Personal opinion as an individual consumer and concerned member of the public. If you’ve received a Private Parking Breach notice from either Parking Services Limited or another such company, suggest visiting notafine.nz to learn what your options are.

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If you choose to employ “Parking Services Limited” (PSL) to manage your customer car park, you WILL lose me as a customer.

There have been repeated reports and allegations concerning this Tauranga-based company, including claims of inflated breach notices, aggressive debt-collection practices, and notices allegedly being issued incorrectly to genuine customers of businesses.

While fortunately I haven’t had to deal with Parking Services Ltd as a motorist nor been a recipient of such a notice myself, my reasons for refusing to deal with any retailer who chooses to contract Parking Services Limited are laid out below.

Why I choose to take my business elsewhere

• I am not convinced that incorrectly issued notices are always as easy to resolve as claimed. PSL and others may describe incorrectly issued notices as straightforward to reverse, but accounts from motorists who say they were genuine customers suggest that challenging some notices can involve considerable back-and-forth.

• It creates uncertainty and hostility that I simply don’t want as a customer. Knowing that a retailer has outsourced parking enforcement to a private operator — including the use of CCTV, remote monitoring and automated enforcement at some sites — changes how I feel about visiting that business. I don’t want to be wondering whether an ordinary visit to a shop could unexpectedly turn into a dispute over a parking notice.

• I object to what I regard as disproportionate charges and escalation. Reports of breach notices in the vicinity of $95, followed by substantial additional charges when notices remain unpaid, are something I find difficult to accept as a consumer. Whatever the legal position may be in a particular case, I don’t consider this an approach I want to support with my custom.

• There have been reports of notices being issued in circumstances that seem particularly questionable. Media reports and accounts from motorists have included allegations of breach notices being issued after vehicles were present for only a very short period, including situations where a driver pulled into a shared car park and then immediately left.

• I am particularly concerned by reports of disputed notices progressing to debt collection. I have seen accounts alleging that disputed PSL notices have ultimately been referred to Guardian Credit Services, including situations where recipients say they had already notified the relevant parties that the matter was disputed. I regard the handling of genuinely disputed debts as an important consumer-protection issue and would want considerably more confidence in the process before supporting a business that uses such a system.

• I don’t want to be part of a system where people feel pressured into paying simply to make a dispute disappear. Even where a person believes a notice is unjustified, the time, effort and uncertainty involved in challenging it can itself become a deterrent. Some people may ultimately decide that paying is easier than continuing to fight.

Frankly, it is in my view as a consumer that there are other parking management approaches and parking management companies that businesses could evaluate and choose to use instead of “Parking Services Limited”.

If I see the “Parking Services Ltd” (PS Ltd) logo at your site, I will simply take my business elsewhere. A line I feel has to be drawn regarding these sorts of practices.

I would also strongly encourage retailers and other organisations to think carefully about whether they want their business or organisation associated with the practices and reputation of their chosen parking-management provider.

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Note: This is an entirely separate organization to the Wilson parking’s owned Parking Enforcement Services / PESNZ. Also note the name difference of “Elite Parking Services Ltd”. (which I understand the IRD are trying to liquidate). The company in question here is named simply as “Parking Services Limited”.

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