Disappointing
App used to be perfectly reliable, however in recent months now routinely freezes on the processing payment screen leaving the user in doubt as to whether or not payment has been taken and/or vehicle is parked in accordance with car park regulations. On each occasion connectivity has not been an issue and eventually you just have to give up and close the app. Each time I have taken a screenshot as evidence that I have attempted payment and eventually an email is received confirming the transaction. Not a great experience. PS Have just noticed that this issue was acknowledged by “Jill” in early July and clearly still not fixed in the most recent update. Come on guys!
I think the fact that it had taken the developer 17 days to respond to my comments pretty much sums this app up. It should not be beyond the wit of man to reinstate a feature that used to work before “improvements” were made.
I think the fact that it had taken the developer 17 days to respond to my comments pretty much sums this app up. It should not be beyond the wit of man to reinstate a feature that used to work before “improvements” were made.
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Response from developer
Hello Duke Pops. I’m sorry to report that the solution we implemented didn’t work as expected. Apologies for the frustration this may cause. We're still working on the issue, but for now, a quick workaround is to restart the app to see if the countdown clock appears. If the visual confirmation is still missing, here are a few other suggestions: https://bit.ly/3QGBOmE. PBP, Jill
Horrible interface for regular user!
Some really bad UX on this app. First, if you use this app regularly for the same location, e.g., MBTA parking lot, you still need to go through six different button clicks to do it. Should be easier to have a “speed dial” type of option to fast track the purchase. If you don’t add a vehicle description when you first set it up, you cannot edit the existing car and update it. You need to delete the existing car first then add it back in. Take a screen shot or remember your license plate first though! How long should a description be? I don’t know if there’s a perfect answer, but trying to add “Subaru Outback” as a description and told it’s too long, seems like they need to rethink their field lengths! If you don’t add a description, you will need to know your car just by the license plate - there’s no other means of identifying it. Overall, a poor execution on what should be an easy app to create.
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Response from developer
Hello Thank you for your message; we appreciate the feedback on how we can improve the app. Have a great day ahead, Dinsmo. PBP, Jill
Avoid This Useless Parking App!
I am absolutely furious and feel completely ripped off by this so-called "phone parking" app. I paid $2 for what should have been 4 hours of parking, only to encounter a nightmare experience due to this app's incompetence. Here's what happened:
After parking and paying the $2 fee through the app, I assumed everything was in order. However, just 3 hours later, I returned to find my car had been towed away. There was no warning or notification from the app about any issues.
To add insult to injury, I had to shell out a staggering $650 to retrieve my towed car. On top of that, I received a ridiculous $110 parking ticket. All because this app failed to inform me that the parking spot's zone had changed to white after 6pm.
I cannot stress this enough: DO NOT use this app unless you want to waste your money and endure unnecessary stress. It is incredibly frustrating that an app supposedly designed to simplify parking could fail so spectacularly at its most basic function—keeping users informed about their parking status.
Save yourself the hassle and financial burden. Look for another parking app or stick with traditional parking meters. Anything would be better than risking hundreds of dollars due to this app's incompetence.
I hope this review helps others avoid the frustration I experienced. Trust me, steering clear of this app is the best decision you can make.
After parking and paying the $2 fee through the app, I assumed everything was in order. However, just 3 hours later, I returned to find my car had been towed away. There was no warning or notification from the app about any issues.
To add insult to injury, I had to shell out a staggering $650 to retrieve my towed car. On top of that, I received a ridiculous $110 parking ticket. All because this app failed to inform me that the parking spot's zone had changed to white after 6pm.
I cannot stress this enough: DO NOT use this app unless you want to waste your money and endure unnecessary stress. It is incredibly frustrating that an app supposedly designed to simplify parking could fail so spectacularly at its most basic function—keeping users informed about their parking status.
Save yourself the hassle and financial burden. Look for another parking app or stick with traditional parking meters. Anything would be better than risking hundreds of dollars due to this app's incompetence.
I hope this review helps others avoid the frustration I experienced. Trust me, steering clear of this app is the best decision you can make.
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Urgently needs issues to be fixed
The UI is OK but the UX is terrible, and there are two issues which must be known about and should be fixed - quickly!
Firstly when I park a car and go through the process of paying, after clicking the pay button the screen is dimmed and a circulating icon appears with the word “processing…”. This never clears, but the charge does go through and I get a confirmation email. So why does the app not clear the screen? This is obviously a bug which the devs must know about, and it is pathetic that it has not been addressed.
Secondly I get a message saying that my email address needs to be verified, but if I try and do this it takes longer for the email to arrive than the time-out on the verification process allows. So every time I try and verify I get told it is too late and I need to start again. So given how long their system takes to send the email, why don’t they lengthen the timeout on the verification? This is again pathetic- doesn’t anyone think about the customer experience and test it?
Firstly when I park a car and go through the process of paying, after clicking the pay button the screen is dimmed and a circulating icon appears with the word “processing…”. This never clears, but the charge does go through and I get a confirmation email. So why does the app not clear the screen? This is obviously a bug which the devs must know about, and it is pathetic that it has not been addressed.
Secondly I get a message saying that my email address needs to be verified, but if I try and do this it takes longer for the email to arrive than the time-out on the verification process allows. So every time I try and verify I get told it is too late and I need to start again. So given how long their system takes to send the email, why don’t they lengthen the timeout on the verification? This is again pathetic- doesn’t anyone think about the customer experience and test it?
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Response from developer
Hi Nick, Thank you for this important feedback. Please accept our apologies for any frustrating experiences that you have had using the PayByPhone system. We are currently reviewing both points and hope to have a solution soon. Please stay tuned for updates! PBP, Jill
New users beware
This app and the meter maids that work with it are all about making sure that new users to get a ticket on their first use of the app. The app is not clear on times of rate expiration, and initially allows for a three minute parking, giving the sense that the metering portion of the day is coming to an end in three minutes. that is not the case. Also they do not allow addition in hours, you have to do it in minutes. It’s very deceptive. I parked two rented cars for my family and I got two fines on the cars because I did not understand what this app was talking about. each ticket was $50 so I get to pay $100 plus whatever other difference the app is going to charge for paying it because I’m not a Florida resident. I will try to contact Customer Service tomorrow because today I’m celebrating the wedding of my daughter! and spent nearly an hour trying to park two cars and get all of the app coverage correct and extending the time of parking the vehicles. that two is not user-friendly.
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Response from developer
Thank you for your feedback, and apologies for such a frustrating experience, especially on such an important day! We will look for your customer service ticket so that we can examine the rates set up where you were parked. Please note that the parking rates vary by duration depending upon the location. PBP, Jill
Best app
I remember hearing a friend say that this was the best app. Hard to figure how a parking app is the “best app”. I now 100% agree. Once you park, you open the app, it finds the closest meter # (and if it doesn’t you can just look out your window for the closest numbers you see and type them in), you enter the amount of time you want to park, you get to see the cost before paying and then you pay. You get reminders when your time is running low and you can just up the time from your phone. It makes paying for parking and upping your time super easy. And I haven’t had it glitch out once. That’s what makes it the best app: it’s easy to use, it makes an annoying experience less so, it’s expeditious, it’s convenient, it’s free and it’s reliable.
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Response from developer
Hello Nanclo, This is great to know; thank you for sharing these insightful notes with us! Have a wonderful day :) Raza, PayByPhone
Park by map view no longer works
I used to love this app but it no longer allows me to select a street and pay for parking. I now have to look for the street number instead of being able to select the street from the app map view.
Worked great before for Winnipeg, is basically useless now - could just pay using the meter since I have to look for the parking code there anyways.
Worked great before for Winnipeg, is basically useless now - could just pay using the meter since I have to look for the parking code there anyways.
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Response from developer
Hi Naina, We’d like to learn more about this, please contact our support team so that we can investigate: https://paybyphone.ada.support/chat/ We hope you will reach out! Raza, PayByPhone
Why an extra 20p?
Once I had found my way around this App it is quite easy to use, except that I still have not found out how to select a registration number from “vehicle management” when setting up a visitor parking session. Helpfully it does enable one to select the last vehicle parked. But there is no explanation of the extra 20p surcharge which has recently been added to the fee.
Update March 2024
When it actually works, this App has become more annoying than it was before. It seems to be impossible to arrange visitor parking for the next available slot. You think that you have booked this, but closer inspection shows that you have been charged £0.00 and your session expires AT THE START of the next controlled period. Unwary users of the App may think that they have booked and paid for parking, but may end up with a penalty charge. It seems to be necessary to book a ‘scheduled’ start to overcome this fault in the system.
This glitch also means that you are not given the “last vehicle parked” option and have to remember, or look up, the vehicle reg before you begin.
Summary: a very irritating and unreliable App, but I have no other option for visitor parking in my road.
Update March 2024
When it actually works, this App has become more annoying than it was before. It seems to be impossible to arrange visitor parking for the next available slot. You think that you have booked this, but closer inspection shows that you have been charged £0.00 and your session expires AT THE START of the next controlled period. Unwary users of the App may think that they have booked and paid for parking, but may end up with a penalty charge. It seems to be necessary to book a ‘scheduled’ start to overcome this fault in the system.
This glitch also means that you are not given the “last vehicle parked” option and have to remember, or look up, the vehicle reg before you begin.
Summary: a very irritating and unreliable App, but I have no other option for visitor parking in my road.
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Response from developer
Thank you for this feedback about the system. The 20p is likely related to SMS notifications which are billable, you can learn more here: https://bit.ly/44hnMvU We appreciate your feedback on the visitor parking service, we continue to work on system improvements. Have a great day! PBP, Jill
Kind of does what it’s supposed to, but horribly designed.
It’s hard to believe this app was chosen by cities to handle public parking. The entire app is poorly designed, has an ugly interface and barely any useful functionality. The notifications are laughable. It only confirms that you parked (which is obviously redundant to having just confirmed that in the app), and doesn’t give a 15-min expiration warning or anything that would actually be helpful. Turning on location seems to *remove* the ability to locate via map; instead it just shows me a wallpaper of a city landmark. These are design choices that frustrate users because they’re so far outside of normal app functionality. Parkmobile is 1000x better and if you have the option, I highly recommend using that instead.
Update: Thanks for the response from developers recommending to turn on location settings and to… read up on notifications. They are both enabled but unfortunately neither feature works regardless.
Update: Thanks for the response from developers recommending to turn on location settings and to… read up on notifications. They are both enabled but unfortunately neither feature works regardless.
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Response from developer
Hi missrain, Thank you for this important feedback, we appreciate hearing from you. To access the maps feature, please enable your location services. To learn more about SMS Notifications, please visit our support article: https://bit.ly/44hnMvU. Have a great day! PBP, Jill
Kind of does what it’s supposed to, but horribly designed.
It’s hard to believe this app was chosen by cities to handle public parking. The entire app is poorly designed, has an ugly interface and barely any useful functionality. The notifications are laughable. It only confirms that you parked (which is obviously redundant to having just confirmed that in the app), and doesn’t give a 15-min expiration warning or anything that would actually be helpful. Turning on location seems to *remove* the ability to locate via map; instead it just shows me a wallpaper of a city landmark. These are design choices that frustrate users because they’re so far outside of normal app functionality. Parkmobile is 1000x better and if you have the option, I highly recommend using that instead.
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