New Twist - Parking Eye - Hotel - Rental Car Company

ErnestEntrepreneur

USUAL BORING BIT HERE...

I rented a car and stayed at a Hotel in Telford, registered my car with reception the next morning - I've received a fine from Parking Eye, so contacted hotel and they've sent message to Parking Eye to cancel the fine.

All well and good, BUT HERE'S THE TWIST...

The car rental company has charged me a £66 admin fee to forward the letter from Parking Eye, and to send Parking Eye my details as the registered keeper of the vehicle at the time. (I understand that the rental company has to make this charge because they've needed to employ an extra full time staff member to handle speeding fines, congestion charges, tolls, and parking fines etc - we've talked about this before, and there's a big video screen with this information on it, so I knew about this beforehand, and it seemed perfectly reasonable to me).

My question is... Who pays the £66?

I've done nothing wrong, Parking Eye have been instructed to cancel the fine by the hotel because I was a bona fide guest of the hotel at the time, but the rental company have deducted the £66 admin fee from my credit card as agreed in my rental contract.

Don't Parking Eye have to pay me the £66 now?

How do I get them to pay?

Has anyone done this before? Is it standard procedure, or is there anything I should know about before I contact Park Eye? I don't want to lose out on my £66 by doing something wrong.

Half_way

what are the exact terms for the rental car? who was the rental company?

pappa_golf

WHO made the mistake ?


was it the receptionist who forgot/typed the wrong data


or


did parking eye fail to act on the hotels instructions


if the hotel have made a mistake , they should pay that cost , if PE have made the mistake its down to them (as well as there employers - the hotel)


you say "I've received a fine from Parking Eye, so contacted hotel and they've sent message to Parking Eye to cancel the fine."

for what reason was the "fine" dropped? did they say anything?

Edna_Basher

The lease company will probably have provided ParkingEye with the hirer's details electronically and the actual cost of doing so will have been a tiny fraction of the £66 they are seeking to charge you.

This £66 admin fee is extortionate and will surely be in breach of the Consumer Rights Act 2015.

Who pays the £66? ParkingEye certainly won't. You'll need to lodge a formal complaint with the lease company, requiring that they refund this charge in full.

As Half-way points out, the key will be in the detail of the hire agreement. It's unlikely that the terms and conditions give the lease company the right to make any charges for speculative invoices issued under the scope of Civil Law (i.e. ParkingEye's charge was neither a fine nor penalty), especially not where ParkingEye has already cancelled its speculative invoice.

Coupon-mad

That is the largest 'admin fee' scam (and that is a scam) I have ever seen mentioned by a hire firm! You should complain and ask for it to be refunded now that you can show them that the PCN was cancelled immediately.

Try that first - just ask and show them the proof of cancellation of the PCN - because a lot of hire firms refund if you show this.

If they say 'look at the t&cs' you agreed to the £66, have the T&Cs in front of you and check them first or ask them to email a copy to you. If the t&cs only allow the hire firm to charge for 'fines & penalties' from an 'authority' then that's the Police or a Council, that's all.

Chances are their t&cs may not cover private charges, which are not fines and not from any 'authority'. Not many do cover those but hire firms don't see much differnce. There is a difference.

Then if the Hire firm refuse to refund it, ask if they are members of the BVRLA (or look them up on the BVRLA website - Google it of course - so you know in advance if they are members). Tell the Hire firm you wish them to confirm that you've exhausted their complaints process and if so, that you wish to use the dispute resolution offered by the BVRLA. If they are in the BVRLA, they won't like that and may then refund!

Finally, never rent a car from that firm again.

That is a HUGE 'fee' and it is NOT a representative 'admin fee' at all! That's only meant to represent the cost of their admin and letter (e.g. banks charge £12 to send an overdraft letter which is more like an acceptable level for such matters). An 'admin fee' is not meant to create a massive profit for them or it's another penalty, to be frank a complete rip-off, as bad as PE's one.

Ralph-y

how did you pay ?

can you put a stop on the payment?

good luck

Ralph:cool:

The_Slithy_Tove

Personally, I would go after the hotel for your money back. It doesn't matter whether the mess-up was theirs or PE's. PE is an agent of the hotel, so that's where the buck stops. Whether the hotel then goes after PE or even the car hire firm is their problem.

You were told (in writing??) by the hotel that the charge would be cancelled. As a result you have incurred a cost of £66. Therefore they should reimburse.

BTW, as PE sent a charge notice, has that definitely now been cancelled?

pappa_golf

the reason for asking where the fault lied , was one of PE getting details from the DVLA unlawfully , as well as getting the £66 back , a sword , mark in PEs armour might just warn them to be more diligent


however the OP has not bothered to return and expand

catfunt

"not bothered...."??
He only made the post early this afternoon, give him a chance!

Coupon-mad

catfunt wrote: »

"not bothered...."??
He only made the post early this afternoon, give him a chance!

I was thinking the same.

The_Deep

Write bad things on TripAdvisor about both the hotel and the car rental company. They hate that.