Parking remains insecure despite consumer law

By Stevie Emilia

JAKARTA (JP): Parking can sometimes lead to serious problems. Pick a wrong spot and your vehicle may have disappeared when you return, or your belongings in the vehicle stolen. Often, cars come out of the parking lot with scratches or dents.

Stefan, a photographer for Bola, a sport tabloid, never thought the Kijang van that he had borrowed from his office could vanish from the parking lot of the Senayan Indoor Stadium complex.

"I've been parking my car there for years... I was so surprised. I could not believe that it was gone," he said, recalling the incident that occurred last year.

The car was never recovered although he had paid Rp 1,000 for a parking ticket.

"Now, when I park my car here, I feel so insecure," Stefan said.

There is not much a person can do if his parked vehicle is lost or damaged. If you are rich, you can insure your car against damage or loss.

Those who cannot afford the luxury of insurance can only lament about it. All they can do is file a police report and hope, by miracle, their car would be returned.

Not only those who park by the roadside risk losing their vehicles. Many people have found their vehicles missing from parking lots managed by well-known private parking companies in big hotels, shopping malls or office buildings.

Santi (not her real name), said she was once outraged by the treatment she received from Secure Parking officials after discovering that her brand new Escudo jeep was stolen from a parking lot of a well-known five-star hotel in Jakarta in late December 1998.

The parking company officials, she said, did accompany her to report the case to the police, but felt she was treated unfairly by higher ranking officials of the parking company and the hotel -- after asking to see them.

"I was really disappointed with their response. They blamed me for not insuring my car. They were not being fair. They should be responsible," said the female executive, who lost the car just a few days before she had planned to insure it.

"And when I told them that I would sue them, they said 'be my guest'. And when I threatened to write about the matter in the media, they said 'please feel free'. I knew I would not recover my car .... but I don't like their attitude. It seems as if they're powerful and we, the consumers, are nothing although we are the ones paying them."

Now, anytime she parks at a hotel or elsewhere, she feels her legs tremble when she steps out of the building to go to her car. "I keep thinking, is my car still there?"

Terms and conditions

Parking companies, such as Secure Parking, have sophisticated parking machines, entrance posts and computers at their parking lots.

After paying the parking fee, which is set at Rp 1,000 per hour for cars and Rp 500 per hour for motorcycles, the customer is given a parking ticket which states the parking terms and conditions.

Secure Parking's parking terms and conditions, among other things are:

* In the event of a lost parking ticket, an administration fee of Rp 10,000 for motorcycles and Rp 15,000 for cars will be charged and proof of identity and ownership of the vehicle will also be required.

* Loss or damage to the vehicle or its contents will be the owner's sole responsibility.

* Insurance of the vehicle and its contents is the owner's sole responsibility.

* Please do not leave your parking ticket nor any valuables inside the vehicle.

A The Jakarta Post's reader, Gerry Stieger, said he was upset after discovering that the door of his Isuzu Panther van had been tampered with when he left it for about five minutes at a parking lot, managed by Secure Parking, in front of the Hero supermarket outlet in Serpong, Tangerang.

Stieger also lost his office bag containing a mobile phone, a Palmtop, personal and company documents, and some cash while his wife lost her handbag containing a mobile phone, personal belongings and cash. He estimated the total value of the stolen items at over Rp 15 million.

Ironically, a driver of another car saw the alleged thief escaping through the back entrance of the parking lot -- passing the parking attendant and security guard. And the parking attendants did nothing although Stieger had paid the Rp 1,000 parking fee.

"The question is, how secure is Secure Parking?... What am I paying Secure Parking for? For the facilities they provide? The imported parking machines, computers, locally-built entrance posts, local staff employed and for the luxury cars of the president of Secure Parking?" Stieger wrote angrily as published on Jan. 31. "So what is the money for, and what service is the company providing for its customers?"

Meanwhile, the Secure Parking management refused the Post's request for an interview on the many complaints about their services and their business policy.

Secure Parking, which started operating in Indonesia in 1996, was described in a 1997 issue of Tiara magazine as an Australian company specializing in comprehensive parking services. However, little is known about their operations here.

Legal protection

Consumers generally receive poor services and have extremely weak bargaining power over producers or service providers. Ironically, consumers are not aware that they are protected by Consumer Protection Law No. 8/1999, which took effect on April 21, 2000.

Under the law, both customers and producers/service providers have rights, something which have been neglected for many years.

A company owner who violates the law could be slapped with a maximum fine of Rp 2 billion or a five-year jail term in addition to having his business permit revoked.

The law also bans fixed clauses, such as those found on parking tickets.

But reality bites. Until now, consumers cannot do much about such clauses. It is take it or leave it.

The Indonesian Consumers Foundation (YLKI), which first proposed the law in 1981, could not do much about it although last year alone it received 81 complaints from consumers regarding poor parking services.

The foundation's deputy chairman, Agus Pambagio, urged consumers who have complaints regarding producers or service providers to take the matter to court.

"Don't just accept the situation, legal action should be taken. Such fixed clauses, like those on parking tickets, has been annulled," Agus said.

"In the case of parking, the vehicle owner should be compensated by the building owner if the vehicle was lost while parked in the building's premises...."

Article 18 of the law bans businesspeople from using fixed clauses in documents or agreements. All fixed clauses have been made invalid and businesspeople are required to make the necessary changes to their agreements.

Article 19 states that businesspeople should compensate consumers who suffer losses due to their products or services.