Tuesday, November 08, 2011

On 1MontKiara Charging Hourly Parking Fees on a Public Holiday

So I was in 1 Mont Kiara yesterday. It was after all a national public holiday since Hari Raya Aidiladha fall on a Sunday. And with the long weekend and all, the city was pretty clear of jams, it was an awesome drive.

Anyways, as we were leaving and was paying for our parking ticket, we were charged RM4. My first reaction was, "How come so expensive?" But without much second thoughts, I inserted a RM1 note... And then my friend stopped me from paying another note.

He too, was as puzzled as I was.

And we decided to cease from paying any more until we were certain the machine is correct. We called for help, and was asked to talk directly to the customer service officer in the concierge.

To my surprise, his reply was, "It is a public holiday, but parking fees is charged by hourly rate as per usual, because the real holiday was on Sunday, and Monday was just a replacement."

Would you have agreed with that statement?

My friend stayed and demanded to talk to the boss. This is not fair. A public holiday means a holiday, who cares when the actual day it was commemorating for befalls upon. If it is already gazetted as a national holiday where Banks are not open, then it is universally agreed upon that it is a public holiday. Who are they to say it is not when the whole country knows it is?

And my point here, the parking charges on a public holiday in 1 Mont Kiara mall is per entry of RM2.

So to be charged at RM4 instead of RM2, we felt it was not fair.

Okay that aside, even if the mall did not observe the charges by per entry on a replacement public holiday, at least a notification or something would justify it; rather than cheating the customer by hourly parking charges. In another words, it was plain daylight robbery!

It wasn't the amount of money that bothered us the most. It was the fact that the mall did not regard Monday as a public holiday AND did not let the drivers know, that got us unhappy. It's the principle of observing the standardized parking charges they display on the autopay machine for the public. When it was stated quite clearly fees were charged per entry on a public holiday, then it should be that; and if there was to be an exception, then they should clarify beforehand. Yet, we went in thinking it'd be flat rate similar to any other mall in the Klang Valley.

The worse part was, when we were given the number of the manager; he was so rude that he didn't come out and settle the issue; and dared to disconnect the connection even before clarifying the issue. So we filed a complain form, demanding the management to make a public apology.

We were angry somewhat. And as I was paying the remaining RM3, I forgot to request for a receipt.

But we saw another piece of receipt, the customer paid RM7 for his/her parking. He spent 5 hours in the mall. And he should by right, be only charged RM2. It was after all, a public holiday!

Therefore, I just wanted to see if the management would brush this issue under the carpet. Or at least personally apologize about cheating our principles.

11 Jujus:

[SK] said...

a replacement holiday is still a holiday right?? just like a temporary actor is also an actor~~

foongpc said...

Oh yeah that's daylight robbery alright! The least they should do is put up a notice informing about the rates so that people can decide whether to park there or not.

Twilight Man said...

That building sucks. No wonder Li Ka Shing is so rich and still 'kashing' on you on public holidays!

Booooooooo to them!

Small Kucing said...

Lucky you noticed. What kind of manager is that cutting you off the line just like that. Rude!

Alicia said...

I would suggest you bring this up with the hotline team from Malay Mail...they will ask the management to response. It's so unethical of them to charge as per the usual charges.

Medie007 said...

LOL! hanor!

rude and cheating the people!

Alicia, how do i do that? I was thinking of the consumer association or something, but i doubt they'd do anything so petty...

doc said...

Medie,

i salute you for kicking up a fuss. they would expect most people to just pay & move on, like the one who paid rm7.

you can also bring this up by writing to Star: editor@thestar.com.my, including your full name, address & phone no. & you may also use a pseudonym at the end of the letter.

Alicia said...

Sent an email to hotline@mmail.com.my telling
them what happen and the attitude of the manager etc. Provide them with your full name and contact number. Mmail will call u and verify and if they get the reply from Kiara 1 they will call u and let u know their respond and ask u abt ur comment. Thereafter the whole story will b publish in the newspaper.

Medie007 said...

Alicia, i filled in the form they have on the website itself. haha.

Alicia said...

If you still did not received any calls from Malay Mail after 4-5days then call their hotline number to check. They will be able to advise the status. There was once I fill in the form on their website and submit but it seemed that there's some problem and unable to receive and I've to resend via email. Just give them a call and someone from hotline team will talk to u. Hope to read your complaint on the paper soon...:)

Anonymous said...

Thanks for your blog advice. I'll be going there on Monday, which is supposedly a public holiday, think I'll park somewhere else instead.