APCOA Connect – Parking 4+

Used for first time in Leeds Station CP. Downloaded app and loaded credit card details in advance - recommended. Plenty of charging stations (covered) in multi storey car park. Two glitches. Needed to leave car parked for 24 hours but only needed a charge for 4 hours. Only option on App was to “Pay & Leave”. Couldn’t stop charge and move car to another area! Attendant recommended leaving it plugged in till I was ready to leave since there were a lot of unoccupied chargers, which I did. Other glitch was on the charger - wouldn’t release my cable at either end despite me unlocking car several times. Phoned helpline and they sorted after a few minutes. Charging costs only come up when you start a charge! Had to use ZapMap to get an indication before I arrived at CP. Reasonable rate at moment 34p KWH.

I was frustrated this morning to find my local train station car park had changed from Saba to APCOA Connect, so I had to set up another parking app and account. Once done and the car details in I was frustrated to find no option for Apple Pay, so I had to enter and store my card details. I went to put in my Curve card details so I could switch between cards as I use a personal card for leisure and a work card for business travel. When filling in the expiry date the UI/UX is so poor that the month column only shows the remaining months of the year, so as we are in October and my expiry is March, you have to counter intuitively set the year column and then go back to the month column. When I attempted to save my Curve card details the app wouldn’t accept them after multiple attempts. So I entered a personal card details and thought I would also add my work card details. I then found the app will only allow you to store 1 cards details 🤦‍♂️, hence my curve card would have been perfect. I will have to edit the card details each time dependant on the type of trip. Not impressed.

I’m extremely frustrated with how my recent issue has been handled. I received a debt collection letter for a parking ticket at a rental property I no longer live at, so I didn’t get the letter until it was too late to appeal. Despite explaining the situation and the fact that I actually paid for the ticket but made a minor mistake by entering one incorrect letter in my registration number, I was told there’s no way to appeal and that I must pay £170 or face court, where I would likely lose and get a CCJ.

It’s unbelievable that such a small mistake could lead to such a harsh consequence, especially when I made the payment in good faith. The lack of flexibility or understanding in resolving this issue is completely unfair. To be threatened with court and a CCJ over something so minor is ridiculous, and I feel like this whole process is more about squeezing money out of people than resolving genuine mistakes.

I strongly urge others to be cautious when dealing with this company. The way they handle appeals and mistakes is unreasonable and leaves you with little room to resolve genuine errors.