Help with parking charge notice. Please.

ShatteredDad

UPDATE:


Already had a response from them this morning. They have stated in their response that they believe the ticket was correctly issued. However, as a one time gesture of good will they will accept a payment of £10 and that will be the end of it.


That says to me that they know they are in the wrong and are trying to at least get something out of me. My partner wants to pay the £10 and bring a swift end to it all. Im inclined to do the same but I can't help thinking they are still getting £6.50 more than they would have done had the machine been in working order and I could have paid the £3.50 charge. I'm a bit of tight fisted fella


Still consider this a win, and have to thank everyone who has helped me with this!

Molts

It's certainly unique for a scammer to reduce the amount they are scamming off you, so I suppose looking at it like that it could be considered a "gesture of good will". But have a good read around in here and you will quickly realise these parasites do not deal in "goodwill".

If you are that tight fisted then £0 is better than £10 and with the support of the experienced forum members on here that is precisely what you will pay.

I suppose you will have to weigh up £10 vs. some time and effort on your part.

ShatteredDad

Molts - I fully understand there is no goodwill. To me, reducing it to as low as £10 only a day after after receiving my appeal shows they know they don't have a leg to stand on and they are just trying to extract something from me. £10 toward their staff christmas party haha.


If it was me alone I would just ignore any and all correspondance now, but my partner has anxiety and she will worry constantly over debt letters etc. For the sake of a tenner it seems like an easy way to put an end to it. I may try one last letter and make a counter offer of £3.50 which would have been the cost of the drivers stay in the car park on the day in question.


For the sake of a tenner I don't see why they didn't just call it quits and write it off altogether!

Molts

Send them a new fiver and offer them the opportunity to try it out on that scam. If they get lucky they might even get their arbitrary £100 they were trying to scam off you in the first place

Umkomaas

Do a 'drop hands' offer.

Itemise your costs to date, include (sensible) research time - a couple of hours @ £19 ph (litigant-in-person rate), any travel costs to revisit site to check signage (45p per mile), any postage costs, etc.

You'll suck up your costs if they do the same.

ShatteredDad

I've got a few days left on this. The closer it gets the less I want to pay this tenner. Can anybody advise what they would do in this instance before I go ahead and send them their £10 scam money?

Carthesis

I'd say do as Umkomaas suggests, covered with your point about offering them the rate that you *should and would* have paid at the time but couldn't due to their non-working machine.

They're only offering you the £10 "discount" because they've not got a leg to stand on. Offering them the £3.50 which was the correct rate anyway is a reasonable position to take, and shows that you've made every effort to attempt to resolve this should it end up before a beak.

Umkomaas

@OP - did you not follow my advice?

What other advice could possibly help you avoid paying a tenner?

ShatteredDad

I'm so tempted to continue the battle but my partner will not be happy if I carry on down that route. They still haven't requested any information re the driver of the vehicle on the day in question. How long do they have to do that?

ShatteredDad

Umkomaas - Sorry, that post looked like I had just ignored you, apologies. I just wanted a few further opinions. As of now I have not responded to their offer of a £10 payment. There are a few things that concern me about it, the main one being it doesn;t state anywhere on their letter that this offer of £10 is for full and final settlement, so slightly concerned they will take my tenner and continue playing silly beggars.
The other is that they have stated their position is due to the telephone number that is there to ring if the machine is found non working, they say there is a recorded message telling you not to park, and they feel this means there is plenty warning. However, I feel that is unfair as they are making assumptions thate verybody has the facility to ring that numebr when it is not the case.
I'm just a bit confused ot be honest. On the one hand £10 seems like a small price to pay for peace and quiet but on the other I know they are still ripping me off and it vexes me greatly!