read and there are no other signs at all listing the costs to park there. you don't actually know the cost until after you enter your credit card. the kiosk wasn't working properly and didn't print a receipt either. we returned after 3.5 hours just in case to see if we needed to put more money in and the attendant on duty said that it was a flat rate of $35 for the day until midnight and he assured us that we were ok and no additional money was needed. we returned 3 hours later to find a $63 ticket on our windshield (and yes, there was a large charge to our credit card from the kiosk as well). the attendant didn't know anything and said we would need to dispute the citation online. he also said that the ticket was issued by the city of Portland, but in fact, it was issued by United Parking Garage. After calling United Parking and explaining what happened, they said they would drop the citation, but no apology was offered and it left us feeling pretty bitter. They need to fix that kiosk, put up additional signage as to parking costs, and train their parking lot attendants! read more

Despite paying for 2 hour parking, they issued a citation after 1 hour. I was back about 30 minutes before my paid time was up and found the ticket. The company is non-responsive to email or phone calls, and at this point I'm convinced this is intentional. They try to argue that you only have a small window to appeal the ticket, although of course that information isn't on the fake citation or posted anywhere in the parking lot. Reading these reviews, it's pretty clear this is an intentional scam this company is running. The great thing is that fraud is taken very seriously at the state and federal level, so if you are also finding yourself issued an invalid citation and the company still tries to coerce you into paying regardless, please contact local and regulatory agencies. The only reason they have been getting away with this is because not enough people are reporting the fraud. Get a police report ASAP and report them to every regulatory agency you can. If you need help, consider hiring an attorney - I can't recommend Pine Tree Legal enough. read more

Avoid UPP Lots at all costs. I parked in a UPP monitored private lot and paid $8 an hour for 4 hours parking, and left before time expired. 5 days later I found their "citation" tucked up under the hood of my car. The kiosk at the lot does not issue receipts, so no ability to prove what I bought or when I bought it other than the date on my credit card statement. So with the UPP "payment" and the UPP "fine" less than 4 hours parking cost $110. No indication of the high cost of parking until you activate the kiosk, no receipt provided to prove the payment, and no disclosure of their ridiculously excessive "fine" structure. I'm writing the town of Portsmouth next to let them know that visiting their town, its restaurants and shops has lost its appeal because they are not controlling these parking robber barons that are extorting their visitors. read more

Zero stars! Awful! Machine did not give us receipt. But our credit card was charged for several hours proving we paid. When We returned we found a citation left only an Hour after we parked to pay a fine! Total Scam. Portland kick this company out of town! read more

If I could put NO Stars I would. This is outrageous parking. We put our info in the parking station in the corner of lot for 2 hours; came back in 1 1/2 hours to find a ticket for $63.00. No one around to talk to and explain we had paid so tried calling and they were closed . DO NOT park Ever in Unified Parking Partners lots~ it was first time and will be our last. read more

I parked in "the wrong spot" for about 5 minutes, as we paid, and tried to figure out where we were going. Turned around and they were ticketing our car. We asked what was going on, and they got mean (officer 1488) We appealed the ticket through their online system, but it was rejected, including multiple lies: It stated we were there over 30 minutes (it was actually under 10, probably under 5). It stated that we were given the option to pay at the time. We were never given any option to pay, just given the excessive citation. This is worse than a scam, this is a truly predatory business. They should have their business license revoked. read more

All the other complaints listed elsewhere here; plus a service charge! Isn't the parking the service? $50 for 2 hours isn't enough? $54! And no instructions on the meter about how to add time....so I paid ANOTHER 54 for 1/2 hour. This makes Portland look bad....I know it isn't a city service but it looks enough like one, and I would hope someone at VisitPortland could have some influence on this gouging. read more

I parked near the Merrill Auditorium before a performance and tried to navigate the kiosk to pay for my parking. This kiosk had no lights to support the view of the screen and it was impossible to tell how much I was paying for when I paid - it had also been my first time parking there, so I wasn't sure whether it was a "pay for the time you were there" thing or not. The confusion led to a citation on my car after the performance for over double what it would have cost for parking. I made an appeal to mention the poor lighting near the kiosk and they declined the appeal faster than I thought they ever could. With no chance for re-appeal, I had to pay the fine otherwise it would have been higher in a few days. I would rather park on the street than park where these crooks operate. They don't even try to assist customers. There was no attendant there to assist with the kiosk, no lighting to support view of the kiosk's screen, and zero customer service when there's an issue. I would avoid any place that these somehow-legal criminals operate under. Absolute trash to scam money out of people by making it virtually impossible to understand the system before using it and not providing any assistance for the use of said service. read more

Super expensive parking rates and they must have someone waiting near the parking meters because they will give you an expensive ticket within minutes of the time expiring. I don't understand why the City or Portland has allowed this company to take over handling parking on the street of Portland. I can understand it if they want to charge these rates for their own private lots but not public streets. Ridiculous. read more

We parked in the lot by Merrill Auditorium and paid $27.40 for the parking fee for an event (We were parked for 3 hours and 31 minutes as we had to help a disabled person get out of the auditorum and get through traffic to pick her up). I just got a letter stating we had "overstayed" our time (even though the attendant said we had paid to park for the event) and they billed me $90 ($55 if I pay in 14 days) and if we don't pay they'll turn us over to a collection agency. This is BS and total harassment and I have no intentions to pay but be aware that if you park in this lot, you'll likely have to deal with the BS. read more

Have a "citation" even though we had paid. $40+ to park. Attendant on site when we arrived but none in sight when we left at 8/30 pm. Complete scam. read more

They gouge pricing on parking. Parked in a lot of theirs on Bow Street in Portsmouth. No sign indicating price. $28 for a minimum wage f 2 hours. $7an hour after that. We got back after time expired...$35.50 for the hour we didn't pay that has to be paid in 3 days or the fine is $68...that is price gouging. Total rip off. They should at least post all these prices. But that is way too steep a parking price. read more

I spent more money on parking than the cost of tickets to a concert! !!!!! It ruined the idea that the business community cares about its customers. One star = 0 stars for this review! read more

Just spoke with Blake because I had been charged for parking with a handicapped plakered. He was super nice explained the difference in charges between public and private and how it is different for handicapped parking. He changed the ticket and just charged me for regular parking. Thanks, Blake read more

Do NOT park in Unified Parking Partner lots. UPP is a company that rents parking lots and charges exorbitant rates compared to city owned/managed lots and garages. UPP has a long history of issuing questionable/unethical parking violation tickets. If you have any question about the ethics of UPP, google Dan McNutt the owner/ founder of the company. read more

You'd think that a company that charges such high rates for monthly parking would put in at least some time into maintaining their parking lots! The storms this winter have dragged seaweed, driftwood, trash and random sht into the commercial street lot and of course UPP hasn't cleaned up at all. Joke of a business, crooked company, cant wait to see it fail :D read more

Have you ever wondered what you'd get if you fused the Nigerian prince scam with the people who sell fake drugs to old people. That is this company! If you're in Portland Maine beware, they like most predators camouflage and pose as city parking. Their employees will lie to your face saying you parked fine and they won't ticket you only to slowly slip the knife in your back. You mutter "Et tu brute?" Over all they are a paragon of how to be a terrible company trying to suck every cent out of the good people, being a model of how not to be a decent person. You ever wonder how to be a good person, just ask what would Unified Parking do then do the exact opposite. read more

They have NO handicap parking and are indifferent to handicapped individuals. I was cited even though my handicap placard was clearly visible. They do NOT comply with the Americans with Disability Act and I have just filed a formal complaint with the Justice Department. read more

This is a follow up to my post of 12/9/2022. UPP has been also reported by me to the Better Business Bureau who contacted UPP. They wanted a screen shot of the 33%!! It is on thje back of the citation. And they wanted a copy of my credit card and "receipt" I have no intention of giving them access to my card number and have mailed a check for what we saw on the meter 3 Hrs $21. Legal action will follow as I am not going to be threatened about my credit rating, car registration, license renewal. And be sure I will be posting this any place I think a tourist is going to park their car read more