Notice: Calgary Parking Authority Accidentally Overcharging!

[screw_loose]

For those of you who use the park and ride just thought I'd post some friendly information. On March 7th quite a few people we personally know of received upwards of 9 or more charges on their credit card for using the park and ride lots at the C-train station. When we call CPA they are aware of the situation and have been refunding the amounts.

We noticed in our situation though only 3 of the 9 charges had been reversed. I haven't noticed any other public announcements so just thought I'd make a friendly post on here to make sure nobody else gets taken for their hard earned money.

[Swank]

Good post, I got nailed with 5 charges on March 2nd and 5 on March 3rd. They told me that if I haven't seen the charges reversed by Friday then I should call them again.

Last minute effort to get our money before the lots are free again

[Mibz]

They use the kiosks or the phone system?

I parked on the 7th and my ParkPlus phone account shows a single charge for the day.

[jaylo]

They charged me 4 more extra times when I used their parking lot at 2/26

3/1 $3.00
3/2 $3.00
3/2 $3.00
3/2 $3.00
3/3 $3.00

[syritis]

I parked at c-train Feb 28. got charged twice one march 2 and twice on march 3rd.

theirs no stopping these criminals from taking your money

[Weapon_R]

I got hit for about 10 extra charges too! But I never use the park n' ride program, just downtown parking. Thanks for bringing this to my attention as I was going to call them.

[screw_loose]

From what they told me they know it's been happening but they didnt reverse all the charges which is a tad frustrating. It could happen at any lot or kiosk machine where a credit card was used.

On our case we had 14 total charges over 2 days that weren't charged back. It adds up in a hurry.

[syritis]

i hear law suits coming. i think they deserve it.

[cet]

The last time parked in one of their lots was on Feb 28th.

On Monday I had 8 charges put through on my card.
Yesterday 6 of the charges were taken off and then they added one more charge.

[screw_loose]

Ya we are going through our credit card bills now trying to see if there were other dates where fraudulent charges were appearing. Really surprised we haven't heard anything in the media about this though. It would potentially effect thousands of people in Calgary that wouldn't have much knowledge unless they check their credit card records on a consistent basis.

[syritis]

came home early today and was prepared to spend some time on the phone fighting with some foreign customer support. they had already credited the 3 additional charges.
nice twist for me.

[kaput]

.

[Swank]

Well they've refunded 6 of my 8 erroneous charges so far. I'm guessing I'll have to call in for the other two, but we'll see.

[clem24]

It's not limited to park & ride.. I just checked my online statements. I parked in Chinatown last Thursday and got charged again on Monday.

[EDIT] DOH reading > me.. Weapon_R beat me to it.

[kenny]

Finally hitting the news

http://www.metronews.ca/calgary/local/article/799090

and heres a copy of the CPA press release:

CALGARY, ALBERTA--(Marketwire - March 10, 2011) - The Calgary Parking Authority (CPA) has identified and resolved an issue with its credit card processing software that began early last week.
Starting March 1, 2011 the software program that transfers credit card information to the Parking Authority's bank was disrupted and resulted in multiple charges to customers who used credit cards to pay for CPA services.

All duplicate transactions have been identified and refunds are being processed directly to customers. All refunds will be finalized during the week of March 14th.
"We sincerely apologize for this inconvenience and the stress it has caused our customers," said Dale Fraser CPA General Manager. "We are processing refunds for all affected customers, and we have put steps in place this week to ensure this situation does not occur in the future."

As many as 23,000 customers were affected by the software issue. To date, the CPA has received 1,135 emails and phone calls from customers regarding this issue.

Customers who have questions or concerns are asked to call the Calgary Parking Authority at 403-537-7000.

[Alterac]

I got a buncha charges also.

5 Charges, and only 3 refunds so far.

[screw_loose]

I'm hearing the same by everybody else, not all the charges have been reversed. Only 3 of the 9 we noticed have been reversed. The part that really frustrated me with the park and ride lots is that when they make a mistake its a little, "oops we are sorry". Yet when I park backwards 1 single day I get a ticket for something I wasn't aware of.

I'd be willing to bet a good portion of the charges get missed. I'd argue that could easily mean upwards of 100,000 invalid charges over various missed charges. We were told to call back twice now regarding the remaining charges.

[syritis]

news coverage i'm told is on the 11pm news tonight.

[S13_Ryan]

wow, march 7th i got charged 10 times @ $9

[CSMRX7]

Have 5 charges for $13 but only 2 have been refunded