London Congestion Charge Rip Off

huewen

In a hurry? Got to pay for yesterdays one-off visit to London with your car? Then look again when you log on to do it!! The top few sites are NOT the official Transport For London pages and they charge much more for the same thing. So in my case I was stupid enough to pay £20 for something that costs £12. I absolutely hate being ripped off, particularly when it's my fault for not checking more carefully, but the site is convincingly official looking! Why do Transport For London even allow this? BE WARNED!

Valli

huewen wrote: »

In a hurry? Got to pay for yesterdays one-off visit to London with your car? Then look again when you log on to do it!! The top few sites are NOT the official Transport For London pages and they charge much more for the same thing. So in my case I was stupid enough to pay £20 for something that costs £12. I absolutely hate being ripped off, particularly when it's my fault for not checking more carefully, but the site is convincingly official looking! Why do Transport For London even allow this? BE WARNED!

This is a common problem - people googling for, for example, EHIC cards will get a lots of hits, the top few will be companies that charge for providing a service the customer can do for him or herself.

The issue is that people need to be aware that google (as it's the most commonly used search engine) accepts payments from companies to display their names prominently at the top of the hits list.

The top site I got when I googled was a sponsored link BUT it does warn you that their site is neither owned by nor affiliated with TFL and that they 'levy a service fee'.

googler

What do you mean by the "top few sites"?

Valli

googler wrote: »

What do you mean by the "top few sites"?

That to me? (edit; possibly not) - but it appears both the OP and I are defining the top few sites the same way, thus-

When you google it the first few hits that come up at the top of the list.

googler

Valli wrote: »

That to me? (edit; possibly not) - but it appears both the OP and I are defining the top few sites the same way, thus-

When you google it the first few hits that come up at the top of the list.

I was responding to the OP, but yes - anyone daft enough to select a site from google without determining whether or not it's the TFL site deserves all they get ....

Valli

googler wrote: »

I was responding to the OP, but yes - anyone daft enough to select a site from google without determining whether or not it's the TFL site deserves all they get ....

I didn't say that's from where I selected;)

I'm perfectly aware that these sites pay to 'come out on top'

There have been similar threads about EHIC cards and the US ESTA applications, where people have used companies to source these then found they could have got them cheaper elsewhere;)

wealdroam

I use AdBlockPlus and never see these sponsored links, nor many other adverts scattered around the internet.

Speeds up page loading as well.

I wonder why more people don't use it.

googler

Valli wrote: »

I didn't say that's from where I selected;)

No-one said you did.

VoucherMan

Haven't been to London for years but I just Googled 'London Congestion Charge' and my top result was

Congestion Charging (Official) | Transport for London
https://www.tfl.gov.uk/cc
Information about the scheme from Transport for London.

2nd result was the Wikipedia page on the subject which confirmed the first link is the official site.


Strange how it gives different results for people.

greenface

Getting a little bogged down here . What op is saying is beware what you think you getting is what you think you are getting . For anything and everything I always double check and make sure its a secure site when paying for anything .