I moved to Indiana last year. I gave the Secretary of State my new P.O. Box number. I gave the Toll Authority my address. I refill my I-pass every two weeks. My money is so tight that I cannot afford to let them auto replenish. The Toll Authority would occasionally send me a little yellow card at my address warning me that my account was low, but by the time I would receive it, I would have already manually replenished my account by their web-site.
I had not been to my P.O. Box is a long time. When I checked the mail there, the toll authority had sent me numerous letters saying that I owed fines and fees of over $933.00 from two times that the account went negative. I never saw this on their web-site when I replenished, nor did I get these notices at the address that I gave them.
Here is where it gets crazy. I called them immediately and was told they would forgo the $933.00, but I still had to pay $146.00 in fines. I told the operator that I did not have the money on me. So she said ok, then we will suspend your account. You cannot use the I-Pass until you pay the fines. My account was active until I called, and because I did not have $146.00 to immediately give them on demand, they cut off my account. Even crazier, they said that they did not send the fine notices to the address I gave them, but to the one on file at the Secretary of State. They do have both addresses on file, but only use the one from the Secretary of State.
Worse yet, I commute from Munster, Indiana to Lisle, Illinois. I called the next day and spoke to a supervisor who told me that same thing. So I have to take side roads to get to work until I can meet their demands or pay more fines. The Illinois Tollway Authority is a private corporation, but is not very customer focused.
Khalid Paden
Munster, Indiana
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