Thursday, June 12, 2008

Been there, done that

Not even a month ago, I received a bill from Illinois I-Pass stating I owed $420.00 for unpaid tolls, just like the following article states.

Mike Romano was a little surprised when he received a letter from the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority - a bill for $1,430 in unpaid tolls and fines.

"I about had a coronary when I saw that," Romano said.

Romano's wife commutes to her job in Illinois, passing through several toll booths a day.

But he didn't understand how dozens of tolls could have gone unpaid, because his wife's vehicle had an I-Pass transponder mounted to its windshield, linked to an account that automatically refreshed itself from the couple's checking account.


I have an I-Pass also and it appeared to be working. I was billed for items from September of 2006.

I did call I-Pass and the bill was reduced down to about $30.00. The reality was that I ended up paying almost $20 in fees because of their screwup.

I wish I had saved the letter. Basically, the letter states that you cannot fight the system, so just pay up. I was not allowed to claim that Illinois waited too long to inform me that a toll had not registered.

It is despicable what Illinois is doing to Wisconsin residents due to a glitch in their system.

Even when the bill is finally reduced down to a reasonable amount, you are still stuck paying for fees that you have no control over.

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