That Carpark and that Uncle.

On Sunday, we drove into Cineleisure carpark, hoping to find one with per entry rate. Unfortunately, it wasnt. So right after we passed through entrance, we made an U-turn to get out.

We were charged $3.75 ... apparently the Wilson Parking staff insisted that there wasnt any grace period and he cannot make this an exception. Though the amount had been deducted from my cashcard, our car has not exit. So we told the uncle.. "since we have paid, we must well park here for the 3 hours charged." Uncle agreed and advised us to reverse and get a lot. We did.

Feeling unhappy (about why isnt there any grace period) and puzzled (about how the system will charge us when we exit later), we went to the uncle to clarify. He seemed reluctant to talk to us and suggested us to go to the Management Office. We went and the person directed us back to the uncle because this is under wilson parking and not cineleisure. Via walkie talkie, that person told the uncle to settle it himself, if not, call his manager. So when we went back to the uncle, he showed a pretty black face. He refused to talk to me... he just handed me the phone and signalled me to talk to the HQ staff. The lady seems quite nice but after narrating the story and voicing my concern about the absence of the grace period, she said "I'm sorry, im just a temp staff, hence unable to answer your question. It is the setting of the system." Arghh then why ask me so much?!

So i told her, "please get your manager to give me a call on Monday." Hanged up and headed shopping.

3 hours later, we wanted to leave that carpark to park somewhere else. We were stucked at the exit because there was not record of our car entering. That's because i had already paid my $3.75 earlier on!

And guess what?

The uncle came out and said we gotta pay another $3.75 in order for him to open the gantry. WAH we were like ... pissed? So i said "but we have already paid earlier on? I really dont see why we should pay like $7.50 for 3hours."

The uncle got HOT. He said, in a 不耐烦 manner, "aiya girl.. if paying $3.75 can make you all SO unhappy.. uncle pay for you la. $3.75 uncle can afford. you all go la. i will pay." then he started repeating his lines.

I felt insulted. I replied "it is not about the money uncle. I just dont understand why the system works this way." He continued repeating his classic lines and we cant be bothered to say anymore. We passed him the $3.75 and left. Please, not as if we 贪小便宜 and wanna make him pay for us.

So wilson parking called me on monday, i was busy then and requested for the call to be made 20 minutes later. But that didnt happen. I guessed they forgot all about it. So i called them two days later. I just had to feedback.

I narrated everything to the manager. And i also suggested that if they still have no intention of giving grace period, then perhaps a notice should be placed somewhere higher on the Carpark Information Board (certainly not at the last line right below where cars in front would have blocked it). He was very polite and patient. After asking me certain questions, he went on to investigate the matter and he decided to refund me the $3.75.

By right i should be very happy about the ending of this incident. But somehow i felt guilty.. i hope that uncle wont get reprimanded or punished. So when the manager made the 2nd call to me to ask for my account details, i told him that my whole intention was to feedback about the system as well as the need for a grace period. So i hope the uncle will only be given an informal warning or equivalent treatment, not anything too serious. I hope i have not gotten the uncle into big trouble.