E-Z Pass NY Meltdown

[LennyB]

I certainly hope this doesn't happen to anyone else but I find it hard to believe I'm the only one with these problems. So anyone with an E-Z Pass account might want to check theirs.

I use my account primarily for work and get text and e-mail updates whenever my balance runs low and the account is automatically replenished. Recently it has seemed to replenish more frequently and I was planning to look into it. Well, last Friday it went off the deep end. I got a text stating my account was replenished and my balance was now $25.34. An odd amount as my account is set to replenish when it goes below $10 and $25 is the replenish amount. So my balance should be $35 or higher. Also odd is that I was on vacation and had not used E-Z Pass in a week. 

Then the next day, Saturday,  I get notification again the account was replenished and my balance was now a negative $2.63. That makes even less sense but it doesn't end there. Yesterday another notice and now my account balance is $22.37. So I was charged $75.00 over three consecutive days and my balance is only up to $22.37.

Back from vacation and I log into my account to see recent activity which amounts to none in the past week other then the three replenishment's. So on 10/2 my balance was $21.34 to which they added $25.00 on 10/10 to bring it up to $25.34. That's some creative math. Then on 10/11 they add another $25 to bring my total to -$2.63. oh heaven's to Betsy!???. Then another $25 on 10/12 to bring us to $25.34. Well at least the last one calculated properly. But my balance should really be $96.34.  So they screwed me out of $71. 

But I'm not done yet. I started checking my statements and for the past 2 months they have been over-billing me. I have a commuter plan and get a discounted price. But starting with my Sept 11 statement they billed me the "Toll by Mail" price.  Which by the nature of it's name should not appear on my account. Toll by Mail is for people who don't have an E-Z Pass account and they send the bill in the mail. I have not received anything in the mail. And they clearly know I have an account as they are billing me. This does not compute. 

Unfortunately it is the weekend and I can't contact them but I pray I can get someone on the phone tomorrow who has enough brains to be able to understand the problem. Don't have too much hope for that. 

[Ace-Garageguy]

Yup, the oh-so-much-mo-better-digital-everything-age.

Good luck.

[Mark]

They seem to do whatever they feel like doing...probably falls under the turf of an "authority", meaning everyone is connected, nobody is elected, nobody answers to the unwashed masses.

I handled EZPass accounts for a former employer that had a number of cars enrolled.  With a bunch of accounts, I wanted to know which ones were being used and when.  So I set up different replenishment amounts for each account, so when I looked at the credit card activity I'd know which account was being used.  Different dollar amounts, I didn't get into dollars and cents. 

Soon all the replenishments were coming through at the same dollar amount again.  I looked at the accounts; they reset the amounts on all of them.  So much for letting the account user set the amount.

[Mark]

You might double check the toll activity too.  Some local DMV office personnel have been found to be selling license plates that have been turned in.  I wouldn't put it past them to be selling EZPass info on the side also.

If you do turn plates in (they are property of the state), cut them in half before doing so.  Maybe cut them in three, lengthwise, and mangle the middle piece.