Athena are at it again!

Coupon-mad

The 14 days (bribe) time limited 'offer' means nothing to you as you won't be paying. You will surely have seen the latest update posted only yesterday showing how easy these are to cancel (all is revealed - including the wording of people's complaints galore that won - when you search the forum as I already told you to, for one word!).

Think of the info in this forum as being here like a giant iceberg that you haven't seen yet because you have just scratched the surface and seen no Lidl threads yet!

Dianna67

Fired this off to the big boss just now:

Parking Charge Notice No: XXXX
Vehicle Registration: XXXXXXX
Incident Date: XXXXXXX
PCN Issue date: XXXXXXX

Dear Mr Haertnagel,

It is with deep regret that I find myself writing to you about this issue, which in the grand scale of things is pretty mundane. I am sure you have 100’s of other things to be getting on with. I have tried a number of times to resolve it directly with Lidl customer services; only to receive a raft of “standardised” replies. Therefore I have so other solution but to reach out to you personally.

On the day in question I was not driving the vehicle and can; without a doubt; prove my whereabouts that day if needed. I presume that the driver was shopping at the store though.

I am a long standing loyal Lidl customer, I principally shop in your Liverpool Kensington, Liverpool London Road and Liverpool Lime Street stores. Often multiple times a day! I have attached my bank statements from 3 months showing my loyalty – this doesn’t show my many cash payments and breakfast runs for your fresh pastries (which my French husband says they are the best pastries outside of France).

I have been in contact with Athena and completed their official appeals process which was rejected and 2 further letters have followed. That’s a total of 3 threatening letters and 2 emails! Their letters are confusing and misleading to say the least. They threaten court action, they threaten to double the penalty after a certain number of days and the entire layout of the letters is of a nature to purposely intimidate and scare people.

I requested information from Athena on the landowners agreed grace period, to which I received no response. It would be very interesting to see the details of the contract between Athena and Lidl, as I am sure there are other articles that would support my case against this cowboy company.

These private parking companies, many of whom are former clampers, have a very shady modus operandi, and have been discussed a number of time in Parliament and by the BBC Watchdog. On 15th March 2019 a Bill was enacted to curb the excesses of these shysters. Codes of Practice are being drawn up, an independent appeals service will be set up, and access to the DVLA's date base more rigorously policed, persistent offenders denied access to the DVLA database and unable to operate. I for one have found this whole parking scammer episode very very stressful.

There has been no financial loss suffered by the landowner or Athena as a result of the above mentioned vehicle parking in the car park. The penalty they/you are trying to impose on me as the keeper of this car fails show that the driver at that time was in fact a customer of Lidl, The driver (your customer) did not park illegally, or cause a nuisance or obstruction by parking in the free car park whilst they shopped in your store.

I was at your London Road store this morning and frankly I am unsure if those signs even meet the IPC code of practice. Do they truly inform drivers of the consequences of possible breaches? And on the subject of the signs; in no way shape or form do they constitute a binding contract between Athena and the driver. Athena do not own the land; so are they lawfully entitled to demand money from the driver, or the registered keeper? There are numerous upon numerous questions that I have in relation to this whole questionable set up and the dodgy legalities behind it all. However I refuse to present these to the IAS and instead I am reaching out to you personally, as the owner of the land to address this PCN with Athena with a view to cancelling it.

Yours faithfully

Dianna67

***Response from Lidl following my email above to Mr Haertnagel***

Thank you ALL for your amazing advice and the information in the success threads & the newbie sticky! You guys rock!

Dear Ms. XXXXXX

Our Ref: XXXXXX
Re: Your Contact

Thank you for taking the time to contact our CEO. I have been asked to reply on his behalf.

I was sorry to learn that you received a parking charge. I appreciate this may have been frustrating for you.

Lidl is a national retailer. As such, we have stores in locations with limited parking space and in common with many of our competitors, our store car parks are abused to a significant and detrimental extent. We have therefore judged it necessary to take measures so that our stores parking facilities are available first and foremost to our customers.

In order to ensure that sufficient parking spaces are available at all times to our customers, Lidl employs third party contractors to monitor and control our car parks. So far, this service has proved reliable and effective in reducing car park abuse and in freeing up spaces for our customers.

In light of your comments, on this occasion only, I have requested that the parking charge is cancelled. Athena will confirm the cancellation in writing in due course.

Thank you again for contacting us.

Yours sincerely,
For and on behalf of Lidl Great Britain Limited

Redx

Typical template response , blah blah

The driver was a legitimate customer , used the car park provided , didn't abuse the system and isn't one of the abusers they are trying to deter

Their comments explain why they engaged a parking contractor , but doesn't address your legitimate concerns

Philibuster personified

But congrats on your result

Umkomaas

Umkomaas wrote: »

you need to revise your strategy by reading other Lidl threads about how to correctly go about obtaining a virtually guaranteed cancellation.

A little clue for you ‘Haertnagel’. Do a forum search on that name, and away you go!.

Dianna67 wrote: »

***Response from Lidl following my email above to Mr Haertnagel***

Thank you ALL for your amazing advice and the information in the success threads & the newbie sticky! You guys rock!

The clue obviously worked - there you go!

Well done, good result. :T

Coupon-mad

Nice one - easy when you know how, isn't it? ALWAYS COMPLAIN ABOUT PPCs.