Parking Tag: Are you paying for parking a car you no longer have?

“Like many people, I love using the Parking Tag app to pay for on-street parking,” the mail from a reader called Eamon begins. “It takes the hassle out of searching for coins and hoping that the payment machine is operating correctly. In the last couple of weeks, however, I’ve done a bit of digging to ascertain exactly how much the service is costing me. It’s revealed a couple of surprising and costly practices which I think your readers, and other Parking Tag users, would want to be aware of.”

He says the service operates by initially creating a credit balance from which parking charges are drawn. This balance is subsequently topped up automatically from a bank/credit card account when the transactions bring it below a certain predetermined level.

He goes on to say that one of the handy features on the app is the ability to add other cars easily – handy if you regularly use another family member’s car or if you’re travelling with a friend and want to pay for their parking.

The trouble is, there’s no warning. When you add a vehicle, that monthly charge will apply from then on

—  The reader Eamon

“However, what I recently discovered is that in addition to the parking charges, there’s a monthly ‘service charge’ of 99 cent for each vehicle that’s been added to the account. This remains payable until such time as the vehicle is removed from the account. While this might not seem like a lot, it’s an avoidable charge which adds up if you have added several cars over an extended period. The trouble is, there’s no warning. When you add a vehicle, that monthly charge will apply from then on. There is no related information available on the app itself.

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“Also, removing a vehicle from the account is not possible on the app. To remove a vehicle, you have to go parkingtag.ie and log in there. It’s a lot more cumbersome than adding the vehicle in the first instance. The site also contains information relating to charges, but it’s a site that most users will have no obvious reason to visit as most will not be aware that they are paying a monthly fee. Parking Tag do not provide statements that show where your money is going. Again, you have to log on to the website.”

The current practices encourage customer inertia, which doubtless benefits Parking Tag

—  Eamon

He says he can think of “no good reason why information on charges can’t be contained within the app”.

“Also, there is no obvious reason why it should be possible to add a vehicle on the app but not to remove it. The current practices encourage customer inertia, which doubtless benefits Parking Tag. I would imagine there are many of your readers who would not be aware they are paying what may be an unnecessary monthly fee for vehicles they don’t own or use. They may also be still paying for vehicles they owned in the past. It may be worth reminding them to check their accounts on the website rather than the app and to delete the vehicles for which they may still be paying.”

We contacted Payzone, the company which operates the Parking Tag system, and a spokeswoman confirmed that registered customers “are required to pay a monthly fee per vehicle. The monthly fee is 99c per vehicle.”

She said the company aims “to be as clear and transparent as possible to customers. We include clear information on charges in several places on our website and mobile app, specifically in the ‘About’ and ‘FAQ’ sections on the app, ‘How it Works’ on the website and in our terms and conditions. However, the service also caters for the unregistered user by offering a pay-as-you-go option where you do not incur a monthly fee.

Customers can delete cars on the app, the spokeswoman said.

She pointed out that “Parking Tag represents an innovative parking solution that has enabled the various city and town councils to provide a best-in-class platform to motorists” and that the “premise of Parking Tag is to make parking a seamless, flexible, positive experience by allowing motorists to pay for parking through several user-friendly and efficient methods”.

She said that people who park occasionally can use the pay-as-you-go option and “not incur a monthly fee”.

The spokeswoman said that while the fees are “referenced in our table of charges in the ‘About’ section of the application and in the FAQ’s, based on this feedback we will consider highlighting this in future when a vehicle is added”.