Can’t believe how successful they’ve been
The app is downright hostile to users. It is by far the worst designed and least user friendly app on my phone. It looks like a child designed the user interface. Instead of just tapping to start/stop a parking session, you’ve got to do some old-school “slide to unlock” style gestures in a direction that isn’t explained. The app is ugly, hasn’t been updated for iPhone X, but even on older iPhones the app will look like something out the 90s. Not user friendly and as complicated as you could possibly make it. There are large intrusive ads, for the “premium” service all over the app. They take up the majority of the screen. This app is so hideous looking at is like pouring seawater in your eyes. You can’t pay with PayPal, Apple Pay only credit card. It is a great idea, but the execution is beyond terrible. This app is a total dumpster fire and needs to be rewritten from the ground up, with a focus on simplicity, user friendliness, ease-of/use, proper design and functionality. These have got to be some of the laziest devs around, no one would ever use this app by choice, the only reason anyone I know uses it is because UQ forces you to use it. Cellopark has a captive-audience by way of UQ and Brisbane City Council.
Response from developer
Hi Ddstco, Thank you for your detailed feedback. While we do not remember having apps in the 90's the design is a matter of taste and while we appreciate you do not like it - many other do... We are also very sorry but many of your comments are simply incorrect - you do not have to 'swipe' to start - you can simply switch to 'click' to start in the app settings (even if many other things you do - like answer call is still swipe..). There are NO ads in the app. The premium reminder services is a service by CellOPark but is in no way an add (just like many other services that have a Basic and a Premium account) and takes a small part of the screen (less than 1/8...). You CAN use PayPal AND POLi to top-up a prepaid account. Unfortunately, we cannot currently offer PayPal on post-paid accounts due to their very high costs. Apple Pay is not supported due to the nature of the account and charges (i.e. – post-paid varying charges). In both UQ and Brisbane you do have other options to pay for parking (such as the parking machines or parking permits) so no-one is captive in either of those places and the fantastic uptake we have in both clearly shows that many do not think like you and do choose to use our app. Lastly, any and all parking apps need to know 2 basic things from the user - 1. which vehicle they are parking and 2. The zone in which they are parked (in order to charge the correct tariff). To that extent, CellOPark offers more options than any other parking app in the world - you can scan the QR, search, scroll, type, use the map or add to favourites. Once selected – all you have to do is swipe (or click) to start. We are not sure why you feel this is not simple or user friendly and if you have any suggestions as to how we can improve that – we’d love to hear from you.
Doesn’t let me login
Response from developer
Hi Lieenm, Thank you for your feedback. Please note that password recovery requests are not sent via SMS and we are not sure where you saw that. Please contact our support (support@cellopark.com.au) and they can assist you in resolving this within minutes.
Inconvenient app
Response from developer
Hi Angie1994413, Thank you for your feedback. Please note that our system validates the student ID against the University Database in real time so if it did not allow you to register the Student ID you should speak to the registration office and make sure everything is valid with them. We have no control over their database and only use it for validation. If you like to contact our support (support@cellopark.com.au) they might be able to assist you further or point you in the right direction.
Forced to supply credit card
Update: developer has contacted me, stating that due to their state of the art encryption and file system, giving them my credit card details represents no risk.
Whilst I appreciate their feedback, it ignores the main thrust of my complaint - I don't want to use an app to pay for parking once every 6 months. I even called their helpline and attempted to pay via the phone, and was told my only option was the app. I used to have a multitude of ways to pay for my parking at uni. Now I just have this crappy app, and a gigantic bag of 1 & 2 dollar coins that I can't use for parking anymore.
What does this company do for people that don't have smart phones? Do they just pay for their parking by getting and paying a fine?
Response from developer
Dear Chris, We are very sorry you feel this way but your issue seems to be with the university, not us, so why leave this kind of feedback? Regardless, CellOPark is PCI-DSS approved which means we utilise the highest security standards AND we do NOT store your card details, we tokenise them using a PCI-DSS L1 approved gateway. If you are still not satisfied we also offer a prepaid option where you do not even have to provide your credit card details so your feedback is really uncalled for.
Beware of traps
So now we have to use Cellopark. It’s slower to use and you can only have three vehicles listed.
The extra charges are not clearly explained and as many other reviewers have pointed out, you can very easily find yourself signed up for the premium service without your knowledge. You can complain as much as you like and they won’t budge an inch because they know you have no power as a consumer. You can’t go to a competitor because they have done an exclusivity deal with your local council.
Response from developer
Hi Deesse, Thank you for your feedback. With CellOPark you have many ways to start a session (you can use the Map, scan a QR, search for Zone number, Meter ID or street name, scroll through the zones or use the favorite zones). Our statistics show that the average time to start a transaction (from launching the app to closing it) is around 17 seconds, which by many would be regarded as quite fast. We do appreciate the feedback about the number of vehicles and while we do offer unlimited vehicles in our BIZ accounts, we plan on increasing the number of vehicles for Private accounts early next year Regarding the costs, please note that unlike iPark (where you were paying up to 90c per transaction on top of the parking fees) CellOPark offers an entirely free account. Even though we believe our premium reminder services are great value for money (it can easily save you more than it costs), especially in Brisbane, we do not opt you in automatically nor do we force you to use the service. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact our support.
The best.
Don't know why they hate
So parking at my uni is $1.50 per hour with a $6 cap per transaction. About 3 hours into the day I planned on going home so I turned off my parking meter but on the way out I decided that I wanted to stay the rest of the day 😂. So I started the meter again. At this time I didn't know about the transaction cap. I checked my recent parking for the day and instead of being charged for two different tickets, which would have been about 10-12 bucks, I was only charged $6 even though I left my spot and stopped the meter in between. I was surprised that you guys would have my back like that, helping out a broke uni student 🙏🏾🙏🏾
The interface is a lil chunky but it's a new app so that's fine, there's time to improve. It makes life so much easier and I have no bad comments about it. All the 1 star recommendations are overreaction to small things.
