UKPC charge in Scotland - what should I do next?

chickadee13

Iceweasel wrote: »

Consider your hand held, chickadee.

They are trying to shake you and see if you waiver from the ignoring path.

There are a few more letters to come yet.

Thankfully you can see through their lies.

Sorry to hear your Xmas was not so good.

Forget about these parking bloodsuckers for another month or so.

And don't let their nonsense stop you using the car-park if it's convenient for you.

SV.

Hey Iceweasel, thanks. That's all I needed to hear really! I just heard back from Next who seemed to think I was asking them to pay the charge! (Or 'fine' as they called it, which I soon put them right on.) I pointed out the ridiculousness of being charged £100 (now apparently £160) for spending money in their shop. They said they expect all individuals to park in accordance with legal expectations! Hilarious. Next, you're losing a customer...

Coupon-mad

Send them a link to my 'Successful Complaints about PPCs' thread and ask why their name doesn't appear there along with all the other retailers who have woken up to this scam and who cancel these routinely for customers (e.g. Matalan are superb!).

chickadee13

Coupon-mad wrote: »

Send them a link to my 'Successful Complaints about PPCs' thread and ask why their name doesn't appear there along with all the other retailers who have woken up to this scam and who cancel these routinely for customers (e.g. Matalan are superb!).

Good idea C-M! Will try that if they don't get back to me with good news. M&S gave me a boring email link to customer services and the girl who got in touch "wanted to be honest" and let me know they probably can't help me. But she really wants to. ugh.

chickadee13

Sorry, me again, but I getting increasingly frustrated with useless retailers who are happy to take my money but not to actually help. Next have failed to even reply to my last message after 3 days, it's pathetic.

My question now is, how hard can I push back? I am not sure that technically they have to do anything at all so I don't want to be rude but at the same time I'd like to assertively keep asking them to help. I PMd them on FB but I wonder if I should name and shame on their public wall, or if I should persist messaging them? I don't want to be a nuisance but I'm not happy with their level of so-called customer service. I plan to send them the link as you suggest, C-M, but wondered if I could or should do more. I admit this has become as much a matter of principle as anything else. I am sick of shops having these horrid car parking companies who harass and stress out their legitimate customers.

sorry, long week at work. I need a beer! Or several.

Coupon-mad

Putting a complaint on the Facebook public wall worked a treat with Waitrose and Halfords in Successful Complaints listed in the sticky thread of that name.

chickadee13

Hi back again. I update this thread partly because I need a friendly assurance or two, and partly because I feel it might help others in Scotland who get tickets like this to see what happens throughout.

Further to my previous post I ended up getting another letter from a 'debt agency' but this time an apparently entirely different one! It was no longer Debt Recovery Plus but Zenith Collections (who I can see from the bottom of the letter are, er, the same thing). Why change the name? Bizarre.

Anyway, I ignored it, obviously, and came back to my mum's today to find yet another, from Zenith again, this time with the scary looking black box saying 'Notice of intention to commence legal proceedings'. It gives the usual spiel about reduced payment in the next 7 days (funny how the reduced payment amount is different from the previous one too) and then goes on to tell me what other costs I'll need to pay if it goes to county court. Am I right in thinking this doesn't even apply in Scotland? I need to check that whole aspect out again, been a while. I didn't think they'd pursue it as far as this.

Oh they also try to claim a court judgement would affect credit in future, a blatant lie! Which is just ludicrous. It finishes with a weird looking printed signature from someone apparently called James Wilkins. It also says at the bottom that it's registered in England and Wales but there's no mention of Scotland - does that make a different, as an aside?

I'll keep ignoring, but just wondered if you guys think this'll be them stopping with the letters soon or if they're likely to keep going for a while. I trust in you when you say it shouldn't go to court, but again I like to just be reassured! No point discussing this with my mum as she worries I'll be chucked in jail or something and keeps offering to pay them! Nooooooo.

I will also be adapting your complaint letter, C-M, and sending it to M&S and Next (directly to the affected stores) in the hope this'll budge them. Do you think it'd be worth also sending one to the owners of the car park? I wondered if the stores would be better first and then the car park. Realise we talked about this last time, but hey I've been busy with actual life things and not dealing with these scum! Grrrr.

Thanks guys. Appreciate all the help thus far!

wiogs

If it is any comfort some years ago I had several letters, different company but same idea.

I did get concerned when something looking like court papers turned up, so I phoned the court.

No case against me existed and the lady I spoke to said this was a common tactic so I kept ignoring and eventually they gave up.

Stroma

You are beginning to see how this scam works, yes threats of county court can't happen in Scotland , they can't be bothered to change the scam letters for incidents up North . Which is because they got thousands of these letters pre printed, they just add an address and that's it.

Just continue to ignore the scammers

chickadee13

Stroma wrote: »

You are beginning to see how this scam works, yes threats of county court can't happen in Scotland , they can't be bothered to change the scam letters for incidents up North . Which is because they got thousands of these letters pre printed, they just add an address and that's it.

Just continue to ignore the scammers

Ah yes I see, so they just churn them out and ignore the fact I'm in Scotland. Additionally they continue to write my name as [surname] [first name] which in my case is clearly very wrong, but haven't bothered to correct it. I assume this is because human beings don't actually do much with regard to writing the letters.

I'm still going to write a complaint, or several. Being harassed for buying things is not on.