Wilson responds to parking charges issues
I WROTE to you just over a year ago about an anomaly in the evening parking charges at the Wilson car park in Moray Pl. The anomaly was that anyone arriving before 6pm and staying later would be charged for the whole of their stay at the pre6pm rate of $2.50 per hour or part thereof. (I had been charged under this regime. However, Wilson gave me, after some prompting, a number of freeparking passes so at the time I felt compensated.)
Your office kindly challenged Wilson Parking on this anomaly and its reply suggested the system would be reviewed and it implied the discrepancy would be remedied.
This has not happened. In recent weeks two family members have found themselves victims of what can be described as misleading advertising. They stated that the tariff displayed clearly shows the charge before 6pm is $2.50 per hour and post 6pm it is $1 per hour or part thereof in both cases.
To illustrate one example quoted by one family member: he arrived at 5.30pm and stayed in till 11pm, a total of 5.5 hours. His cost was $15. If the advertised tariff is to be believed the total cost should have been $6.25. One half hour at $2.50 per hour and five hours at $1 per hour.
I wonder if this should be brought to the attention of the Commerce Commission or even the DCC, in the hope of clearing the air of a rather unpleasant odour. Nigel Ensor St Leonards
[Wilson Parking replies: ‘‘Thank you for the opportunity to respond. Since Mr Ensor’s first letter in 2016, we have undertaken a review of our entry timebased parking fees at sites across the country. Wilson Parking manages parking sites on behalf of landlords, and is working with individual landlords to roll out a change to the night rate entry time, bringing this forward to 4pm across the board.
‘‘This means that drivers who enter the car park at 4pm (generally with a 10minute entry time leeway before 4pm) will be charged at that car park’s nighttime rate. For Mr Ensor, this change will come into effect at the Moray Pl car park in the near future.
‘‘Boomoperated car parks require drivers to take a ticket at the time of entry, which determines that person’s parking rate for the entirety of their stay. If a driver has entered the car park earlier in the day and stays beyond the setin of the night rate, they’ll be charged the hourly rate for daytime parkers.
‘‘Bringing the nighttime entry forward to 4pm makes it much easier for all drivers, particularly those who require parking after office hours.’’]
ON the evening of February 24, I tried to pay at the Moray Pl Wilson parking machines. They wouldn’t accept cash, credit or eftpos cards. I rang the 0800 number and was put on hold, and waited and waited. There was another car trying to get out too. Four people in that vehicle and three in ours. Seven people affected. We had no other option, so we raised the barrier ourselves and drove out.
I will not be paying the ‘‘illegal exit’’ penalty I was sent by Wilson Parking; further I would like a written apology from WP for, in effect, holding my passengers and I against our will.
I wonder how many other vehicles and passengers have been trapped like this? Why hasn’t WP got a mechanism that means the gates open automatically if the machines aren’t working? Do they think this scenario is OK? High time Wilson Parking was brought to task. Kate Jensen Alexandra
[Abridged. Wilson Parking replies: ‘‘Thank you for the opportunity to respond. After a review of the situation, Wilson Parking can confirm that there was a network failure on February 24, which meant the machine was unable to process payments.
‘‘Wilson Parking apologises that Ms Jensen was unable to speak to an operator straight away, and although an illegal exit notice was issued following a manual lifting of the barrier arm, the notice has since been retracted in light of the circumstances.’’]
BIBLE READING: Yet he is actually not far from each one of us. — Acts 17.27.