Parking Eye, Aldi Sheffield St Mary's Gate - Advice for 3rd ticket issued please!

alanamyles

I'm hoping someone can advise on what to do/what to expect in regard to my 3rd ticket from Parking Eye for overstaying the 1.5 allowed hours at Aldi.

First, a bit of history.

I've been shopping weekly at this store for almost 2 years now. I always do a LARGE family shop. TBH I never really took notice of the signs until my first ticket as I'd assumed the time would be plenty for me to shop and leave. That was of course my mistake.

My first ticket was issued in late January. This was a huge shop, I'd visited both Aldi's discount store and the main supermarket, spending over £200 in total and overstaying by about 30 minutes. My bad, should have checked the signage. Paid within 14 days and resolved to pay attention to the restrictions.

All was well until just under 2 weeks ago. Did a big shop as usual. Gave my toddler a cheese snack we'd just bought which turned out to have gone off. Didn't think about the extra time as I asked for an exchange. Sure enough, we were over by about 15 minutes. I begrudgingly paid the reduced £40.

Then today - another fine letter! At first I thought it must be some mistake, then looked at the date to realise it was for the week after. Interestingly they waited 7 days to send it. TBH I'm not convinced I was in the car park as long as it states. No delays this time, just a big weekly shop with toddler in tow.

Fuming, I called Aldi customer service and an understanding fellow took my details to pass onto the dedicated parking team who are likely to call me tomorrow. I probably don't have the original till receipt, but always pay on my card and can produce my bank statements on demand.

I'm *hoping* that this 3rd ticket (at least) can be cancelled. Two tickets in 2 weeks is ridiculous. I don't shop anywhere else bar Aldi when parking in their car parks, and think customers should be allowed long enough, without charge, to complete their shop.

Can anyone tell me if I'm likely to be able to have this ticket cancelled? Since less than 28 days has passed since that 2nd ticket, do I have any hope of an appeal and possible refund? (I paid because I sincerely don't want the hassle of threatening letters or court, and would have left it be were it not for the third ridiculous fine).

Is there any way of avoiding this happen in future when I do my large shops, perhaps by informing someone of my car registration in store to avoid a fine if it looks like I might be a little over? I understand most people can be in-and-out of Aldi within 90 minutes, but I seem to struggle with my large £90+ family shops plus a toddler in tow...

Marktheshark

They are giving you these tickets for spending your cash with them and you keep going back again ?
I am sorry but what part of Aldi do not want you in their shop do you not get.

No shop that uses this method of extortion on its customers deserves a second chance, let alone a third.

Stroma

Jeez you paid them twice , they have you marked now as a paying mug! Do you realise this is just an invoice and they would have cancelled on production of a receipt?

Now you need to appeal this not pay! Read the sticky thread by coupon mad and use the wording in post one to appeal, if they reject go to popla where we can help you win.

alanamyles

Stroma wrote: »

Do you realise this is just an invoice and they would have cancelled on production of a receipt?

So, hopefully this third one will be cancelled as I can prove having shopped there with my bank statement (if I can't find the receipt)?

Can I appeal the 2nd (previous) "invoice/fine", as this was less than 28 days ago and perhaps have the "reduced fee" I have paid refunded?

Northlakes

You have as much chance of getting your money back as I have winning the national lottery. I have never bought a ticket!

Redx

unless they take pity on you then you wont get a penny back

you should have accessed this forum right at the start and appealed all of them, with our help, costing them £27 + vat for each and every ticket

plus you should have complained to aldi on the previous occasions as well as now , demanding cancellation of all 3 tickets

this is typical of aldi and is a stealth tax on the unwary or tardy like you, which you have fallen for twice over already , and nearly a third time

they will take 7 days to send the invoice , because they actually have 14 days in which to send it and get it to your house

they are in the business of maximising their profits , especially PE, so will ticket any mug over and over again if they keep paying this invoices

frankly, I would rather stick pins in my eyes than pay PE for doing my legal shopping at a supermarket , if they want my business they better not ticket me ! period

the good news is you have finally woken up to this scam

the bad news is that you have been a member here for 4 years and only just found this parking forum (so money saving expert you are not - sorry)

if you need help appealing any more, ask on here, but read the top thread first, where it explains everything - dont get mugged again !

Dee140157

You seriously need to read the newbie thread and get to understand how you can and should appeal this 3rd pcn and any future ones.parking Eye is beaten every time by forum based appeals at POPLA, so there is no need to pay anyone. It has been an expensive £140 for you. Don't pay any more please.

alanamyles

Thanks all, I do feel like a right mug for having paid twice =/

I'll wait to see if the Aldi parking team call me back tomorrow and hope the notice will be withdrawn. I'm also going to at least ask if it's possible to get refunds on the previous two - I have proofs of my shopping there, so it's worth a try.

Failing that, I'll appeal through the Parking Eye website.

One question - in the sticky post with the template for the appeal letter, it mentions to attach proof such as a receipt or bank statement, but that's not referenced in the template letter. Should I refer to the proofs in my appeal (if I end up going down that route)?

Stroma

As point 4

4) attached are receipts from the principle Aldi

Its that simple

Dee140157

And if you send a bank statement you can heavily redact it to the point where it has your name and address and the Aldi payment as the only 2 identifying pieces of information showing. It will have an unique reference.

alanamyles

I just wanted to share that I had a positive outcome in dealing with my tickets.

After calling Aldi Customer Services about the tickets, I was eventually referred to the dedicated parking team (it took a couple of days to call me back as there was a backlog). I was advised that if I could produce the receipts from the shops corresponding to the parking tickets I would be able to have the second ticket cancelled and the first (which I'd paid) refunded. I was also advised that if I thought I would be longer than 90 minutes when doing a big shop, I could advise a member of staff/management who would log my car registration on their system to avoid getting a ticket in the future.

As I didn't keep the receipts, I needed to go in store and was able to get copies of those receipts. I emailed these (along with an annotated bank statement, as requested) and received a reply back within the hour that the tickets would be dealt with.

Just under a week later, I received a letter from Parking Eye stating that the second ticket had been cancelled. There was no mention of the first (paid) ticket. I considered whether to contact Aldi again to remind them of the original statement to refund the first, but doubted it would materialise so decided to cut my losses.

Then this morning I got the surprise of my life: a letter from Parking Eye with a cheque for £40 to refund that first ticket!

To be on the safe side, I now keep all my receipts from Aldi shops and keep an eye on the time to avoid any further problems, but am rather pleased with this outcome, and thankful for having received great customer service from Aldi.