Travelodge Offer - beware Private Parking Contractors

WhisperingJack

Well.. We saw the offer on Travelodge rooms as posted on this site, and got a room for £20, at the A1(M) Southbound Washington Service station on Feb 16th
The staff were friendly, the room was clean, the beds moderately comfortable, and I think it was good value for the price we paid. So far so good.

Yesterday, I received a letter from CP Plus demanding £100 for overstaying the two hour limit at the service station.

Now, the Travelodge reservation included free parking in the service station car park, and on checking in, I typed the car registration number into a screen and was assured by the Travelodge receptionist that our right to free parking overnight would be respected

They have clearly made an error in attempting to charge me for parking. However, that is not the tone of their letter, and "appeals" have to be submitted to them in writing. So they are creating a whole new load of stress and hassle for us. Also, it isn't an "appeal", they are simply attempting to charge us for parking, and we are declining the offer as it is covered under the contract we had with Travelodge. What's to appeal?

Their use of legalistic jargon and threats is really unacceptable, especially for a private company.. It is yet another case of "Guilty until proven innocent".

Beware.

paddyrg

Threats are all they have, so they use them to bully money out of people. They cannot 'fine' you.

Browntoa

head over here

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=163

for advice and how NOT to pay it

swingaloo

We recently stayed in a Travelodge near Kingston. It stated on the website that parking was £5 and was payable in the hotel.

I paid my fiver and got a receipt to put on the dashboard. When we arrived it was 9.30 at night and pouring down so I parked as close to the entrance as I could. No one on reception queried where we were parked and as we went up the ramp we followed a sign for 'Travelodge Parking'.

The following morning when we left we saw notices which were not visible in the dark saying that any parking for the Travelodge must be 'within the marked yellow bays'. Anywhere else and you were deemed to be parking illegally unless you obtained a ticket from the pay machines.

Luckily we were parked in a marked bay but the family loading their bags and children into the car 3 places along had been slapped with a ticket. The husband had been back to reception to be told that it was not Travelodge's problem, they didn't own the car park but just leased spaces and if you parked outside these spaces then it was deemed your own fault.

Wonder if there is a possibility its the same situation at the one you stayed in.

vikingaero

If you can't see the signs in the dark or the colour of the lines in the rain it sounds like a perfect defence.

WhisperingJack

Browntoa - thanks for the link. I'll definitely read that and do due diligence before deciding as you put it how not to pay. The issue not being whether I pay, but how to not pay.

Swingaloo - that sounds like a terrible experience, it really puts you off the whole chain if they treat situations like that. They have responsibility for your customer experience whether they like it or not, at least they do if they care about repeat business.

My situation is different - if you go to the Travelodge website and look up the Washington A1(M) Travelodge, it says the following under Parking and Facilities:
Parking details

Travelodge car park has 36 spaces free of charge, available on a first come first served basis.
The car park outside the hotel is owned and operated by a third party. Our guests should enter their vehicle registration at hotel reception on arrival to obtain free parking for their stay - guests do not need to pay and display.



There were less than 36 cars in the entire service station car park throughout the evening, and we arrived early. I am sure there were less than 36 guests staying in the hotel ( a Sunday night in February) that night. The service station was also very quiet.

I also entered the car registration number at check-in as the description says. So, there is clearly no need to pay this charge.
The charge was based purely on a photograph of my car entering and leaving the service station on Sunday evening and Monday morning.

bluep

One of the big reasons they get away with this is that a lot of users of Travelodge (and similar hotels) are business users - travelling salesmen etc...

If (like me) you have a company car or lease car through salary sacrifice, any fines/parking notices go straight to the central team, they pay them automatically then tell you that you've got a parking notice and they are going to deduct it from your salary. You don't even know about it before its paid...so appealing anything is a nightmare because the parking company already have the money.

Anyone else with a private car can withhold payment, appeal and even if they get into a big argument, we all know (from this website) that the firms have issues enforcing these fines. However, they must be raking it in from companies re lease cars.

WhisperingJack

If my employer did that, I would give them hell. They would be hearing from my solicitors.
Fifteen years ago I switched over to getting the car allowance and buying and running a car within the allowance. I spend less than £2000 on a car and then save the allowance. Buying an 8 year old diesel with good fuel economy I then make a profit from both the allowance and the mileage claim amount, and I keep the car funds in a separate account.

But if they target company car owners, they could have worked out that a car that old registered to a residential address was not in that category

bluep

I think the difficulty is the big employers outsource to leasing companies (mine uses Masterlease) - it really narked me off at the time when we got a parking fine for being in Tescos 3 minutes over the maximum time. I'd spent all the time in Tescos as well - hadn't parked there and gone off somewhere else. But it was already paid so appealing it had no effect as the parking company weren't going to give me my money back.

WhisperingJack

Well this one is now resolved. I sent the parking company a modified version of the template letter provided over on the parking fines forum, together with a printout of my Travelodge Booking confirmation and invoice., and received a letter back from them within three days, cancelling the charge and apologising for any inconvenience caused.
I modified the letter accordingly - pointing out that free parking was included with the Travelodge deal.



I'm debating now whether or not to claim back the cost of ( recorded delivery) postage, materials, time and petrol ( the post office is six miles away).

Anyway thankyou to everyone at MSE who helped with guidance here.

Mr_F_Dorsetty

LOL - Every time we stay in a Travelodge we swear we'll never do it again, because they are really pretty awful.

Then we are about to go somewhere so look at prices of hotels , then the Travelodge price... then say "Oh it can't be as bad as the last one....!"

Nope, always is. The last one was in Birmingham, it was a lovely prison cell grey with a window overlooking the back end of the worlds roughest Chinese takeaway and no comforts or pictures... it was like a night in Rampton :rotfl: