- Jurisdiction
- Texas
Hello everyone,
I just had an interesting thought: Can I bill a tollway for my time untangling their mistakes?
TLDR near the bottom.
The long version:
We are in the DFW area.
My kid's car, not too long after we bought it, incurred a toll in the Houston area. He had never taken it outside of the DFW area at this point, so this was quite a shock. I did some digging with the tollway folks, and got pictures of the event. The pictures showed a gold Toyota pickup with a temp tag where one character looked to be "markered" into a different character. My kid's car is a dark GM sedan. The pictured tag was nearly the same as the temp tag on my kid's car, but clearly off on a couple of digits, including the "markered" digit.
My spouse's car, about a month later, incurred a toll in the San Francisco Bay area. It has never been anywhere near this area, so this was quite a shock. I did some digging with the tollway folks, and got pictures of the event. The pictures showed a black mid-size GM SUV. My spouse's car is a silver GM full-size SUV. The pictured plate was nearly the same as ours, but two characters were clearly different.
My kid's car, a couple of weeks ago, incurred a toll in the Austin area. The only times it has been out of the DFW area have been to the North, so this was quite a shock. I did some digging with the tollway folks, and they discovered that the vehicle in the pictures was a Subaru, then tap danced through several times that I asked for the pictures, and essentially refused to send them to me. My kid's car is still a dark GM sedan, and now has a permanent tag. By the account of the operator, the pictured plate was not the same as the plate on my kid's car.
There have been several similar incidents prior to these, but these, so close together, finally popped this idea in my head.
Each time this happens, I only see what I believe to be the last notice. I see all of the mail that comes in, and never see a notice until the supposedly final notice. one of the Texas tollways also charges some amount per notice sent, so based on that math, the third notice is the "final notice". The notices are only worded presuming the toll is valid, and have little evidence of where and when the toll was incurred. "Final notice, pay this amount" instead of "Final notice, pay this amount, here's a list of what the charges are for". They all say something like "If you have any questions call this number, and then when I call, I get the "we're closed outside of [these typical government hours]" message.
So . . . I have to call during my working hours, make choices, sit on hold, then talk the whole situation through. If I don't, my reward could be a misdemeanor, possible jail time, fines, re-registration blocks, suspicious looks, and sad puppy dogs staring longingly at me for help.
The toll charges are grossly inaccurate and don't appear to ever be scrutinized by a human. All it would take is for each case to pop on the screen and ask a human "Is this car [my vehicle's color, derived from DMV records]?" They choose not to do anything like this.
Meanwhile, knuckleheads are printing temp tags, obscuring their plates, or riding motorcycles with no plates 100MPH on the same tollways without having to do any of this. Also, if I had my cars tied to respective accounts, the tolls would get paid automatically, with me not knowing the difference unless I dig deep.
TLDR:
Since I am essentially forced by threat of penalty and freedom to spend my time dealing with this, I would like to figure out a way to be compensated for my time. Here's my question: Could I, through some device such as a certified letter etc., notify the respective tollway that I will bill them some amount of money per hour and/or event for my time spent untangling their errors? . . . or maybe more easily, can I just send an invoice each time?
Editorializing here: If this were a fair process, each way to pay would be nearly matched by equivalent ways to dispute, all notices would include pictures by default, and there would be an electronic means to examine the pictures without calling on the phone.
Thanks!
I just had an interesting thought: Can I bill a tollway for my time untangling their mistakes?
TLDR near the bottom.
The long version:
We are in the DFW area.
My kid's car, not too long after we bought it, incurred a toll in the Houston area. He had never taken it outside of the DFW area at this point, so this was quite a shock. I did some digging with the tollway folks, and got pictures of the event. The pictures showed a gold Toyota pickup with a temp tag where one character looked to be "markered" into a different character. My kid's car is a dark GM sedan. The pictured tag was nearly the same as the temp tag on my kid's car, but clearly off on a couple of digits, including the "markered" digit.
My spouse's car, about a month later, incurred a toll in the San Francisco Bay area. It has never been anywhere near this area, so this was quite a shock. I did some digging with the tollway folks, and got pictures of the event. The pictures showed a black mid-size GM SUV. My spouse's car is a silver GM full-size SUV. The pictured plate was nearly the same as ours, but two characters were clearly different.
My kid's car, a couple of weeks ago, incurred a toll in the Austin area. The only times it has been out of the DFW area have been to the North, so this was quite a shock. I did some digging with the tollway folks, and they discovered that the vehicle in the pictures was a Subaru, then tap danced through several times that I asked for the pictures, and essentially refused to send them to me. My kid's car is still a dark GM sedan, and now has a permanent tag. By the account of the operator, the pictured plate was not the same as the plate on my kid's car.
There have been several similar incidents prior to these, but these, so close together, finally popped this idea in my head.
Each time this happens, I only see what I believe to be the last notice. I see all of the mail that comes in, and never see a notice until the supposedly final notice. one of the Texas tollways also charges some amount per notice sent, so based on that math, the third notice is the "final notice". The notices are only worded presuming the toll is valid, and have little evidence of where and when the toll was incurred. "Final notice, pay this amount" instead of "Final notice, pay this amount, here's a list of what the charges are for". They all say something like "If you have any questions call this number, and then when I call, I get the "we're closed outside of [these typical government hours]" message.
So . . . I have to call during my working hours, make choices, sit on hold, then talk the whole situation through. If I don't, my reward could be a misdemeanor, possible jail time, fines, re-registration blocks, suspicious looks, and sad puppy dogs staring longingly at me for help.
The toll charges are grossly inaccurate and don't appear to ever be scrutinized by a human. All it would take is for each case to pop on the screen and ask a human "Is this car [my vehicle's color, derived from DMV records]?" They choose not to do anything like this.
Meanwhile, knuckleheads are printing temp tags, obscuring their plates, or riding motorcycles with no plates 100MPH on the same tollways without having to do any of this. Also, if I had my cars tied to respective accounts, the tolls would get paid automatically, with me not knowing the difference unless I dig deep.
TLDR:
Since I am essentially forced by threat of penalty and freedom to spend my time dealing with this, I would like to figure out a way to be compensated for my time. Here's my question: Could I, through some device such as a certified letter etc., notify the respective tollway that I will bill them some amount of money per hour and/or event for my time spent untangling their errors? . . . or maybe more easily, can I just send an invoice each time?
Editorializing here: If this were a fair process, each way to pay would be nearly matched by equivalent ways to dispute, all notices would include pictures by default, and there would be an electronic means to examine the pictures without calling on the phone.
Thanks!
