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Experience leads me to now avoid TCP car parks entirely.
Further to DO's letter, whatever the opposite of la creme de la creme of car park operators is, TCP is it. I am perfectly willing to pay parking fines correctly issued, but such is my fear of having any further dealings with them, I now positively avoid car parks they operate.
In March of this year I attempted to pay via their automated phone line a reduced fine of £30. Both the telephone line and website told me £40 was due. As it was outside office hours I could not speak to a human being, and, as I was going away the next morning and would not be back before the 14 day window to pay the reduced amount expired, I thought I had no choice but to pay the £40. On my return I telephoned TCP in Perth and was advised to put it all in writing along with a photocopy of the penalty charge notice requesting £30. This I did and waited a month. No refund was forthcoming so I rang Perth again only to be told there was no record of my letter having been received. I was advised to fax it in which I did the same day.
I waited a further two weeks. No refund so I rang Perth a third time. Guess what. No record of the fax being received in their office. Up to this time I had been refused the name of an individual to whom to address my request. This time I was given a name and faxed my letter again for his attention. I waited a week and heard nothing. I rang Perth for a fourth time and said individual had not received my fax. He then told me to fax it for a third time and ring him half an hour later to ensure he had received it. This time he had but it still took another month before I received a refund of the £10 I had been overcharged. Apparently it had to be 'approved' by the Directors.
In total it took three months to get £10 back. Having the misfortune to receive another ticket in June in a different car park operated by TCP I once again gave their automated line a call and was instructed to enter the two letter prefix on my fine, but there was none. Mine consisted solely of digits. I gave the internet a try and came up against the same problem. Neither on the phone line nor the Internet was there any indication of what one should do if one's ticket did not fit the required parameters, so once again I rang Perth and was instructed to leave the prefix section blank and just enter the number.
All seemed well and I received an email confirmation that payment had gone through. Imagine my surprise this week to receive a letter from TCP stating the fine had not been paid and would revert to £70. I immediately rang Perth again (I now have them on speed-dial) to be told that if there was no prefix on my ticket, I should have been told to enter the letters TG before the numbers. No apology was forthcoming for the incorrect information I had been given but it was confirmed that payment had been received and I would hear no more. Personally I was not convinced of this so sent in written confirmation of the phone conversation.
Such a supremely incompetent outfit really has no right to exist and I am afraid, retailers, that from now on I shall avoid like the plague any car park operated by Town and City Parking Ltd.
In March of this year I attempted to pay via their automated phone line a reduced fine of £30. Both the telephone line and website told me £40 was due. As it was outside office hours I could not speak to a human being, and, as I was going away the next morning and would not be back before the 14 day window to pay the reduced amount expired, I thought I had no choice but to pay the £40. On my return I telephoned TCP in Perth and was advised to put it all in writing along with a photocopy of the penalty charge notice requesting £30. This I did and waited a month. No refund was forthcoming so I rang Perth again only to be told there was no record of my letter having been received. I was advised to fax it in which I did the same day.
I waited a further two weeks. No refund so I rang Perth a third time. Guess what. No record of the fax being received in their office. Up to this time I had been refused the name of an individual to whom to address my request. This time I was given a name and faxed my letter again for his attention. I waited a week and heard nothing. I rang Perth for a fourth time and said individual had not received my fax. He then told me to fax it for a third time and ring him half an hour later to ensure he had received it. This time he had but it still took another month before I received a refund of the £10 I had been overcharged. Apparently it had to be 'approved' by the Directors.
In total it took three months to get £10 back. Having the misfortune to receive another ticket in June in a different car park operated by TCP I once again gave their automated line a call and was instructed to enter the two letter prefix on my fine, but there was none. Mine consisted solely of digits. I gave the internet a try and came up against the same problem. Neither on the phone line nor the Internet was there any indication of what one should do if one's ticket did not fit the required parameters, so once again I rang Perth and was instructed to leave the prefix section blank and just enter the number.
All seemed well and I received an email confirmation that payment had gone through. Imagine my surprise this week to receive a letter from TCP stating the fine had not been paid and would revert to £70. I immediately rang Perth again (I now have them on speed-dial) to be told that if there was no prefix on my ticket, I should have been told to enter the letters TG before the numbers. No apology was forthcoming for the incorrect information I had been given but it was confirmed that payment had been received and I would hear no more. Personally I was not convinced of this so sent in written confirmation of the phone conversation.
Such a supremely incompetent outfit really has no right to exist and I am afraid, retailers, that from now on I shall avoid like the plague any car park operated by Town and City Parking Ltd.
Asked on 20 October 2012 by SH, London SW20
Answered by
Honest John
This is the dilemma that owners of free access private carparks and the car park enforcement industry faces. If the car park does not have barriers, the owner is virtually compelled to employ a member of the British Parking Association to enforce the parking regulations in it. (Monopolies Commission Restrictive Practices do not seem to apply.) And that will often not be good for customer relations because the parking enforcement outfit looks only to maximise its income. But, of course, the public will get wise and will not take any risks in private parking areas for fear of contravening their parking contracts and Incurring £50 'parking charges'. So, to maintain income, the parking enforcers have to become ever more sneaky and ever more nasty. Our government had an opportunity to sort this out. But it failed us.
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