espi_007

Hi all,

I apologize in advance if I'm posting this in the wrong section, but I'm really in need of some advice regarding my ez pass.

I'll keep this short I promise; I bought an ez pass couple of months ago and picked the option to auto-replenish when my balance goes below 10$. I take 495 Express lanes to work and home during rush hour times so just out of curiosity today I decided to log into ezpass (vdot) website and check my statement to see how much I'm spending every month. What I discovered in my statements from the last 2 months was really surprising and I'm not sure what to do honestly. They have only deducted money from my ez-pass couple of times and I still have a balance left from the first payment of $35. After checking my statements, I went to my car and doubled checked my transponder doesn't have HOV on, and it doesn't; it never had.

Is this something I neglect or should I call EZ Pass and report it to them. I feel like I owe them money since I have been using the express lanes for awhile now. Will I get in trouble if I continue to test my luck or take advantage of their mistake?

Please advise, I would greatly appreciate it!

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

At the very least; I would call them tomorrow and ask if your account is in good standings.

espi_007

Thanks Justn, I'll probably call them and find out. Fingers crossed

espi_007

I called them today and my account is in good standing. I didn't mention anything regarding the dilemma i'm facing though.

I will try posting on other forums see what they recommend

Thanks.

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

shit, if the people taking care of the money says you're in good shape, you're in great shape!

charliemike

You will get something from them in the mail if they cannot reconcile a charge against your tag and the EZ Pass. Open everything from them. The statements look like the bills and those fuckers will charge you $25 for each toll you tmdont pay in a timely fashion or protest quickly enough.

carz0159

Yes, but sometimes if they have your license plate and the car is registered with them and with the tag, they just deduct it from that tag at a later date.

Maybe the lane you use have a broken scanner or whatever so it doesnt scan your ez pass? Maybe you drive too fast through them?

charliemike

In my case, I'm a Maryland customer hitting Virginia tolls and they had issues so they billed me. I guess my point is don't assume anything and open anything from them.

espi_007

I'm attaching a screencap of my statement that is online. You will see that they have charged me couple of times only so I don't think I drive too fast or their scanners are broken. But I guess I should just call them up and let them know they need to start deducting from my balance.

Thank you all though!

Bdog

If you're on the 495 express without an EZPass, they will mail you a toll by your license plate. Your statement show's it's picking up your your transponder, it just randomly picking up the FLEX signal sometimes. Not sure what to tell you, as if you're never on FLEX and it's picking up your transponder, I'd let it ride a bit.

From 495's website.

What happens if I forget to switch my E-ZPass Flex to toll mode when I’m traveling alone?

A trooper could pull you over and issue you a ticket. Incorrect use of the E-ZPass Flex in HOV mode – including switching between travel modes while in the Express Lanes – may also result in a ticket or being charged. That why it’s important to make sure you select the travel mode on your E-ZPass Flex before you get on the road.

espi_007

Do you know what the worst thing they can do to me if I continue to use these lanes without paying, even though it's clearly their fault? I don't want them to send me a letter saying I owe them $500. :/

NBP04TL4ME

I'm betting they only checked that the account balance is still positive and didn't look at the individual transactions to make sure the account was being properly debited.

From reading some of the other responses, it sounds like your EZPass has dual modes and needs to be set for the type of road travel and tolls you will encounter each time you go out - Not sure I understand that but lets say it true.
From your account statement it looks like your transponder is being picked up when you are on the "495 EXPRESS LANES", but not always being debited. So either you don't have your EZPass set correctly or the problem is an administrative one on their end. Or maybe your EZPass is defective?
In any of the scenarios above, I think you should be able to figure out how much you owe the tolling authority, no?
I figure at some point someone is going to catch on and you will get a sizeable bill to get your account in order. As mentioned above - your account lists your usage, so they have that..........
Does it make sense that the charges listed for "495 EXPRESS LANES" are different each time? Are you entering and exiting at the same places or does this vary? Just seems odd the cost varies - unless you aren't entering and exiting at the same places. Is there a sliding scale discount based on time of day use?
Maybe talk with some of your co-workers or neighbors to see how it is working for them??

charliemike

That is what might happen. A ton of individual tolls, 30 days to pay them or they add a $25 fee per toll.

espi_007

The toll rate changes depending on the time of day, During rush hours its around 10 dollars during non-rush hour times its 2-3 dollars. As for exits, I only take express lanes to go to my work so I always take the same entrance and exit. My instincts are telling me to call them and sort this out ASAP before they charge me any additional fees. I just hope it's not the first time they hear about this problem.

Oh by the way, I don't think it's my EZ-Pass because if it was defective or not seating correctly on my windshield then my statements wouldn't show these records of me taking express lanes. I could be wrong though

NBP04TL4ME

I think getting it sorted out sooner than later is probably a good way to avoid a large surprise bill in the mail. At the same time, I still think it might be a good idea to ping your neighbors or coworkers. Maybe they know something you don't??

espi_007

I just talked to one of my neighbors regarding this and he offered to swap transponders haha

I'll ask my co-workers tomorrow and find out more.

NBP04TL4ME

Always good to have a neighbor with a good sense of humor

I'm guessing his doesn't work as "well" as yours.

1StGenCL

While it seems great, eventually this shill catch up and you will end up with a huge bill.

That being said, during college someone found that if you put your sunpass in its bag, grab a ticket, then drive the whole turnpike (orlando to ft lauderdale for me), remove the sunpass at the exit, it only charged you like $1.25 instead of $14 ha

espi_007

So I had several conversations regarding this with my co-workers and unfortunately, no one has experienced this. After work, I decided to call Vdot (ez-pass) customer service line and asked for explanation. Extra lucky me, I had the pleasure of dealing with one of the worst customer service rep, below is how the conversation went if I can recall it correctly:

Rep: My name is blah blah how may I assist you?

I: Hi, how are you? I was hoping if you could please help me understand my statement.

Rep: gets my personal info and etc

Rep: This is how much balance I have left on my account and as of today my account is in good standing and the following are the vehicles listed under the account

I: Thanks, but could you please provide me with an explanation as to why my balance is not being deducted even though I'm traveling in Express lanes to work almost everyday. And NO, I don't have the HOV on.

Rep: Sir, as of today, your account is in good standing, but let me take a look at your statement.

I: Thank you.

Rep: Long wait and she literally doesn't have a clue as to what to say to me and simply tells me to take my transponder to the closet service center and have it checked out.

I: (in my mind, I was thinking to myself, do they really don't want my money) Regardless, we talked for awhile and I was hoping she could have been more helpful to me, but nope.

Rep: provided me with an address of the service center and asked whether she has answered all my questions/concerns.

I just laughed and hung up on her. Now the service center is 1 hour+ drive from my house and I plan to go there this weekend and will update the thread then. Crazy stuff :/

carz0159

Wow. That's a bummer about the drive. Nice to see you're a good samaritan . I hate that after these calls, they send surveys and shit.

Did the rep do a good job assisting you?
No. They never do.

NBP04TL4ME

It's pretty unbelievable you are going out of your way to do the right thing and you can't get them to listen. As in my post above (#13) I was pretty sure the Customer Service Rep was just going through the routine of checking the normal stuff on your account. Maybe before you take that long ride you could call in again and ask to speak to a supervisor??

charliemike

I agree he's going well above and beyond. Too bad they won't care when they realize their mistake (if this is one) and send him 15 pages of tolls he needs to pay. I don't understand how something so simple could be so fucked up.

espi_007

Hi all,

I'm updating the thread just in case if anyone else out there experiences the same or similar situation with their ez pass.

NBP04, I took your advise and tried to talk to the supervisor after work on friday, but he/she was unavailable and as for customer rep, not helpful at all. So I decided to take my transponder in after work since they are closed on the weekends :/

Thankfully, I wasn't there for too long; they took my transponder to check it and came back after couple of minutes with the same transponder and told me it should be working fine now. I paid the missed tolls ~30$, which wasn't bad because I thought I owed them more. Anyways, I haven't had the chance to test my transponder yet, but I'll use the express lanes when I go to work tomorrow and report back.

I hope no one goes through this as it's a complete waste of time and they have very few service center locations here.

Thank you all for your inputs and advice =)

NBP04TL4ME

Sounds good. If it makes you feel any better, there aren't all that many EZPass Service Centers here in MA either. There is a grand total of 4 in the entire state.
There was a story on NBC Evening News tonight talking about honesty. The story talked about farm stands and other placed that operated on the honor system. NBC placed some hidden cameras to watch some of these locations and ultimately said about95% of people were honest and paid for what they took. However Lester Holt did report that someone did manage to steal one of their hidden cameras.........