Archstone Boston Common Parking Garage

If I could give this place zero star I would.
My friend and I decided to park at this garage to eat next door at Q restaurant. (Which they validate btw). We paid for the parking ticket at the restaurant $ 7 which is a much cheaper then actually paying at the garage.
While we were exiting the garage I insert the ticket but nothing happen. so I ring the button for help, the person that came on the intercom was NO help at all. I can barely hear him/​her or who ever it was. All they did was scream at me saying «YOU HAVE TO PAY». I end up having to back up my car to the tiny corner on the side so other car can go around me. Someone that work there came out to see what was going on, I told him the situation and he told me to go back to The restaurant and get the ticket. Seriously no one have time for this. I end up going back to Q for the ticket and came back down to re-​exit. I tried again the second time and again I’m still stuck. Do you know how annoying it is to make all the car behind you to back up just so you can park and go back up stairs and talk to the manager?
Overall, it took me almost an hour to get out of the garage and I ended up paying about 16 $ more on top of the 7 $ I paid at Q. It took us 3 tries to finally exit the garage. I will never come back here again. There are plenty of other parking places around the area, I suggest you stand clear of this particular one.

If I could give this garage negative stars I would give it –1,000. Got stuck at the gate because the cars exiting ahead of me were backed up. Called someone through the intercom 3 times and spoke with Roy who told me to hold momentarily each time and said the gate should open. The 4^th time I asked for someone to come down and was told to wait AGAIN. It never opened and no one came to help other than the other 20 drivers trying to exit and got out of their car to see what was going on. So my friend got out and called again, spoke with a woman who hung up on her. Called for the 6^th time and finally Roy told us to just pull the arm put from the gate and go through. Just wish he could’ve told me to do that before I spent 30 minutes calling him and waiting for NOTHING to happen. I tried calling the number to complain but even their number posted (617.350.3130) is useless.
PROCEED WITH CAUTION!

My go to place to park in downtown Boston. Great early bird rates (in by 9am — out by 7pm) convenient to everything, and clean efficient elevators. Considering the number of parking spaces provided in the heart of a congested city I feel the problem people have with the access and the size of the spaces has more to do with driving skills. If you see a spot that’s too tight keep driving there are plenty of spaces on the upper levels.

The spaces are tight, but the most disturbing part I found about this place is that they refuse to accept cash. Seriously. Even with a real live human person standing behind the bullet proof glass window, your physical US Dollars are not accepted here (it wasn’t a matter of making change, they refuse cash, period). Not a huge problem for me, god knows I love to use my plastic, but that just seems, well, creepy and somewhat illegal-​ish… «Sorry folks, you’ve gotta be on the grid and pay with plastic if you want to get your car out of our garage.» I don’t know, maybe I’m getting old and crotchety, but it seems like a good old US greenback should still be an acceptable form of currency…

Drive a Smart ForTwo, or need to park a pair of bicycles duct taped together? Hey, you’re golden. Nearly blind corners and rail thin throughways mean you’ll be out the cramped, congested confines of this vehicular womb in no time.
On the plus side, a few of the heavier trafficked restos may offer $ 6 validation, which you can put towards the touch up paint job the side of your whip might need after spending a few hours in this honeycomb.
All day rates are $ 15 on Saturday and Sunday, but beat the rush to pay — there’s only one dude at the window. Head here in a pinch; just leave the Escalade out front.

I imagine that if you’re like me you prefer not to have your car hit, bumped or love tapped. I imagine that you may also like to park your car in places that evoke feelings of safeness rather than sketchiness. Assuming I’m on track here, let me save you some trouble: avoid this parking garage. I know that Chinatown parking can be a huge pain and I get the urge to stow your wheels in a garage… just don’t make it this garage.
Every time we took a turn it was like large scale peace negotiations– you pull forward, they pull back, you pull back, they veer left– someone honks, someone yells something culturally insensitive, someone cries. The garage itself is really cramped and the spaces are way too tight– making navigation a nightmare and traffic going in and out a major pain in the ass.
Only redeeming factor is that the payment staff were really helpful when the credit card machines got backed up. Not redeeming enough for a repeat.