New Twist - Parking Eye - Hotel - Rental Car Company

ErnestEntrepreneur

I'm still here... I'll try to answer all the questions.

1. I'd rather not say who the rental company are - I've been renting there for 15 years now, and they've been REALLY good to me over the years, all the staff know me by name, and I count them all as friends... I can rent a car with just minutes notice, I always get the lowest rate in town, they always ask about my Down Syndrome brother, and I was the only customer to get a bottle of wine from them at Christmas. Their usual customer service is absolutely exemplary, but seriously, they REALLY look after me exceptionally well. I didn't really want to give any grief to the car rental company as they are lovely people, and I thought this might be something that might discourage Parking Eye from sending out these speculative bills if they found they were likely to be the recipient of a charge like this. Having thought about it, I'm sure the car company would drop the fee if I explained the situation and asked nicely.

2. I don't know the exact terms of the rental agreement, but there's a whacking great video screen that says something along the lines of, "we've needed to employ an extra full time staff member to handle speeding fines, congestion charges, tolls, and parking fines - so we have to make a charge to cover this expense"... You can't argue that I was unaware of this - I wasn't planning on ever getting a speeding ticket, and pay particular attention to tolls and congestion charges, and frankly, I'd be happy to pay if I was genuinely caught speeding or something - I'd even verbally acknowledged this while chatting with them previously, it seems fair to me, after all, forewarned is forearmed.

3. The mistake MAY have been mine to a certain extent... I didn't register the car's details with hotel reception until morning... But I definitely DID register them. (The hotel actually have no way of checking now apparently, and when I was on the phone with them, they didn't even check the hotel records for my name to make sure I actually was resident on the night I claimed... I guess they are contacted so many times by customers who have received a letter from Parking Eye and they automatically say they'll contact Parking Eye to cancel the fee - she wrote down the Reference Number of the Parking Eye "Parking Charge Notice" and said I might receive one more letter from P.E. as it would take some time for the cancellation to filter through the system.

4. The rental company is a member of the BVRLA.

5. The rental company have my credit card details and regularly automatically process excess charges for fuel, excess mileage etc, whenever I owe them for something like that - I'm happy for them to do it as we have a great relationship and I trust them implicitly. (I check my bills, I'm not an idiot, but they really are very fair).

6. The hotel (receptionist?) took the PCN Reference Number and confirmed verbally that they would contact Parking Eye and the charge would be cancelled.

7. There's no indication that you have to register your car before you sleep in the hotel. I registered the car's details with the hotel's automated system on reception in the morning after staying the night... Surely it would be acceptable to do that - not ideal I understand, but reasonable.

8. I am bothered to reply! I'm here!

More answers coming soon. Thanks for the useful response. I'm thinking I just need to contact the car company, although I do feel sorry for them as they HAVE done extra work and incurred some time wasting and costs regarding processing this notice, finding out who rented the car on the day in question, sending me the printed letter from PE and sending PE my details - I understand it all takes up time of someone at the car rental company who needs to be paid.

I'd rather be kicking Parking Eye about this.

ErnestEntrepreneur

8. It seems that when Googling "telford "park inn" parking eye" there are several results for Trip Advisor already.

Having said that - I am contracted to stay at this hotel for three day events, five times a year, so I'd rather not rock the boat as the staff are pretty darn good (despite ignoring my repeated complaints about the hotel having the WORST TOASTER OF ALL TIME in the breakfast buffet - raw or burnt, no other option). But I digress!

I was REALLY hoping everyone would agree with me, that Parking Eye should pay the car rental company the £66 for wasting their bloody time.

Apparently not!

Coupon-mad

ErnestEntrepreneur wrote: »

I was REALLY hoping everyone would agree with me, that Parking Eye should pay the car rental company the £66 for wasting their bloody time.

Apparently not!

Agree in principle but you have to pick your battles. The Hire firm & the Hotel. Because you will not get £66 out of PE but you might from the others.

Why not 'ask' the rental company if they have any scope to refund or reduce the admin fee in view of the cancelled PCN - show them proof and ask (rather than complain)? Email someone by name and ask.

They are ripping you off though. £66 is a penalty, not the cost of what they've done which would be closer to £6. It's against consumer law.

Umkomaas

I'd rather not say who the rental company are - I've been renting there for 15 years now, and they've been REALLY good to me over the years, all the staff know me by name, and I count them all as friends

I think I'd be reminding them very clearly about this. If they are prepared to risk losing the business of a longstanding and loyal customer over £66, they deserve to lose you. If they're your 'friends', you really don't need any enemies!

Whether you intend to or not, I'd be making them think long and hard about the prospect of losing you. If they won't drop the penalty, ask who makes the decision (by name) as you want to escalate this to the HO/MD/CEO of the company. Put the pressure back on them to bend.

You sound like you're a very considerate and sensitive to others' positions type of person - time for change - NO MORE MR NICE GUY! :mad:

Half_way

but there's a whacking great video screen that says something along the lines of, "we've needed to employ an extra full time staff member to handle speeding fines, congestion charges, tolls, and parking fines - so we have to make a charge to cover this expense"

The parking eye charge is non of those

I'd rather not say who the rental company are - I've been renting there for 15 years now, and they've been REALLY good to me over the years, all the staff know me by name, and I count them all as friends... I can rent a car with just minutes notice,

Look at it this way, the rental/hire company employ people, although they should know better they just like a majority of people think these are real parking fines and will charge hirers/customers accordingly, so it should be a case of being friendly and then educate inform and help them

System

Car Rental firms are under the spotlight this year and this sort of charge is exactly what they are investigating

The CMA has also assisted the British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association (BVRLA) in its review of its code of conduct. The BVRLA is the national trade association for vehicle leasing and rental businesses (representing 700+ member businesses) and its code helps to self-regulate standards across a wide part of the
sector. The revised code, which includes standards for transparency and complaint resolution, was launched in January 2016, supported by a stronger governance regime to review members’ compliance.

1.34. The CMA plans to carry out a compliance review in 2016; the CPP hopes to play a role in this. This might include an intelligence review and an internet sweep to booking websites to check transparency. The CPP will also launch a consumer awareness campaign on the theme before the start of the 2016 holiday season.

CMA = Competitions & Market Authority (OFT)

If you get onto the BVRLA and raise a complaint with them. They have an Ombudsman system for this sort of complaint - hidden post rental charges - and they are under the spotlight for these.

dazster

ErnestEntrepreneur wrote: »

I'm still here... I'll try to answer all the questions.

1. I'd rather not say who the rental company are - I've been renting there for 15 years now, and they've been REALLY good to me over the years, all the staff know me by name, and I count them all as friends... I can rent a car with just minutes notice, I always get the lowest rate in town, they always ask about my Down Syndrome brother, and I was the only customer to get a bottle of wine from them at Christmas. Their usual customer service is absolutely exemplary, but seriously, they REALLY look after me exceptionally well. I didn't really want to give any grief to the car rental company as they are lovely people, and I thought this might be something that might discourage Parking Eye from sending out these speculative bills if they found they were likely to be the recipient of a charge like this. Having thought about it, I'm sure the car company would drop the fee if I explained the situation and asked nicely.

So ask them nicely then, but be prepared to go to war if they refuse. They are not your friends, they have SCAMMED you. Friends don't scam you, and make no mistake this is a SCAM. Hire companies love tickets and fines because their made-up "admin charges" are a nice little earner for them. Or in this case a bloody enormous earner at an eye-watering £66 a pop. That is not even legal: there are laws to protect consumers from this kind of rip-off.

If they refuse to refund you then name and shame them, and tell them why you will never use them again.

ErnestEntrepreneur wrote: »

5. The rental company have my credit card details and regularly automatically process excess charges for fuel, excess mileage etc, whenever I owe them for something like that - I'm happy for them to do it as we have a great relationship and I trust them implicitly. (I check my bills, I'm not an idiot, but they really are very fair).

Get real. It's as plain as the balls on a dog that they are not fair. You foolishly trusted them and they have abused that trust. Read the rental agreement, tell us what it says about tickets and fines, and be prepared to report a fraudulent transaction to the card company if the hire company thieves will not refund.

ErnestEntrepreneur wrote: »

More answers coming soon. Thanks for the useful response. I'm thinking I just need to contact the car company, although I do feel sorry for them as they HAVE done extra work and incurred some time wasting and costs regarding processing this notice, finding out who rented the car on the day in question, sending me the printed letter from PE and sending PE my details - I understand it all takes up time of someone at the car rental company who needs to be paid.

£66? You really are very naive. That's not their costs, that's a healthy profit at your expense! How long do you think it takes to look up a hirer's details on their system and email them to a parking company? 5 minutes? So if they've really got someone doing this full-time (almost certainly a lie) he/she could get though the best part of 100 in a day. £6,000. How much do you think they are paying this person, and where do I apply?

ErnestEntrepreneur wrote: »

I'd rather be kicking Parking Eye about this.

That will get you absolutely nowhere. ParkingEye didn't charge you this £66, your bandit mates at the rental company did.

Fruitcake

As above, I would use the "I have used your hire car company for 15 years" as a tool to get this cancelled. You simply state you want a final statement of any money you owe and you will then go and find a company that doesn't rip off its loyal customers.

I would do the same with the hotel. If it is booked by your employer you should tell them to tell the hotel they are off the company approved this.
I helped a former colleague do this when I was a Union rep. The hotel refunded the parking charge and the hire company refunded their scam fee.

I have no idea why you won't tell us who the hire company or hotel is. I certainly would like to know so that I make sure none of my friends or family ever use them. This is a money saving website after all and I would want to ensure we all save money by not using scammers.

Half_way

is this a private small family run car hire company, or part of a larger group or chain?

Either which way the £66 is excessive, the normal cost is around 30, and even then the advice is normally to challenge that and reclaim it.

StaffsSW

£66 admin charge is ludicrous, and I say that from within the rental industry. We charge £15, but then we do have two full time admin staff who process the incoming paperwork, and myself that deals with any escalated problems.
We also have to absorb any increased costs of tickets due to issuer error - more so with local authorities who quite often forget about reduced rates or being a bit hasty with charge certificates. In theory we could pass those charges onto customers, but as it is not their fault it doesn't create an ideal customer experience.

It's also worth bearing in mind that the BVRLA is to rental companies what the BPA is to Parking companies, albeit with a bit more credibility. It is paid for and funded by it's members, and code of conducts are in place but not really legally binding.

If you have a good relationship with the hire desk, then escalate it through them. It may be that the PCNs are processed remotely, so the admin team do not know you from adam. Each branch manager, regardless of rental company, should be able to swing favour with a central team in the name of good customer service.