PayStay

While visiting the Blue Mountains (Katoomba) as a tourist I was confronted with a sea of PayStay parking signs. Downloaded the app but couldn’t get it to load on an iPhone 15 Pro Max. Gave up and left without walking the trail I had gone to. At home tried again on an iPad Pro (5th Gen). Still unable to create an account using Sign in with Apple. Went to a web page and was eventually able to create an account using Sign in with Apple. Then tried logging in and was asked for a password but at no point had I had to create one. The “Forgot my Password” wouldn’t work. Tried again and eventually was able to sign in. Entered CC details and guess I was charged $5.00 for the pleasure of a wasted 30 minutes. Back to my iPhone and find I can’t login - still! I have now deleted my account as I can’t imagine that the clowns that created this app can be trusted with my card details, oh and as I don’t carry a 12.9 inch iPad with me, the whole PayStay idea is a myth. I guess I have also blown my initial $5.00 on the whole experience. On top of that I won’t be spending my tourist dollars parking or at local businesses during my three week stay in the area. This has been my worst experience with an app - ever!

As an app developer myself I can't, I simply can't use this app. It so bad on many levels. It's 2023! - Where's Apple Pay? Where's Google Pay? Where's PayPal for crying out loud. There's no way I'm giving you my credit card details. Uber and Food delivery business have no problem with using Apple Pay why should you? - Why do I need to use your logon system? Why should I be giving you my personal details. My car registration is all you need to know. I don't trust you, there were enough of security breaches in the last few years. Why don't you have a single sign on with google and apple? - And cherry on top. Why do I need a minimum balance? What purpose does it serve? How many ppl's money you're just keeping in your accounts and accumulating interest. What a cash grab operation and fraud. Some council IT manager somewhere has a real nice kick back from this. Update: I just received a response from the developer and can only shake my head in disbelief. What security checks? Why street meters don't conduct security checks? As for "make sure users have funds in their account" is just confirming my assumption that developers of the app are just amateurs and something shady is going on. I should probably report it ICAC. To secure the funds there's credit card pre-authorisation for exactly this purpose.

Melbourne City Council don’t play nicely... they let you pay for parking with the app, they take your money, but then they start counting the time limit from the instant your car pulls into the parking spot (via sensors buried in the road surface)... not the 2 minutes later it has taken you to get out of the car, find the zone number and start your parking. I’ve had 2 tickets because I was in the parking spot for 2-3 minutes over the the “time limit” even though the app said I was still covered... as this is a public forum all I can say is that this is “poor form from a bunch of gouging bureaucrats” I think it is in PayStay’s interest to address this even though I know it’s not your fault