Furious drivers baffled by parking apps plead with firms to let them deal with a human
Furious drivers baffled by parking apps beg companies to let them deal with a human when they have complaints, complaining about the ‘appalling’ lack of customer service
Angry motorists have criticized parking app companies for having no one to talk to when they have complaints.
Drivers complained about the “appalling” lack of customer service after being left with automated voice recordings or redirected to chatbots.
Some have described spending hours talking to a “human,” while others have simply given up and driven elsewhere.
It comes after the Daily Mail revealed how more than two million drivers will soon be living in ‘parking meter deserts’ as pay and display machines are increasingly being demolished by local authorities.
In their place, many municipalities are installing cashless meters or instructing motorists to pay for parking through apps such as RingGo, PayByPhone, and MiPermit.
Angry motorists have criticized parking app companies for having no one to talk to when they have complaints. (file image)
More than half of people over 65 feel uncomfortable using apps, according to a Consumer Intelligence survey commissioned by the Mail this month
Yet more than half of people over 65 don’t feel comfortable using apps, according to a Consumer Intelligence survey commissioned by the Mail this month. And companies offer little help to those who struggle to use them, even if their systems have crashed.
Consumer expert Martyn James said: “I’ve seen a significant increase in… drivers unable to contact an app’s customer service if there’s a problem.”
He added: “Companies need to understand that not everyone is comfortable [using them] and there should be an opportunity to talk to someone if there is a problem.’
Gas engineer Rohan Ataa has nearly half a dozen parking apps installed on his phone because his job requires him to drive across the country. However, he encounters problems with them on a “weekly” basis – from payment refusals to systems crashing.
Earlier this month, he was forced to leave a note in his van in Colchester, Essex, when his MiPermit app repeatedly failed to process his payment.
Mr Ataa, 36, said: ‘I have experienced appalling customer service when using these apps. It just adds more stress to my day.” Britain’s largest parking app, RingGo, has up to 515,000 users.
But when the Mail visited its website, there was no clear customer service helpline available.
Many municipalities are installing cashless meters or instructing motorists to pay for parking through apps such as RingGo, PayByPhone, and MiPermit
Instead, customers were instructed to ask a question online or use the “virtual assistant” chat service available through the app.
University student Ann Ismat uses RingGo when she attends classes in Plymouth city centre.
Ms. Ismat, 45, once spent two hours trying to reach someone who worked for RingGo on the phone. Not even her tweets to the company on social media have garnered any response. She said, “This is a parking lot that I use up to four times a week. I already suffer from anxiety and using this app makes it so much worse.”
RAC spokesman Simon Williams said: “It’s bad enough that drivers have to use multiple apps to park and the ability to pay in cash is rapidly disappearing but not being able to speak to anyone if there’s a problem creates a whole new level of frustration.”
A RingGo spokesperson said, “We have a help center both in the app and on our website, as well as FAQs, live web and app chat agents, and call-backs available during core hours to assist customers.”