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An Auckland emergency department nurse’s battle with Wilson Parking for a $ 2 park turned into a $ 114 nightmare, with the parking company fining her and then threatening her credit rating.
Eventually Wilson Parking reimbursed him, but he spent months fighting the company.
Auckland Hospital Emergency Department Nurse Greta Pihema paid the $ 2 required to use a Wilson Parking on Grafton Road while working a night shift on November 9, 2019.
“I was with a friend and I put my $ 2 coin in the machine, and then it just said, do you want a receipt? We both looked at each other, we were like oh no, not for $ 2, ”Pihema said.
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At the end of his 12-hour shift, he found a $ 65 ticket that said he hadn’t paid for the park.
“So I wrote to Wilson and said, look, I paid the bill, I put in my $ 2 coin, I just didn’t ask for a receipt, I didn’t think for $ 2 I needed it.”
Supplied
Auckland Hospital Nurse Greta Pihema, who paid $ 2 for a Wilson Parking lot but ended up owing $ 114.
After the company told him that there was no $ 2 coin in the machine, Pihema wrote to them three times to tell them that he had paid and that he had a witness, and asked the company to check their security cameras.
“After I wrote to them three times and they refused, they told me they were no longer allowed to correspond with us, that they owed $ 65.”
He decided not to pay the fine, which eventually amounted to $ 114.44.
“Of course I spoke with them and told them that the problem is that I paid the bill, please check their cameras, they will see that I paid, I have a witness,” said Pihema.
“They said no, you are trying to stop paying and you never paid and showed your ticket. I thought it’s not pay-and-show parking. “
They then sent him a letter asking him if he knew the whereabouts of Greta Pihema and to inform Wilson Parking if he did.
“So I called them again and said, that’s bullying.
“[I said] you know where I am, I have contacted you every time you write me a letter and the problem is that you do not listen to me: I paid my $ 2. It’s not that I don’t want to pay my bill, I paid it. Not well.
“He continued, then every two days they would leave a message, I had to block them on my phone, saying I have to pay this, I’m trying not to pay my bill.
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A letter sent to Pihema from Wilson Parking after a $ 2 parking dispute escalated.
“Then I came home on Friday [August 28]They wrote to me and told me that we will give her a bad credit rating that will affect her job, it will affect her job, and I am a single mom on my own with a huge mortgage, and I borrow money, so I was completely freaked out. “
He ended up paying the $ 114.44 to Wilson Parking.
Some other members of the hospital staff told him they had problems with parking. One of them wrote to Wilson Parking and it came out without dispute, Pihema said.
“There’s another girl who came back and got a $ 120 fine where they said she had parked in two parking lots, and there are actually no lines in that parking lot, she paid it.
“Another said there was something wrong with the machine and they let it out.
“I could have paid for it, but I thought, no, I paid the bill, why doesn’t anyone listen to me when I did the right thing? I didn’t do anything wrong.”
A Wilson Parking spokesperson said Pihema had entered his registration incorrectly at the parking terminal and was issued a ticket because the payment record did not match the license plate number.
“In subsequent follow-ups, the customer service team looked for the correct registration number and could not find a payment record on November 9, 2019.
“Through further investigation, we have identified a technical discrepancy that prevented our customer service team from detecting this typo.
“Our customer service team has contacted the customer to inform them that the notice of default they received, and subsequently paid for, has now been waived and will be refunded.”
The Commerce Commission has received 39 complaints about Wilson Parking in the past year, largely related to pricing, fairness of fees, complaint handling and customer service, a commission spokeswoman said.
Singapore-based Wilson Parking Holdings’ parking empire spans Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, Macau, Malaysia and China.
Wilson Parking, which also owns First Security Guards, made a profit last year of $ 11.7 million, up from $ 12.6 million the year before. Customer revenue for the year ended June 2019 totaled $ 217 million, including $ 128 million from parking.
