Disappointment from unexpected sources

OP, it's too bad that you had these problems, but I wouldn't call them scams, nor would I call the companies criminals. In the first instance, if you had taken the time to check the ticket as soon as you got it, with the attendant still there, you could have avoided the fine entirely. Sorry, but this is on you.

As for the bikes, again it looks like you jumped in without taking the time to read the details, and made false assumptions. Unfortunately both are a case of "act in haste, repent at leisure". A cautionary tale for all of us, whether travelling or at home.

I'm not sure where you got "all the information", but the pricing seems pretty clear to me:

https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/cycling/santander-cycles/what-you-pay?intcmp=2315

To call this a scam is looney tunes. It looks like you just failed to understand.

I'm sorry you are paranoid about scams and scammers - but neither of these are scams. Both are failure to read the appropriate information. It was in English, too.

Sorry your haste cost you money.

Did you not see any of my several posts encouring people visiting Oxford to use the Park and Ride scheme? Or how I described how expensive parking the centre of Oxford can be?

LOL Those are the responses I had expected. I know I was a bit long in explaining but if you read it you would have noticed I said it is true that I should have checked it but it's also true we think we are helpful even when we don't complete the job. As far as checking the web and reading the contract of a company while you are standing on the side of the street is looney tunes. All of the information should be there clear and easy to understand. So it's on me to make sure all is legit since we can't trust anyone...

Now if the guy wearing the yellow vest had taken your cash himself giving you a worthless permit, then that is a scam. The fact you didn't understand the process, maybe not entering the correct return time, does not make this a scam no matter how frustrating the situation was.

I agree that the bike issue does sound closer to a scam, especially if the signage is not clear and really does say ​£2 for 24 hours.

Hopefully your experience and your sharing it here will help others choose more carefully.

First, neither occurence has anything to do with the government, both the car park and the cycle rental are operated by indpendent companies.

You state that you paid over $70 for 3 hours parking. Was that the parking rate or the rate PLUS the fine? Your inability to understand the 24 hour format is your problem, no-one elses and certainly not indicative of a scam. You also allude to the attendant being in on alleged scam when you suggest that the response from head office appeared to come from the local office, probably the attendant. How does this "scam" operate and how would the attendant benefit?

As for the bike rental, how can you claim it's a scam? The details are quite clear:

How much does it cost?

1. Hire

You pay £2 to access the bikes for 24 hours.

1. Ride

You can make as many journeys as you like. If your journey is less than 30 minutes, you won't pay more. If it's longer than 30 minutes, you pay £2 for every 30 minutes.

1. Return

You can return the bike at any time, as long as it's within 24 hours. You could be charged up to £300 if you damage the bike or don't return it.

No-where does it say that you can ride the bikes for £2 for 24 hours. For £2 you have ACCESS to the bike for 24 hours, the first 30 minutes of rental is included within that price after which the rental is charged at £2 for every 30 minutes. It's as clear as day so to claim that it's a scam and that the operators are criminals is entirely unjustified and without merit. Posts like yours are the reason for so much scaremongering and myth perpetuating, it does an absolute disservice to people who are apprehensive about their first trip abroad. The problems you encountered are all of your own making.

It's not genuine companies trying to make a profit that we have to look out for, it's people spreading misinformation and false allegations that we need to be wary of.

I get that, Mark. And I've ran it through several times. Parking attendant pushes the buttons, tells me to insert card, it works, I'm happy, off we go then find the penalty. I was hesitant to call it a scam but they acted like hey you did it - but I really didn't... I'm not calling the parking attendant a criminal, I probably should have worded that better. I've seen posts on here about watching out for thieves and the like and just wanted to point out you have to check everyone one even if it's someone who is supposed to be doing their job.

As far as checking the web and reading the contract of a company while you are standing on the side of the street is looney tunes

It took me less than 30 seconds to find the information online regarding the costs of the bike rental. We're not talking wading through pages of T&C's, it's as clear as it could possibly be.

Had to enter the vehicle registration number a couple times in Wales at parking lots before I could pay. I used cash and double checked the time on the ticket to ensure I returned in plenty of time. Sorry you got a citation, but it was avoidable.

LOL JC, come on. Seriously? " For £2 you have ACCESS to the bike for 24 hours" wow lets make everyone pay a fee just to access the sidewalk but additional if you actually use it.

As far as the parking goes, www.oxford.gov.uk is not a private company, at least URLs of that sort are not supposed to be used for private companies. Also has the Oxford City Council logo.

I'm not as smart as some of you, I expected the attendant to know more about what was going on than me.

Having to state the registration came from the practice people had (and still do where possible) of passing on tickets that had not yet expired to someone else.

Advice for the future or others, if you really have to park in the centre of Oxford the Westgate Centre underground car park is a bit cheaper than most of the council ones and you pay on exit so you don't have to guess how long you need to allow. Just make sure you don't lose the ticket.

You would be better not to call these scams, which are essentially criminal activities, but rather "cautions" for people to be alert to.

I sympathize with you on the car park ticket. If you told the attendant 5 hours and he only plugged in 3 hours for you, he certainly made a mistake that seems to only cost you. Technically you should have checked the ticket, but I can certainly see how someone might not if you had just been given customer service. And many people are not used to 24 hour time and have to really calculate the time in their heads. So a quick glance at the time might not have triggered a warning.

The bike rental may be a bit confusing, but it is up to you to understand the terms. And that was a pretty inexpensive lesson learned.

The word "scam" has specific meaning and attracts a lot of attention here. It's misuse, as you have seen, generates a lot of responses.

LOL JC, come on. Seriously? " For £2 you have ACCESS to the bike for 24 hours" wow lets make everyone pay a fee just to access the sidewalk but additional if you actually use it.

Yes, you have access to that bike for a 24 hour period. It is not your bike and therefore the period that you can rent it for is restricted to a maximum of 24 hours. This is to ensure that people don't take a bike for extended periods of time and depriving others the use of it. Your sidewalk analogy is irrelevant, for £2 you can use that bike for any number of journeys within a 30 minute period, after that there is an additional fee of £2 per half hour. To simplify things, it costs £2 per 30 minutes to rent those bikes within a 24 hour period.

I'm surprised that the person apparently helping you identified themself as an Oxford City Council parking operative and was wearling a yellow vest. I was under the impression that all Oxford parking operatives (the open carparks as themselves unstaffed and all the rules on a big sign) wore blueish uniforms.

Which car park was this? Where, if you don't know the name?

Sounds like a learning experience really.
I had BIG fines and charges my first year after coming home.
Tolls and a parking ticket. The toll ended up being $75.00 and the parking ticket was $50.00, but IIRC they cut that in half if you pay within 14 days. I didn't get mad though. It was my fault. This just sounds like the parking attendant got the time wrong (it is stamped on the ticket though, I always look now.) And the bike thing is pretty clear as well. Just let it go and realize that sometimes we learn the hard way. Especially me!
Peace!

Well...I was waiting but no one stated (my) obvious....what company is going to make moeny by renting a bike for 2 pounds a day? (Unless it's 2 pounds of gold. Yeah, no fancy 'pound' sign for me!)

Thanks for the responses, especially the more thoughtful ones. There seem to be too many words these days that set people off.

I felt like I had trusted someone and instead paid for it. Even the response to my email sounded like they didn't give a damn. The 50 pounds was the 14 day half price fee otherwise it would have been 100. And yes, lesson learned.

The cost of the bike wasn't the issue. I was at a machine, people where waiting behind me, I did the best I could trying to read everything presented on the little screen and comprehend what it all meant. When I checked the bike back in the amount I expected was charged to our credit card. It was two days later the additional charge came through with no explanation.

Anyway, maybe someone will learn from my mistakes...

Becky, I was going to write the same thing... Someone really expects to rent and ride a bike for 24 hours paying just 2 pounds?

sorry for your trouble but welcome to the real world

Thanks for the responses, especially the more thoughtful ones. There seem to be too many words these days that set people off.

Not really but when people come to these boards alleging scams and rip offs when they are nothing of the sort are extremely unhelpful and may even be discouraging for those who are nervous about travelling anyway.

At least you've acknowledged that the misfortune you experienced was down to your mistakes and not the deceitful actions of someone else.

Hi emma

Thanks for the positive feedback. I started on this forum only a year or so ago but haven't been on a lot so I had no idea anyone was that sensitive to the word scam or that it was used that often. My reason for going down that road was based on how I was treated after the fact when trying to find out what went wrong. In both cases the people I contacted were rude and didn't want to bother with it. I can't realize a mistake if I don't know exactly what I did wrong.

But I am seeing a lot of complaints "why do so many american travelers ..." I do know from talking to the owners of businesses we worked with and stayed with in the UK that they want us to come because that is how they survive. Not all experiences are 5 star and we like to share with others why. It's not about worrying the world is out to get us but more about checks and balances. You can take our money but live up to what you advertise. In other words, WE ALL need to hold ourselves accountable.

^^I'm with Emma here.

Obviously, in those situations you incurred expenses greater than you expected. And you're angry about it.

However, I'm not impressed by, or sympathetic with, your angry accusations that the "government" was running "scams" in those cases. Dude, you goofed. That happens, even to well-educated intelligent people. Especially when they are traveling in a foreign country: new environment, variations in language usage, possibly higher levels of fatigue, etc.

Nobody committed a crime against you.

I appreciate your sharing the story in that it reminds me to be careful about the details, including how dates and times are written, when I'm traveling in foreign parts.

I’m glad you had good time in the U.K. But please, there wasn’t any scam, it’s just due you not taking time to read the time of your parking ticket and on the bike rental. In my many trips to the U.K., I’ve never run into anyone trying to scam me. If you parked your car 11am (for example) and you wanted to pay for five hours your ticket would show as 16:00, meaning you paid for parking until 4pm.

BTW smxbob - You can expect this thread to go on and on until everyone has weighed in on the same outrage about it not being a scam...

Another quirk about this forum.

BTW smxbob - You can expect this thread to go on and on until everyone has weighed in on the same outrage about it not being a scam...
Another quirk about this forum.

LOL you never know what you are going to walk into... I'm not sure why it keeps going, it doesn't help make the original problem any better but I digress.

I see you significantly edited both the title and original post. Mentioning it for new readers who are wondering WTH the rest of us were responding to.

Thanks for the change, smxbob

Nigel

It looks like we went around you. I was checking your location on the map. We drove through Birmingham and had to change trains in Peterborough due to a malfunction. Great country, we really enjoyed our trip!

There seem to be too many words these days that set people off.

HAHAHAHAHA. Welcome to the forum!
You get used to it, once you realize it means NOTHING at all.

HAHAHAHAHA. Welcome to the forum!
You get used to it, once you realize it means NOTHING at all.

I disagree. I've had lengthy exchanges with webmasters regarding how new or inexperienced posters are often put off by misleading information. We witness almost daily posts expressing concern over vastly exaggerated crime risks in Europe so it's only fair and right that such misinformation, however well intended it may be, is put right.

It's not an exercise in castigation but rather an attempt to correct "fake news". The OP would have been far better detailing his experiences and highlighting what he perceived as information that was difficult to interpret as opposed to claiming that he was subjected to scams performed on behalf of the British Government!

So no, it doesn't mean nothing. It is actually very helpful to people to have such misinformation called out. If it results in people being less paranoid when they travel to Europe and actually being able to relax and enjoy their trip rather than worry about the hundreds of Fagin like characters lurking around them waiting to take advantage then in my opinion it's worth quite a lot.

I meant the people that get set off mean nothing. Not the topics.
There are some over the top responses from time to time.

The most memorable to me was me asking "Is the congestion charge area in London clearly marked, and do they just take a pic of my plates" or something like that. The response was very "You're insane for driving into London" and "Parking is expensive" and of course "Why would you ever do that?"

I never said I was going to do that. I just asked a question. Some of the responses were pretty off-topic. I have since driven in London 3 times and it's gravy compared to Atlanta or Nashville on occasions.

I meant the people that get set off mean nothing. Not the topics.
There are some over the top responses from time to time.

Ah ok, apologies for the misinterpetation.

Yes, some people do overreact although informing people that driving in London is difficult is not bad advice. People have many different interpretations of driving difficulty, whilst you found driving in London to be a breeze there are many that would find it terrifying. I'll happily drive pretty much anywhere but I know I'm in a minority, I suspect that you are also within that minority but from many of the comments I've read on this forum and others where people have described their bad experiences of driving in the UK in quite normal traffic most people are not quite as confident.