Car parking with Ringgo / APCOA Connect

[whole diary]

[Phil]

Did we ever discover if the 0845 number has been replaced (joined) yet by a geographic one? We seem to a lot longer than "approx 4 weeks" from 11th March!

No, we didn't, but then ChrisB has obviously been very effectively inculcated by FGW^▸ (First Great Western) and didn't specifically state which "Tuesday" he was going to enquire - presumably it could be some random Tuesday in 2018 and yet still fall well within the stated parameters.

[grahame]

There's a sepatrate thread on these elsewhere on this board, where I have also mentioned that there are more to come once arranged.

That's fair comment, Chris ... the page (as of now) states:

First Great Western hold 25 Meet the Manager sessions each year.

But is also backdated:

The table below displays the date, time and station or train service for all the events until the end of March 2011.

So they have indeed left themselves free to add the others

[ChrisB]

Thats a query I have with FGW^▸ (First Great Western) too.

[Chris from Nailsea]

Has anyone heard about when the geographic number will be up and running? As stated on the 11th March it would be approximately 4 weeks.

I've taken that up with FGW^▸ (First Great Western). hopefully it might not last long!

I make that 36 working days, now ... 

[Ollie]

Hmm I'll chase up the number issue too, lets see who gets a response first

[Chris from Nailsea]

Thanks, Ollie! 

[johoare]

Last Wednesday the pay by mobile service wasn't working too well.. All I got was the intial "welcome to Apcoa Connect..." message and then silence.. I rang several times before giving up (each call costing me no doubt).. Eventually about 9.45, at work, I got it to work (just about.. it was very slow.. costing me even more money).. I've emailed apcoa connect via their "contact us" form to ask them what would happen should I not be able to pay and also if they have a number we could report it on next time it happens.. I've had no reply as of yet.. I'm not happy I had to phone them several times just to pay to park my car..

Also my friend has had a replacement car whilst hers was being repaired.. Apparently she's had trouble paying for parking with a different car.. I've not tried but she doesn't seem to think you can change it just by ringing the usual number (and they certainly don't have any other numbers that I could find).. Does anyone know if that is true? You used to be able to with Ringgo so if so it is (another) step backwards..

[johoare]

Average call time on the 0845 number is now about 90 seconds a go thanks to their adding even more questions in since it started...

[Chris from Nailsea]

... and still no progress has been reported on the suggestion that the 0845 number would be replaced with a geographic number "within approximately four weeks of 11 March 2011" ... 

[ChrisB]

I have had a holding message saying its on its way....even I'm sceptical on this....

[Ollie]

I got an e-mail last week saying early/mid June

Sorry for my late reply on this one..

[sorch]

Last Wednesday the pay by mobile service wasn't working too well.. All I got was the intial "welcome to Apcoa Connect..." message and then silence.. I rang several times before giving up (each call costing me no doubt).. Eventually about 9.45, at work, I got it to work (just about.. it was very slow.. costing me even more money)..

I called on both Thursday and Friday last week - on one of the days (at around 9am) it was on a severe go slow. There were gaps of 10 to 15 seconds between prompts (made worse by pointless new questions). APCOA^▸ (Car parking company used at GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) - controlled stations in the area) must be raking in the 0845 revenue (and Vodafone too since they like to rip you off on non-geographic numbers)

I'd use the SMS feature but I only managed to get it to work once, and even then it took about 20 minutes to send me a email confirming my parking session.

Oh, how I miss RingGo...

[johoare]

I still haven't had a reply from my message to Apcoa.. I wonder if I'll ever get one.. I imagine not.. 

[ChrisB]

This problem has been taken up with APCOA^▸ (Car parking company used at GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) - controlled stations in the area).

Meanwhile, I finally have some news, but you're not going to like it much - the geographical number will finally go live is 11th July. FGW^▸ (First Great Western) aren't too happy that it's taken this long either, so I guess that's the first nail struck.....

There will be a period of dual-running, possibly commencing before that date, and FGW will put up posters etc once it is live.

I am told that there was a Comms fault last week, which also affected RingGo.

The extra questions have been prompted by other customers requests, mainly at Oxford. And finally, there is a function whereby you can change your registed car registration number.

[johoare]

The extra questions have been prompted by other customers requests, mainly at Oxford. And finally, there is a function whereby you can change your registed car registration number.

I don't mind the extra questions if only I could bypass them.. But I have to listen to all 4 options before it accepts the 4 being pressed (4 being just continue!!).. It should accept it from the start of the options if I know which one I want.. It's a money making scheme in my opinion..

And thanks ChrisB.. Is changing your registration an option when you ring up the 0845 number? I could ring the number now to find out but I'm not paying out anymore than I already do..