Car parking with Ringgo / APCOA Connect

[whole diary]

[JayMac]

It'll still cost all users of APCOA^▸ (Car parking company used at GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) - controlled stations in the area) Connect as the service is only available through a mobile phone. You cannot use a landline. I'm not aware of any 0845 inclusive package with any UK^▸ (United Kingdom) mobile provider. Some mobile providers do offer free calls to selected 0845 numbers, but these are usually either calls to certain Govt. departments, charities, helplines or calls to that provider's Customer Service.

[ChrisB]

So whats the point if these 0870 & 0845 numbers now? To those that use them?

[JayMac]

The argument used to be that everyone paid the same to call an 0845/0870 number no matter where they lived. This no longer applies as no telephone service provider has different tariffs for local and national calls.

Another benefit to businesses is they can pick a number that is memorable and stands out in marketing/advertising. This is rarely possible with 01/02. FGW^▸ (First Great Western) have 08457 000 125.

[eightf48544]

Checked at Taplow this am.

0845 number, no mention of 20p convinience charge.

[Chris from Nailsea]

During my meeting with the station manager at Bristol Parkway this afternoon, she confirmed that their car park users are particularly concerned at the costs of using the 0845 number - which is why FGW^▸ (First Great Western) have already moved to get that number changed.

[Bristol Traveler]

Are there any "meet the manager" events in Bristol soon?

[grahame]

Are there any "meet the manager" events in Bristol soon?

In April 2008, the FGW^▸ (First Great Western) Wesbite said that there are 46 meet the manager sessions through the year. "34 of these are held at various stations throughout the network and the remaining 12 are held on High Speed Train Services." and the thread at http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=2301.0 lists them for the following six months, 3 being at Temple Meads.

Now - March 2010 - the FGW Website states that there are 25 meet the manager sessions through the year and lists just two dates - one of which has already passsed, and the other is onboard the 15:51 Paddington to Worcester train on 30th of this month. See http://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/Content.aspx?id=2106 . The current site does state that it only shows the dates to 31st March ... so hopefully more dates will be published shortly ...

There are various ways to feedback to the rail industry / train operators in our area - in fact there's probably a good case for a separate thread:
* Phone in / contact (other ways) Customer Service
* If you have a local rail partnership or user group, they may be a good way.
* Your Customer Panel member
* Meet the Manager
* Passenger Focus
And that's not forgetting more extreme options such as your MP^▸ (Member of Parliament) and the Department for Transport

Each of these has its place (and its optimum use) ...

[ChrisB]

The MtM dates are set a year in advance - and that year runs April - March.

WE are at the end of this current 12 monmth period. The dates for the next 12 month period should be published shortly.

[Bristol Traveler]

Mirada and Cobalt both use the same company for credit card data storage and management.

It seems that the security issue isn't completely sorted out despite FGW^▸ (First Great Western) saying it is.....

http://theyellowlines.wordpress.com/

Security concerns of customers using the APCOA^▸ (Car parking company used at GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) - controlled stations in the area) Connect parking system at First Great Western train stations is likely to increase with the revelation today that APCOA is now providing parking services at First Great Western train stations in conjunction with Dash Parking.

Dash is listing First Great Western train station car parks as locations at which it provides its services. That in itself is of no great concern. The pedigree of the companies with which customers entrust their credit card details, however, should be of considerable concern. Stuart Lawrenson has been a Director of Adaptis Solutions Limited which is the owner of the Dash website. Newsreaders will recall that prior to his involvement with Dash, Mr. Lawrenson was Chief Executive and protagonist in the multi-million pound accounting scandal at Central Parking Corp. the US company that was forced to sell its UK^▸ (United Kingdom) subsidiary, Central Parking Limited, after, ^unauthorized related party transactions and improper and inaccurate accounting entries.^ It should perhaps come as no great surprise to learn that Central Parking was sold off to^ APCOA.

As noted in a separate article by Simon English in The London Evening Standard, ^Lawrenson has paid his fine and is perhaps entitled to continue his career. As long as everyone involved knows of his history^ The Yellow lines would be interested to hear from any reader who has received notification from First Great Western or APCOA relating to the questionable history of the people they expect customers to entrust their credit card details to. On the basis they could barely notify customers of the change in parking services provider, we^ll be surprised.

This latest news comes on top of other risks noted in previous posts that the data held by APCOA is more susceptible to a breach of security than with the previous RingGo system. RingGo holds Visa^s Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard Level 1 status. The APCOA Connect service doesn^t.

[grahame]

I've added quote tags to the previous article to make it very clear that Bristol Traveler is quoting another website here.  We have to be very careful of issues such as copyright, defamation and libel in public fora such as "The Coffee Shop", and perhaps this is a good time to remind members that part of their forum agreement is to not post things that could be against these (or other laws) and to take responsibility for their posts if they do run into trouble, indemnifying the operators of the forum.    I'm not saying that there's anything at all wrong with the post - just providing a gentle reminder to be careful.

[Bristol Traveler]

Thanks, wasn't quite sure how to do quotes off site, so to speak, so posted the weblink above...

[JayMac]

The MtM dates are set a year in advance - and that year runs April - March.

WE are at the end of this current 12 monmth period. The dates for the next 12 month period should be published shortly.

If that's the case then they are most certainly not set a year in advance. To be set a year in advance we should already know about meetings up to March 2012. For each MtM to be set a year in advance we would see rolling notifications - not dates released in one go.

If the dates are shortly to be published then they will be for the current year.

A particular meeting date could be UP TO a year in advance, but most will have nowhere near that length of prior notification.

[ChrisB]

/pedant/

[JayMac]

Thanks. A badge I shall wear with pride.   

[Chris from Nailsea]

Hmmm.  

At the risk of being called pedantic, I too would rather like to know if there are any 'meet the manager' meetings planned in my area from April 2011 - which is only 13 days away now.  I'd like to raise, among other items, the role of the Customer Panel and the matter of their drastically curtailed minutes - discussed here on the forum.

Chris from Nailsea.