CellOPark Australia

Scammy. Signs you up to a plan just to park.

Careful with the misleading information and practices associated with the CellOPark mobile parking application. CellOPark promotes an “upgrade” feature that provides parking reminders. The process to activate this service is presented as a simple click, with no clear indication that it incurs an additional cost. At no point within the app is there transparent information explaining that this reminder service is a paid subscription.

Furthermore, disabling the reminder service requires users to call CellOPark directly, which is not communicated in the app. This lack of clarity has resulted in users, including myself, unknowingly paying for this service for extended periods — in my case, over a year — without explicit consent or awareness.

This practice is misleading and unfair, as it:

Hooks users into a paid service without clear disclosure.

Provides no in‑app explanation of costs or cancellation procedures.

Creates unnecessary financial loss for users who did not knowingly agree to ongoing charges.

I am pleased to note that the University of Queensland has moved away from CellOPark, as this decision protects students and staff from such misleading practices.