Airport parking...Scam ?

mikeharm

I recently made 2 meet and greet bookings (12/4/18 &27/4/18) on the web (travelextradeals.co.uk) and received confirmation of bookings from 'Airport parking solutions'. On the day of the travel departure as advised we telephoned the appropriate number supplied 30 minutes prior to our scheduled car pick up. Both cars phoned and got told to call another number, to which we were told that our bookings were not recognised ! With two 1 year old twins in our party of 6 at 04.30am and a check time fast receding, a guy on the second telephone number said we could pay another £150 per car to get a service ! Clearly, we at that point considered the fact that this was a scam. With no alternative, unless we missed our flight, we left our cars in the short stay car park and arrived back 8 days after to an astronomical cost £720 !! (2 cars x £45 per day x 8 days). How could I gain compensation from these sharks ? Barclaycard have refunded my initial costs, but said I must persue this compensation/recovery of £720 personally and want nothing to do with it ?

System

Barclaycard are correct. No one forced you to use short stay.

The contract you had was nullified by non-performance and unless there was a consequential loss clause in the contract (unlikely) you'd be wasting your time.

But if you want to waste your time, send a claim using MoneyClaimOnline (cost £25) to see if the threat of court gets them to pay you a settlement.

mikeharm

Many thanks for taking the trouble to reply.


These people are actively still prominent on the web, so they can just not bother to turn up and that'll be the end of it, zero responsibility ? So, if I had not bother to use a payment method like Barclaycard, I'd be stuck with the original monies paid out too !


Are trading standards worth bothering with ? I'm retired and don't exactly want a relatively minor incident to envelope my daily life, but I have some spare time to make sure these criminals don't keep getting away with it.

Umkomaas

These people are actively still prominent on the web, so they can just not bother to turn up and that'll be the end of it, zero responsibility ?

If you mean by 'not turn up' not turn up at the small claims court, you win by default and you are due the value of your claim. Whether they pay up is another issue!

Or did you mean something else?

mikeharm

Again, thanks for the response, it does help focus the mind away from the 'emotional' attachment to such a scenario.
You are one step ahead of me ! I meant that comment in the widest possible sense of not bothering !
But I take your point. Simply take them to the small claims court and see if they do not bother to turn up. By default, as you point out, if they perform to their 'usual' manner, I would technically win.

The other reflective reaction is from the 1st response in which in black and white terms is a fact.
'No one forced me to use the short stay car park'. But in a sense they did ! I was faced with the prospect of missing my flight if I'd have attempted to move the cars to a long stay park ! A 6.30am take of was brought forward and we were seated, ready for take off at 6.10am ! To check in 4 adults, 2 tiny children, 6 pieces of luggage at a packed Gatwick South terminal, truely required the 1 hour and 15 minutes we were left with !!

Castle

mikeharm wrote: »

I recently made 2 meet and greet bookings (12/4/18 &27/4/18) on the web (travelextradeals.co.uk) and received confirmation of bookings from 'Airport parking solutions'.

Do you have a company registration number for "Airport Parking Solutions"?

waamo

mikeharm wrote: »

Again, thanks for the response, it does help focus the mind away from the 'emotional' attachment to such a scenario.
You are one step ahead of me ! I meant that comment in the widest possible sense of not bothering !
But I take your point. Simply take them to the small claims court and see if they do not bother to turn up. By default, as you point out, if they perform to their 'usual' manner, I would technically win.

The other reflective reaction is from the 1st response in which in black and white terms is a fact.
'No one forced me to use the short stay car park'. But in a sense they did ! I was faced with the prospect of missing my flight if I'd have attempted to move the cars to a long stay park ! A 6.30am take of was brought forward and we were seated, ready for take off at 6.10am ! To check in 4 adults, 2 tiny children, 6 pieces of luggage at a packed Gatwick South terminal, truely required the 1 hour and 15 minutes we were left with !!

It's not their fault you didn't give yourself plenty of time at the airport. That argument is a complete none starter.

The_Deep

Have you complained to your local Trading Standards Officer?

If not do so in writing, to the Council, avoid CAB, Consumer Direct etc.

fisherjim

If it's this guy good luck, was run from a council house in Manchester:


https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/09427800

mikeharm

They knew the booking some 6 weeks prior to booking. How much time do you suggest people leave ...we gave them an hour from the time we started phoning ? Clearly you haven't grasped the reality of the scenario.

The_Deep

This is an entirely unregulated industry which is scamming the public with inflated claims for minor breaches of contracts for alleged parking offences, aided and abetted by a handful of low-rent solicitors.

Parking Eye, CPM, Smart, and another company have already been named and shamed, as has Gladstones Solicitors, and BW Legal, (these two law firms take hundreds of these cases to court each year). They lose most of them, and have been reported to the regulatory authority by an M.P. for unprofessional conduct

Hospital car parks and residential complex tickets have been especially mentioned.

The problem has become so rampant that MPs have agreed to enact a Bill to regulate these scammers. Watch the video of the Second Reading in the HofC recently.

http://parliamentlive.tv/event/index/2f0384f2-eba5-4fff-ab07-cf24b6a22918?in=12:49:41

and complain in the most robust terms to your MP. With a fair wind they will be out of business by Christmas.