The University of Houston is responding after a Twitter user complained about a $920 parking violation that included a windshield device akin to a tire boot dubbed “the barnacle.”
Joe Brock my thoughts. Spending all the money on useless facilities but don’t have enough spaces to match your student population. Parking should never be in issue when everyone there is paying to be there.
Until a cop sees you and stops you. Than you are stuck with a car that you need towed and possible criminal charges which might actually be arrestable.
@@MATTP545 The barnacle is assigned to the car. You are financially responsible for the loss or damage of the device. And you are still on the hook for the removal fee.
@@glowking4577 The barnacle is assigned to the car. You are financially responsible for the loss or damage of the device. And you are still on the hook for the removal fee.
When I was there it was roughly 45k students, they just started on that new parking garage over by A lot, I parked in F lot and it never got completely full, maybe half full at peak times. UNLESS more students drive cars now, there’s plenty of spots for 40k. You may not get a spot close to your classes, but you can always use their buses to get around (schools’ buses were free when I went). And yes, not everyone goes to class everyday, because if your smart you’d schedule all your classes together.
@@shanty6953 the point Is... they’re selling more parking passes than they have parking available. It doesn’t matter if a student schedules and does everything right... the schools still are creating a burden for the students. Such as when multiple schools last year accepted way more freshman than their allotment allowed them to. What’s the excuse for that? Get all As so that you have an earlier enrollment appointment? It might work for some, but not all the students
To be completely fair, they do give free public transit passes with tuition. Why undergrad students need cars during the school semester, is beyond me.
@@zimvader25 fair point, but I’m my case I had to work full time after class to pay for my apartment, my tuition and get to work which I was a tradesman working any job I could get. My car was my life line to getting paid so I could then spend that on my education. Everyone’s situation is different. Maybe it should be based on that? Interview the person. See if it’s earned money or scholarship money. See what their schedule is or family demands. They could be a single parent. Or minority. Just saying.
the fact that every single student in question's immediate reaction is "bro I seriously cannot afford this right now why do you think I don't have a permit in the first place"
The man with a brain just rolls down his window's and drive's around with his head out his window at all times Ace Ventura style....XD Bug's proceed to smash into my face while driving.. at least i have shades and a mask per covid-19 guidelines
There is a rubber hose that goes through the top black hinge, the one closest to the keypad. That hose joins the 2 suction cups. Drill or cut through the middle of that one hinge and the vacuum to both cups is lost, and it comes off in a few seconds.
Glass replacing companies need to advertise that. They could probably make good money in areas where those are used. They could have a barnacle disposal fee. Even if you end up paying the same price to get the windshield replaced, at least the money is going to hard workers rather than a scammer trying to prey off of their own damn customers (they are literally ticketing their customers because the students are the customers).
Wait. So, the university is complaining that people are parking without the proper permit. They then immobilize the car so the spot is still not useable for anyone else. This is supposed to be at a high learning institution. Sounds kind of dumb to me.
How about this. By a beater that barely runs for 100 bones. Park it, and just leave it. But boot 2 wheels so that it can't be towed. Take off plates and destroy vin number. See how they like a taste of their own medicine. Eventually they will flat bed it, but that will cost them. Not you. Do this multiple times if you have to. I know it sounds like alot of work, and maybe it is. But can you imagine the satisfaction? You would be floating with joy
@@okiedouk just break out the window and destroy there device they will have to keep paying for them essentially giving them selfs fines for holding my car hostage
@Super Liegebeest I like this one that’s a good idea then they don’t rob you of a pennie and you can take there window device and destroy it so they are giving them selfs fines and inconvenience instead of the students
Shoot nothing a welding torch can’t take care of. I bet you could remove that thing with a proper tool box. But hey they are college kids trying to get fancy degrees they can’t be expected to be resilient.
If you have the skills, you can go to a junkyard, buy a new intact windshield for your model vehicle and some piano wire and adhesive, and install it, then leave the old windshield and Barnacle behind in the original parking space (so no theft charges). If an electrical/computer engineering or computer science major then get some of your more talented peers together for a fun hacking challenge, then publish the hack widely online as quite often the hard part is discovering the initial vulnerability and quite often exploiting such once known is far easier. Unfortunately, many university campuses that are predominantly commuter based tend not to have nearly enough on campus parking to meet anywhere close to actual need...and as the university expands they tend to shutdown ever more student lots to convert over to faculty and administration lots. Back in the early 90s when I was a university student our fees were actually paying for at least six nonexistent student parking garages (the campus had none at that time) and it is only in the past decade that those parking garages have actually started to be constructed or come online for students to finally use, yet even 30 years ago those parking garages were much needed (had they existed, that is). That was one of the very few periods of my life where I considered myself blessed to be disabled as my permit permitted parking in any on campus parking space not specifically reserved for a specific person (such as the university President’s parking space), so I could park in administration, faculty, student, and designated disabled spaces - though it would be better not to be disabled, at least there was some upshot during that time!
True enough you just get a new windshield,then you take their equipment and throw it away. This device will not last long 🤣🤣🤣if you don't want to get the windshield there you can have your vehicle towed to your property to where they can't tell you any otherwise
"The ultimate goal here is compliance" More like the ultimate goal here is to take every penny we can from students who are already struggling to pay for outrageous tuition costs. Americas learning institutions have become a joke!
@@andybub45 bingo. To any college kid reading this, go to community college and get your "core" courses, that "prestigious" college will accept the credits. Find alternative or even free education programs online for your focus, then go to the college, spend as little time there as possible, get your degree on the cheap. But honestly, depending on what your focus is, you might not even _need_ the degree. Employers are picking up on the fact that most college grads are actually more ignorant then someone with an associate's.
Imagine having a parking permit but then the university sells your spot for events leaving you without a spot where you live, ie your dorm... University of Denver does it all the time.
Duke university did this for YEARS (and may still do it tbh). They’d tow dozens of cars with paid permits every single football game so that the “Iron Duke Alumni” could get the closest spaces to the stadium 😑. Complete BS. They were basically double and triple selling the same parking spaces and charging students $200 a pop each time they forgot to move their vehicle before the crack of dawn on Saturday game days.
I live in Massachusetts we get glass replaced for free it's part of our insurance laws. Sure. It's added into our premiums but I'll just drill a hole through my windshield and break It's suction and toss the thing on the side of the highway and get my windshield replaced.
The barnacle's worst enemy is a cordless drill motor. To remove just use drill motor to puncture suction system and any other desired part of the barnacle such as the payment system. Use wood bit so you don't damage your windshield. After a few of these they won't replace or repair the barnacle.
Use a masonry bit so it will be able to put up with a lot more heat. Wood bits will overheat fast and won't be as good at drilling after a minute or so. But a masonry bit is designed to go through concrete so it can put up with a lot more abuse. Just be careful about poking through and hitting your windshield.
I mean you could use a slim Jim or use an angle grinder. Cut through/around the lock, and then take the cut out part with you. It sends a message, plus they need to pay for a new one. They can't directly prove you cut it, so there's no charge. Dispose of the cut part, and you're all set. Failing that, cut through the middle of each "plate" of the barnacle. It'll release air into it, allowing you to remove it. It's made of plastic, gashes are due to happen.
Perhaps they should raise tuition to build a multi million dollar parking garage so everyone going to school there can chip in for the parking. Or they could just charge to park in the existing spaces, which encourages people to use public transportation, carpools, etc.
@@andyh5186 These schools aren’t exactly just scraping by. They are wealthy institutions with large endowments. A parking permit should be included within the exorbitant tuition.
@@rymic72 there isn’t enough parking for every student, staff and faculty member. They charge, so if you really want to park close to campus then you have to pay. There are remote lots at a lot of schools so they should use those which are cheap or free.
@@brick2skull Where I live it is 300€ per semester and you get a bus and train ticket for that duration. Granted transportation is 50€ per month. It is almost free. Still the transportation has not been so reliable in the past. May be the same price for international students as well.
@@cirrusfox8052 exactly they where all a bunch of coke addict rebels that where all about s3x and rock and roll. Deffinetly not role models. The last respectable generation was..and I forgot the name. But it was before the boomers.
"We have permits available at any time" One of the classic university lies, along with "On campus housing is good for your academics", "Our tuition is perfectly reasonable", and "You really do need the latest edition"
@@robhartley7155 I went to uni in Canada and they oversold parking permits by 400 cars AND demolished a parking lot mid-semester in my third year. However, if you park at a meter and get a ticket, they only charged you $10 if you paid it within 7 days. I ended up getting premium parking all year and only paid $300 ;) Never paid for a parking pass again!
@@SergeantExtreme Oh yep, not sure how I missed that one. Thanks for the reminder, Captain Obvious! (I'm so glad I got to say that unironically and non-sarcastically at least once lmao)
Imagine if an assault victim ends up dead because they can't use their car to escape an attacker. Or someone gets attacked waiting for someone to come and remove the device. Disabling a person's car should be illegal.
I'm not sure what the big deal is. I can easily stick my head out the window, and I've done it before on a extremely frosty frozen morning, because sometimes I don't have the patience to let the defroster run for 30 minutes. That barnical is so tiny, it barely would obstruct my view. Certainly better as hell than having an actual boot on my wheel to physically prevent the movement of my car.
They only use it on people with 5 or more unpaid parking violations. After like 1, or maybe 2, wouldn't you get the hint? If you get up to 5 and don't pay, you deserve what's coming to ya.
I all honesty I think parking permits help keep more spots available. When ever I could I would car pool, I knew a lot of other people who would too. Save money on permits and helps prevent clogging up the parking lot. There would be time were it'd take half an hour to find parking, but there was never a day I couldn't find parking
10/10 I would press charges on the college for vandalizing my vehicle. They're also commiting a felony called unlawful detention. More people need to start suing over the use of boots and barnacles. Property rights are at the center of the constitution as well.. so a private organization basically seizing your vehicle (unless the vehicle is legitimately abandoned) is unlawfully detaining you (preventing you from leaving) and unlawfully seizing your property.
Bit of non story, students figured out how to remove them on day one of the scheme and the university pulled the plug on the Barnacle two days later. But wait... it gets better Barnacles are fitted with a SIM card that has unlimited data and several students enjoyed free Internet for several months before the company noticed.
I was going to say if you have something thin enough and long enough to slide under the plastic just to hit the suction cup to break the vacuum it'll fall right off
How to get this off: these things are held on by suction. So there’s no way to pull it off, but if there’s on on your car, just simply get a small drill with a small drill bit. Drill right through the top of it to where you will puncture the suction part and flood it with air. Slowly taking it off. Then just take it off and lay it on the ground and drive away. Edit: you literally just need a small drill bit, a drill stop, and a small handheld drill that can drill through plastic and rubber
No drill is necessary, just use a long and thin strip of steel with one end ground to an edge. Slide it under the the thing until you get it under the suction cup. May take a little working, and a small amount of lubricant, but that should pop each side right off. And it won’t damage the device at all. So they can’t even fine you for damaging their equipment.
Paying to park is such a scam. Last spring semester, half of the semester was remote due to covid but of course they didn't refund the money we had paid to park on campus for that entire semester...
Similar situation happened to me. My Ggym was on auto withdrawal payments. Even after shutting the gym down and I canceled my account they charged me for 6 months. And canceling my card would cause more headaches than $24.99 a month. But still bogus.
@@shondrajohnson6136 Just chargeback if they won't refund, ez pz. If they go to collections just ignore it. There is a website to cancel membership, google it.
I used to work for UPS. They didn't have enough parking for all their employees. No street parking or garages in the rural area. So every day employees would get towed because there was no other option than to park in the grass. They would tell you to get there early to secure a spot, but that doesn't help because most people would get there an hour early to park. This is abusive and should be criminal
They tried getting my Tesla last week and I’m actually a professor there... I just sprayed a bit of Pam cooking spray on my windshield and they couldn’t get the Barnacle to stick 🤣
So what they do then? Boot it? Lol. If the university really cared bout students they wouldn't use these kind of Nazi tactics. Next thing u know they're gonna start issuing warrants for arrests for unpaid fees plus late fees. Imagine throwing students in jail for minor parking infractions?? Oh wait the city already does this to it's citizens. All in the name of money/taxes. Any way they can put a spin on it.
From what I heard the other alternative is immediate tow. The barnacle is supposed to be an avoidance to the tow because they don't have a boot. At least I haven't seen any.
Apparently you can just turn on the window heat and it'll come off. The speaker can be punctured to silence it and there's a free data plan sim card inside too. Not that I'm suggesting anything, just what I heard from social media.
My two boys went to trade schools. It cost a tiny fraction of what these universities charge. They graduated with high demand skills and very little debt which was cleared in under 2 years....and all with no boots or barnacles on their cars.
@@3PercentNeanderhal Not everyone wants to become a welder or something like that. Kids go to college so they can get a piece of paper saying that they are allowed to follow their dreams.
It's a business now, not like craft apprenticeships in the olden days. :3 It's about the money, not the education and field of study's legacy. :3 It ain't about your kids or you. It's about corporate pockets being lined with cash. :) God bless they who support a broken educational system, amiryt? :3
@@lunchbox1553 the mere fact the system relies on that piece of paper to begin with makes it vulnerable to abuse. It kinda saddens me that people are valued on having or not having that certificate because many can easily get one with enough cash/favors/influence to trade for it.
Imagine taking taking someone's private property, vandalizing it, and then selling the repair back to them... Doesn't that sound like extortion and multiple other felonies that the rest of us if caught would be sent to prison for? I wonder what makes them special? I'd recommend anyone facing something like this to buy a drill and really hard bits
They take down your license 😂 Trust me, paying for that and court fees in small claims court is not worth it. Id rather pay a fine to take that off then get my car towed any day.
@@lordlandbeast I'd deal with it in court if I was late for class or work. Shoot. Might even just take it off, go to work then put it on again later. Haha. I have a collection of garbage like this in my basement. Once they attach it to your vehicle, the device legally becomes abandoned property in some states. I understand what you're talking about, but they have to weigh their cost/benefit/risk before touching my car. I'm a law abiding citizen and I would never park somewhere I wasn't supposed to because I've had enough time fighting/paying tickets. Don't want another. If I found it on my car and I needed my car, it would be off in less than a minute. I'd spend my lunch break looking up my next course of action. 😁
@@lordlandbeast oh, and by "collection of garbage like this in my basement" I'm talking about multiple devices that were legally considered abandoned property, left there by scammers and college security who had absolutely no legal right to disable my vehicle from being used/safely used by me. Some cool tech inside some of these different devices once you take them apart.
Gotta pay for those $5 million a year salaries for the school administration and football coaches somehow. Honestly, college in the US is just one huge extortion scheme.
Yeah nobody complains about having a kindergarten through high-school paid for in taxes but suggest that we do it longer because it's needed in a more advanced society and everyone is screaming socialism
@@patrickday4206 I have no moral objection to federally funded university. I'd be a hypocrite if I did -- Uncle Sam's paying my tuition. _However,_ there is the practical matter that a K-12 education is more or less the minimum needed to function in society, and higher education is exactly that. Personally, I'd like to see more merit- and major-based scholarships than blanket free tuition. We need trained engineers, doctors, lawyers, etc. for society to function. Art majors and the like, less so.
@@jamesharding3459 the minimum 50 years ago is equivalent to at least two years of college nowadays there is simply far more to have to know because of technology
"Hi everyone this is the Lock Picking Lawyer and today we're going to be removing a 'barnacle' with only a stick of gum, 4 pennies, and a DVD of Cliffhanger."
Parking fees have always been a cash cow for schools. I calculated years ago one surface lot at my school, which had been built 20 years previously for a couple of hundred thousand was bringing over $500k per year, and that was in the early 80s.
Kick on your defrost for for 10 to 20 minutes. The heat will expand the air inside the suction cups. After that slide something thin like a credit card between the suction cup and your windshield and it will pop off. Also if you take it apart it has a sim card with unlimited data on it 😘
I do agree that people should walk and use public transport more often, but to those that are PAYING to go to a college/university, they are already subscribed to the parking. There should be ZERO fees.
Pretty wild that UH thought a "windshield device" that can be defeated by running the front defoggers on hot and using a credit card to break the seal was a good idea.
You'd have thought they could RESEARCH whether other schools had tried it, and whether it worked for them. (It doesn't) They came out with these in the UK several years ago.
True. Additionally, your permit does not work for the weekend during the fall since they want to sell as much parking as possible for sports. Ridiculous. I have classes that are only available on the weekends during the fall semester.
@@ETuss713 So, you can't park 5-7 blocks away and walk 10-15 min? Just wake up earlier. Welcome to like 75% of people everyday lives. When you get out of college you'll be doing the same thing if you work in any major metropolitan area. It's university, not high school. No one cares how you get to work. Going to college your job, and if you have another job, well, so do many people, nothing new in 2021. So get use to commuting and walking. Buying a car includes dealing with tickets, insurance, paying tolls, inspections, parking, etc... I would feel for you but I have lived in SF and Tokyo. That's everyday life here. Welcome to the big city, friend.
Simple solution, sharp drill bit right in the center of the suction cup area. Of course they know what device was on which car so you may end up in court paying both the fine and the cost to replace the barnacle.
20 years ago my buddy parked on campus with an old taxi he got for $150. Fake plates, no registation, no insurance. Thing had a 100 tickets. He kept an angle grinder in the truck to cut boots off. He did this for 4 years and never got caught. When graduated he abandoned it.
Had a cousin that went to MSU, he parked everywhere and racked up tickets. In the end his used car wasn't worth paying for the tickets so when they did finally tow it he let them keep it...LOL Drive a beater at least not too long about meant $200-$800 and let them keep it once they did tow it. He still in the long run won on saving because from my understanding he was parking right at buildings etc so front row parking...LOL
@@girishkumarpeddi6266 If you don't pay your fine, the university will put a financial hold on your transcripts thereby preventing you from either graduating with a degree or transferring your credits to another college.
Yeah, but looking at it from the other side. Imagine you bought the permit and you have nowhere to park because of people without permit taking "your" spot.
@@GunmanTheH Shouldn't be a permit in the first place. Paying tuition to attend the school, should cover the ability to physically attend the school. Only fines should be to non-students using student spaces.
UH: "All we want is compliance" Also UH: "Let's spend $30k on the devices and training but only make back $15k in citations because nobody is paying them any way"
@@BoomCityChampion no jsut turn the heater on the car and the thing pops right off or just drill a small hole in the rubber seal air would escape and pop right off
It’s parking wars, not parking friends. Stop stealing and you won’t get fined. Just because you’re going to college doesn’t mean you can break the law.
You can get protection films for this. Basically a thin plastic file is stuck to the glass. If you get one attached, you peel the plastic off along with the barnacle.
For I one thing, college molds you into perfect sheeple, ready-made for a mold, and not being able to comply with parking regulations should be beyond someone attending college. If not, what else is college for? The world doesn't belong to you, and you are one of many. This gen is full of stupid, entitled something-for-nothing robots. All petitioning for college debt forgiveness, I wonder if you'd pay your parking violations if they forgave that? Probably not...
Parking on campus (at least when/where I went to college) was free but you still needed to get a permit (which was also free), it was the only way to make sure that only students and faculty used the parking.
@@MrDlt123 where did I sign up for said societies rules? I don't remember signing anything making my participation willing... So am I just a slave to society because I was born here? No. I do what I want lol.
One of my local universities uses these and yeah people would line the inside of their car with carpets or towels, smash their windshield and then call Safelite to replace it, and insurance covers it
@@nczioox1116 nah I'd give it back and say they broke my windshield and hand them the receipt for replacement. Make them pay for it or threaten legal action.
My favorite part is when colleges oversell parking passes and refuse to refund. Basically pay for a spot, can’t use a spot, get charged for not being able to park in a spot.
There's a *HUGE* difference between failing to comply when a cop with a gun is giving orders and failing to comply with a parking meter. The damn parking meter won't shoot you.
"We can't figure out how to pay for football without charging for parking, so we have a fancy yellow thingy we bought for way too much money to extort even more money from you."
Why does “every spot have to be paid for” is 40k a year not enough to cover the parking spot associate with a student? I mean this is absurd. The greed and corruption in academia is unrivaled in the Fortune 500.
Lmao they're literally charging them for putting the thing on the windshield. And people wanna say American colleges aren't being run like for profit businesses
They absolutely are... so why do so many people insist on attending? I have yet to meet a college graduate in my generation that is using the degree they paid for, wether they are successful or not.
@@wesleywlee sadly because jobs are not given based on knowledge or personal experience, instead they only want to see a degree and an excessive amount of years of professional experience
Colleges are one of the biggest scams in America. My local university uses 50% of their collect tuition to pay for sports programs instead of academia. And, trade/vocational schools can help you get better paying jobs right away.
@@FunkafiedBandit Im not even close to silver spoon. I live on a farm in the middle of nowhere. Had 3 jobs since I was 15 and paid 2 years through college on my own until I got hooked on meth and spent all my money on that. I went through some of the deepest depths of hell and lived in a car for 3 months. There are laws for a reason and if you get caught breaking those laws you suffer the consequences. Just because I feel you should have to follow the law doesn't mean Im some spoiled rich kid. I have 200 dollars to my name and you're the one standing in a suit in your photo.
@@FunkafiedBandit the ones who have been handed everything are typically the ones that aren't on my side of this. If anything you are the Karen assuming my life position based on how I look at a law. It's pathetic really.
So many of those posting here seem to have missed the part where they said it was only if the vehicle already had AT LEAST 5 unpaid parking tickets!!!! Get a proper permit. Pay your parking tickets. Park legal!!!!!!
Ticia o exactly. Why not just have enough parking instead of just absorbing the ever increasing tuition? Also, if they have to pay, let them reserve spots instead of charging for a permit and then having them drive around for a half hour looking for a spot.
All parking services allow you to have them add the bill to the tuition. That’s all they want you to do. They collect like 20% interest. It’s all a racket.
@@dantan1249 you have to have a permit because you are parking on private property and it prevents people who don't go to the school from parking there. If you do and you don't have a permit you get fined. These kids have been given multiple warnings and chances to get the permit and they chose not to. This is another expense that goes into college that is necessary and needs to be planned for. Stop sticking up for entitled and irresponsible children and let them learn their lessons. If you break the law you pay the price.
@@kaboomwinn4394 if you don't have a permit to park there then you can't park there. And most universities have parking lots dedicated to students only. What you just claimed doesn't exist. If you are going to park on a campus you have to have a permit.
@@kaboomwinn4394 when you get a parking permit you are basically renting a spot for the school year. They don't give out more permits than they have parking spaces. That is how you prevent people who don't go to school there from parking in the lot. If you want to park on private property you need a permit. It's common knowledge that it's another expense you have when you go to college, just like your room and board costs and meal costs and books.
There used to be a sign in the shopping mall where I worked that said "DON'T EVEN THINK OF PARKING HERE" funny thing is , it keeps showing up @ my house...I have half of dozen of them...
Yeah that'd work, could also have a shim and some dish soap or you if someone would want to go through the effort, put a grease or lubricant on the windshield lmao.. just gotta worry about clean up.
The key code for all electrical locks is as follows 0000 1234 1122 1111 2222 3333 4444 All come with basic "security" protocals just in case they forget passcode or lose the master key
@@keatonsville I mean, that's just not true though. Maybe with these ones that are used in the video, but I can assure you that the type for houses and some that I use at my workplace do not. If they're locked and you do not have access you have to drill/break it.
Remove your windshield. It's cheaper than $900 to replace and they can't get you for removing the barnacle. Leave the old windshield in the parking spot.
I once attended an event. It wasn’t at this school but somewhere else. The parking attendants directed me and many others to supposedly free overflow” area. There were probably 20 of us. When we returned from the event later none of the attendants were around and all our cars were booted. People were pissed! I asked if anyone has a cell phone with a light as it was dark. I went to my car and popped the trunk. As luck would have it I had a battery powered grinder with a cutting blade. To this day I would have loved to see the cop’s faces when they discovered all the cars gone and their boots cut into pieces in a pile with notes left from the drivers. Right place. Right tool.
Buddy of mine worked construction and he had Burke bar in his truck at all times. He found a boot on his truck once, snapped the lock hasp off, toss the boot in his truck bed and dropped it off a bridge on his way home in another state. He got a couple of threatening letters which he ignored.
