I hate toll roads.
Just after the banter about them in a thread about the coin tray, I received a letter yesterday marked "License Plate Toll Statement - Do Not Discard". Huh? I haven't been on any toll roads (that I knew of) that I hadn't already paid cash for in years.
Even though it looked like junk mail, I opened it anyway. It was a bill demanding $1.50 for a toll charge from... somewhere. It didn't even clearly identify what state it was from, other than the address on the payment coupon was Denver, CO., but I haven't yet driven the OB (whose license plate number was identified) in Colorado, ever. The fine print included the location as "E470 Smoky Hill Rd South". Where the heck is that? Google Maps shows the intersection of a Smoky Hill Rd and something called E470 in, yep, Aurora Colorado, a suburb of Denver.
For billing inquiries they provide a toll-call number. For pay-by-phone they provide a local number (same as the toll-call number) and a toll-free 888 number. Screw that, I called the 888 number - which worked - might as well make them pay some of the freight since they obviously screwed up. The very pleasant rep who answered after about 4 minutes on hold quickly recognized that an '8' on the photograph was coded incorrectly as a '3', matching my tag number, and told me to disregard the bill. I asked if he would mail a confirmation for my records, but he said they couldn't do that, but if any problem came up, to say that I had talked to <his name and ID number>. I'd already noted that on the bill, which I'll just drop into my files, and the call began with the usual "this call will be recorded..." announcement, so we'll see.
The upshot from what I understand him saying is that their "OCR" is being done by people looking at the photos, reading the license plates and typing in the state and number by hand. It has to have cost $1.50 or more to do this, and prepare and mail the bill, not counting paying people in a call center to field calls like mine and for processing mailed-in payments. What a stupid system!
The only previous time I'd seen something like this was after actually using a toll road in Dallas; more a year later I got a bill from their turnpike authority. It took that long because apparently the Oklahoma DMV was finally forced to release our license-plate records to them. As much as it pains me to give Texas credit for doing anything right [ ], that bill clearly stated the location and included the photo of my license plate. It was also for about $4 or so, which might have made the whole exercise at least marginally profitable.
I hate toll roads and avoid them whenever practical.
Any questions about my feelings on this topic? At least it feels better after a good rant.
Just after the banter about them in a thread about the coin tray, I received a letter yesterday marked "License Plate Toll Statement - Do Not Discard". Huh? I haven't been on any toll roads (that I knew of) that I hadn't already paid cash for in years.
Even though it looked like junk mail, I opened it anyway. It was a bill demanding $1.50 for a toll charge from... somewhere. It didn't even clearly identify what state it was from, other than the address on the payment coupon was Denver, CO., but I haven't yet driven the OB (whose license plate number was identified) in Colorado, ever. The fine print included the location as "E470 Smoky Hill Rd South". Where the heck is that? Google Maps shows the intersection of a Smoky Hill Rd and something called E470 in, yep, Aurora Colorado, a suburb of Denver.
For billing inquiries they provide a toll-call number. For pay-by-phone they provide a local number (same as the toll-call number) and a toll-free 888 number. Screw that, I called the 888 number - which worked - might as well make them pay some of the freight since they obviously screwed up. The very pleasant rep who answered after about 4 minutes on hold quickly recognized that an '8' on the photograph was coded incorrectly as a '3', matching my tag number, and told me to disregard the bill. I asked if he would mail a confirmation for my records, but he said they couldn't do that, but if any problem came up, to say that I had talked to <his name and ID number>. I'd already noted that on the bill, which I'll just drop into my files, and the call began with the usual "this call will be recorded..." announcement, so we'll see.
The upshot from what I understand him saying is that their "OCR" is being done by people looking at the photos, reading the license plates and typing in the state and number by hand. It has to have cost $1.50 or more to do this, and prepare and mail the bill, not counting paying people in a call center to field calls like mine and for processing mailed-in payments. What a stupid system!
The only previous time I'd seen something like this was after actually using a toll road in Dallas; more a year later I got a bill from their turnpike authority. It took that long because apparently the Oklahoma DMV was finally forced to release our license-plate records to them. As much as it pains me to give Texas credit for doing anything right [ ], that bill clearly stated the location and included the photo of my license plate. It was also for about $4 or so, which might have made the whole exercise at least marginally profitable.
I hate toll roads and avoid them whenever practical.
Any questions about my feelings on this topic? At least it feels better after a good rant.