First parking ticket ever turned into a $165 nightmare, what do I do?
I need advice because I honestly have no idea how any of this works.
I got my very first parking ticket ever in White Plains. The ticket said to pay $65, so I paid it online right away. But because I’ve never dealt with a ticket before, I also showed up to court because I thought that was something I still had to do.
When I got to court, I explained to the judge that I had already paid the $65 but came because I thought I was supposed to. The judge told me it was okay and said I only needed to pay $3.
I then went to the payment window and explained to the clerk that I had already paid the full $65, but the judge said I only owed $3. She told me she couldn’t help me directly and said I should call my bank to dispute the $65 charge and then just pay $3.
So I did exactly that. I disputed the charge through my bank and paid the reduced amount.
Months later, I suddenly got a notice saying I owed $165 because of unpaid fees, penalties, and a chargeback fee. I immediately called my bank and told them to reverse the dispute and let the city keep the original $65 payment.
Now I just received a second notice saying I STILL owe $165 even though they already received the $65 back.
I’ve tried calling the parking violations office multiple times, but nobody has been helpful at all.
Has anyone dealt with something like this before? How do I fix this? I genuinely cannot afford an extra $100+ over what was clearly an innocent mistake.