Do you guys ever receive a toll bill on your car that is completely false? I just find the whole toll road authority system to be ridiculous. First, I get a toll bill in 2012 from Austin where I haven't been in many years with some motorcycle going through tolls using a license plate number that matches to my car. How does a motorcycle have my same license plate number as my car? Obviously, the motorcycle must be on expired plates and I got a recycled plate number. They don't even care that it was a motorcycle and I have a car. Can't even verify that? I had to literally sit there on the phone begging and pleading for someone to believe me that it wasn't me. Next, just this week, I get a toll bill from Houston where I haven't been in many years on a license plate that used to be my license plate number but hasn't been since 04/2013...and the dates for the tolls are well beyond that. On top of that, the pictures of the car going through the toll is appears to be my same car model but the pictures are so foggy that the plate number isn't even readable. Now, I have to call up and deal with that crap. How is it they are billing me for an old license plate # that I no longer am registered under? You would think these places have to be completely up-to-date on current license plate registrations. But, I guess their not. And, the bill itself is a freaking joke. $1.75 for a toll but a $11.00 fee on top of that...for one trip through a toll? And, the bill says "first and final bill". Are you freaking kidding me? I just get tired of this. I have enough crap to deal with in my daily life than getting bogus toll road bills and disputing toll charges every year.
You upset the toll gods. Only problem I've encountered is the toll being a rip off. $27 to go 8 miles.... out they damn mind.
At least you aren't this lady: Texas woman accused of $179,596 in skipped tolls If you've ever driven around Dallas, chances are you've paid a vig to the North Texas Toll Authority, an agency that builds roads, tunnels and bridges using fees collected from drivers. But since the NTTA lacks police powers, it's had trouble collecting tolls that went unpaid -- and today, turned to naming and shaming 25,000 of its worst offenders. The surprise? Twenty-two drivers owe more than $100,000 in unpaid tolls and penalties -- with the list topped by a Dallas woman whose bill stands at $179,596.43. That's a Texas-sized bill in any state. To break into the NTTA's list, one needed a minimum of 100 unpaid tolls, no response to bills and several notices after six months and at least $2,575 in back fees. The top offender, identified by the NTTA as one Amber Young of Dallas, supposedly sped through the toll booths 8,366 times without payment, with her total including some level of penalties the NTTA didn't disclose. The NTTA said last year about 3 percent of users were dodging about $13 million in tolls, and that a previous drive to publish the names of the worst offenders brought out more response than any other tactic. NTTA drew its list by taking photos of license plates when a vehicle runs through its electronic toll gates without a valid transponder, then matches the plate to the registered owner of the vehicle. It also warns that the offenders on the list run the risk of a criminal citation -- and the NTTA now says it will start pursuing the worst offenders in civil court as well. But the NTTA doesn't have a sterling record of matching offenders or warning those who fall behind. There's often mismatches between the address tied to a license plate or vehicle and who's actually driving; all those ex-es living in Texas don't necessarily care if the former spouse kept the toll bill up to date. The NTTA's Facebook page contains several complaints about hundreds of dollars in fees suddenly appearing on drivers' bills because the NTTA had bad contact information. Two years ago, a Fort Worth woman spent a day in jail because of a NTTA fine she didn't know about that had grown into a bench warrant for a missed court date. The NTTA was created by Texas lawmakers to pay for roads without raising taxes by charging the people who actually used them, a system that's growing in many congested cities around the nation. If the NTTA's trick works well, expect other toll agencies to consider their own version of Texas justice.
Turns out that, after about 40 minutes of non-sense and being put on hold, they did misread the plate number and figured it out. Someone should pay me a toll and fees for losing 40 minutes of my life. They are going to send me a correction letter, though. Gee...thanks! lol I was nice, though. I still can't get over that $1.75 toll with an $11.00 fee for each toll pass-thru, though. Is that how much they charge you Houston drivers to take the Sam Houston toll road if you don't have an EZTAG? Talking about a rip-off!
Well if you have a violation and you don't have a tag you can just go to the nearest eztag store and pay the toll fee. They will waive the violation fine if you do it rarely quickly (within 48 hours).
I love how they call it a "violation". Hey...you violated our toll road. The way we do it up in here North Texas with the NTTA is you pay a slightly higher toll (like maybe a quarter or two) if you don't have an EZTAG. They don't try to gouge you with some ridiculous $11.00 fee on top of the toll amount.
Bought my car on a Saturday and completely forgot about getting a new tag until the following Friday after a week's worth of using the Sam Houston Tollway. I was still able to pay on the Friday without a violation fee for the entire week.
Well it's a violation right? what do you want to call it? What incentive is there from stopping some ass from just using it without a tag when I went out of my way to get one?
The incentive is they pay a slightly higher toll like I said. Otherwise, they buy an EZTAG to get the lower rate. And, I would only call it a violation if someone was actually breaking the law using the toll road. It's still just a f-ing toll road. Nobody was violated. When I first saw what they were trying to gouge me for and how they were laying it out on the invoice, it was quite shocking. I felt like a criminal or something.
I had my credit card stolen. When I got the new card I forgot to change it with Harris County Toll Road Authority so when they tried to rebill to fill my account it was denied. I went through about 10 EZ-Tag toll stations before I passed one that had the little light that said there was something wrong with my EZ-Tag. HCTRA charges $35 dollars for each violation, in addition to the toll fee, not $11. Luckily, the guy at the HCTRA help desk immediately offered to remove my fees as soon as I told him what happened so it didn't cost me anywhere near $375 or whatever. But it could have been worse than $11!
I remember when NTTA started out up here. They were very bad about fines and how much you had to pay as each "pay by" date passed. People were up in arms about it here...cause they were in the hundreds of dollars. To top that off, NTTA wasn't sending out the bills properly and, by the time you did get a bill, it was too late and you were into hundreds of dollars. But, the public backlash had them correcting that in no time. It's pretty clear Toll Road Authorities can play by their own rules when it comes to charges. But, I'm not sure those rules are beneficial to a city's image when visitors from other cities or states happen to go through these automated toll booths. Then, weeks later receive an invoice with these whopping charges. It seems if you call in and complain about it...they are pretty good at knocking out those violation fees due to your ignorance of how their system works or whatever. But, it's obvious what they are doing is preying on those who don't call in...who just pay the invoice online or by mail because they think that is their only option. And, who goes through an automated toll expecting it to cost in excess of a couple of dollars? Do they happen to advertise that they are going to charge you $11 (or greater) if you go through that toll...cause I would slam on my brakes and slap that baby in reverse leaving skid marks and smoke in my wake? lol My opinion is it would be advantageous for any Toll Road Authority to have a system that is more friendly to the public and increases usage of the toll road to increase revenue. Not everyone is going to have an EZTAG...especially if they are visiting...and it's stupid to expect every one should get one in those cases. And, it's similarly stupid to stick them with a big fat bill for going through a few tolls while their visiting. It leaves a bad impression. And, judging by their phone wait times and such, they are inundated with expenses in managing their system I expect because there are many others who probably did use the toll road who were as shocked as I was by what charges I was seeing. And, for crying out loud, the guy on the recordings while you wait to be helped is the most annoying person in the history of automated recordings. The End.
