ParEye charge paid, can I recover

gazzy_g

Good morning,

I paid for parking in the car park behind a pub last saturday, for a total of two hours. Unfortunately I got distracted and overstayed my welcome by forty seven minutes, and got a "parking charge notice" from ParkingEye for £100, down to £60 if I paid within a set amount of time (by 10th October).

I immediately got worried and paid the £60. I was not happy to do so, as the amount I would have paid for three hours parking would have been 50p more than that which I paid for two hours parking, but the fact of the matter is I did overstay my welcome.

However I looked online just now out of curiosity to see if others are as annoyed as I am about these extortionate amounts, and discovered that basically I didn't have to pay it. I was unaware that I wasn't legally obliged to pay it, and that the letter I received is an exact duplicate of what others have received in the past (from images posted, they were almost exactly the same).

So I have two questions that I hope you can help me with:

1. I paid by card yesterday, but I rang RBS to check if it can be cancelled. Unfortunately the money is currently in a state that hasn't gone out but cannot be cancelled. The woman informed me however that I can request something called chargeback to get the money back.

If I do this, and basically have the bank pay me the money and they take it up with ParkingEye (or however it works) am I liable? Is that not saying "I acknowledge my guilt and tried to pay, but had a change of heart so am cancelling a payment after it has gone out". I'm a little hesitant that this will make me more liable and that basically I wouldn't have a leg to stand on if I did that... I just worry that once they have my money basically it'll be a sod to get it back.

2. If I can't do a chargeback is there a way for me to recover the money? Please don't misunderstand: I'm not trying to claim I'm an innocent person, but for the sake of 50p extra £60 is massively extravagant.

Thank you in advance for your help. If you have any queries or need more info please let me know.

Stroma

You can try appealing to them and asking for a popla code, but I think your money is gone, you should have done research before paying.

spacey2012

They gave you an invoice, you have paid the invoice.
Problem solved.

nigelbb

Stroma wrote: »

You can try appealing to them and asking for a popla code, but I think your money is gone, you should have done research before paying.

POPLA will not hear any appeal where the motorist has paid the 'fine'. This is a secret clause that they slipped in a few months ago & was a change in policy. http://parking-prankster.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/popla-may-have-pulled-fast-one.html

gazzy_g

nigelbb wrote: »

POPLA will not hear any appeal where the motorist has paid the 'fine'. This is a secret clause that they slipped in a few months ago & was a change in policy.

Fair enough, and indeed Stroma I probably should have researched it more before paying. Still being young and naive I was under the assumption that as I was in the wrong this was legitimate. Will a chargeback not solve the issue, or will the fact I've delivered money and then recovered it make things worse (despite the fact they don't have any legal right to get that money from me in the first place)?

spacey2012 wrote: »

They gave you an invoice, you have paid the invoice.
Problem solved.

Whilst I'm well aware what you intend that to mean (i.e. not a chance in hell of getting my money back), the problem is not (as you so bluntly put it) solved.

Umkomaas

The only thing you've ever been guilty of in all of this is acting too swiftly, without any prior research and paying PE. No chance of a refund (nor a chargeback).

But sleep well, safe in the knowledge that you have just helped them with your contribution to continue their Caribbean lifestyle, their next service on their yacht is covered, their darling daughters' private education is safe and Mummy can take them and their little ponies to next weekend's gymkhana, and one of the Daddies in this game has just bought himself a private jet.

I'm afraid you've just been scammed.

Hopefully you'll see it as a life lesson and won't fall for it again.

gazzy_g

Umkomaas wrote: »

The only thing you've ever been guilty of in all of this is acting too swiftly, without any prior research and paying PE. No chance of a refund (nor a chargeback).

But sleep well, safe in the knowledge that you have just helped them with your contribution to continue their Caribbean lifestyle, their next service on their yacht is covered, their darling daughters' private education is safe and Mummy can take them and their little ponies to next weekend's gymkhana, and one of the Daddies in this game has just bought himself a private jet.

I'm afraid you've just been scammed.

Hopefully you'll see it as a life lesson and won't fall for it again.

Fair enough, I may ring up RBS on monday and try for a chargeback anyway just in case. My main worry there is that if they do actually do it whether I'd be in worse !!!! than before. I've read online that a few others have applied for chargeback citing an unlawful request for payment and that the payment was made under duress (i.e. pay fast and pay less). But like I say i'm concerned the responses will be:

1. No, sod off, no chargeback.
2. Yes we will do chargeback as the reasons cited are fair enough. Oh wait, now you're going to court for that action, and as you're in the wrong anyway having overstayed you're now screwed.

gazzy_g

Also could someone explain to me how it is I can just ignore an invoice from a private company, if I do indeed enter a car park and stay longer than my allotted time.

It just seems a bit baffling that if it's not legal how can they be allowed to put up charges and issue penalties for overstaying without legal action being taken against them, and if it is legal how we can still just ignore them and thus overstay our agreed parking time. I'd have thought it would be either they can't pretend to control the parking, or they can legally control it and we have to pay.

Again excuse the naivety, I'm just a little confused.

HappyMJ

gazzy_g wrote: »

Also could someone explain to me how it is I can just ignore an invoice from a private company, if I do indeed enter a car park and stay longer than my allotted time.

It just seems a bit baffling that if it's not legal how can they be allowed to put up charges and issue penalties for overstaying without legal action being taken against them, and if it is legal how we can still just ignore them and thus overstay our agreed parking time. I'd have thought it would be either they can't pretend to control the parking, or they can legally control it and we have to pay.

Again excuse the naivety, I'm just a little confused.

They do not issue penalties. They create invoices with a charge for the parking on them. It's your choice if you pay them or not. If you don't pay it's up to them to initiate legal action against you to recover the payment for the invoice and up to you to defend that action.

Legal is a strange word. It's legal to create invoices for whatever they want. I can issue you an invoice for responding to this thread if I wanted to. If you pay any invoice or bill you received you've accepted it as valid.

spacey2012

What does any of this matter ? They gave you an invoice, you paid it without researching.
I am sorry if this offends, but there is a proverb for this.

A Fool and his money are quickly parted.

gazzy_g

HappyMJ wrote: »

They do not issue penalties. They create invoices with a charge for the parking on them. It's your choice if you pay them or not. If you don't pay it's up to them to initiate legal action against you to recover the payment for the invoice and up to you to defend that action.

Legal is a strange word. It's legal to create invoices for whatever they want. I can issue you an invoice for responding to this thread if I wanted to. If you pay any invoice or bill you received you've accepted it as valid.

Fair enough, but in my mind surely they would definitely win had I not paid it. It just seems that the conversation should go like this:

Judge: Did you park longer than you paid for?
Me: Yes
Judge: Did the sign say there'd be a fine?
Me: Yes
Judge: Pay up sonny!

But I've now seen forums with lots of people in the same (or worse) situation as me and they've just been told to ignore it.

(Not trying to argue with you by the way, I don't doubt you know more about it than me. I'm just genuinely confused as to this whole situation).