My brother was taking the southbound NYS Thruway, and approached one of the toll plazas. He drove into a CASH lane, and found no one there to collect the toll. He waited, money in hand, but no one came. To avoid backing up traffic behind him, he then merely drove on. Then, I got a letter in the mail (the car is registered in my name) requesting a "$25 fee" for evading the toll. I contacted EZ Pass to tell them the situation, and offered to pay the toll amount (but not the $25 fee, since there was no violation since the toll collector was not doing his job). They said to send in the stub at the bottom of the letter with the payment and explain what happened. I did just that, and got another letter claiming that I have failed to respond to the other two (I had missed responding to the first one, but DID respond to the second one).
I would also like to add that this happened on a previous occasion, while I was driving, back in October, and I called EZ Pass to explain the situation. They relented and allowed me to pay the toll over the phone with a credit card (which I had no problem with, since I was also ready and willing to pay the toll the day I pulled up to the toll plaza). This time most recent time, however, they DID NOT allow me to pay the toll over the phone, but told me to respond to the letter, explaining what happened. Of course, they conveniently "did not receive" the letter, claiming that I "failed to respond" to it. When I inquired online to find out the status of the violation/toll payment, I discovered that they HAD received the toll payment, but it said "Amount Due: $25". Therefore, they had NOT acknowledged what I stated on the return stub I sent in with the toll payment.
It is extremely corrupt for an agency to allow its employees to goof off and then harass the public for money, falsely accusing people of evading a toll. I would like to know if there is any organization with the necessary muscle to put these racketeering stinkers in their place (they belong in jail, if you ask me). People just don't have that kind of money to throw away in this tight economy.
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