UKPC - paid fine before I realised it was a scam, please help!

h86

Hi Everyone,

I'm hoping you could please help me...
I have been receiving letters from a debt collectors, MCN about a car parking fine.

I was suprised and unsure about the car parking, and had my doubts (didn't recall the location or receiving the ticket) but thought i must have just forgotten.

I kept receiving letters and decided to call MCN and dispute. A guy called Mark James emailed me pictures of my car in a bay with a ticket - so i thought it had to be real...

I got another letter in the post advising me that if i didnt pay i would be going to court. The fine by then was £160 so in fear of going to court i naively paid.

After looking into this (stupidly AFTER paying) i realised i was scammed, looking closer at the pics they werent real and were photoshopped.

Like anyone on this thread, i work really hard and £160 is a lot of money.

Does anyone have any advice on how i can try and get my money back?

I tried to contact MCN but they are refusing to speak to me.

Thank you,
H

Redx

you have ZERO chance of a refund

you would have to issue an MCOL and win , which costs you more money

pogofish

Learn from your mistake and be aware of the scam in future is about the best you can hope for now.

Getting your money back is pretty much out of the question.

The_Deep

Caveat emptor.

fisherjim

Pity you didn't come here first, you have been scammed twice, once by UKPC, and then by debt collectors who cannot do anything but send scrap paper in the post.

'After looking into this (stupidly AFTER paying) i realised i was scammed, looking closer at the pics they werent real and were photoshopped'

If true and you can prove it (UKPC have form for this) you should report it to trading standards.

Umkomaas

@OP - post up the links to the photos here and indicate where you think the Photoshopping took place. We will give you our view.

Use a free hosting site like Photobucket, Dropbox, Tinypic etc. Copy the URL and paste in the reply box here, but before posting, change the http to hxxp. We'll then convert to a live, viewable link.

Half_way

Unfortunately once you paid thats usually it, unless you can put in a load of work to try and get a refund.
Read up on things, take a look at the sticky thread on here and do some research.

If you think the photos are photo shopped then post them on-line as above

Parking companies work by trying to make people panic and pay up before looking deeper into the whole thing ( at which point the whole house of cards can come tumbling down ) and Just like myself, you have paid a PPC.
the best thing you can do now is

Post up the photos, if you think they have been altered then you may be in with a chance to get your money back

Research the private parking industry and then use that research to ensure that you dont get stung again, and likewise your friends, relatives colleges etc do not get stung

Find you who the land owner is/was and complain to them, tell them that they are jointly liable for their agents actions, and as a result you are out of pocket by £x

But for now post up those photos, if they have been altered then they will be very useful