Penge Homebase parking scam

[stone-penge]

I had to go to Penge Homebase twice in one day the other week, both times for less then 15 minutes. In the post today I get a so-call parking fine from their car park contractors G24 claiming I had been in the car park all day and demanding £95. My wife rang the shop manager who wanted me to go to the shop so CCTV could auto recognise me and they could find me on their tapes. Why should I be made to go to the shop, have my mug shot taken like a criminal to prove I didn't park outside their time limit. How come the contractors can't find the car leaving and arriving on the two separate occasions. or are they just driven by profit and scaremongering.
I'll never spend money in Homebase again

[labtam]

Just ignore it, no need to respond as it is an invoice and not a fine from the council or TFL. Have a look at the url
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclai ... ng-tickets

[stuart]

Well I would just take copies of the two receipts (to prove you are a genuine customer) plus the parking claim and merely ask the manager to sort it (politely). If he/she demurs just point out that you would not feel comfortable shopping there again. If he/she demurs again just suggest if you hear anymore about it they will be reading about in the NewsShopper together with their ex-customer base. Oh and here too.

The real problem maybe if its all done through head office and the manager has no authority with the car park people.

Or you could do precisely as they ask in exchange for a suitable gift token to cover your time and distress. You could still come out a winner!

Stuart

[mosy]

.. Edit, decided to delete my words. The link above says it much better.

[chrisj1948]

My wife rang the shop manager who wanted me to go to the shop so CCTV could auto recognise me and they could find me on their tapes. Why should I be made to go to the shop, have my mug shot taken like a criminal to prove I didn't park outside their time limit.

Intriguing. I would have guessed they are controlling their parking using CCTV with ANPR software, and that the system is not thorough enough to distinguish two separate visits. This would be a culpable inefficiency, and you are quite right to be riled, but I am not sure I would class it as a scam.

Regards
Chris

[mosy]

If it's a genuine mistake by the charging company, then they should accept a letter of dispute, stating that two separate visits were made, or prove otherwise. (Send copies of shopping receipts perhaps but keep the originals.)

Genuine people on a car forum I was a member of were strongly of the opinion that it becomes a scam when the threats of bailiffs and concomitant massively escalating costs are applied as frighteners to get the weak willed to pay, so keeping a cool head is essential.

Fighting charges can become both time consuming and expensive even if successful, so I'd agree with the link above that it doesn't help if you start cat and mouse games with them.

[stone-penge]

by parking in such a place you are entering into a contract with the contractor,in this case G24 if you stay over the allowed time(which I didn't but there are loads of other cases were that has been the case)then they deem you to have broken the contract you entered into with them. The trouble is that by law contracts can't have penalties they can only claim damages.By sending out a "Contractual Parking Charge Notice" these people are making a large claim of damages ,in this case £95 which they would need to prove in court were the loses they incurred for a car to occupy a parking bay for whatever the duration of time it was.The sum claimed seems far too high to be reasonable, also the fact that they offer substantial reductions for early payment would also be likely to indicate to a court that the claim is based on an attempt to extract a penalty rather then an assessment of damage caused by a breach of contract.


Thefore I say SCAM.