Frequently Asked Questions - All FAQs
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VIP can sometimes accommodate last minute bookings or even bookings on the day subject to space and staff availability. However to ensure your parking space and required meet time, bookings should be made in advance. We recommend parking a week in advance outside peak travel periods but if you are travelling in a peak period (e.g. school holidays) whether it is for business or leisure, please book as far in advance as possible because we have limited spaces inside our Park Mark car-parks and we hate to turn customers away but when we are full we unfortunately have no choice. Our secure car-parks are uncovered and are located ‘off-airport’. They are within 2-5 miles of the various Heathrow Terminals. This means as per our customers, we too are at the mercy of the surrounding infrastructure and occasionally can experience issues accessing the airport when en-route to meet each customers. It also means that as service is not as responsive as an 'On-Airport' based meet & greet service. There are meet & greet services based ‘On-Airport’ but they charge much higher prices to reflect this. Accordingly, we offer lower prices but require customers to make certain required calls within reasonable timescales to deliver our service seamlessly, which is clearly outlined in the Booking Confirmation email automatically sent after booking online. We do offer a VIP GOLD service (the closest we offer to 'On-call / 'on-demand'), which is ideal for customers to whom time is of the essence, but please note our Operations Team still require the en-route notification call 20 minutes prior to arriving at the Terminal on date of Departure. Two-way communication plays a vital role in ensuring the service goes as seamlessly as possible. The round-trip to our compound and utilizing our secure hub on date of departure & return may incur mileage of up to 15 miles in the event a detour is required due to traffic, but that is the upper-end of what we would expect to be added to the milometer. Our Meet & Greet customers are met directly outside the stipulated terminal, which means there is no ‘transfer time’ common with other methods of parking. However, please check how much time to allow before you book your VIP meet time. Normally an advised check-in time will be provided to you by your airline e.g 3 hours+. If you have chosen to book our VIP Budget (discontinued), ECONOMY or dual airport products, please allow more time than you would if you have chosen to book our VIP FLEXI or VIP GOLD products. This is because if you are running late for example on date of departure, we do not guarantee that we can accommodate the appointment time change whilst we attend to other customers at their pre-booked meet times and we would not like a customer to get stressed about checking-in or having to park temporarily on the short stay car-park while we arrange for a driver to take the car keys earlier or later than pre-booked. Customers must understand that we are off-airport, so we need adequate time to access the terminal and if there is an issue affecting the surrounding infrastructure, that will affect our Operations team accessing you at the terminal. This is why we ask for the 30 minute call before the pre-booked meet time on date of departure and why we ask for the return notification calls after landing as per the Booking Confirmation email. As per our Terms and Conditions, VIP takes no responsibility for any resulting issues or delays where it is deemed a customer has allowed insufficient time before flight departure time to meet VIP, especially if they have chosen to book VIP Budget (discontinued) or Economy which are no frills, appointment based products not intended for customers for whom time is of the essence or who are likely to want to make changes to their meet times. Our standard operating hours are 05:00 - 23:00. Meet & Greet parking (also known as Valet Parking) is where the customer pre-arranges to meet VIP at the airport Terminal for VIP to take the car away to be parked so the customer can proceed straight to check-in with no bus transfer required. Upon date of return, the customer’s vehicle is returned to them outside the terminal ready for them to make their return journey home / work etc.
VIP ECONOMY and the discontinued VIP Budget service options are appointment based, so such customers can expect to be met at the pre-booked times on dates of Departure and Return providing the required calls are made at the expected intervals. However, if such customers require to be met earlier or later than pre-booked, VIP is always as accommodating as possible but that is subject to availability and cannot be guaranteed, especially if travelling during peak periods such as Easter / Xmas, school holidays etc. VIP FLEXI provides customers with the peace of mind that changes will be accommodated, within the stipulated timescales (providing the instructions are followed in the booking paperwork). VIP GOLD is our premier parking service option. Non-appointment based. Highest priority customer status. VIP offers an efficient, professional parking service but please note that some of our service options are appointment based and all of our services rely upon the customer making the stipulated calls contained in the Booking Confirmation email at the stipulated times. If a customer fails to make the stated calls at the stipulated times, this may result in a delay with the VIP service which we cannot be held liable. Full instructions for the service are emailed to customers after they have booked online and customers MUST have this paperwork with them on the days of travel and follow the instructions in order for the service to go seamlessly. VIP is an off-airport provider, so reasonable tolerance should always be factored into your chosen meet VIP times. We offer a VIP ECONOMY service for a budget price but is therefore appointment based. This means requests to be met early or late may be accommodated but subject to availability and cannot be guaranteed. We also offer VIP FLEXI, which is non-appointment based, which means that providing calls are made at the required intervals, any changes to meet times will generally be accommodated within the stipulated time-frames as per the Booking Confirmation email. Finally we offer VIP GOLD, this is our premier parking service option.You receive highest priority customer status. We aim to be waiting for you upon your departure and return but this is not an on-call service with a no wait guarantuee. Customers should generally expect to meet VIP on date of Departure 30 minutes after they have made the first telephone call (texting us if lines are busy). On date of Return to Heathrow our system automatically allows 45 minutes after scheduled landing until the expected car return meet time if luggage to reclaim, or 25 minutes after the scheduled landing time if the customer has indicated when booking online that they have no luggage to reclaim (applicable to Budget, ECONOMY & FLEXI). Changes should not be made to our Operations team directly on the days of travel either in person or verbally to the Operations number, as we seek to eliminate human error on our part given the frenetic airport environment, which is why we request changes are made to the Customer Care Team in head Office via email or TEXT. VIP will not accept responsibility for any consequential delays where the instructions for communicating changes have not been made in-line with the Booking Confirmation email. Please visit our service comparison page for more information. There will usually be extra to pay if you extend the duration of your parking with VIP. Also failure of a customer to turn up on the date of travel as per the travel information supplied will result in an extra charge because of the bespoke nature of our service and therefore how we plan staff accordingly. The short stay car park access fee is no longer included in the standard price paid for all our parking services. Book our 'PLUS' FLEXI & GOLD option which includes the short-stay car park access fees within the standard time parameters for our meet and greet service (£7.50 on departure and also return as at 01-01-24). An extra fee will apply a customer exceeds those time parameters. Here is an example of the Heathrow short-stay car park charge structure. For full details on our extra charge policy, please click here. As outlined on our website prior to booking and as detailed on our Extra Charges page, there are certain exclusions with all of our parking services. FLEXI & GOLD are the services that encompass most charges that can arise so are the best choice to help ‘cap’ the price you pay. Please visit the extra charges page and our Terms & Conditions for full details on our Extra Charge policy. If a charge becomes applicable due to a change in your travel plans (whether this is outside your control or not) payment will be processed automatically as per our Terms & Conditions. If the amount is £10 or more, an invoice is usually automatically sent to the email address used when making the original booking. If you incur an extra charge caused by no fault of yourself, you could seek recompense via your travel insurance. When flights are delayed by more than 3 hours or cancelled altogether, you may well be entitled to quite significant compensation from your airline. In the event you wish to make a claim. You can find a particularly useful section at http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/ which details your rights and how to go about making a claim. Alternatively, you should check your travel insurance policy as you may be able to claim the subsequent costs along with any other related ones. Basically it is peace of mind for you that your car is being parked in premises which have been independently vetted by the authorities as being fit for purpose, secure and legitimate. Currently the Park Mark award is being replaced by 'AM-GO' for vetted meet & greet parking operators. As a safety conscious, established Heathrow parking provider, VIP trains drivers to ensure they can operate customer vehicles safely. It is therefore often necessary to alter the vehicle driving seat, mirrors, etc to achieve this. We do however discourage drivers from adjusting any car radio setting, even though they may want the latest traffic updates, as that can be annoying to the customer upon return - so that would be very unusual. As an off-airport parking provider, in periods of bad weather your vehicle may get dirty when we are driving it to / from our secure, uncovered car-park. We cannot be held responsible for this or bird mess / dust build up which occurs when the vehicle is parked in our secure premises. A car valet is not included in the standard parking price, however, IF time allows our helpful Operations Team may jet-wash a customer's car to remove dust build up ahead of the customer's return. All VIP drivers carry identification badges with them and use our password system during car hand-over. Everything is explained in your booking confirmation email which is automatically sent after you book online. In the unlikely event that you have identified an issue on completion of the return paperwork that you believe was not there upon Departure, please indicate accordingly on the docket and immediately email VIP as per our policy in our Terms & Conditions to sales@vipheathrow.co.uk. However, as stipulated on the docket this is not to include minor dents / scratches or issues of wear and tear. This is because we are an off-airport company and as part of our normal operations, we: 1. Park customer vehicles temporarily in the airport’s short stay car parks, and Our insurance covers your vehicle for any accident damage caused by us during these processes (i.e. when we are at fault), and whilst we are in personal charge of your vehicle i.e. where our driver is in the vehicle at the time of an incident (and thus aware of the cause of the damage). Even then, it does not cover you for damage which is beyond our control or is excluded in our terms and conditions. For example, we do not take responsibility for damage caused by third parties or acts of God. So if a stone flies up from the road and damages a windscreen, this is not covered by us: it is covered under your own policy. The same applies if a third party walks by your vehicle in the short stay car park pulling a trolley or a heavy bag and scratches your vehicle. We cannot prevent this or take responsibility for such events. All vehicles parked in the airport car parks are parked at the owners’ risk. It is not economical or practical to drive customers’ vehicles on the basis that whatever happens is our responsibility even where it is not our fault. Indeed no insurance company will offer such cover. Please ensure you have read through our Terms and Conditions so you are familiar with what is and what is not covered by our Car Jockey Insurance Policy. Our Customer Care team monitor emails during standard office hours and will usually respond to emails within 48 hours. In such instances of damage (which are very rare but can occur occasionally), VIP will probably require more information and will endeavour to find a satisfactory resolution as quickly as possible. However we will not tolerate abusive behaviour towards our staff in verbal, physical or written form but will endeavour to work towards a reasonable, amicable solution. We pride ourselves on delivering an efficient, reliable service providing our customers have closely followed the booking confirmation paperwork. Most customers are delighted with the service they receive but if you do encounter an issue which is not covered by the above FAQ's, we urge you to notify us of this in writing immediately, so we can try to find a resolution and take corrective action if necessary. Therefore, if you have a complaint with any aspect of our service, please send us an email as per our complaints policy detailed in our terms and conditions. The email from you should specify your name, the booking reference number and the nature of the issue. Our Customer Care team monitors emails during standard office hours and will usually respond to emails within 48 hours. In such instances (which are very rare but can occur occasionally) VIP will probably require more information and will endeavour to find a satisfactory resolution as quickly as possible. However we will not tolerate abusive behaviour towards our staff in verbal, physical or written form but will endeavour to work towards a reasonable, amicable solution. Our Customer Care team may request you to send further information so they can investigate accordingly. We discourage customers from leaving any items of value or loose items in their vehicle (including boot) whilst it is parked with VIP. Please visit our Terms & Conditions for further information. Please click here for full details. Please click here for full details. No. We are based 'Off-airport'. Our VIP GOLD service option however, offers our highest level of service responsiveness, but even then our Operations Team require the customer to have made certain essential calls in advance, at stipluated intervals for minimal waiting. We are based 'Off-Airport' so our Operations Team need to respond to these customer notification calls and dispatch the VIP driver accordingly. The VIP driver then needs to make their way to meet you at the Terminal. VIP offers all customers secure, reliable car parking in our Park Mark awarded premises, whichever service they choose, but the meet & greet service options operate within stipluated timeframes and there may be a short wait. In addition, some of our service options are 'Non-flexible' in regard to requests to change the pre-booked meet times. Instead, requests on the day of travel to change the pre-booked meet times are subject to availablity and are not guarantueed. Customers are urged to carefully check their travel details in advance for mistakes / inaccuracies in order to help ensure the services goes as seamlessly as possible and to avoid delays. Covid-19 Safety Procedures for staff and customers - 30 June 2020 The health and safety of our staff and customers during this terrible pandemic is of the utmost importance and it is vital for all involved to remain vigilant at all times. Accordingly, :
For Park & Ride customers please note the following important procedures :
*Please note you may be upgraded to a meet and greet service at no extra cost on the day for operational reasons, due to the covid situation. We take this opportunity to wish you a safe and pleasant trip, but please remember not to lose your concentration and your awareness of the dangers of Covid-19 for you, our staff and others with whom you may come into contact during your trip. Please be mindful of the above procedures when you return. |
