Enterprise car club, private parking penalty notice!

Coupon-mad

Reply again and call Enterprise out about calling it an 'offence' and for lying to you that it can be appealed after they chose to pay it. A parking invoice can't be appealed after it has been paid, so Enterprise's mistake has removed the hirer's legal rights. This is plainly wrong.

Tell them the debit will be refused by your bank because it is unauthorised and Enterprise had no business to pay a parking invoice when they should have simply transferred liability

merevil

Thanks Coupon-mad, I’ve only just noticed your latest response, I have emailed them back already. They keep mentioning their terms and conditions, which simply says “Parking tickets are your responsibility and must be paid for directly by you. If the ticket has to be processed by the club, an administration fee of £30 will be added (we are often charged more by our leasing companies - as they receive the tickets and forward to us)” Does this bear any weight? 

Coupon-mad

No. Reply using my words.

merevil

Update / no  -

Thank you for your email.

As previously advised, there is nothing we can do if the issuing agency will not permit you to appeal the PCN, you are required to liaise with them directly, this is decided at their own discretion.

we recommend the member is to appeal to the issuing agency directly for cancellation.

To appeal, your letter of authority is embedded in our letter that we have sent you, which will allow you to appeal against the fine despite it being paid.

Please appeal via post and attach our letter to your appeal to the issuing agency. Kindly emphasize your letter of authority as the vehicle is a rental.

 We cannot put charges on hold pending an appeal outcome, however if your appeal is successful, please forward confirmation of cancellation and we’ll be happy to refund or waive the charges.

 Please note that if payment is not successful and not made within 30 days from the date the PCN was emailed to you, the charges will be passed to a debt collecting agency, in line with the terms and conditions which you accepted. - https://www.enterprisecarclub.co.uk/gb/en/about/membership-policies-other-charges.html

Should I now escalate to the BVRLA 

Gr1pr

Yes, is the simple answer, especially if they are BVRLA members yet failed to follow the BVRLA  Memorandum of Understanding 

merevil

I’m waiting for the BVRLA to get back to me they have confirmed they will look in to it, but today I realised ECC have been able to take the money from my account, unfortunately I left the lock off my bank account thinking they had stopped trying as it had been a while since they last attempted to. So now I’ll have to wait for the payment to clear and report it with the bank and see what they say. A little frustrated with myself! 

Car1980

Just because something is in their T&Cs it doesn't mean it's legally enforceable and/or fair under the CRA 2015.

A company can put "no refunds, even if the product is faulty" in the T&Cs that you have to tick when ordering. They can scream "you agreed to the terms" until they're blue in the face but it doesn't override your statutory rights.

merevil

The ‘bvrla’ have emailed me saying- 

“We are writing to advise you that we have completed our investigation into your complaint against Enterprise Car Club. Having carefully reviewed the information from both parties we are now in a position to offer our comments and observations.

We understand that you seek for the parking charge to be removed along with the administration fee.

You comment you had difficulty with the app at the time you were trying to pay for parking.

ECC have commented that as per the terms and conditions, you accepted you could be charged for any parking tickets in the event liability was not transferred:

‘Parking tickets-Parking tickets are your responsibility and must be paid for directly by you. If the ticket has to be processed by the club, an administration fee of £30 will be added (we are often charged more by our leasing companies - as they receive the tickets and forward to us).’

ECC paid the parking ticket and please note this is their right as the legal owner of the vehicle. The reason the penalties or charges are paid is to free the vehicle of any obligations and to avoid the penalty/charge becoming higher.

As you are not the legal owner of the vehicle, the right to appeal is not held by you. Your dispute sits with the issuer of the charge and we recommend contacting them again.

It is the issuer's choice to decline an appeal and this is not within ECC's liability.

If the ticket is entirely cancelled and confirmed as issued in error, you can liaise further with ECC so that they might consider to refund the amounts to you if you can send them the letter from the issuing party to confirm their decision as a result of successful appeal.

We would like to assure you that all aspects of your complaint have been fully examined and would wish to thank you for bringing the matter to our attention.”

doubledotcom

If you've lost money because of their actions, irrespective of what rhetoric moron at the BVRLA has said, you can sue them. Easy to do.

Coupon-mad

Dear BVRLA,

Utter tosh.

Kindly escalate this complaint to someone (your legal team?) who actually understands that with private parking invoices the first right to appeal or pay - in the first instance - lies with the driver who is the only liable party for the first 28 days. This is the case whether or not the parking firm used the POFA 2012 for keeper liability (some do, some don't) because that right comes only under certain circumstances and only after the first month - the window for the driver to respond - has passed.

You said this:

"The reason the penalties or charges are paid is to free the vehicle of any obligations and to avoid the penalty/charge becoming higher.

As you are not the legal owner of the vehicle, the right to appeal is not held by you."

Completely wrong. That is true only of Local Authority and Police penalties. This is not a fine or penalty and the right to pay or appeal was mine alone at that point.

Also, did it escape you, as you quoted Enterprise's own words that they say:

"Parking tickets are your responsibility and must be paid for directly by you. If the ticket has to be processed by the club, an administration fee of £30 will be added".

'Processed' does NOT mean paid. The only sentence about paying these scams is "must be paid for directly by you" (i.e. me). Well they didn't give me that opportunity or choice; Enterprise completely removed my right to appeal.

They did not have the right to pay it in the initial PCN window when the only liable party for these invoices is the driver, at that stage. I repeat: Enterprise unilaterally removed my right (as the ONLY liable party at Parking charge stage) to appeal.

You cannot in a million years support that position and still suggest that you are impartial. I won't be reimbursing Enterprise. They chose to pay an invoice that wasn't theirs to pay. Their fault, not mine.

When are the BVRLA going to properly train your members to follow the MoU you have with the Trade Bodies? It would really help if you understood the liability trail and the law, in that there is no keeper liability in the first 28 days.

With the advent of the Government's statutory Private Parking Code of Practice coming soon (proper regulation of the sector) isn't it high time you stopped being manipulated by the BPA, who are not a regulator? Sort it out so that your members are not allowed to pay these invoices in the first month and will be instead be required to transfer liability (with a simple mechanism not dictated by the BPA, dictated by you).

It is a national disgrace that you still leave your members with a choice to just pay private invoices that are not theirs to pay, because you don't understand the law.

Try again. Your lack of understanding of the difference between penalties and these contract law invoices is a joke.  Investigate properly please.

Yours sincerely,