Parking Tag - if you have an account, think about how much you use it vs. monthly fees

podgeandrodge

Just for info, I've had an account with Parking Tag for my car and my wife's car for the last few years. I actually don't park that much but did it for the convenience.

Just looked at my statement there (as I was auto topped up for €20 as the balance reached €10) - for the 2 cars, they are debiting €1.21 a month, about €15 a year for the privilege of having this account. In the last year I spent just over €4 on actual parking for 5 parking transactions.

So, for me, as a light user, I've spent €3.80 for each time I parked instead of 80c. Fool me.

Just in case there are other dopes like me paying for the privilege. Hard to believe there is a monthly fee for saving them using cash anyway.

You can close the account easily by emailing ptsupport@parkingtag.ie and they will refund any balance to your card. You can then pay by text on a one by one parking basis, which will be cheaper for me anyway!

Anything4883

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058227275/parking-tag-if-you-have-an-account-think-about-how-much-you-use-it-vs-monthly-fees

Where do you view statement?

I see options under Parking, Messages, Personal - ?

I can see any fees being taken and ive 2 cars on it?

podgeandrodge

If you have an account you go to statements I think (I've just closed it and they did so within an hour!) - it allows you to export parking charges, or fees or all to excel or display on screen.

It's 50c plus vat per vehicle per month.

Also there is a reference under the FAQ:

Registered Accounts

Per vehicle, monthly maintenance fee  €0.50 + VAT 

markpb

If you don't park very often, you can park on the website (https://www.parkingtag.ie/parknow#/parknow/location) without having an account. You don't have to pay the monthly fee but you do pay 20c per park instead.

podgeandrodge

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118456435#Comment_118456435

Yep saw that. Wish I had been paying attention instead of paying!

ILikeBoats

Motherfu***rs. I see it on my statement!

Always wondered why sometimes it would auto top-up when I didn't park!!

Suppose it's a lesson to read the small stuff

podgeandrodge

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118456527#Comment_118456527

That have confirmed they are refunding me in next 5 days to my card.

As markpb has said, better to pay as you go and suffer 20c unless you are doing a lot of parking to make the monthly fee worth it.

9320

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118455964#Comment_118455964

Never ever knew this! Plus I added parents and brothers cars a while ago so I've been paying for them the whole time - the charge per vehicle is outrageous.

coylemj

An Easytrip toll tag account is similar, there is an 'admin charge' every month.

And beware when they send you an invitation to sign up for parking using your toll tag - there is another admin. charge on top i.e. if you enable the account for parking, you will end up paying two admin charges each month. Which the e-mail fails to mention, it's buried in the small print when you sign up.

All the while during the lockdowns when people were working from home and not parking in town or passing through tolls, those companies were raking in the money for doing SFA.

Del2005

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118468518#Comment_118468518

The companies where still providing the service it's not their fault that their customers can't read the contract they signed up to.

I'd looked into the toll/parking tags before and within seconds realised they weren't for me as I rarely use toll roads or pay parking so the monthly fee would have killed any savings. Instead I setup a video account for the M50 and tap at toll booths.

Doodah7

Cancelled this years ago. Monthly charge was simply not worth for the amount of times I would park. The service charge will erode the top-up over time.

L1011

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118468518#Comment_118468518

Easytrip also have a habit of "giving" you an addon service for a year (without asking you) and then auto-renewing it (and charging)

Wouldn't refund me, but my bank considered it to be credit card fraud and did.

If it's something you never use it's not worth having a sub for. Kinda applies to everything.

bikeman1

Thanks for this. I was not aware of the monthly charge and had my old car still on it and my parents car which I very rarely use.

I’ll keep the account as it is useful for me and I do use for work from time to time.

Everyone, also beware:

There is a 20 cent charge for that reminder text before your time is up. I turned that off ages ago when I copped it. Make sure you do the same if you use it. Just put a reminder in your phone or remember the time.

coylemj

Everyone, also beware:

There is a 20 cent charge for that reminder text before your time is up. I turned that off ages ago when I copped it. Make sure you do the same if you use it. Just put a reminder in your phone or remember the time.

I was having lunch today with a few of the lads when we got discussing parkingtag. One of them claimed that there was a 'surcharge' for using the service i.e. above and beyond what you'd pay in cash if feeding the meter. When I told him that was the charge for the SMS reminder which he could opt out of by simply unticking it, his jaw dropped. He thought that was a free part of the package, had no idea the reminder was optional and that allowing it to default meant he was paying 20c extra every time he used the app. And it's a total rip-off because there's no reason why the app couldn't kick off a countdown alarm on your phone to go off 5 minutes before the time expires. Or at the very least, throw up the countdown alarm menu to let you set it.

tandcapply

Just cancelled it and took note of the link as am a very casual user.

tfeldi

Thanks for pointing this out. I just checked. I pay 80c plus VAT per month on account fees since October (50c up to September). Any idea why?

Immediately switched off the SMS notifications.

I paid 17 Euro of fees for account fees and SMS reminders in the last year. Never realized!

martin18

Just on here to see if anyone had the same experience I had of getting monthly charges for a parkingtag account that I wasn't aware I had signed up to (the charges I mean; I only parked twice in a whole year). I asked them to refund me but they refused to. Well pissed off as I'm a fairly astute consumer and if it had been clear that there were monthly charges there is no way I would have signed up so I feel like it had to be hidden in small print. Likewise if it had been clear there was a one-off parking option for the 35c fee. Anyone else feel like they were deceived?

Alun

I often wonder why none of the parking machines here accept card / contactless payments. I travel a good bit to the UK and it's rare to find one that doesn't.

p_haugh

In Dublin at least, most (if not all) of the public pay & display machines now have card terminals installed.

rodge123

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120130096#Comment_120130096

I’ve just noticed that I’m been charged this fee also and I’m usually very Careful reading what I’m singing up to. Only spotted it as they auto topped up my account and I haven’t used it in months!

I reckon there is no way it was made clear on the sign up, probably buried in small print which I would imagine breaks some law.

Think I downloaded the app around start of October 22 which is roughly when they introduced the charges I think.

jams100

Only after spotting a €10 Top up today, like posters here only actually use the app once or twice a year.

Did this account fee always exist and I just never copped it? (Only able to see transactions for the last 12 months). Or was this something only introduced in the last year or two and was there an email sent notifying people?

Quite a sneaky charge, I'd normally cop on to these charges pretty quickly I'd say 95% of people are unaware there's even a monthly charge

mfceiling

They have an offer of 4 cents a litre off fuel in circle K. I use this every time I get diesel. 30 litres and you've got your €1.20 monthly charge back.

coylemj

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121908110#Comment_121908110

If you shopped around you'd probably save even more. I don't bother checking the price in Circle K these days.

mfceiling

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121909243#Comment_121909243

Not really. I keep a good eye on fuel prices and the majority of stations are within a few decimal points of each other.