Hundreds of N.C. Quick Pass transponder users will receive letters notifying them that they may have been double-billed for tolls on the Triangle Expressway, because they also had E-ZPass transponders in their cars.
(See 2/5/13 Road Worrier with reader comments: NCDOT can blame its customers or learn from them. Also see 1/30/13 story with reader comments: N.C. Turnpike Authority double-bills hundreds of TriEx drivers.)
The N.C. Turnpike Authority drafted the letters (see copy attached, below), to be distributed with customer statements, after acknowledging that 800 drivers had paid tolls twice for the same trips in January – through their N.C. Quick Pass debit accounts, and through their accounts with toll road agencies in 14 northern and midwestern states that use E-ZPass transponders. Overpayments charged through Jan. 30 will be credited to their North Carolina accounts.
“For any duplicate charges after this date, please contact our customer service center,” the letter said.
The Turnpike Authority blamed the E-ZPass users for the duplicate billing.
"As a reminder, N.C. Quick Pass account Terms and Conditions permit only one transponder per vehicle," the letter said.
Customers were admonished to avoid driving on TriEx with both transponders. Enclosed with the letters are “read prevention bags” in which the second transponder can be stored, to prevent toll scanners from detecting its RFID (radio frequency identification) chip.
Bruce Siceloff reports on traffic and transportation. A News & Observer reporter, editor and blogger since 1976, he took over the
Comments
A trivial fix
Sat, 02/02/2013 - 20:34 — phelpsgatesBlaming the driver is another example of the DOT defending its own incompetence. It would be trivial to fix this in the software, simply by checking to see if there had been another charge to this user within a few seconds. I make this suggestion with some trepidation, recalling a case a while back where they made a fuss about somebody who wasn't a "licensed traffic engineer" making statements about some highway issue!
blame the user?
Sat, 02/02/2013 - 00:33 — newenglandIf only, say, 25 drivers made the same mistake, then it's fair to blame the drivers.
But when you have 800 drivers making the same mistake, then the blame shifts from the users to the employees of NCDOT who operate the system. They should have anticipated this happening, or should have had ensured that some sort of intelligence was built into the collection system to protect against double billing.
Too often people design something poorly, and then are quick to blame the user for not following instructions when things go wrong. If only a couple of users mess it up, go ahead and blame the user. If a lot of users mess it up, then it's not the user's fault, but the designer's fault and responsibility to prevent the expected errors from happening.
I dissagree. The DOT was
Sun, 02/03/2013 - 12:08 — KwasmydeI dissagree. The DOT was correct in its statement that it was user error, although its considered poor customer service to blame the user. A transponder records a toll, 2 transponders records 2 tolls. Their user agreement acknowledges that a customer should have only 1 transponder in a vehicle. The DOT only failed to take into account the mass incompetence of its users to provide better customer service. For future reference it would be advisable to include updated software to prevent future mistakes that will continue by users despite this warning.