Sneaky (illegal?) EasyTrip extra charges

cormie

I'm currently on the phone to easytrip after finding out that I was, without giving any consent, signed up to their car parking service at a charge of 50+VAT per tag, per month.

This is the text from the email below.

6 weeks free trial and 10% off your parking charges in Q-Park Car Parks



Dear ********

As part of our commitment to help you save costs, Easytrip is providing you with a free trial of our Car Parking Service during which you will save 10% off your parking charges.



From the 18th May 2010, as part of a 6 weeks free trial*, your Easytrip tags for your Cars and small Vans will be activated for our Car Parking Service in Dublin, Belfast, Cork and Limerick. There will be no monthly parking fee for this service during the trial period.



Moreover, we are delighted to announce that during this trial our partner, Q-Park Ireland, will give you a 10% discount* on your parking charges when you park in any of the Q-Park car parks that have the Easytrip Service. And should you retain the Easytrip Car Parking Service after the trial, you will avail of the discount until the 31st December 2010.



We hope that during the trial you will take the opportunity to enjoy the benefits of paying your parking charges electronically while also saving 10%. If you are unfamiliar with the Easytrip Car Parking Service please click on the “Watch Our Video” icon below to see a short video on the service.











The 10% discount will be automatically deducted from the parking charges and the value on your statement will be inclusive of the discount. Please note that should you retain the Easytrip Car Parking Service after the trail, a monthly account fee of €0.50 (excl.VAT) per tag will apply and the 10% discount at Q-Park car parks will continue until the end of 2010.



Kind Regards,



Easytrip Customer Services



Important notice

Customers who already have an arrangement for parking, like a pre paid card, please unsubscribe from the trial.

If you unsubscribe from the trial, please note that it will take one working day to take effect in the car parks.



Customers who have several vehicles on one single account and don’t wish to retain the Easytrip Car Parking Service for all their vehicles need to call 1890 67 67 68 or email info@easytrip.ie to specify which vehicle should be registered for the service.



Disclaimer

*The monthly fee of €0.50 (excl.VAT) for Car Parking Service will not be applied to your account during the 6 weeks trial period (from the 18th of May 2010 until the 30th of June 2010).

To avail of the 10% discount on your parking charges during the trial period, you must be in possession of your Easytrip tag and park in Q-Park car parks that have the Easytrip Service. You can access a list of these car parks by clicking here . The 10% discount does not apply to Trinity Street, Quick Park, Ilac Centre and Dawson Street.

To continue to avail of the 10% off your parking charges until the 31st December 2010, you need to register for Easytrip Car Parking Service.

The 10% discount will be directly deducted from your parking charges and the value on your monthly statement will be inclusive of the discount.

Easytrip standard Car Parking Service monthly fee represents €0.50 (excl.VAT).

Easytrip Terms & Conditions apply.





Please click here to see a list of car parks that have the Easytrip Service, or here to see a Google map of Easytrip Services.

To me what it's saying is that I've been signed up to a free trial automatically but nowhere does it state that I have to take any action to opt out. What it does say is "Customers who have several vehicles on one single account and don’t wish to retain the Easytrip Car Parking Service for all their vehicles need to call 1890 67 67 68 or email info@easytrip.ie to specify which vehicle should be registered for the service." and having more than one tag myself, this sounds like I need to contact them to REGISTER for the service.

The email isn't very well written (even a typo or two!) and in no way did I understand it to mean that I'd be charged. Can they even do this legally?

Phone call ended requesting me to write a complaint to info@easytrip.ie, but I just got a phone call back saying that it would be refunded. It's been charged since June and I didn't even know until I rang about the charge today.

The customer agent insisted I wouldn't be refunded as she's dealt with the issue before, so I guess I'm not the only one to notice, but it was her who rang me back to say I would be so just a heads up to any tag holders out there that you could be getting charged for something you never signed up for!

coylemj

I got all their sales e-mails and text messages about parking but ignored them and have never been charged for that service, got a bill yesterday and checked it, nothing about parking.

It is definitely not legal to attempt to force someone to accept a chargeable service by default i.e. force a service on you and tell you that you have to actively 'opt out' to avoid the charges, they just cannot get away with that.

L1011

I've two vehicles and never got charged for it after the trial ended - but I never used it during said trial. If you used it they might have left it on, either by mistake or by malice.

cormie

Are you sure you're not being charged folks? I've never used my tag in a carpark, sure two of the tags are on vehicles that wouldn't even fit into their car parks!

The bold is what to look out for on the invoice

BREAKDOWN OF FEES
No Description Charges Net VAT Amount
1 Tag (Services Own) 3 €1.50 €0.33 €1.83
2 Account (Purchased Tags) 1 €1.20 €0.25 €1.45

Number 2 is the service charge on the toll admin fee, which gets cheaper the more tags you get apparently?

L1011

Definitely not. Just 75c + VAT for Account (Purchased Tags). Thats for two.

cormie

Glad to see they haven't done it to anyone but the lady did say that they sent emails to everyone and if you didn't reply to say you didn't want to sign up, you were automatically signed up! Do you know if you replied to it at all?

I wonder what way their charging on the accounts works, if yours is 75c+VAT for 2 and mine is 1.20+vat for 3, what does just the one cost and what will 4 cost I wonder?

L1011

one was 50c when I had just one.

cormie

Weird, seems you get a better discount having 2 than 3!

Just noticed my account has been credited with the money I paid over the 5 months (1.83x5 = 9.15) already which is cool, if you have an account, just check you're not being charged anyway!

Esel

Ah Jebus, Cormie. A thread about a 50c (plus VAT....) charge? You suckered me in here with 50+VAT in the OP. You've outdone yourself here.

cormie

Haha, it's the principal of it though, charging me for something I never requested just because I didn't reply to a badly written email to "opt out"

50c is less than 1% of my average bill from them and I actually rang up to get a new tag and just decided to query why there were two separate service charges. :pac:

Esel

Cheaper than parking on the footpath, though! Pick your battles, and all that.

cormie

Footpath? Not sure what you mean

cormie

Another little woe with easytrip, I got a new laser and forgot about updating easytrip with the new one, I had enough in my easytrip account not to notice for a few days until I get a notice at 4am last night to say the top-up payment didn't go through, I knew it was because the laser so went to update it on the website (it says you can!) and there was no option to, so had to wait until 9am to phone them and they said my account had been suspended because payment didn't go through (even though there was still 12eur left on the account) and this is why I couldn't update it. Had I gone to a toll booth I'm guessing the tag wouldn't have worked so just something to be aware of again!