‘Cashless parking’ woes at Imago Shopping Mall
Published on: Thursday, February 15, 2024
By: Sidney Skinner
Imago stopped using cash payment kiosks like this in May last year.
STAFF have been stationed at the boom gates to the parking areas inside Imago Shopping Mall to make drivers more aware about the way its “cashless parking” operates.
A spokesman for the company, which handles the parking for the commercial centre, said the smart system was first introduced for the building in May last year.
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He explained that, under this system, motorists were meant to tap their credit or debit card upon entering and leaving the parking areas for the mall, with the fees deducted accordingly from the related account
Unmanned kiosks had been put up at the entry and exit points for this purpose, according to him.
“Even after nine months, there are still drivers who are not full bottle on the way the system works,” he said.
The company handling the parking at Imago hopes to make drivers more aware of the way the ‘cashless parking’ works.
“They do not realise that they have to use the card captured by the machine when they go in, again when they go out, so that the parking fees can be correctly charged.”
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If a different one was used at the kiosk on the exit lane, he said there would be problems in calculating the charges.
He said buntings – with a two-step visual guide on how to use the “cashless parking” – were displayed near the exit and entry points to the parking areas for the Mall.
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“Nevertheless, our personnel have temporarily been posted at the boom gates to further educate the public.
“We hope in this way to minimise any potential misunderstandings involving the parking fees from arising.”
The spokesman was responding to feedback from a Luyang shopper who ran up over RM170 in parking fees after spending less than two hours at Imago.
JOCE of Luyang said her husband used his debit card at the entry kiosk that Friday night around 8.30pm.
“When we exited, he tapped the same card on the machine at the exit lane twice but the device indicated that there was an error,” she said.
“My husband tried again and, this time, the digits 177.60 appeared on the screen.”
Since the machine was refusing to accept his debit card, Joce let him use her one instead.
The next day, she was taken aback to find that a sum of RM177.60 had been deducted by the company.
“My husband met with a management officer a few hours later, who accused us of occupying the parking bay for a 10-day period, ending on the night we went to the Mall, which was ridiculous.”
Nevertheless, she complied with the request to provide the firm with a copy of her bank statement.
She urged the management to reimburse the excess funds which had been taken from her, when she emailed this document to the firm.
Joce said she and her husband went to the company’s office two days later.
“Instead of giving me a refund, the staff again insisted that we had entered the parking area 10 days before I had gone to the Mall.
This time, however, she said the couple were accused of not using the same card when they drove out during their fictitious visit.
Joce countered this claim, saying that her bank statement did not show any deductions for said parking transactions on the date in question.
Four days after this second meeting, with no action forthcoming from the firm, she lodged a Police report about what had transpired.
She subsequently initiated legal proceedings against the company.
Staff have been temporarily posted at the entry kiosks to familiarise drivers with the Mall’s smart parking system
“I personally brought the court documents to the firm’s premises afterwhich I received my refund,” she said.
Joce related her experience in writing and provided Hotline with a copy of the Police Report together with her letter. These documents were forwarded to the company.
When asked about the month-plus hold up in reimbursing the driver, the spokesman said there was nothing amiss about the delay.
“We had to check our system and also had to deal with the shopper’s bank before giving the green-light to the refund,” he said.
On another Hotline reader’s appeal for the company to rethink the parking rates at Imago, he said the company would take this request under advisement.
“Our headquarters will be informed about the driver’s request. Our superiors will have to determine the feasibility of doing this,” he said
JOH of Likas hoped that the firm would consider giving those renting units at Imago a “season pass with a fair price”.
Alternatively, he called on the management to evaluate the rates being charged to both customers and tenants.
“As tenants we work long hours between eight to 12 hours daily and spending RM10-RM15 just on parking, not including fuel and meals, adds up,” he said.
“We have also heard from our customers, that they find the parking charges at Imago quite high.”
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