Parking, Apcoa | Knut Åge criticizes parking companies: – A quick way to handle free parking

(Drammens Tidende) At the Liertoppen shopping center it is said that upon entering customers have two hours of free parking.

Many times, Knut Åge Børufsen and his wife, who share a car, have taken advantage of these free lessons. However, when one of them has returned to the center later that day, they have to pay for parking from the beginning.

– I think it’s idiocy, I think this leads to the center losing customers. If you are going to Kiwi at Liertoppen, you might choose to go to Lierskogen or Tranby instead, he says to Drammens Tidende.

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Would like an explanation

Apcoa Parkering is the provider for parking at the center in Lier.

Børufsen says his account has been charged several times with parking fees since he joined the centre. Last month he emailed the parking company to get an explanation. Then the message was that you must be gone for at least five hours before a new free period starts.

Drrammens Tidende has seen the emails between Børufsen and the parking company.

– The least they should do is to notify, it is completely clear to all customers when you drive in, he says.

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– Sneaky

When Børufsen was contacted about the parking regulations by Apcoa, he asked how this is provided to the visitors of the center.

«I’ve looked at their vending machine, the signs in the area, but I can’t find any information about this. Expect that information to be clearly visible, accessible to customers», writes Børufsen in the email.

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The parking company replied that it is the center itself that decides if the free time is to be renewed for each accommodation and how this will be communicated. In addition, they write:

«We now consider you informed and have chosen to refund you NOK 22 and NOK 42 for your stay».

Børufsen describes the response as wise.

– Then they gag him and run away. I think it was a sneaky way to get away to avoid the affair. I’m certainly not the first, he says, and he said it’s the information about the parking rules that he wants to change.

– They take away the amount without mentioning it. What is written on the car park is what you deal with, like normal traffic rules. This is a stupid way to do it, to leave customers unhappy.

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– He has to cover his expenses

Drrammens Tidende has presented Børufsen’s criticism of Carl-Erik Martinsen’s director of operations at Apcoa Parkering. He gives the following answers to questions about why customers have to be gone for at least five hours before you get a new two-hour free parking:

– He wants to ensure two hours of free parking, not more hours. Parking is provided for free, so the idea is that you should get it for free once, not often.

He says that this is not stated because it is difficult to communicate in a different way than what is indicated on the site.

– Are you going to make any changes?

– I have no idea about this at the moment, but it is a very common practice to show the hours you get back. On the other hand, the free parking must be removed because it is complicated. Then they have to look at the machine so they know what they have to pay so it doesn’t come as a surprise.

– The customer says that you can get away with it by saying that you see him as knowledgeable, and that this is sloppy work. What do you think about it?

– It must be like that. I have no further comments on that, replied Martinsen.

– Standard usage

Center manager Irfan Akram says that they have introduced a waiting period to avoid abuse of parking time, and that they have not experienced any problems with the practice.

– Withdrawal period is a common practice in the industry. Parking with us is free for two hours. We also have three free hours to visit some stores. We see that this works well.

Akram says, however, that they are concerned about providing good information to users, and that they are constantly evaluating whether they can improve.

– We also encourage all visitors to keep in touch via the internet and the information available at the centre, signs and vending machines. As for the length of the waiting time, this is something that will be part of the assessment when we assess access and flow at the centre.