Help! Smart Parking taking me to court

Optimusf

Guys

This is my dilemma .....

So in November my dad received a fine from Smart Parking, to which I appealed. I received a letter on the 5th January saying the appeal has been neglected. Therefore the deadline to pay is 20th January. So my dad paid on the 20th January. To avoid any hassle.

The payment went through on the 23rd January.

Since then we keep getting letters asking for £120 because the account has been left opened. After much debate i got proof from the bank that the payment was done on the deadline day so no need to pay the extra £120. DRPL who are the debt collector have emailed saying the statement shows the payment went through on the 23rd arghhhhhh. Once i sent the proof from NatWest. The debt company are now saying my dad paid £10 less. The fine was £60 not £50.

Ok, my dad's not silly to phone up and say I'm only going to pay £50. Why would he do that? I'm sure the customer service agent has made the error but there is no record.

Now DRPL are saying there client will be taking this to court as from their side they sent letters saying we underpaid. But we don't have any of the letters? Ie we didn't receive any.

I'm not too sure what to do and I'm really worried......

beamerguy

Optimusf wrote: »

Guys

This is my dilemma .....

So in November my dad received a fine from Smart Parking, to which I appealed. I received a letter on the 5th January saying the appeal has been neglected. Therefore the deadline to pay is 20th January. So my dad paid on the 20th January. To avoid any hassle.

The payment went through on the 23rd January.

Since then we keep getting letters asking for £120 because the account has been left opened. After much debate i got proof from the bank that the payment was done on the deadline day so no need to pay the extra £120. DRPL who are the debt collector have emailed saying the statement shows the payment went through on the 23rd arghhhhhh. Once i sent the proof from NatWest. The debt company are now saying my dad paid £10 less. The fine was £60 not £50.

Ok, my dad's not silly to phone up and say I'm only going to pay £50. Why would he do that? I'm sure the customer service agent has made the error but there is no record.

Now DRPL are saying there client will be taking this to court as from their side they sent letters saying we underpaid. But we don't have any of the letters? Ie we didn't receive any.

I'm not too sure what to do and I'm really worried......

So, did the proof from Natwest show £60 or £50 and was this paid to Smart or DRP ???

Forget DRP they are the biggest lot of idiots around and they can do nothing

pogofish

Post four of the Newbies Sticky covers DRP in its entirety - you have no reason to be worried about them!

See also the "Read this before posting another DRP thread" thread.

Optimusf

Hey

The payment showed £50 from NatWest. .....

Optimusf

I wish I came across this thread before. I think when i made the appeal i may have said my dad was waiting in the car ......Have i backed myself in the corner

leeda84

Depends if you said that your dad had parked or was driving at any time - he may well have been waiting in the car ... but you can wait in a car as a passenger

Was the original charge for £50 or £60?

Optimusf

I can't find the letter with the original charge

I think i said something along the lines that my dad had parked because his car was overheating.....

Umkomaas

Now DRPL are saying there client will be taking this to court as from their side they sent letters saying we underpaid.

No they are not taking anyone to court! Please read the letter very carefully, then come back and tell us exactly what it says!

Smart taking someone to court over £10? Hysterical. :rotfl:

http://www.bmpa.eu/companydata/Smart_Parking.html

beamerguy

Optimusf wrote: »

Hey

The payment showed £50 from NatWest. .....

Was this over the phone and who did he pay

Lamilad

Optimusf wrote: »

I wish I came across this thread before.

Indeed then your dad wouldn't have had to pay a penny to (not so) Smart Parking.

Did they contact your dad after he paid the £50 to say "hang on fella you're a tenner short here"?

If not and they've simply passed it to DRP' and increased the charge then they've failed to mitigate their loss - and this will not go down well in court.

Has he tried offering the extra £10 and telling them to s*d off?

Optimusf

My dad paid smart parking over the phone. Surely they would know what the fine was!

I haven't received a letter for court. But drpl said to me over the phone that this will go to court