Auckland Airport parking machine tried to charge man $4000 for 15-minute stay

South Auckland resident Kushma Nair says the parking machine repeatedly displayed a $4059 charge for his 15-minute stay. Photo / Blessen Tom, RNZ

By IndoNZ of RNZ

A South Auckland man was stunned when a parking machine at Auckland Airport tried to charge him more than $4000 for just 15 minutes in the airport’s short-term carpark on Monday.

Kushma Nair said he tried to pay for his brief stay at the international terminal carpark but a machine repeatedly displayed a charge of $4059.

“I was, like, ‘What’s happening?’ and tried to do it twice, but it showed me $4059 for the 15 minutes or so I parked,” Nair said.

Nair contacted customer service through the help button at the payment machine and was later told to pay $12.50 after staff discovered a parking system malfunction linked to a previous visit.

Nair said the incident made him wonder whether other motorists had faced similar problems.

“It was a bizarre experience,” he said.

“I had problems with the airport parking ... two months ago, [when] the machine didn’t show me any details even after putting my rego.”

Nair, who is a member of the Ōtara-Papatoetoe Local Board, said he appreciated the assistance from airport staff and was able to leave the carpark without further issues.

“It just got me wondering how many others [have] had to deal with it if the machine is not showing the correct fee when [they] are paying,” he said.

An Auckland Airport spokesperson acknowledged that receiving an incorrect parking charge would be frustrating, apologising to Nair for the incident.

“We are pleased the customer was able to contact our customer service team at the parking machine, allowing them to promptly resolve the issue before the transaction took place,” the spokesperson said.

Auckland Airport believed the issue had occurred because Nair’s vehicle had not been properly checked out of the car park after a short visit in March.

“When the customer returned for a second visit this week, the system treated the customer’s two visits as one single stay, incorrectly calculating the days between them,” the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson said the airport had “robust processes” in place to ensure customers were charged correctly.

The airport was reviewing why the earlier exit had not been properly recorded, the spokesperson said.

“I’m glad the problem was resolved quickly and that I didn’t have to fork out $4000,” Nair said.

– RNZ