Any ideas how we contact Tesla to check their expectations regarding parking fees? I would've thought that if Tesla spent thousands on installing chargers expecting them to be used without restriction, then they'd be a bit miffed if someone unilaterally imposed parking fees.
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Flimwell Supercharger - new parking fee?
- Thread starter DeejUK
- Start date
Mod comment:
I'm going to leave this thread running as its own thread and not merge it with the supercharging sticky thread, but if/when we do get a conclusive answer it would be good if someone can post that result on there for future reference. @DeejUK I think you offered to do that in the other thread which is great.
I'm going to leave this thread running as its own thread and not merge it with the supercharging sticky thread, but if/when we do get a conclusive answer it would be good if someone can post that result on there for future reference. @DeejUK I think you offered to do that in the other thread which is great.
Jason71
Well-Known Member
If this is as it seems is it the first / only SuC site with mandatory parking charges.?
As an aside Birmingham airport has Gridserve chargers in what has now become their "Premium drop off" car park which charges a parking rate equivalent to £48 per hour. Who is going to charge there I thought. so I checked the website:
" EV customers using the charging points are entitled to a reduced tariff on the car park as follows:
Fair enough you might think except I was walking through that carpark on my way to the terminal at around 5am and I am pretty sure that "customer service cabin" was closed at the time. its clearly not 24 hour since they also say this:
"If the cabin is closed when you need to valid date your blue badge drop-off you will need to either press the assistance button at the exit barrier or call 0121 781 6680 from the exit barrier - the intercom or phone operator will take the blue badge number and if you are within the 30 minutes allowed will open the barrier on your behalf."
Will they also do the approve the EV charging rates that way? They have no way to know if you really charged or not. What could possibly go wrong....
As an aside Birmingham airport has Gridserve chargers in what has now become their "Premium drop off" car park which charges a parking rate equivalent to £48 per hour. Who is going to charge there I thought. so I checked the website:
" EV customers using the charging points are entitled to a reduced tariff on the car park as follows:
- For customers who have used any Birmingham Airport official car park: free exit from Premium Set Down car park on production of valid booking confirmation
- For users of the Premium Set Down car park only: tariff reduced to £2 for the first 90 minutes, £5 per 15 minutes thereafter
Fair enough you might think except I was walking through that carpark on my way to the terminal at around 5am and I am pretty sure that "customer service cabin" was closed at the time. its clearly not 24 hour since they also say this:
"If the cabin is closed when you need to valid date your blue badge drop-off you will need to either press the assistance button at the exit barrier or call 0121 781 6680 from the exit barrier - the intercom or phone operator will take the blue badge number and if you are within the 30 minutes allowed will open the barrier on your behalf."
Will they also do the approve the EV charging rates that way? They have no way to know if you really charged or not. What could possibly go wrong....
Its rather amazing that even the parking company cant give a conclusive answer to the ambiguous signage - a perfect defence for a court hearing as it proves the proposed contract isn't understood by all parties - and the law says a contract has to be clear to all. Shame they didnt conform that by email as proof of what they said as it would be a Free parking charging site.
WannabeOwner
Well-Known Member
Finally caught up with the topic on this one. It is laughable.
Do you only have to pay for the duration of your time at the paystation, but not elsewhere in the car park?! (if you read the wording)
The fact there is a written exclusion kind of suggests that the others aren't. I don;t know if it uses ANPR, if it does then I can;t see how they'd distinguish between a charging car or not if thats what they intend. If its a parking official who wanders around, its probably worth trying to get them to tell you what they do but thats hardly satisfactory.
Do you only have to pay for the duration of your time at the paystation, but not elsewhere in the car park?! (if you read the wording)
The fact there is a written exclusion kind of suggests that the others aren't. I don;t know if it uses ANPR, if it does then I can;t see how they'd distinguish between a charging car or not if thats what they intend. If its a parking official who wanders around, its probably worth trying to get them to tell you what they do but thats hardly satisfactory.
They're saying that we need to pay to use the Supercharger. I've asked if they've got a relationship with Tesla, and if so, to check the terms, because it's very unusual for people charging to have to pay.
Any suggestions on how to flag this with Tesla?
Any suggestions on how to flag this with Tesla?
Jason71
Well-Known Member
unusual or unheard of?
I don't know of any supercharger sites where there isn't some way around it, all be it tricky in some cases
You can leave feedback after charging through the app, maybe that's the best place. "1 star, had to pay to park"
Andrew_SE23
Member
I tweeted the UK tesla opener group. I doubt that the paid for parking while charging arrangement is allowable by the site licence but let’s see.
hingus2000
Member
Apropos of nothing I’m at Flimwell now and googled the parking situation because of the complete ambiguity in the sign. Little did I know there would be a TMC thread from this week on it.
In any event I wanted a coffee, so I popped into the cafe and the iPad to record your registration is at the front desk and no one seemed to bat en eyelid at me using it.
In any event I wanted a coffee, so I popped into the cafe and the iPad to record your registration is at the front desk and no one seemed to bat en eyelid at me using it.
These parking companies are just the pits. I would be embarrassed working for one. Imagine contributing nothing to life.
Tesla don’t care if you get charged on not…. Why would they?
Tesla don’t care if you get charged on not…. Why would they?
Mr H
Active Member
Stick a fake numberplate on just outside. MUSK1 should do it
As memory serves (I was there yesterday), the tablet is just past the ordering counter. I think I latte there was £3.70.
I don't think I'd be terribly comfortable registering as a cafe customer if I wasn't - for all I know, they could be paying some fee to the parking company for each customer they register.
Clearly my morals are lower than yours. 
I doubt the cafe is paying per customer they register, that would be massively detrimental to their relatively low margin business.
If anything, the parking fees will be detrimental to their business. With the new fees, less people will probably go to the site for another purpose, less passing trade and therefore less impulse purchases of food/drink.
Even if your morals are higher than mine, you are better off buying something (biscuits, cake, whatever) and registering rather than paying the £4 as then at least you’ll get something for your money which is better than nothing.
I doubt the cafe is paying per customer they register, that would be massively detrimental to their relatively low margin business.
If anything, the parking fees will be detrimental to their business. With the new fees, less people will probably go to the site for another purpose, less passing trade and therefore less impulse purchases of food/drink.
Even if your morals are higher than mine, you are better off buying something (biscuits, cake, whatever) and registering rather than paying the £4 as then at least you’ll get something for your money which is better than nothing.
Indeed, and there are other businesses there that will suffer. The whole thing is a bit odd - it's in the middle of nowhere, so it's not like you'd choose to use that carpark for any reason other than you live there, you're visiting a business there, or you're charging.
I'm unlikely to ever need those chargers but I'd have thought we should be encouraging everyone to ring the company for advice. If they're inundated with calls they might make the signage clearer.Update: please no-one else call Total Parking as a result of this thread
I just called to ask Total Parking about this site, and apparently I wasn't the first to do so today! The folks on the phone aren't able to give a conclusive answer, firstly because no-one in that office was really sure, and secondly because they want everything to be communicated in writing for accountability - last thing anyone wants is to get in trouble for giving misleading advice. They said that they don't want to come across as rude or unhelpful, but there's really no answer that they can give, and they didn't relish the prospect of explaining that to lots of people as a result of this thread.
I was advised to email [email protected], which I'll do after posting this message. I'll update you if I hear anything back.
3.70p for coffee is better than 4.00p to park but 3.70p for coffee goes against my cheapskate instincts and investment in my thermos....
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