Why won't the Commerce Commission investigate Wilson Parking?
Tuesday, 21 May 2024
Stuff has been contacted by more than 20 people who had frustrating experiences with Wilson Parking or its Parking Enforcement Services division.
They were all incorrectly or unfairly issued tickets, and then most had trouble or spent a lot of time appealing the breach notice.
Wilson Parking says it has increased its volume of cameras and technology, and like any process, error can occur.
The Commerce Commission isn’t investigating, but says it doesn’t condone the conduct.
Victims of Wilson Parking’s incorrect parking tickets say the company shoots before it aims, repeatedly sending out false tickets while facing no consequences.
So why won’t the Commerce Commission investigate?
Over the course of reporting by The Press and Stuff, we’ve heard from more than 20 people who had frustrating experiences with Wilson Parking or its Parking Enforcement Services division.
They were all incorrectly or unfairly issued tickets, and then most had trouble or spent a lot of time appealing the breach notice.
One Auckland woman was issued a ticket when the signage was put up while she was at work.
Another Christchurch woman wrongfully received at least three tickets for paying to park while at work.
Most tickets were eventually waived, but only after a lot of hassle, they said.
The argument
A Commerce Commission spokesperson said they assessed all the inquiries received, but “have to make some hard choices as we are unable to investigate everything”.
“Every inquiry that comes into the commission is valuable to us. These are the insights we need from New Zealanders to highlight potential issues for us to watch closely and help us prioritise resources.”
When asked why the Commerce Commission wasn’t investigating Wilson Parking, the commission said complaints were part of a wider list of issues considered.
Vanessa Horne, general manager of fair trading, said the number of inquiries into a business was only one of the considerations it made when deciding what to investigate.
There had been 345 complaints made to the Commerce Commission about Wilson Parking since 2019.
Sixty-four were made in 2019, and 45 in 2020. There were another 67 complaints in 2021, 68 in 2022 and 62 in 2023.
So far this year there had been 39 complaints.
Horne said the primary issue of complaints were breach notices, undisclosed charges, debt collection, and misrepresentation of prices on entry.
Despite this, “we are not currently investigating Wilsons Parking”, her statement said.
“The commission’s decision to not investigate Wilson Parking at this time does not endorse or condone its conduct, nor limit the commission from possible further investigation.”
People who think Wilson parking breached the Fair Trading Act should fill in its complaint page, she said.
Horne said when considering whether to investigate, the commission also considered if there were concerns under the laws it enforced, potential for consumer harm, availability of resourcing, and assessments of the comparative priority of the various cases in which the commission is involved.
“In September 2023, we sent education letters and engaged with car park operators, including Wilsons Parking, providing Fair Trading Act guidance about surcharges, fees, fine print and pricing generally,” she said.
The victims
One woman received at least three tickets over three months despite paying for the parking.
Matt Stevens’ partner parks in a Wilson Parking lot on Kilmore St in Christchurch for work, when she can’t find a park on the street.
She used the ParkMade app to pay, but in the last three months she’s had at least three $85 parking fines.
They came in the post, and each time Stevens’ partner appealed and won.
The first ticket claimed she’d arrived and then left the car park three days later, and by the time she went to appeal that - she’d received another.
Stevens said it would only take a human running their eyes over it to realise the mistake, and see that she had indeed paid for parking.
“There’s no care, no responsibility,” he said.
“There’s no consequences for their poor performance of their poor systems. It’s not up to scratch.
“I could just see a lovely 85-year-old gentleman getting a ticket and going ‘damn it’, and just paying it.
“They need to do a better job.”
Keys Kerdemelidis-Kiesanowski triumphantly framed his Wilson Parking ticket, proof of his Disputes Tribunal win, and his winning cash.
The Christchurch man was fined $65 in August last year for breaching the four-hour parking limit at Northlands Shopping Centre, when he’d actually left and returned.
The terms and conditions said the parking company reserved the right to tow if there was an outstanding fine and he was worried it would tow him from its other parking lots - so he paid the bill but asked for a refund.
It declined, so Kerdemelidis-Kiesanowski went to the Disputes Tribunal.
Have you had problems with parking companies? Send your story to us at newstips@stuff.co.nz
About a week before the hearing, he said Parking Enforcement Services claimed it had reviewed the information and would pay.
So he asked for cash, but it refused, and the case ended up at the tribunal anyway.
“They were annoying to me, so I thought I’d be annoying with them,” he said.
Kerdemelidis-Kiesanowski won, but said he had to threaten an asset seizure through the District Court to get the company to pay.
He said all the hassle, and the $45 he paid to get the case to the tribunal, was worth it.
“Something that’s clearly wrong needs to be addressed.”
John Walsh was fined $85 or visiting the outdoor shopping complex in Christchurch’s Tower Junction in April to clear the book donation bins for the Rotary Bookarama book sale.
The Parking Enforcement Services ticket he received alleged he exceeded the 180-minute parking rules.
But he said “on no occasion was I there for longer than say 30 minutes loading books from three wheelie bins into banana boxes and then into my car”.
He appealed his ticket and it was waived.
But he later realised the photos on the breach notice showed his car leaving the car park many hours before he later entered it.
“In other words, their proof of the breach was totally false.
“It seems that either their digital system or their administration system is not fit for purpose - and they shoot before they aim.”
In the North Island, Louise Giles visited Queensgate in Wellington’s Lower Hutt twice in one day and also got a parking ticket as if she was there for the whole time.
Giles found a ticket for $60 on her windscreen that alleged she had breached the four-hour parking limit, despite parking in a completely different place on her second visit.
“They make you prove your innocence, rather than them sending the proof you broke the rules.
“It’s such bullshit. It went on for weeks and it was before Christmas. Who needs that - threats if you don’t pay it will go up.
“And I never did something wrong.”
She had trouble with the company’s appeal system, having to submit the evidence twice, as well as emailing back and forth to get it sorted.
“It was totally frustrating, and such a waste of time,” Giles said.
The response
Wilson Parking said it used a combination of technology, cameras and physical patrols to ensure it’s actively monitoring more than just when vehicles come and go.
“This is why some breach notices are issued on the spot and some are sent via mail.”
The statement it sent to Stuff said it recently increased the volume of cameras and technology used across the country, which ”exposed a significant increase in the number of drivers who breach the conditions of parking, including not paying”.
“An increase in the number of people not paying for parking will inevitably lead to an increase in the volume of breach notices.
“Unfortunately, like any process, issues with technology and human error can occur when issuing breaches notices.
“We understand it can be frustrating for our customers to appeal but we encourage them to do so if they think there's been an error, which is the reason for our appeal process.”
The statement said when there had been an error, the company would apologise, review and address the concerns because it was committed to improving its processes.
“At a time when so many New Zealanders are struggling with increasing cost of living, we’re seeing more people trying to avoid paying for parking.
“We understand paying for parking is a grudge purchase for many people, no-one likes receiving a breach notice, and we understand and accept that errors can occur – but it doesn’t mean we can also accept people avoiding paying.
“To emphasis our point, no matter how short your parking stay is you're expected to pay for your time, just like at a supermarket self-checkout where everyone accepts that they need to pay for their items.”