NCP overcharging...... nobody wants to know!!

bobthesod

Parked on Dec 26 at an NCP car park. The machine requested a charge of 6.00.

When i got home i checked and their website shows the charges as Sundays 3.00, Bank Holidays 6.00. However  i found this

 Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971.

In England, Wales and Northern Ireland the bank holidays are the following days and any other day that is proclaimed a bank holiday:

• New Year's day (or the next available working day) has been proclaimed a bank holiday since 1974.
• Good Friday.
• Easter Monday.
• Early May bank holiday. The first Monday in May has been proclaimed a bank holiday since 1978.
• Spring bank holiday (the last Monday in May).
• Summer bank holiday (the last Monday in August).
• Christmas Day.
• Boxing Day (if not a Sunday).
• If a bank holiday is on a weekend, a "substitute" weekday becomes a bank holiday, normally the following Monday.
  
  The important bit are the last two sentences
• 
  
• So Sunday Dec 26 is an ordinary Sunday and should have been a charge of 3.00
  
  

I actually paid twice..once at the car park as it the machine appeared not to accept my car and once at home as as a 'safety net' so i didn't get a letter both charged 6.00!!

After three weeks of them prevaricating about me getting a refund of 9.00  i just did a refund off my CC company and wrote and told them 

Now here is the thing  that make me seeth.If everyone one of their car parks ( over 500) did this this and threre were 50 people at each one on average they have overcharged drivers to the tune of 7500.00 Not much in the scheme of thiungs but surely unlawful? I have contacted two   'consumer champion'  one a BBC radiuo prog , the other a nstional newspaper, both of whome appear to ask for situations like this and neither have had the courtesy to reply.

I am stymied as to get this out to people who used an NCP car park on Dec 2,6 another site advised to drop it, but if NCP are too eager to chase us for non payment surely they deserve a slap for doing this!!

Thats it,. got it off my chest now. I wish i could make a few thousand that easily and get away with it,,Unless Martin wants to bring it up on TV. 
Thanks for accommodating me for a few minutes!!

 

Jthin01

One evening  in December 2021, we used NCP in Edinburgh Castle Street. Evening  rate was advertised at £8:95 but we were charged £14.85. I emailed NCP and after three months and several emails back and forward,  where they asked for our tickets, our receipts and even the bank statement showing the payment going out,  they decided that we had been charged the correct amount of £4.95 per hour. They even sent the link to their pricing rates, which clearly shows the evening rate of £8.95!

I emailed their Parking Rates link straight back to them, and they decided then that we had been overcharged and would refund to our card the difference.

In every email I sent, I asked for information as to how many people parked in that car park that evening, and later asked for information for the whole of December, but they have not even acknowledged my request, simply ignoring it. I know I have been subject to “delay tactic“, but I honestly expected the eventual outcome would be that they would acknowledge their mistake and pay out.  I did not expect though, that it would go as far as it did and that they would reject my claim. It took my response to the rejection before the error was acknowledged

Jenni_D

A private company is not subject to the FoI Act so unfortunately they're not obliged to offer such information.

Nor does GDPR apply so you couldn't even raise a SAR about this as it wouldn't be your personal data.

zhonguonuren

Jthin01 said:

One evening  in December 2021, we used NCP in Edinburgh Castle Street. Evening  rate was advertised at £8:95 but we were charged £14.85. I emailed NCP and after three months and several emails back and forward,  where they asked for our tickets, our receipts and even the bank statement showing the payment going out,  they decided that we had been charged the correct amount of £4.95 per hour. They even sent the link to their pricing rates, which clearly shows the evening rate of £8.95!

I emailed their Parking Rates link straight back to them, and they decided then that we had been overcharged and would refund to our card the difference.

In every email I sent, I asked for information as to how many people parked in that car park that evening, and later asked for information for the whole of December, but they have not even acknowledged my request, simply ignoring it. I know I have been subject to “delay tactic“, but I honestly expected the eventual outcome would be that they would acknowledge their mistake and pay out.  I did not expect though, that it would go as far as it did and that they would reject my claim. It took my response to the rejection before the error was acknowledged

I love these!  If it were me I would write an email (letter before action) saying that if I do not receive a refund I will issue a summons for £100.  I did this with APCOA.  I sent it to their email address and of course they did not reply (great).  I then sent a follow up email saying how disappointed I was not to have received a reply and again no response.  I served a summons via MCOL which now costs £35 (so yes there is a risk).  I won by default and APCOA paid the claim and the costs without question 😊 

fisherjim

They are PPC's; Admit nothing Deny Everything Make Counter Accusations is the unwritten motto of them all.

95Rollers

As I've put in a previous post re: NCP overcharging speak to your bank as you might be able to charge back through your bank if paid on card.

I'd personally leave a review on Google,  Trustpilot, Parkopedia etc and also the review the NCP app at the Appstore to warn other consumers!   This will certainly be advantageous of consumers thinking about prebooking a space at one of their sites. I read a review on one of their central London sites which swayed me to use public transport instead that weekend!   

By doing this you'll also cost them more business than what the amount they've scammed you of - so spread the word! A copy and paste on your thread will suffice!

Even if you don't claw back what they ripped you off on you'll certainly deter others from using them and possibly suffering the same fate. You'll more likely cost them a higher value of potential trade so make sure you do this as it only takes a few minutes!

I'd definitely copy and paste what you wrote and put up some reviews as it's a useful news bulletin for consumers!

Also I'd ask them if they've paid VAT on the overcharged amount. Because they were taken to court by HMRC for pocketing the overcharging and not paying VAT on it.  HMRC weren't impressed by their "double bubble" scam and NCP  were subsequently penalised by the court!  Worth reminding them of this as it shows you're not an easy mark as PPCs don't like educated people or those who can think for themselves and are aware of their rights.

Fruitcake

Good point about the VaT on the overcharged amount. Using the HMRC tip line is an option in that case.