Locked out and Locked in the Setanta Q Park Dawson Street

Update - Have had a written apology and an undertaking to give retraining to staff concerned from Q Park and offer of some free parking.

Pleasantly surprised to get a prompt and positive response :)

So tonight I headed into the city for the first time in many months for a meeting and parked in the Setanta Q Park on Dawson Street – I have a toll tag which includes parking which saves the trip to the ticket machine when exiting. All went well on entering the carpark but leaving was a different matter! I arrived back at the pedestrian entrance to the carpark at about 7.40pm only to find the door locked. The only way to enter was to enter the last four digits of your parking ticket but as I had entered via toll tag I had no ticket! But there was an intercom which I pressed a number of times and nobody answered! But all was not lost – there was an emergency number which I dialled and a man answered and was bemused when I explained my predicament – However a few moments later another pedestrian exited the door and I was able to get in so all was well! Little did I know the worst was yet to come!

So I drove up to the barrier and expected it to lift as my tag beeped as usual but nothing happened – I reversed and tried again, and again, and again but no joy! So then I looked for the help button on the exit terminal but where it should have been was an empty hole and no sign of a button! At this point I reversed and drove back into the carpark and reparked and decided to search for a staff member. But there no joy either – Nobody was in the staff office! So I went back to the barrier and saw another motorist having the same issue – In his case he had prebooked parking and the machine would not recognise his ticket – He suggested we went back to the ticket machines and tried the intercom there which we both did and we both reported the missing help button on the exit terminal. Neither operator would accept our word and insisted multiple times that  the button was there as they had had calls earlier in the evening from it. We both persisted but they effectively said we were either liars or idiots! So we went back to the exit terminal and the other motorist managed to with great difficulty reach the call button which had fallen into the machine but he said it was gone out of reach – however miraculously it activated and he managed to get out and I then spoke to the operator and she asked for my reg which I gave and she told me to drive back up to the barrier – I did this but nothing happened and the button was beyond reach and so I reversed again and reparked yet again and then once again rang the intercom on the ticket machine. I got the same operator who again refused to accept my explanation that the call button on the exit terminal was gone and then accused me of being abusive – I was certainly exasperated at this stage and apologised not because it was warranted but because I did not want to spend the night in the carpark and she said she would dial into the exit terminal if I drove up to it again – I did this and as I was leaving I asked that she would report the issue with the missing call button but no reply except to lift the barrier – I can forgive technical issues but the dismissive and patronising attitude towards paying customers is not acceptable – Get your act together Q Park – This was an example of the worst of customer service!