Detroit Tigers fan says he paid more for parking than advertised at garage

DETROIT (FOX 2) - A Tigers fan was enjoying Detroit's victorious opening day when he ended up paying an absurd amount of money for parking, far above the advertised price.

What they're saying:

Steven Livings had a great time at the Tigers' game on opening day with sunny skies and a win over the Chicago White Sox, until it was time to head home.

"When we left the game and went to the parking structure, I got a text message saying that was $472.50 for my parking stay," Livings said.

He was shocked because he saw a sign outside the parking structure that read ‘Event Parking — $50’.

"I was pretty distraught about it because you weren’t thinking you were gonna spending $50 an hour - when it was $50 for the event," he said.

He had no choice but to pay for it, leaving Livings out of a lot of money.

"Unfortunately, you scan that QR code, it automatically takes your debit card or your credit card, and as soon as you pull out of that parking structure, it automatically pays it for you," he said. "Their call center said they had a few people call stating that they also had the same issue."

Dig deeper:

Livings is contesting the charges while he tries to reach some resolution with Metropolis, the company that owns the parking structure.

"So I finally got a hold of somebody after, I believe it was like almost 24 hours, and they called me back saying that they’re gonna look into the investigation because they are not locally there. They didn’t know what happened, and they would call me back within 72 to 48 hours," he said.

When FOX 2 spoke with a company representative, they were told the event rate is $50 a day but that rates are subject to change.

What's next:

Livings is sharing his story in hopes of preventing this mix-up from happening to anyone else.