Sainsbury's Stanmore - Win at POPLA

dadsma

Hi all,

The signs say the car park is managed by ECP in partnership with Sainsbury's. There is a 90 minute maximum stay policy with a £70 charge for not complying.

Several family members are regular customers at the store and none have overstayed - until now. For whatever reason time flew by. An ANPR parking charge notice was received and the The "Newbies" sticky on this forum was read. An appeal to ECP got a rejection and POPLA code, so that appeal is being prepared.

Meanwhile I suggested to the keeper to follow the advice often given here and request the manager of the store to cancel as the family are genuine and regular customers and it is a first time error.

This is the reply:

"Thank you for your e-mail concerning your PCN. On investigation I have found your transactions on our system and can confirm that you spent a maximum of £24.74 for the day in question both at the pharmacy and at checkouts. All transactions were completed between 13:38 and 13:43 that day.

On discussion with the Store Manager, we have agreed that unfortunately we are unable to cancel your fine. We feel that given the time of the purchases, staying up to 1hr and 47 minutes further and 30 minutes over the time we give our customers, is a potential misuse of the parking agreement which has signage displayed in multiple positions around the carpark.

As discussed previously with you, the reason we have euro carparks enforce rules on our carpark is to make sure the carpark is free and readily available for our customers.

I appreciate that you and your family have shopped with Sainsbury’s for the time you have and value your custom and am sorry we can’t cancel this PCN.

If you need to discuss the PCN further, the best method I can suggest is contacting euro carparks directly.

Regards,
David."

I have visited that store many times and never found the car park full so I think Sainsbury's are being a bit harsh in their attitude. I am interested to know what others think.

Coupon-mad

Didn't you forget you also had Auntie/Uncle with you, who paid cash for their shopping at 2.50pm?!!

Twitter and Social Media complaints work very well. Involve Sainsburys Head Office and embarrass them online, before you try POPLA, as the code lasts for 30 days+

dadsma

Initially Sainsbury's in-store help desk said the appeal had to be made to Euro Car Parks. Following the rejection and reading this forum a visit was made to the store to ask the manager if he would help and cancel the pcn. He said he could do so as long as it could be proven that "a lot of money" was spent at the store on the relevant date. A card statement was emailed to him but it seems that £24 isn't sufficient to fall into the category of "a lot of money."

He didn't specify the threshold for how much expenditure is necessary for cancellation but what is clear from what was said is that that they will override the parking time limit policy if the customer spends enough. That shows the policy has little to do with ensuring that parking spaces are turned over rapidly, otherwise they wouldn't cancel irrespective of a customer spending £500 or £1000. In effect what they are saying is that they will ignore the time limit rule and will give you preferential treatment if you put enough money in the till. Perhaps Sainsbury's would like to comment on this point. By the way Sainsbury's, it isn't a 'fine' and when you say you are 'unable' to cancel don't you mean that your are unwilling to do so?

I don't do social media so could someone please help by posting a link to this thread on Sainsbury's social media thingy.

Guys_Dad

Can I ask, just what did you spend all that time doing? Were there other retailers on site? Does the manager actually have a point about allowing a decent enough time to do a shop?

I am not excusing the ridiculous PPC charge by the way.

So it;s back to the usual template appeal points, I fear.

fisherjim

.....30 minutes over the time we give our customers, is a potential misuse of the parking agreement which has signage displayed in multiple positions around the carpark.

But in addition to the signage terms and conditions which he considers to be an "agreement" he has indicated there is also a hidden additional condition based on spend, that is not disclosed!

dadsma

GD - there are no other retailers on site. I have shopped there a lot and the car park has never been full in my experience. Perhaps the driver was tired and fell asleep in the car for a while before leaving the car park - I will ask and update the thread.

FJ - I think the 90 minute maximum would discourage overstaying. However to charge a regular customer £70 for inadvertently doing so and then offer to cancel it if they have spent greater than an unknown arbitrary amount is disgraceful in my view but we now do know that £24.74 is insufficient at that particular store.

It reminds me of the story of the playwright George Bernard Shaw and the actress Sarah Bernhardt. It goes that GBS propositioned the actress, asking whether she would sleep with him for £10,000. She said "yes". GBS then asked whether she would sleep with him for £5 to which she replied "Certainly not!, what sort of woman do you take me for?" "We have already established that" retorted the playwright, "we are simply negotiating the lowest price".

I wonder what Sainsbury's lowest price is and why it isn't published?

beamerguy

dadsma

Let's face it, Sainsbury's is not the favourite retailer
when it comes to the top 10 supermarkets.
Maybe they need to ask themselves WHY ??

To say "how much you spend" before they can cancel
a ticket does show they can cancel tickets and this alone
shows they discriminate.
Wonder what they do with ethnics ????

I know of others who have found the customer service
of Sainsbury's total rubbish

This is the CEO to contact

Sainsbury's

Mr Mike Coupe Chief Executive

Email mike.coupe@sainsburys.co.uk

KICK UP MERRY HELL AND REQUEST HE CANCELS THE TICKET

dadsma

Beamer - thank you, that's a good idea. Yesterday the customer helpline was called. A chap named Gary refused to help with getting the charge cancelled as he says he cannot go above the store manager.

When we asked to speak with a supervisor he refused. We than asked for the name of the regional manager covering the Stanmore area - that was refused too and then Gary said he was going to put the phone down to end the call - and he did.

unforeseen

I lived there when that store was built. I am sure that part of the planning as that the car park as also available for people to use while shopping in the town?

Umkomaas

unforeseen wrote: »

I lived there when that store was built. I am sure that part of the planning as that the car park as also available for people to use while shopping in the town?

@dadsma - the above information could be very important. Check with your local council's planning department (you might also be able to access the details of the planning approval via their website) what the detail of the consent was.

If it is as 'unforeseen' helpfully suggests, then you need to kick up a fuss, report to the planning department, to Trading Standards and contact your local press, because there may be many others who have been similarly caught out here, and just meekly paid up (and maybe due a refund from Sainsbury's).

Guys_Dad

beamerguy wrote: »

dadsma

Let's face it, Sainsbury's is not the favourite retailer
when it comes to the top 10 supermarkets.
Maybe they need to ask themselves WHY ??



KICK UP MERRY HELL AND REQUEST HE CANCELS THE TICKET

Absolutely right to contact the CEO. I would also tell him how much you spend annually with his company if you could estimate that.

But beamer guy I really must comment that we get many more threads on here for most of the other supermarkets than Sainsbury so to draw a parallel that it's due to parking charges doesn't stack up. It's for all sorts of other reasons.