The post below is written by a friend and twitter follower of mine. I had a good laugh reading it, even though his views and opinions are entirely his o! This is his official baptism into writing (hehehe). Enjoy.
I have never written a piece for a blog before as I usually
lose interest even before I get far but this time, I intend to send this
one.
I was at Shoprite on Sunday.
Driving down with the family is always a great time to bond (a good
chance for me to scream at the kids to keep silent as well) We drove in
and I was trying to avoid the payment of 200 bucks that was charged
after an hour. Barely 3 minutes after parking, the rain started and I
told the family to go back into the car while I went
looking for what I came for. I checked the shops and did not see the
item. Less than 5 minutes later, I was done. I got back into the car
without even thinking of checking at the payment/car meter counter. I
was not expecting to pay anyway as I have spent less than 15 minutes in
total.
Getting
to the exit, I was told to go pay. Flat rate for Sundays and
public holidays. Hello!!! When did this start? Long time ago. I felt
livid with rage. Now someone in the management has looked at the
situation of the country and knowing that Nigerians are not loved by
Nigeria, decides to take advantage of the people. Good business strategy
but a very bad way of taking advantage of the people that are already
making you rich! This is a crazy thing
to do. Milking those who have come to patronize you further is
tantamount to sheer exploitation. Yes, some view the =N=200 as small
change but the truth is the number of cars that go in there on Sundays
and public holidays is so much, it becomes a big deal.
I do hope in one way or the other the civil society or consumer rights will pick this up and deal with it. It should be the job of the seller to provide adequate parking lots for the prospective customers. Otherwise, hotels, eateries and others will soon pick same up and force consumers to pay for parking while spending within their own premises.
Article by: Soladoye Osikoya (Bsc. ACE. CFC)
Twitter: @doysol_
I understand the parking fee stemmed from the fact that visitors to the Secretariat usually park at Shoprite for hours leaving no space for those who genuinely come to the mall. However, I totally agree with you that charging customers on days considered to be your peak periods even when you spend few minutes is nothing short of exploitation.
ReplyDeleteIt is tantamount to gross incompetence to use penalties as a way of checking that. Valid point by Toyeen tho.
ReplyDelete