Parking charge billed against a credit card without the cardholder's knowledge.

Fruitcake

I'm helping a colleague at work get a refund for a parking charge that was made on his corporate credit card without his knowledge.

He was working away from base and using a hire car provided by the company we work for. He parked the hire car in a hotel car park but the hotel neglected to pass his reg number to the PPC that they use. (I think he said the company was called PPS).
I'm not sure of the actual sequence of events as my colleague and I are on opposite shifts and all contact is via email ping-pong, but it appears that the PPC issued a PCN for £60 which was then given straight to a debt collector that then added on their charges before presenting a bill for £130 to the car hire company. This company then paid the £130 using my colleague's corporate credit card used to pay the hire charges, then added insult to injury by slapping on their own £30 handling fee.

Am I bad for thinking that the PPC did this as soon as the DVLA search revealed the RK was a hire car company, in the full knowledge that hire car companies tend to pay these charges without giving them proper thought, and then bill the punter for the privilige?

The end result is that my colleague now has a £160 charge on his credit card that, according to our company's travel and expenses policy, he is liable for.

Before I got involved he had contacted the hotel who apologised and promised to get the original £60 charge refunded, but he got nowhere with the hire car company who kept quoting their T's and C's that say he is liable for all parking charges.

Using the brilliant information all you lovely people post on here, I explained to my colleague the ins and outs of parking on private land, speculative invoices, and the POPLA process to name but a few.

I first advised my colleague to contact the credit card company and put the charge into dispute so he doesn't have to pay anything until this is resolved, which he has now done.

I then got him to contact the PPC who had by then received information from the hotel, and they (verbally) agreed to refund the whole £130, not just the original £60.

Next I got him to tackle the hire car company by telling them how they had prevented him from using the POLPA appeals process, making their T's and C's an "unfair contract". As a result of this they have agreed that preventing him from using the appeals process was wrong and they have agreed to refund their £30 admin fee.

So, if everyone does what they say they will do, he should get the whole £160 refunded, at which point he will be able to pay off the credit card bill.

What a palaver, all because a hotel use a private parking comapny and a hire car company thing their charges have some sort of legal standing.

Coupon-mad

That makes great reading - the power of MSE strikes again!

ColliesCarer

Bet he's glad he has you as a friend Fruitcake

Half_way

Do the T&Cs realy allow them to charge for private parking invoices? or have they mis interpreted them?

It would be interesting to see the name of the hire company and their terms

Fruitcake

Half_way wrote: »

Do the T&Cs realy allow them to charge for private parking invoices?


No


or have they mis interpreted them?


Yes

It would be interesting to see the name of the hire company and their terms

Avis.


After a lot of digging I discovered that the Ts and Cs are supposed to be attached to confirmation emails to the employee after booking a car. They are not.


I went to the portakabin on site where the cars are picked up only to find that a copy of the Ts and Cs are NOT included with the pickup paperwork and keys. Similarly, a copy of the Ts and Cs are not provided with the paperwork where the car is delivered to an employee's home address.


So, no information is given to the customer and as a result there are no Ts and Cs allowing the renter, AVIS, to legally pay these fake unenforceable speculative invoices and then try to claim it back from the renter.

Fruitcake

My colleague got all his money refunded to his corporate credit card, and more.


I'm not sure who actually refunded what as I haven't seen the paperwork, but it would appear that the hotel, the PPC, and Avis have all refunded money. At least one of them has refunded the money twice such that my colleague's credit card now has a 60GBP credit on it. Following my advice he has informed the hotel, the credit card company, our employer's finance department, and our manager that he has effectively been overpaid, yet nobody has asked for their money back. Consequently, someone is now out of pocket to the tune of 60GBP simply because a hotel employed these scammers.


My colleague is bomb proof should any kind of disciplinary or legal proceedings be started since he has reported the fact that he has been overpaid.


Oh dear, how sad, never mind.

Umkomaas

If I were your friend I'd be putting a 'friendly' warning on the hotel's TripAdvisor page to the effect that as a predatory PPC operates there, to be very careful to follow all requirements on signage. Or, better still, avoid the prospect of all the crap in having to deal with an unfair parking charge, find a more customer friendly drum to lay their head for the night.

Coupon-mad

This is great reading, especially as it was PPS who aren't the nicest PPC in PPC World!

Stroma

Coupon-mad wrote: »

This is great reading, especially as it was PPS who aren't the nicest PPC in PPC World!

Why are there nice ones out there ? Lol