Criticism of camera parking spaces
Consumer advice centers: Trouble about parking companies is growing
Parking without barriers: In the case of supermarkets, in large cities or on sights, car license plates are often recorded by camera. It doesn’t always work – to annoy consumers.
Consumer advocates in Germany have more and more complaints about private parking industries. Above all, those affected criticized unclear rules, high contractual penalties, collection letters and poor accessibility of the service, as a survey by the German Press Agency showed among the consumer advice centers of the federal states. It is primarily about barrier -free parking spaces that work with license plates.
Expensive mistakes: if 15 minutes suddenly cost 47 euros
“Private parking management has increasingly an issue in recent years,” says Oliver Buttler from the Baden-Württemberg Consumer Center. Often, providers would be involved directly, which in most cases is not permitted. You can quickly be in the three -digit range in the penalties.
The Consumer Center Lower Saxony reported, among other things, about a case in which a driver at the Hanover main train station was displayed when paying at the machine “0 Euro” parking fee because it was in the free park of 15 minutes. However, she would have exceeded this time until the actual exit, so that she received a payment request of 47 euros. The Hessen Consumer Center also reported similar cases. Consumer advocates repeatedly criticize a poor signage of the terms and conditions.
“It can be more expensive in private parking spaces than in the public parking room,” says the head of the specialist group at the Hessen Consumer Center, Peter Lassek. “However, the punishments have to remain appropriate.” According to consumer advocates, there are complaints about various providers. Cases would also be described again and again in which consumers would be asked to pay a contractual penalty despite proper payment.
Confusing rules and high punishments
A problem with the contradiction is often that the cash machines at the parking lots would not spend any evidence, said Bavaria Consumer Center. “In addition, typing errors in the manual license plate input at the cash register machine lead to problems in connection with the automatic license plate recording.”
The providers reject the allegations. “99.5 to 99.8 percent of all parking processes work smoothly,” explains the managing director of Mobility Hub, Maximilian Schlereth. According to its own statements, the company from Munich manages around 100,000 parking spaces at several hundred locations in the federal territory. Several million parking processes would be handled every month. The number of violations is in the low-acting thousands.
Providers reject allegations: Problem often with the driver
Almost all cases in which users said that they had paid and still received a contractual penalty could be attributed to input errors – such as a wrong license plate. This could often be clarified afterwards and in justified cases, the company reacts accommodate, says Schlereth. “However, it is the responsibility of the end users to properly operate this system.”
The company explains to the often criticized amount of the punishments: “A too low usage fee would be perceived by many as a service flat rate.” An increase in violations would be the result. “So it takes a height that also has a daunting character.”
Due to complaints: Supermarkets sometimes end contracts
The “Park & Control” company said that contractual penalties only be pronounced in the event of clearly documented violations. The proportion is in the low percentage. The signage of the parking spaces is clear and is regularly checked.
The parking management company Wemolo also emphasizes that the number of contractual penalties in across Europe is 2.5 million parking processes negligible. The system works digitally and extremely precisely. “Of course, drivers who receive a punishment complain more often – no matter how fair and transparently the process is,” said the company.
Municipalities in particular, places of sights and supermarkets in downtown areas or the proximity of train stations are increasingly relying on private and digital parking space management. Many supermarket chains, including Lidl, Aldi Nord and Kaufland stated not to benefit from contractual penalties. Due to customer feedback, contracts with parking space managers have already been adjusted, Kaufland said. The cooperation was even ended with certain service providers.
Tip: keep receipts and take photos
Consumer advocates recommend that you get advice from consumer advice centers if you are safe to have paid. Contract penalties are often exceeded or the terms and conditions are not sufficiently apparent. Here it is worth taking photos of the signs and the corresponding parking situation. In addition, receipts should be kept for a while in the event of barrier, digital parking spaces.
dpa
Source: Stern
