American Traffic Solutions is contracted by the city of Knoxville (perhaps PD?) to handle red-light traffic violations. I received a violation notice in the mail for performing a rolling-stop through a right-turn on red.
I went online to their website, as suggested on the notice, and payed using my credit card, in Nov. The transaction shows on my credit-card online statement as "KNOX TN REDLIGHTTKT"and the same phone number as appeared on the notice.
In January, I received another notice in the mail for the same violation, but with a $68 late fee added to the total (!) I called the number on the notice and the person I spoke to was polite, but claimed that there was nothing they could do since they didn't show the payment on their end.
They provided me with a Fax number and suggested I obtain a paper copy of my statement (which I cannot get from my bank as they contract out their credit-card handling) and fax it to their accounts department.
I asked how I could complain about the situation and all they suggested was using their 'suggestion box' email link on the site!
If there was no late fee attached and it wasn't related to the Knox PD, I would have simply cancelled the CC transaction and payed it again - but I'm not paying the late fee on principle. My only alternative is to jump through their hoops and somehow have my bank contact the CC company to fax something to them. Unfortunately, I'm a freelance contractor and every hour spent dealing with this is lost income and I've already lost more than the value of the ticket in the first place.
If you receive a violation notice from ATS, I'd recommend calling them instead of trusting their unreliable web-site and recording the confirmation number they issue for telephone payments (as I was assured they issue). Failing that, perhaps it may be better to deal with the PD directly.
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