Pi Alley Parking Garage — Local services in Boston

I truly wish I did not have to leave one star for this facility. Today my husband was literally held hostage by this garage and when he called the police they took the side of the garage instead of the consumer who called in duress. My husband and I have frequented this garage to go to a nearby gym in the adjacent building that we love. Last Saturday we went to said gym (rated 5 stars here) and then went to Boston Commons and ate a nice lunch. When we returned I paid our parking on foot as required in the lobby at the Pi Alley garage. Of course, I requested a receipt from the terminal but there was no paper. Thank goodness my debit card kept receipt of the transaction of $14. Now, a week later my husband parked in the same garage today to return to our gym, and the terminal attempted to charge him $42 for 1/4 of the time we typically pay $14 for. He went to the exit to inquire in his vehicle to inquire if this was an accurate fee in hopes of finding someone he could communicate with (the first attendant was unable to communicate to him) and they advised they checked the cameras and that his car had been on site since last Saturday on our previous visit. They then would not let him out of the gate or allow him to pay today's $42 fee to exit. When the two young Boston police officers arrived, they demanded that he pay parking in arears from today 5/20/22 all the way back through when we had arrived on 5/14/22 and stayed on speaker phone that the wanted "the facts" and they were "wondering where you've been since Saturday while your car was here"... as the garage attendant said that they had seen on camera our car arrive on 5/14/22 and never saw it leave. My husband stated he would wait and not pay the over $340 something dollars until they reviewed the rest of the cameras and found us leaving 5/14, paying on 5/14 w/cameras in their lobby, or him coming in to the garage today around 1pm in order to get the facts. My husband also called me for receipt of the transaction which I provided, but the police did not want to check the ticket machine, wait for the other supposed cameras to be checked, they did not want to call my husband's work to see if he had been there today, they also did not want to see his receipt for arrival at the gym today, or check any other facts. The attendant somehow stated he found only the camera footage from entry 5/14 within the minutes it took for the police to arrive from my husband calling them - but had no record of us paying at the machine on 5/14 or exiting the garage in the same vehicle together on 5/14 or any record of the same vehicle arriving today around 1:00 p.m. I had heard previously that the parking garages of Boston were crooked and that the police helped with this scam, and today I am a true believer. I will never park in another Boston public parking facility with a big blue "P" sign that has a gate on it. I cannot believe the police department unlawfully detained my husband for an hour demanding that he pay a private entity over $340 for services that were not provided and fees that were not incurred. I look forward to speaking to my attorney about this matter and hope that my now 2.3M plus views on Google Guides come to my aide when leaving this review. Please do not park at the Pi Alley garage, I fear for your safety...

Nice attendants! Nonsensical, unethical, shady “policies.” Do not park here.

I parked here regularly for work and had an account through their mobile application. The exit gates can be finicky with the bluetooth app, but normally attendants are there to assist and would do so happily.

Yesterday, a gate error wouldn’t allow the exit gate to open for me. When I asked the attendant to open the gate and gave him my phone, evidencing the fact that I’d just been charged and marked as “exiting” in the app, he demanded I write down my personal information on a spare ticket “to confirm.”

When I said I was uncomfortable writing down my info, which is already supposedly safely stored in my account on the app, I was told I could not leave. He refused to open the gate. Again, my phone and the app showed clear as day that I had just “exited” one minute prior and had been charged appropriately.

The attendant then called his “supervisor,” showed me his phone screen (?), and doubled down that in order to leave I needed to write my personal information on a spare ticket. The gate was not opened until I called the police.

On top of that, I was charged $100 upon “exiting” because they have a lovely little policy to “top up” your balance whenever it falls below $50 - when daily parking costs $35. This practice serves only to collect extra money from customers who then lose any remaining funds when they stop parking at this dump.

Upon emailing “mobile support” to close my account and have the unused balance of $131.40 refunded, I was refunded the $100 charge but told I could not be refunded the remaining outstanding balance. Funny how their “top up” policy results in this convenient little issue when closing an account.

I was also informed that the incident had been “investigated” and that this was my fault because the “app customer usage procedure was not followed correctly” - because I clicked Exit while another truck was waiting to pull past the gates in front of me. I’ve since requested this procedure document and haven’t received it, shocking. Regardless of how the gate error occurred, a customer with evidence of proper payment should be allowed to safely exit an establishment - without writing her phone number on a spare ticket.

The “manager” or “supervisor” or “mobile support” tends to respond to any negative reviews here, blaming the customers for their poor experiences. So I figured I’d lay it all out there. Best of luck trying to twist this one, I’m sure your true character will continue to shine on through.

Oh, and the elevators are consistently out of service and have been for several months. You’d think the extra funds from being “unable to refund” an account would at least be directed to...

Great Parking Garage, But Wow… That Price!

This parking garage does exactly what you’d expect—it gives you a place to park your car. The spaces are clearly marked, the layout makes sense, and finding a spot is pretty easy. No surprises there!

The best part? It keeps your car dry when it rains and cool when it’s hot. No worrying about coming back to a scorching seat in the summer or a soaking wet car during a downpour. It’s a simple but major plus.

The staff is also friendly and actually talks to you—none of that cold, robotic service. If you have a question or just feel like chatting, they’ll respond like actual humans, which is always nice.

There are stairs and an elevator, but just for people—not for your car (because that would be ridiculous). Still, it’s great that you don’t have to trek up several flights if you don’t want to.

Now, let’s talk about the big downside—the price. After checking rates at several nearby garages, this one is significantly more expensive, sometimes by as much as 30-40% higher than comparable options within a few blocks. While it does offer a clean and well-maintained space, there’s nothing particularly special to justify the markup. If convenience and weather protection are your top priorities, you might find the cost worth it—but if you’re looking for value, you can find similar parking for much less just a short walk away.

Overall, if you don’t mind the steep price, this is a solid, well-kept parking garage. It does the job, keeps your car safe from the weather, and offers a...