PayByPhone Reviews 

what an absolute joke of an app, you put a new car on the app for parking for when using anpr in a london underground station car park ...why else would i put the car's number plate in so that i can go on the app and pay and waste more time .
No you have to opt in to anpr ffs ended up with two fines because of this and just no joy with the appeal , robbing ****s the lot of them

Daylight robbery, wanted to park for 15 minutes but charges by the hour (Nearly £5) They Charge using emission figures instead of a fixed rate. Unbelievable!

Absolute ripoff. Convenience charge and SMS charge. Laughable.

Unbelievable LACK OF SERVICE - locked out of account ( says suspended) with no means of knowing WHY? The chatbot is USELESS - goes around in circles then finally says someone will email me instantly from customer service but only once you have inputed your entire life story - then NO EMAIL ARRIVES... I have a disabled permit as I can't walk easily but in certain boroughs (ie Chelsea) unless I find a designated disabled bay I have to pay to park on the street, SO how can I pay anywhere if the app won't let me into my account and I can't even delete it, as you have to be in your account to do that!! OMGOODNESS please can someone sort this nonsense out. WE need a real person on the end of a phone line - not useless AI - I have deleted app / reinstalled and still I'm logged out.

UPDATE - I have tried your suggestion already but your 'bot' simply doesn't work and is not fit for purpose. As other have said, you suggest to reach out via 'private request' but haven't provided a link anywhere/have not emailed me so how can we contact you directly? This company doesn't care and is simply just making out they are bothered when they are not.

This company is so poor. I have provided evidence to this company that their mobile app is double charging and despite numerous attempts in chasing them, it has taken them 3 weeks to finally come back and confirm that they don't provide refunds!. They advertise online that complaints need to be raised via their 'bot' and will be responded to in 2 days however it is impossible to raise a complaint via their 'bot' and you end up going round in circles. Complaints raised through email support fall on deaf ears (how convenient). They are far too slow at responding to emails, don't read what you are saying and clearly are not bothered about committing fraud.

Leeds NHS car park. Machines failed to accept any credit cards THIS IS BY DESIGN - fining people makes more money than car park fees. Website is 20Mb of junk to cause mobile problems. Numerous hurdles to prevent paying. Terrible company.

Parked in Rose street Inverness and all off the machines were out of order so was forced to use the app. Only wanted 30 mins which was 50p but the app charges you £1.10, 50p for the actual parking then another 40p admin then another 20p for sms updates! Total con, if you can’t maintain your machines and provide working equipment so that your customers can pay fairly for the services you offer then you shouldn’t be in business! Scam artists!!

I input 1 hour on the app. The app stated i would have longer for the same price. I was charged double.
I explained this to the agent. The agent replied I'd requested over 2 hours.
I explained again I had input only 1 hour. The agent said I had input more.
I stated again I had requested / input only 1 hour. I was charged £3.40. Via the machine it would have been £1.70.
Pay by phone cannot be trusted. DON'T USE IT.

Update 15 Dec: Pay by Phone have replied to my review saying they have sent me a private message for further details to look into it again...
- they had 3 opportunities to look into it, why would I explain the issue a 4th time?

Beyond 1 star, absolute rubbish. Enter the car park code - not found. Enter the location on the map - found but wont take you to the pay section. All this only if you are lucky enough to get a signal. RingGo is fantastic in comparison.

What on earth has happened with this App!!! It used to be very straightforward. Now it's a nightmare no wi fi keep being asked to change password so basically its now unusable....I,m going to delete the app and go back to card/cash payments

The experience just gets worse every time I log into the web portal to download my receipts. Some recent update must have messed up my log in credentials, for a start. Once you've successfully jumped through that dog show hoop you find that you still have to click on each receipt, then click EXPORT. Except now receipts can no longer be exported to a downloads folder but instead you have to set up a destination like, for eg, Notes. Woof woof, good boy! Seems the company is deliberately adding friction to the process in order to promote its "business" solution (which presumably my employer needs to pay for). Just another parasitic subscription ploy for another awful UI, an expensive rentier model in an increasingly unforgiving world.

Overall good but unnecessary SMS fees.

I don't see why we are charged additional SMS reminder. It's something that can be easily added into the app with push notifications. Otherwise an option would be great where we can opt out of the SMS.

St Peters retail park Mansfield.
App not working, no Wi-Fi signal so what’s the point in having it. Several attempts at machine kept cancelling payment then after 4th try said out of order. Tried ringing- no answer. Next machine the 1 button not working. Finally after queuing managed to pay. Many disgruntled customers. Had problems elsewhere. App not fit for purpose. Need to get your act together

This is a joke. I get 2 fines because of the app. Rubbish

Hi,
I mistakenly entered a saved plate for parking yesterday instead of the vehicle I was in.

The location was Cardiff central train station (801561)
The registration I entered was WF69KFO but the vehicle I actually parked was a red Tiguan, registration CV12HBC.

The online forms don't have a suitable option for dealing with this and they do not provide an email address for customer support. Making an error like this is stressful enough without the parking company seeming intentionally difficult to deal with.

I would appreciate it if a member of the team could email me to assist with this

the most attrocious app.
I was ask to update the app
the all my receipt were deleted
all my old cars I have deleted came back and my actual car is missing.
It is impossible to prove anything I have paid as they did verified my card was active (that was fine) but never clam the payment.

UPDATE:
I sent email your service 10 email then radio silent.
I gave you my reg plate, and PCN I got nicely served because of your failed platform.
All I wanted is accountability from your service.
Last email from me:
9th dec 2025 at 15.27 UK time.
attached doc: bank evidence.
Your platform has deleted my vehicle and my proof of successful payment, why? Because you have noticed a glitch and you do not want to be responsible for your error.
You ask me to provide information here, where?

Tried using the app and verifying phone number, would not work. Eventually paid as guest and got charged a convenience fee. Disgusting that we had no other choice to pay. Shame on all councils forcing people to use these app based parking companies.

Utter trash. Machines at Cockfosters station both dead. I tried two web browsers on my phone; in both cases the site just stuck on a square symbol consisting of 9 smaller squares, where I couldn't do a damned thing. Trying to pay by phone is slow, confusing and totally irritating. Of course it's all "automated" and you never actually speak to a human being. It seems designed to take as much of your time as possible, and after trying 3 times to negotiate entering my reg number I gave up in disgust. We eventually managed to open the web site on my wife's phone, but even when you try to pay, the web site shows messages like "connection failed" and you're never quite sure whether or not you've actually managed to pay. I'm quite sure that they will be much, much quicker to fine you if the unreliable process fails. London Transport should be ashamed of themselves for using this bunch of exploitative chancers and should dump them at the first opportunity. And no, I'm not installing your app. I don't know what kind of personal data it's collecting.

Appnever works, so I got a penalty even though I paid once it started working!

Says poor internet connection (4 bars on 5G!!) worked when go to wifi. Useless. Requested extend 1 hour…so app gave me an Extra MINUTE, charged my card 95p despite telling me it free to extend, then told me my bank declined card…tried 2 other cards..all “declined”-phoned bank they say first payment actually did go through, 2nd two they hadn’t even sent a request. Loaded AMEX as sure says accepted…no it’s not…so had to leave meeting go to car to move it…as of course the “poor internet connection” means I can’t get parking. Utter rubbish-put your app right or closed down you useless bunch.
I’ve made complaint to RBKC that they should investigate and change PBP as it’s so shoddy