Cruiser Elite
Enthusiast
- Joined
- Oct 31, 2010
- Posts
- 14,089
Let me start by saying - 'I might be the only AFF member who still drives to the airport AND parks at airport - 2 reasons':
1. I know where to park to minimise transfer time
2. Spent many years as professional driver in buses / semi trailers - I can drive - many others cannot - I feel a lot safer behind the wheel.
MEL parking now have 'Saver' deals where you pre-pay - but had interesting experience recently - the first time I used there 'Super Saver' deals.
Below is the guts of it - this info transferred to ABC radio 774 this morning:
Melbourne Airport Parking (MAP)
I was booked to fly from Melbourne to Beijing with Singapore Airlines on Sat July 2 at 10:45am.
I went online to MAP web site to their ‘Super Saver Deals’ - Super Saver deals : Melbourne Airport - and pre-booked parking – arrive MAP at 09:00 on Jul 20 / dep MAP on Jul 29 at 10:00 – cost $69.00 on AMEX – all good and paid for.
I arrived MAP on morning Jul 20 at 08:35 and accessed MAP exactly how instructed to – insert CC used to purchase pre-paid parking – didn’t take ticket as instructed – all well and good.
I was booked to return to Melbourne on July 28 dep Singapore at 23:55 – but luckily transferred to an earlier flight dep Singapore at 21:00 which brought my arrival back into Melbourne forward 3.5 hrs or so.
On arrival back into Melbourne wandered back to my car – headed to exit gate – inserted CC as instructed – gathered receipt and voila – all is good I thought. I did not check amount on receipt from MAP that day and indeed did not keep it either – no idea where it went to.
Received CC statement in mail 2 weeks later and noticed that MAP had debited the original $69.00 for pre-paid booking and also $159.00 on Jul 29 – the actual date I returned.
I called MAP and explained my problem – their response was this:
YES we can see by booking reference number you provided that indeed you did pre-pay booking. We can see you arrived at 08:35 on Jul 20 instead 09:00 as you booked but that is OK. Your problem is that you arrived back into Melbourne 3.5hrs early – and our systems can only search 2 hours either side of your original designated return time.
MAP rep – and I think he was a manager – went on to say this is a relatively new system and we want to encourage customers to use it – so in this instance we will give you a refund – BUT – in future if you return early and are outside our search times we cannot give you a refund.
I responded – “Excuse me? Can you confirm this please? If I pre-pay online and I return early and are outside MAP’s search time of 2 hours prior to original designated return time then not only will my original pre-paid booking fee be forfeited but you will also then charge me the total normal parking fee for the period my car was in your carpark? Is that correct?”
YES SIR – THAT IS CORRECT!
1. I know where to park to minimise transfer time
2. Spent many years as professional driver in buses / semi trailers - I can drive - many others cannot - I feel a lot safer behind the wheel.
MEL parking now have 'Saver' deals where you pre-pay - but had interesting experience recently - the first time I used there 'Super Saver' deals.
Below is the guts of it - this info transferred to ABC radio 774 this morning:
Melbourne Airport Parking (MAP)
I was booked to fly from Melbourne to Beijing with Singapore Airlines on Sat July 2 at 10:45am.
I went online to MAP web site to their ‘Super Saver Deals’ - Super Saver deals : Melbourne Airport - and pre-booked parking – arrive MAP at 09:00 on Jul 20 / dep MAP on Jul 29 at 10:00 – cost $69.00 on AMEX – all good and paid for.
I arrived MAP on morning Jul 20 at 08:35 and accessed MAP exactly how instructed to – insert CC used to purchase pre-paid parking – didn’t take ticket as instructed – all well and good.
I was booked to return to Melbourne on July 28 dep Singapore at 23:55 – but luckily transferred to an earlier flight dep Singapore at 21:00 which brought my arrival back into Melbourne forward 3.5 hrs or so.
On arrival back into Melbourne wandered back to my car – headed to exit gate – inserted CC as instructed – gathered receipt and voila – all is good I thought. I did not check amount on receipt from MAP that day and indeed did not keep it either – no idea where it went to.
Received CC statement in mail 2 weeks later and noticed that MAP had debited the original $69.00 for pre-paid booking and also $159.00 on Jul 29 – the actual date I returned.
I called MAP and explained my problem – their response was this:
YES we can see by booking reference number you provided that indeed you did pre-pay booking. We can see you arrived at 08:35 on Jul 20 instead 09:00 as you booked but that is OK. Your problem is that you arrived back into Melbourne 3.5hrs early – and our systems can only search 2 hours either side of your original designated return time.
MAP rep – and I think he was a manager – went on to say this is a relatively new system and we want to encourage customers to use it – so in this instance we will give you a refund – BUT – in future if you return early and are outside our search times we cannot give you a refund.
I responded – “Excuse me? Can you confirm this please? If I pre-pay online and I return early and are outside MAP’s search time of 2 hours prior to original designated return time then not only will my original pre-paid booking fee be forfeited but you will also then charge me the total normal parking fee for the period my car was in your carpark? Is that correct?”
YES SIR – THAT IS CORRECT!
