"More than $4,000 all owed to Tex-Tag for “administrative fees” on a bill that originally would have cost less than $200."
Toll Fees Headaches
5/14/2010
MyFox Austin
Copyright 2010
The toll roads are some of the fastest ways to get around town and have become a pipeline for hundreds of thousands of commuters across Central Texas. But convenience comes at a cost.
7 On Your Side investigates why some drivers are calling the TxDOT late payment fees excessive.
“Every time I look at it, it is, I mean I've never seen anything like it,” D’Angelo Williams said.
Williams cannot believe his eyes. Take a look at the bill and you will see why he is upset.
Toll amounts: 183.90
Administrative fees 4,075 dollars.
Current balance 4258.90"
That is more than $4,000 all owed to Tex-Tag for “administrative fees” on a bill that originally would have cost less than $200.
“It was just one of those things like, what!? Is this April Fools?” asked Williams.
Williams called 7 On Your Side and told us how it all happened. Late last year he started taking his daughter to school in Austin from his home in Round Rock. He set up a Tex-Tag account, loaded it with $20, and over the next few months he went through more than 100 toll booths without stopping. He thought he was covered.
“My credit card is also on file and so I just figured they would take it off of there and give me a bill,” Williams said.
However, he was wrong. According to TxDOT, if you do not pay on time, each unpaid toll carries a hidden cost of $25. Williams claims the big trouble came from a clerical error.
“We found out the reason I wasn't getting any bills is that they had the wrong address on file,” Williams said. “WE haven't lived at that address in a really, really long time. So I can't figure that out either because our bank that our credit card is through has our address. We did a change of address years ago.”
While he says TxDOT has been sending bills to the wrong address, the collection agency they hired had no trouble finding him.
Mark Tomlinson at TxDOT said there is a good reason for the $25 fee.
“It's really meant to be an incentive for people to pay their tolls in a timely manner,” Tomlinson said. “For people who use our pay by mail system, those without a TxTag, we give them 75 days to pay that fee. We think that's more than reasonable.”
Say you go through a $0.50 toll booth without paying. If you do not pay online or in person after 75 days and two invoices, you can tack on a $5 administrative fee. If you still do not pay, 36 days later it gets raised to a $25 fee.
7 On Your Side asked TxDOT to discuss Williams’ case, but they declined our request because of customer confidentiality. About a week later, they dropped the charges.
We asked Williams to call TxDOT and verify that the charges had been dropped.
TXDOT: Thank you for calling TX tag, my name is Jennifer. How may I help you?
WILLIAMS: Yeah, Jennifer. Can I speak with a Tag Specialist?
TXDOT: You're in the right department, what can I do for you?
WILLIAMS: My name is D'Angelo Williams
TXDOT: It looks like May 7th when you called in and the payment was processed. It does look like that did bring you to full so any notices you are receiving right now you can disregard.
“We try to be as forgiving as we can,” Tomlison said. “And if people have misunderstood or there's been some problem with the billing process that we can verify, then our representatives have the authority to take all of those administrative fees off the account.”
Williams said that while he is happy it is now over, he wishes more people would complain in order to get TxDOT to change their late payment policy.
“Exposure is really the best thing you know,” Williams said. “I just want people to know that once you expose something like this, maybe we can get something done about having a very, very elevated administrative cost.”
After all, $4,000 is a lot of money, but it could still be worse.
“That's just my bill, my wife's bill is 7,000 dollars,” Williams said.
Williams said Tex-Tag cleared his wife’s account because of the same problem.
© 2010 My Fox Austin: www.myfoxaustin.com
To search TTC News Archives clickHERE
To view the Trans-Texas Corridor Blog clickHERE
5/14/2010
MyFox Austin
Copyright 2010
The toll roads are some of the fastest ways to get around town and have become a pipeline for hundreds of thousands of commuters across Central Texas. But convenience comes at a cost.
7 On Your Side investigates why some drivers are calling the TxDOT late payment fees excessive.
“Every time I look at it, it is, I mean I've never seen anything like it,” D’Angelo Williams said.
Williams cannot believe his eyes. Take a look at the bill and you will see why he is upset.
Toll amounts: 183.90
Administrative fees 4,075 dollars.
Current balance 4258.90"
That is more than $4,000 all owed to Tex-Tag for “administrative fees” on a bill that originally would have cost less than $200.
“It was just one of those things like, what!? Is this April Fools?” asked Williams.
Williams called 7 On Your Side and told us how it all happened. Late last year he started taking his daughter to school in Austin from his home in Round Rock. He set up a Tex-Tag account, loaded it with $20, and over the next few months he went through more than 100 toll booths without stopping. He thought he was covered.
“My credit card is also on file and so I just figured they would take it off of there and give me a bill,” Williams said.
However, he was wrong. According to TxDOT, if you do not pay on time, each unpaid toll carries a hidden cost of $25. Williams claims the big trouble came from a clerical error.
“We found out the reason I wasn't getting any bills is that they had the wrong address on file,” Williams said. “WE haven't lived at that address in a really, really long time. So I can't figure that out either because our bank that our credit card is through has our address. We did a change of address years ago.”
While he says TxDOT has been sending bills to the wrong address, the collection agency they hired had no trouble finding him.
Mark Tomlinson at TxDOT said there is a good reason for the $25 fee.
“It's really meant to be an incentive for people to pay their tolls in a timely manner,” Tomlinson said. “For people who use our pay by mail system, those without a TxTag, we give them 75 days to pay that fee. We think that's more than reasonable.”
Say you go through a $0.50 toll booth without paying. If you do not pay online or in person after 75 days and two invoices, you can tack on a $5 administrative fee. If you still do not pay, 36 days later it gets raised to a $25 fee.
7 On Your Side asked TxDOT to discuss Williams’ case, but they declined our request because of customer confidentiality. About a week later, they dropped the charges.
We asked Williams to call TxDOT and verify that the charges had been dropped.
TXDOT: Thank you for calling TX tag, my name is Jennifer. How may I help you?
WILLIAMS: Yeah, Jennifer. Can I speak with a Tag Specialist?
TXDOT: You're in the right department, what can I do for you?
WILLIAMS: My name is D'Angelo Williams
TXDOT: It looks like May 7th when you called in and the payment was processed. It does look like that did bring you to full so any notices you are receiving right now you can disregard.
“We try to be as forgiving as we can,” Tomlison said. “And if people have misunderstood or there's been some problem with the billing process that we can verify, then our representatives have the authority to take all of those administrative fees off the account.”
Williams said that while he is happy it is now over, he wishes more people would complain in order to get TxDOT to change their late payment policy.
“Exposure is really the best thing you know,” Williams said. “I just want people to know that once you expose something like this, maybe we can get something done about having a very, very elevated administrative cost.”
After all, $4,000 is a lot of money, but it could still be worse.
“That's just my bill, my wife's bill is 7,000 dollars,” Williams said.
Williams said Tex-Tag cleared his wife’s account because of the same problem.
© 2010 My Fox Austin: www.myfoxaustin.com
To search TTC News Archives click
To view the Trans-Texas Corridor Blog click
posted by Porkus Maximus Tex: at Friday, May 14, 2010
