Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Parking Permits - the new, even worse service!
I've just had the pleasure of interacting with our wonderful council parking service again, and thought others might find the tale a useful warning.
If you need visitor parking permits in a hurry - the system has changed (again!) and is now worse than ever:
- You can apply online, but that will take up to 13 days (according to the Council)
- You can visit the Customer Service Centre, but they can only sell you 8 permits.
Yes, you read that last bit right. The new, improved service allows you to stand in the long queues (see threads passim), only to discover you can only get 8 permits. You can order more for later delivery, but only get 8 on the day. This is apparently an edict from the Parking Service to "encourage usage of the online system".
For added hilarity, you don't have to pay there and then for the permits - oh no. That would be too simple, since you're there with a nice chip'n'pin terminal right in front of you. You have to give a phone number, and then apparently someone from the Parking Service will phone you to take payment for the permits. It's been a week since I visited, and no call so far. Maybe I won't have to pay after all.
Of course, you could use the online system. This is the one which starts by you emailing (!) someone to get an applicant ID (takes 3 days). You can then go to the website and order your vouchers and have them sent out (up to 10 days). Good luck if you have anyone visiting in the next two weeks.
Given the dog's breakfast that is the online system (thanks Civica!) I'm not surprised that people still choose to use the Customer Service Centre. So rather than improving the online system, the Parking Service has decided to break the existing system to make online look good in comparison. What a stroke of genius.
If it wasn't so sad, the Byzantine complexity achieved in a system for issuing visitor parking permits would be rather impressive.
Talking to the Customer Service staff, they're well aware the system sucks, but are powerless to effect change. So they end up dealing with disgruntled customers all day. I did suggest that the head of the parking service would like to spend some time on the front line, but the nice lady questioned my sanity for suggesting such an improbable event.
Tags for Forum Posts: bad, council, customer, parking, parking permits online, permits, service
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on
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Apologies for my ignorance, but could you please explain this a bit more? And the workaround. What can we - or should Haringey - do to get round Virgin's over zealous blockages on our emails?
I stopped having an @Haringey account because the Council's IT panjandrums were blocking emails with a banned list of words. Also, for a long time, they pigheadedly refused to send a "bounce" message letting senders know their emails had been blocked. And - in effect- thrown away.
If the same is routinely happening with Virgin then email ceases to be a reliable medium for either business or private use.
(Tottenham Hale ward councillor)
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Permalink Reply by Clive Carter on
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Alan can I recommend Gmail? Like many email services it attracts - and detects - spam but it is rare that one needs to check Gmail's spam folder for missing emails.
The number of false positives is amazingly low. It's easy to mark any rare missed spam as spam and this aids the automatic sifting process for the benefit of all users.
It is possible to check the Gmail spam folder and review hundreds of positives before coming across a false positive (i.e. an email incorrectly identified as spam).
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But my service provider is still Virgin. Or am I missing something obvious?
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My Internet Service Provider is also Virgin Media.
Google's email service (Gmail) is web-based and you access mail via your web browser. There are other free, wholly web-based email services (Yahoo Mail and Hotmail) but IMO, Gmail is the best email service at any price – and its free. It also has the might of Google behind it.
It is also possible to send from, and receive email to, a Gmail account, in the name of other email accounts that you own.
Disclosure: I own no shares in Google Inc and am not receiving a benefit of any form!
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Permalink Reply by Julia on
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Clive, as far as I know Virgin's webmail uses the gmail interface so not sure that would help! Alan I don't have an answer but was suggesting that customers are warned this might happen & told to add this address to their contacts which might prevent it happening. The parking guy tells me I'm the only person this has happened to but I can't see why that would be the case as I'm very IT/web savvy & it's the only problem of this kind I've ever had. I'll try raising it with Virgin & see what they have to say...
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Permalink Reply by Paul on
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I made the decision to obtain my permits directly from 48 Station Road, simply because I needed the permits for the following Monday. The whole process took little over one hour - about the same amount of time you can spend in a queue in the post office these days (I'm not saying that is a good benchmark). I did go in the afternoon on the expectation that mornings might be busier. To be honest, the whole process was reasonably efficient with only a few minor isssues; principally relating to the fact that staff in the customer service centre seemed unclear about the permit issue guidelines. At the point of form collection, I was advised that I could pay for 12 visitor permits but collect only 8. At the point of payment and issue I was initially given 20 visitor permits. I pointed out that I'd only paid for 12 and was given all 12 there and then - I wasn't about to prolong proceedings any further. All in all I was reasonably satisfied but only because I know that I will probably never have to do this again - I will be moving out of London later this year. I do, however, think that the on-line process needs to be improved. I found the prospect of applying on-line so daunting and seemingly protracted that I did not even attempt it.
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Permalink Reply by Nilgun Canver on
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Hi Paul, many thanks for your comments.
I am sorry to hear that the service you received when purchasing the permits was not as good as you would have liked to experience. Officers in the Customer Service Centre are appropriately trained to issue resident permits and they also have access to clear written guidelines on permit policy and procedures. If you are willing to provide your full details, we will look into this matter in more detail with the officer who served you.
Yes, we're working on improving the online system. Hopefully this will be achieved in the next few months.
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Permalink Reply by Rachella on
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I have a bunch of out-of-date visitor permits I need to exchange. What do it do? There seems to be no option for this on the system. I don't really want to give up a day of work to sit in line at the "customer service" centre, only to be sent away with 8 permits.
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This all sounds horribly similar to the Barnet Council system - which has been causing problems for years.
I would like to know who, precisely, benefits from adopting these badly-designed and non-functioning systems.
Try talking to an ACTUAL human being about it by phone and you will find yourself in another non-functioning system designed to toss you out the other end - infuriated and no further forward.
Another year ... another renewal afternoon/day/week/ month of trying to commincate to look forward to. AAAARGH.
Aren't they supposed to work for US?
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Permalink Reply by tigha on
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I have never had a problem, I always keep a plentiful supply of visitor tickets so know if I seem to be getting a little bit low, always get topped up in good time- surely this is more important, maybe we just get used to living in london and walking down the road anytime of day or night to get milk and expect immediate service- maybe we should actually be more organsied
karen controversial as usual
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maybe we have all been spoilt for so many years at having the luxory of immediate tickets-all good things come to an end
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Permalink Reply by CanadianMichael on
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Sorry if this is reviving an old thread, but this Civica payment thing really is a problem, even for new resident permits. Does anyone else see this kind of error:
Date / Time 08/06/2012 01:06:39 Application Name PaylinkXMLUI Application Version 9.89r0 Calling Application ID CIVICA_CE_WEB_PORTAL Page Source /CELive/PaylinkXMLUI/Authorise.aspx Error Message Source Error Message Description Request timed out. .NET Framework Version 1.1.4322.2443 Copyright (c) 2007 Civica UK Ltd www.civica.co.uk
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