Hi everyone, this is my first post but I'm a regular user of the site and spread the word about it to all my contacts:

I use a system called mPark which allows you to activate parking machines via mobile phone to pay for this via credit card rather than coins.  I've used it for a while and means I never need to hunt for change when parking in cities that support mPark.

I had the number on a speed-dial on my mobile and I've now realised it is an 0870 number.  Anyone else used mpark and know an alternative number.  I expect it is on a high-rate as this is how the company will make it's money.

Looking forward to any replies.  The full number is: 0870 8401000

~ Thread title edited by Dave

The mpark site gives a head office postcode of CW9 7TW
A postcode search on UK Info gives.......
Alphyra U K Ltd
Davidson House
Gadbrook Park,
Rudheath,Northwich,Cheshire
CW9 7TW,

01606338200

Any use?

No luck with that one.  The 0870 number must be linked to a specialist/automated service, the geographical number is just an office.

A check of the mPark website reveals contact details here.

They have operations in Ireland, Germany, Australia and USA. In the US it's a toll-free number for payments.  ::)

The contact address is the one given above by a very nice man.

There are also some telephone numbers:
Edinburgh: 0870 840 1000 Mobile Parking Payments
West Berkshire: 0870 730 1230 Mobile Parking Payments

All Cities
0870 733 0073 General & Service Enquiries
Fax:
0208 582 0207 Information only

Strange that it's a London fax number. Even stranger that it answers with "Thank you for calling Canada House."

The website also says that it is operated by Alphra MPayments which is part of Itsmobile.

A Google of the fax number gives two results:

• This one mentions the fax number as a telephone number for Itsmobile and a fax number of 020 8582 0208.
  
• This result mentions Canada House with telephone number 020 8582 0207.

The website for Itsmobile is given as www.itsmobile.com in those links but is down at the moment.

I AM LOOKING FOR AN ALTERNATIVE TO THE PARKING COMPANY 'mPARK'.  THERE NUMBER IS 0870 840 1000.  IT IS BAD ENOUGH PAYING THE EXHORBITANT CHARGES IN EDINBUGH WITH OUT HAVING TO PAY ANOTHER CHARGE ON TOP OF PAYING FOR THE TICKET.  THEY ALSO WHACK YOU FOR 20P BECAUSE YOU PAY BY PHONE PLUS THE O870 NUMBER.  ANY HELP WOULD BE GOOD.

mPark enable parking charges to be paid by mobile phone.  It is an alternative to paying with coins. They operate in a number of cities in the UK, including Edinburgh.

Their website is http://www.roadtraffic-technology.com/contractors/parking/alphyra/office.html

HeadQuarters:
Alphyra House
Gadbrook Park
Northwich, Cheshire
CW9 7TW

Tel: 01606 338 200
Fax: 01606 338 290

Try to see if they accept payment via their head office geographic number and please report back.

Alphrya also operate Payzone as a check of their numbers reveals:

01606 338.....

200 Payzone
201 Payzone
202 Payzone
205 Payzone
206 Something, can't work out what
207 Payzone (male voice, not as others which are female voice)
250 "The payment line is now closed...." (no idea which service this belongs to)
260 Alphyra Payzone transaction team

They have 3 digit extensions. I don't know exactly how far up they go, but 338800 is Evans Halshaw. Judging by these Google results, it goes up to 299. 300 onwards appears to be the Peugeot dealer.

That said, this page gives 338361 as one of theirs which answers with the same voicemail system as the 2xx numbers do.

They have an office in Dublin, maybe it goes there.

The Irish one is here: +353 1 449 9000

Whois payzone.co.uk:


Quote:

Domain name:         payzone.co.uk     Registrant:         Alphyra UK Ltd     Registrant type:         UK Limited Company, (Company number: 3102137)     Registrant's address:         Alphyra UK Ltd         22 Ridge Way         Donibristle Industrial Estate         Dalgety Bay         Dunfermline         Fife         KY11 9JN         GB

From 192.com the phone number for this address is 01383 648100 and fax 01383 648199. I've tried 648100- 199 and it's not those.

I cannot understand how a sytem designed exclusively for mobile phone use is using an 0870 number.... especially as the vast majority of the call revenue goes to the mobile phone operator and they are probably only getting a tiny cut. It's upto 40p/min to call this number from some PAYG price plans. On some calls, this can cost more than the price of parking. I wrote them a letter and highlighted the costs of calling the said 0870 number from the main UK networks (both contract and PAYG). I also told them that in other countries where they operate they offer a normal geographic number. I got the following reply:

Quote:

I am sorry to hear of your complaint. mPark is a fully managed service offered to several cities in the UK and as such the requirement for a non geographic number such as 0870 is a mandatory requirement.  This decision was taken as people understand the 0870 prefix and generally are not reluctant to call it.  Although its not free it is not classed as a premium rate number. The call duration for an mPark transactions should take no more than 20 seconds to complete and will cost the average user a maximum of no more than 10p.  Please let me know if you need any assistance in the usage of mPark.  I am happy to call you or email some specific instructions.  1 minute is an extremely long time to compete a transaction in the normal way. I am sorry to hear of you complaint.  I am happy to assist in any way I can to reduce the transaction time experienced. The examples of mPark in Sydney and the USA are valid, but in these countries the users also pay a minimum of a 10% surcharge on the parking charge.  In some cases locally they charge a monthly fee for the provision of the account. I hope this information helps.

The bit I don't like is: "mPark is a fully managed service offered to several cities in the UK and as such the requirement for a non geographic number such as 0870 is a mandatory requirement.  "

Then why do they have a different 0870 for each city?
And what mandate/law/rule says you need to have a NGN?

I've just done a quick Google of the Ofcom site, and can find nowhere that says it is a "mandatory requirement" to have an 0870 number.

I cannot get my head around companies that seem to think that if you want a national presence, you need to have an NGN. I am quite happy ringing a company anywhere in the UK if it has a geographic number. It is a crazy mindset.

If they are so bothered about having a "national presence" number (and don't want a local one) then they should be opting for an 03 number.

Well the bitter irony of this is that for each of their 3 UK locations they have a different 0870 number anyhow!!!  :o

Newbury: 0870 730 1230
Edinburgh: 0870 840 1000
Glasgow: 0870 738 0030

The strange thing is I cannot see a user calling in from anywhere else in the country in anycase. If you were in London would you want to pay for parking in Edinburgh??  >:(

I have been spurred on to write a reply to them. Let's see what comes of it:


Quote:

Thanks so much for taking the time to reply, though unfortuantely I still fail to understand the main reasoning for using an 0870 for mPark in Edinburgh. Your main reasoning is that you require a non geographic number (NGN) as you have a national presence in the UK. This would make some sense if you have a centralised number, but for each of your 3 UK locations you list a different 0870 number in anycase. In the past NGN's have sometimes been justified as callers from outside a particular geographical area code may be discriminated against in having to make a 'long distance call', however in your specific case I can assure you that all of the calls to your specific 0870 840 1000 will be coming from Edinburgh only. Moreover, as the system is designed to be exclusively used from mobile phones, it is a well known fact that mobiles do not differentiate rates between different geographic are codes. In addition you have stated it is a mandatory requirement to use an NGN for a business such as yours. I have been assured by OFCOM that this is most certainly not the case. I also still fail to understand why in other countries the system does not use a high rate number as here in the UK. You may be right about 10% surcharges in Australia, USA etc. but I also mentioned your home market in Dublin where you clearly operate a normal Dublin area code number. In addition unlike what you have told me, there is no further surcharge on parking via mPark in Dublin as it states clearly on your website! I fail to see why UK users are being discriminated against by having to pay higher charges to access the service? Moreover you state that the phone call should cost no more than 10p. I can prove to you that there are several tariffs that have a 1 minute minimum call charge and where calls to 0870's can cost upto 40p/min and so in some cases can actually cost more than the cost of the parking. Unfortunately the vast majority of this additional income will no be going to either Edinburgh council or indeed to mPark as it will be taken by the line operator. It will clearly have no benefit to improving services in this city. I have therefore also taken the matter up with the city council. I am primarily interested in knowing if there is an equivalent geographic number that can also be called to access the service. In any case, you may be aware that in the next few months, new OFCOM regulations come into play regarding 0870 numbers, which will diminish the revenue share on these, and operators will be likely to instead incurr incoming charges on these. Unless you change these numbers to a true premium number, it may be in mParks interest to circulate geographic numbers.

Well, the only part of that message I disagree with is the bit about 0870 numbers changing in February. Ofcom has actually said that this won't be happening any more...

Anyway, let us know what they say. Hopefully we will be able to persuade them otherwise, and the fact that they are ripping off the UK consumer is not acceptable!

True about that...

Anyhow I finally got an answer from them... though I really can't be arsed in replying again. I am glad he's atleast taken some time in trying to put together an answer.... though I can't say I agree with much! Would he have heard of 03's and also rediverts for Geographical diverts? I also really dislike his negative tone: "I am very dissapointed..." etc.  8-)


Quote:

Thank you for you very detailed response.  I am disappointed that you still have a difficulty with the 0870 number.  I can tell you that you have made several assumptions which are incorrect.  I hope the explanation below will assist you further. NGN’s are used for 2 purposes.  One you accurately describe in your mail in great detail.  The other is when you are offering a service in many locations and the terminating number is in one central location.  You are also working on the assumption that the IVR equipment is within the Edinburgh area code, which it isn’t. Also, we have several failover sites which automatically reroute the 0870 number in the case of a problem, of capacity issue.  Security considerations are also a concern. I would welcome any reports, or actions taken by OFCOM with the mobile operators on charging structures, but I assure you they will have no difficulty with any aspects of the mPark operation. In your research, you should have noticed that Edinburgh is one of only 2 councils in the UK who do not charge a premium for mobile phone parking in the UK .  It is standard for other cities to charge 20p or 30p for the service. In Ireland you are correct, there is a local Dublin number.  If this could easily be changed it would.  It has limited greatly our flexibility in upgrading the service and has resulted in many calls from customers in other cities looking for a local number for them.   To summarise, I am disappointed that you didn’t accept the earlier explanation and I hope this explains a little further the background to the choices that are made with regard to 0870 usage.  I hope it doesn’t deter from the use of the service.  Please also remember that using mPark is an option, and the cash facility is still there in all parking zones.

:-?

I think mPark's reply is disingenuous.

I just called O2 and they've confirmed that it's 20p a minute to call an 0870 number, and mPark will be making a fortune in revenue share on this number.  That's damned expensive for a mobile and it would be great if someone could post the target number for 0870 840 1000 !

On a seperate note, I registered this morning and on both occasions,... I had to go to a second parking meter to get a ticket.  A few folk have said that they haven't found it particularly reliable.  I'm going to give it another couple of weeks and if it's been like today then it's back to a bag of change for me I'm afraid.  I hope it works because it's a good idea !

mPark,... if you're not worried about making money off the 0870,... please post the STD number.

PS  It's a bummer that there's also a 20 pence per ticket surcharge when you pay with Maestro !

bonscott777 wrote on Aug 5^th, 2009 at 3:16pm:

I just called O2 and they've confirmed that it's 20p a minute to call an 0870 number, and mPark will be making a fortune in revenue share on this number.  That's damned expensive for a mobile and it would be great if someone could post the target number for 0870 840 1000 !

Hi bonscott777 and welcome to the forum.

It was previously the case that receiving parties enjoyed benefits, but on 1 August the process of "revenue sharing" ceased. The person you spoke to at O2 is therefore misinformed, and it is now O2, like the other mobile networks, that chooses to surcharge calls to 0870 numbers.