HI bookthief, well done with the Moon walk, hope you are feeling better today.
I am pretty angry at the moment and want to share this with you all and see what would you have done and what you will do next if you were me.
I dropped DH off at the airport back Apr, it was a weekday afternoon. As DH said theres no need to park the car, just dropped him off so I suggested why dont we use the new dropoff/pick up zone which is actually ground floor of CAR PARK 2, as it's the closest to the terminal.The dropoff/pick up zone is you have to get a ticket like as you enter, as long as you don't stay more than 10mins, you don't need to pay, just insert that same ticket and you can get out.
So we did. I have to say I go to the airport nearly every week so i know the place inside out and its true that the car park traffic flow is normall very smooth. Anyway, as soon as I dropped him off ( less than 2 mins I reckon ), I drove straight to the exit but then I could smell trouble as theres a long queue, it seemed that someone's ticket wasn't valid so he struck at the barrier causing a massive queue. I was still hoping it wouldn't cause me more than 8 mins delay so I kept waiting but as the queue was slowing moving, i could see that it's always more than 10mins and I just didn't know what to do, theres no staff there and I thought theres no point keep moving forward as i knew whats going to happen next is that the ticket will be invalid and I will struck at the exit and causing more delay,so I was reluntant to pull aside just next to the queue, managed to get out while surrounded by many cars, in fact, i could see many people doing the same as those who used the dropoff/pickup zone like me, their ticket had also run out of time. so i called DH as i was walking back to the main car park to pay and there wasn't anybody there so we had to wait, ( causing longer delay of couse ), then finally someone arrived we complained but he said you have to pay and then phone NCP carpark to complaint, theres nothing i can do now. So we did pay, i went home, phoned them then they said 'oh, you have to write as i have no authority to give you a refund ' ok, i was furious but i wrote to them at the end, emailed them a few times as it;s been nearly 2 months since i posted my letter, finally got a reply from NCP saying while keep getting positive feedback from most people chose to use it and as we advised already that the traffic can be heavy and as you made the decision of using the car park so you are liable to pay £10!!!
NOw, its not a matter of money, i can afford £10 but its a matter of principle. what if i had a baby in the car with me?? should i have taken him out of the car with me while surrounded by so many cars, surely it's difficult and not safe. I just cant believe their attitude, not only they denied its their fault but they also refused to give me a refund???? ridiculous i think??? I feel very angry and dislike these people, they just didn't look into the matter, it's not that i chose to stay there for more than 10mins, and i understood why they have to charge a premium as they wanted to stop people from staying there for too long so they can keep the zone free from heavy traffic but it's pretty obvious that i only used the zone for 2 mins, i wanted to leave as soon as possible but i couldnt? and there wasn't anyone there to ask question or to solve the problem??? now that i wasted my time to phone, to wrote a letter and emailed them and they finally got back to me saying we have loads positive feedback and people are happy so we don't think we should give you a refund as you chose to use the car park.?? how wrong is that?
so ladies, what would you do next? I am thinking of writing to them again but just feel its probably a complete waste of time, perhaps i should just drop it but honestly, i am furious!!