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Secure-a-Spot parking service found to be misleading.
On 8 August 2024, the Federal Court of Australia ordered that Secure Parking Pty Ltd (Secure Parking) be fined $10.95 million for false and misleading descriptions about the ‘Secure-a-Spot’ online parking booking system. This was a matter agitated by the ACCC due to complaints.
In the end, Secure Parking concluded that it made false or misleading representations to consumers in the use of the title ‘Secure-a-Spot’ as this represented in marketing that a consumer using this service would have a reserved space at a particular time and date. This was not the case and the author of this article at Cogent Legal, personally experienced this in Melbourne.
As consumers discovered, usually at the worst time as they depended on the reserved space to park, spaces were not always available or an attendant would ask for your keys to double or triple park cars.
The ACCC Published that ‘Secure Parking did not provide customers with the service it advertised, and it denied customers the opportunity to make an informed decision about which parking service best suited their needs.’ That ‘Customers may have been seriously inconvenienced when they arrived at their chosen car park to discover the parking space they thought they had booked was not available to them.’
Ms Carver of the ACCC stated ‘This penalty sends a strong message to all businesses that making misleading claims to consumers about the nature of the services provided can attract substantial penalties.’
ACCC Instituted the Proceedings
The ACCC instituted Federal Court proceedings against Secure Parking on 5 July 2023 for the alleged behaviour in the ‘Secure-a-Spot’ booking service through the online website or app.
Contact Cogent Legal for assistance with a Manufacturer or Trader that breaches consumer guarantees and has caused you harm.