Customers have taken to social media alleging an automated parking system is failing to properly record when they leave Kmart’s new South Dunedin store.
As a result, when they visit the store twice in one day they are being mistakenly penalised for breaching the 90-minute parking limit.
Dunedin man Rod Gibbs told the Otago Daily Times the flaw meant he was given an $85 ticket by Smart Compliance Management (SCM), which is contracted by Kmart to administer the carpark.
Mr Gibbs said on February 15 he took two trips to Kmart — one in the morning and one in the evening.
In both instances he was parked in the carpark well under the 90-minute time limit.
However, he got a fine in the mail soon after accusing him of being parked all day.
"The cameras have obviously just read my car coming in and out ... the photo shows my vehicle’s not even parked.
"It just seems like it's really poorly thought out from their side — a massive flaw in the system."
Mr Gibbs said his own home security footage showed his vehicle parked in his own driveway at the time when SCM said it was in the Kmart carpark.
When he initially got the fine, he hoped it would be a quick fix, but he spent the next half an hour searching for a contact number to explain what had really happened.
He eventually settled on contacting SCM using a web form after finding there was no contact number on its website.
"Kmart took no responsibility when I spoke to the operations manager ... they just said ‘hey, it’s third party and we’ve got nothing to do with this.’
"It is a carpark that is leased by Kmart and they are also obviously paying the firm to do this work — it reflects badly on them."
He warned Kmart that, despite "not thinking it was their problem", it was at risk of losing customers "because this situation can get people really upset".
"There's a lot of people having the same problem, and when you go online, there’s no number to ring and contest it."
An SCM spokesman said the Kmart Dunedin carpark was monitored using automated number plate recognition cameras.
"[They] capture images of a vehicle entering and exiting, which subsequently calculates the total stay duration.
"As stated on the signage, the terms and conditions apply from the time the vehicle enters the carpark."
He said Mr Gibbs’ situation was caused by the cameras misreading the vehicle’s personalised number plate.
"SCM can confirm that this breach notice was appealed on Thursday at 6.41pm and waived, upon review, by our appeals team on Friday at 1.53pm."
A Kmart spokeswoman said the customer’s experience "should not have happened", and the store was following up with SCM.
