If you employ Parking Services Ltd to manage your customer car park, you WILL lose me as a customer.
There have been repeated reports of this Papamoa Beach based company issuing inflated breach notices and even incorrectly to genuine paying customers of some businesses.
Aside from the moral concerns of a private company charging an inflated breach fee to the public, as a customer my concerns are that…
I certainly don’t want to risk the stress and wasted time of dealing with disputing an incorrectly issued notice and…
I certainly do not at all appreciate having some firm monitoring (via CCTV) my car park movements for the slightest breach ready to pounce an issue with me a $85 – $95 breach notice.
If I see the Parking Services Ltd (PS Ltd) logo at your site, I will simply take my business elsewhere and go to your competitors and I will encourage friends and family to do so likewise explaining my reasons why. A line has to be drawn regarding these sorts of practices.
THINK TWICE before choosing to subject your customers to this invasive monitoring
Look out towards Piha from Mercer Bay loop walk vantage point
In other news. I’ve been purposely unplugging / disconnecting from the Internet for much of the evening these days. For me, It does result in having a much clearer head if you shut off your devices and shut off the internet while leaving only your phone on in a minimal state (in ultra power saving mode) and having it available strictly only for Calls and TXT in cases of emergencies.
When I do connect to the Internet, I only try and connect with a purpose (I’ll have a list of what I need to do, be it banking, paying bills, shopping for any life’s necessities) then immediately unplugging / disconnecting once all that is done,
Yes, we are naturally curious creatures, and yes “Scrolling” (be it news sites, public discussion mediums, chats, etc) does have some benefit, but only up to a point, mainly to keep abreast with the world. But beyond that it becomes counter productive and I find that many people are locked in to this dopamine loop unable to put their devices down. (Yes, it looks like Big Tech have successfully captured the masses and become the irresistible opiate of the masses – by design of course.)
Yeah, we’re playing into the hands of the world’s power elites and I’m responding by pulling back.
My recent experience with the Office of the Ombudsman left me feeling pretty disappointed and concerned.
I approached the Office as a member of the public with what I believed was a straightforward, informal enquiry. Before lodging a formal complaint, I simply wanted to confirm whether my concerns regarding the actions of a local government body were within their remit. This was done in good faith, following the suggestions provided by the Office’s own website and their own online help tool.
The response I received, however, felt unduly curt and dismissive — more in the tone of a formal rejection than an attempt to guide or assist a member of the public. It gave the impression that my contact was an inconvenience rather than an opportunity for the Office to fulfill its stated mission of accessibility and impartiality.
This first impression was at odds with the values and helpful approach presented on their public website. The Ombudsman plays an important role in upholding accountability, and for the public to have trust in such an institution, the first point of contact must be handled with clarity, courtesy, and openness.
I have provided feedback to the Office about ensuring the accuracy and completeness of the information on their website, so that members of the public can better understand what issues are within scope before making contact.
Disclaimer: This post is my personal opinion as a concerned member of the public and is for informational purposes only. It does not constitute legal advice. If you are the recipient of such a breach notice from a private parking firm, suggest consider speaking to a legal advisor or the Citizens Advice Bureau.
In recent years, I’ve watched with alarm and indignation as remote private parking enforcement companies like Parking Services Ltd and Smart Compliance Management Ltd have gained a greater foothold in New Zealand. While I’ve personally never received a parking breach notice from either of them, what I’ve seen and what others have highlighted I feel raises serious questions about fairness, legality, and ethics.
Piazza at Hamilton Gardens. Little / short roadtrip to get out of Auckland for a while to collect my thoughts + a short hike at the North end of Hakarimata ranges. Trails appear to be rather quiet currently.
Hamilton Gardens Piazza
In other news. Yes, to confirm the stories on the grapevine, I did indeed purchased yet another rental property earlier this year. (Why people seem to be so fascinated at this, I wouldn’t know…)
There’s little I can do to fix the state of the state of humanity or the world as an individual. Can only ever hope to look after my little part of it and “bear witness” I suppose. I’ve said my piece, and shall hunker down, rest and “protect my fire” as it were.
Fed up with the quality of Web search these days, gradually switching over to use more ChatGPT, DeepSeek in order to at least point me in the right direction. That way, have been able to find what I need sooner.
With that said, I understand it’s not going to stay that way. In time AI chat will too get polluted in the same way as web search as the pressure to turn a profit increases.
The world is changing, people are changing. I don’t necessarily agree with (nor understand) the way the world is currently headed, but other than continuing to express my views and concerns to elect representatives, “chewing the fat” with friends and family over the challenges facing society, participating in public consultations held by any government agency, discussing civics in a broader setting and continuing to partake in civic discourse, I otherwise feel powerless to effect any change as an individual.
Just another day out of the house… Someone causing a scene and getting arrested at Britomart.
In a way, it feels like some sort of generalized regression or devolution is slowly creeping in to the human species, but can’t put my finger on the root of it. Closer to home, It just seems some kind of ‘strangeness’ is happening. E.g. Everytime I head out, chances are very good that I will witness at least one incident of people losing their shit in a public freakout. People obviously under the influence smashing things, public shouting matches between groups of people, physical assault along with other public disorder incidents. In truth, it is beginning to feel like scenes out of a zombie movie at times as obvious drug use continues to increasingly grip society.
As my uncle said to me, you can’t save the world and you know what? He is 100% right. Going to be hunkering down, closing up a bit, sticking to my knitting as it were, and focussing more on taking care of the people who matter the most in my life. (Engaging Some sort of self defense mode as it were).
I’ve tried (and I shall continue to try – through continuing to engage in the civic process over issues such as housing affordability, inequality, infrastructure, public health, transport, public safety, among other social issues), but the reality is, there’s little else I can do and anything I do in the overall scheme of things has little impact on the prevailing. Embrace human imperfection, I guess. Even if any fix for any given social issue may seem glaringly obvious.
I’m also anticipating in due course, I will probably eventually stop updating this site entirely. I’m seeing little point in continuing to write and spell out my thoughts here.
So I’ve discovered that I’m sugar alcohol (Artificial sweetener) intolerent. Seems this applies to almost any Artificial sweetener including sorbitol, xylitol, aspartame, and others I’ve so far tried. Even a small dose will mess with my system – Ends up giving me flu like symptoms such as headaches, nausea, including joint, muscle and body ache, Diarrhea (Though without the respiratory ailments typical of influenza or COVID).
Used to be able to declare that I had no specific dietary requirements or restrictions when asked (on a form or otherwise). These days are obviously now gone for me with the use of sugar alcohols becoming more prevalent and I just now have to take care to check the ingredients of anything I buy and consume.
“Night Glow” at Claudelands Event Centre, Hamilton for Balloons over Waikato…
Night Glow at Balloons over Waikato. Claudelannds Event Centre, Hamilton
Didn’t have a ticket (They’re Free to grab, but very limited in number), was passing through The Tron, so walked up and took some photos through the fence.
I haven’t been able to get my desire to travel (overseas for leisure) back since COVID-19 – Essentially the desire to do so completely disappeared over the COVID lock downs and it never recovered.
In a nutshell, the potential enjoyment derived in my mind / grey matter doesn’t yet exceed the potential hassle / stress / cost at the moment. Given that it’s now been 5 years and the itch still hasn’t returned, I think it would be fair to say it may not return for a very long time (at least not to the same level as it was prior to COVID-19)
If there is a “purpose” to the travel, be in for work, volunteering, or other opportunity (that is not purely for leisure), then perhaps I can tack on a “leisure” component afterwards, but until that comes, will leave it be.
Plug in the USB adapter with your mouse into your Android’s phone’s USB port, power it off and then on again. Hopefully mouse will now be recognised and chances are you will be able to use your mouse to recover what you need from your Android device.
Admittedly, I’m a landlord (Yes… boo, hiss!). This “system” (from policy, banking sector, entrenched real estate industry lobbying) relentlessly encourages and rewards people for investing in housing as opposed to more productive enterprises.
You know this system is broken when the price of an ordinary family home appreciates at a rate faster than what one earns in their full time job and that is before the taxman takes his take off of my full time salary in software development.
Furthermore, It is not lost on me that houses are for people to live in first and foremost. Not instruments of financial speculation based almost purely around betting on future capital gains. The current system, while not alone in being responsible, is clearly contributing to both growing and intensifying social issues we all know too well.
Sadly, None of the politicians I spoke to across the poltical spectrum in the run up to the last election seem to show any real geniune care.
Part of a series on Disdain and Dividends where I document investing (out of existential dispair) in companies that I deeply dispise as a psychological analgesic due to public apathy and the institutions who are suppose to protect us legitimize these companies’ actions through inaction.
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The situation I feared almost two decades ago has materialized.
Facebook has begun and is already replacing having a website for a lot of businesses. Often when I do a search for a business, I find they now only have a Facebook page. The issue with this is that it effectively forces people to get a Facebook account to look at their page. (Scroll a handful of posts and FB now demands you login or create an account)
I will admit to buying shares in Facebook (now Meta Platforms Inc.) as a psychological analgesic to try and take the edge off of my high disdain towards the company. The stock price has now since quadrupled.
Despite my attempts to set up alternative self hosted platforms for friends to use (this site, peak.nz originally being one of them) to try and stop Face-borg taking over in this fashion, this was ultimately in vain. In hindsight and upon blunt reflection, I stood no chance.
The old web is dead. 15 years ago I was panned for being “Oh so pessimistic” for suggesting what has now eventuated today.
Admittedly, I really dislike the “new” Internet and have responded by drastically cutting down my personal use of it
