Card Charged by Northern Beaches Council Manly For Car Parking - Monday Rant

[Deactivated] on 17/07/2017 - 10:13
Last edited 17/07/2017 - 13:58 by 1 other user

Hi Guys,

This morning I checked my transactions and noticed a charge from "NTH BEACHES CNL- S MANLY AUS"

A Google search reveals that this is a council charge in Manly NSW. A call to their switch resulted in them telling me that I parked there in the last year or so and was not charged for it so they have charged it today. Apparently they have been taking quite a lot of calls about it.

I live in Qld and although I have visited Sydney I couldn't confirm if that charge is legit…. and neither could the Council…

Not happy they still have a record of my card and think they can charge it because they feel like it.

Happy Monday

• 

  ronnknee on 17/07/2017 - 10:23

  +11

  You can file a chargeback if you like. The onus will be on them to prove that it's a legitimate transaction.

  • 

    Seraphin7 on 17/07/2017 - 14:42

    I think this is entirely reasonable. There should be some sort of limitation on how long merchants have to charge your card. Quite frankly 72 hours is more than enough given its all electronic.

    Also, there should be some sort of regulation on the names used by merchants that come through on the statement. Names that have nothing to do with the trading name of the merchant can only assist fraudsters.

    • 

      D C on 17/07/2017 - 16:18

      There's no real time limit, a card could have an authorisation for a month before the charge goes thru (think hotels & car hire).

      Ethics-wire as @Xiongmao points out if you parked then pay up, although a chargeback would point out to the council that they shouldn't be so crap about running their business.

      Sometimes the card issuers themselves will knock back a charge if it's too old ('late presentment'), it depends on how the council ran the transactions through. May not be the councils fault, a lot of the companies who handle the processing are pretty useless.

  • 

    D C on 17/07/2017 - 14:48

    Sounds like a bunch of transactions didn't get processed and someone has finally noticed and 'fixed' it.

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  o53djz7qTPY4der on 17/07/2017 - 10:43

  I had this. I parked at Palm Beach and then got the charge 7 or 8 months later. Called them about it and they said the same as to you. I left it.

  Fairs fair - I parked, I pay.

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  hashtagbargain on 17/07/2017 - 15:01

  How does a council have your credit card number?!

  • 

    onetwothreefour on 17/07/2017 - 15:48

    +1

    I assume he scanned his card when he parked but never got charged until now.

    • 

      hashtagbargain on 17/07/2017 - 16:08

      Phew I thought he was talking about a parking fine… Makes more sense now.

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  [Deactivated] on 17/07/2017 - 21:44

  Thanks guys. Pretty slack of the Council IMHO. This would at least be 3 months ago if not more. Without a doubt I share the view that I park, I pay.

  To the best of my knowledge, I paid when I swiped and got a receipt. Id have to dig through the files as I usually claim most of my parking.

  In regards to this situation, I vaguely recall one time paying for parking, swiping a card, getting an error and having to either swipe another card or used cash.

  I check my transaction listing everyday to account for all of my purchases and I dont recall anything amiss.

  In terms of Authority…An authorisation to me is exactly that. I didn't authorise this.

  Not everyone is well off and I'd hate if this happened to someone who needed this money for essential or caused a mispayment or overdraft.

  Cheers

  • 

    D C on 18/07/2017 - 07:45

    -2

    You authorised it by sticking your card in the meter. The fact it's taken 3 months to show up is a bit irrelevant.

    Not sure about Manly, but most meters are online these days so the transaction is processed immediately. If there's a problem they may go into offline mode, where they'll store your details and process them later. 'Later' is usually hours, not months but anyway.

    I'd check your statements again, if the charge is there then dispute it.

    The meters keep very good data logs, they'll have recorded the first card error, using your card again, and if you paid in coins. If you are sure you paid in coins, then dispute it. The log will show the failed card transactions followed by the coin payment.