http://www.myfoxdc.com/story/26851755/drivers-face-thousands-of-dollars-in-fines-from-e-zpass-495-express-lanes
WASHINGTON -
My investigation into the fines given to E-ZPass drivers who use the 495 Express Lanes has changed from one man's story to a widespread problem.
Last week, we aired my story about Joe Mischler, who faced a whopping $17,000 fine for $36 in unpaid tolls.
When I took Joe's case to the company that manages the roads, Transurban, they finally took his case out of court and reduced his fines to a couple hundred dollars. Transurban's spokeswoman Pierce Coffee said the company was making an “exception” to its policies because Joe's case was “rare” and “unique.”
Well, just minutes after that story aired, I started getting tons of email from other people facing huge fines from Transurban. Elise Pizarro is one of those E-ZPass users.
"It wasn't rare and unique,” Elise said. “This is happening all the time. I'm not the only one it's happening to. Obviously it happened to Joe Mischler. It's happened to other people."
Elise's case mirrors Joe's. She commuted on the 495 Express Lanes. She also had an E-ZPass account that was linked to her credit card. And the gantries didn't pick up all her trips in spring 2013, so she is facing Transurban in court.
For the $28.30 in tolls that were not billed, Elise is facing $9,548.30 in fines. She was so scared of having to pay the full amount that she accepted an out-of-court settlement with Transurban. She has to pay $2,200 by November 19th. Elise took out a loan from her 401k to pay it.
I asked Elise why she was willing to spend thousands of dollars for less than $28.30 in tolls.
“I don't want to try to hire a lawyer. What if I lose?” she explained. “I keep seeing all these settlements ... so it doesn't seem to do any good."
Transurban said that Elise is at fault for insufficient funds in her E-ZPass account, not properly mounting her transponder and not responding before it got to court.
However, Elise said her E-ZPass account has always carried a balance. She contacted Transurban immediately after getting the bill and that she tried remounting her transponder to fix the problem.
Lisa Stanglin is also facing Transurban fines. She found out about it when a collections agency contacted her in September. The agency said she owed thousands of dollars for less than $30 in missed tolls.
She never got an invoice in the mail about the fines. Apparently, the notices went to an old address. But Lisa called Transurban and the company conceded that it had received the notices “return to sender” but didn't do anything about it before turning the fines over to collections.
Even when a transponder is not read by the gantries, Transurban says it can do a “V-Toll” if the E-ZPass account has a license plate connected. When there is no license plate on the account, Transurban sends the bill to whatever address is on file with the DMV.
Still, that doesn't address the original problem of the gantries not reading the E-ZPass.
Lisa pointed at her windshield and said, “The transponder is mounted in my car -- as you can see right here … No idea why it wouldn't register.”
But Transurban provided evidence that Lisa's transponder was not on her windshield at one point. Lisa told me that the Velcro strips peeled off, so she put it on her visor until she got it fixed.
So, it turns out that Lisa, Elise and Joe are not rare cases. Since my first story aired a week ago, I've heard from a lot of people who say their E-ZPass account is fully paid, but the transponder is just not getting read by Transurban's gantries on the beltway.
Sherri Berkman says it's a "racket" that Transurban is taking her to court for over $9,000 for just $30 of missed tolls.
Derek Bigesby calls it "insane" that he has summonses to Fairfax County Court for $3,600 over $13 of tolls. Transurban told Derek he could settle with them -- for $1,700.
Lisa-Marie Comras said she is getting “bamboozled.” Transurban is taking her to court for over $10,000 for $14 in missed tolls.
Shequita Sheffield calls it "highway robbery" that she's being fined $9,500 for $11 of tolls.
Transurban still says these cases are rare.
"About 96 percent of our customers are using the Express Lanes and not having issues -- 99.9 percent of them are solving any issues before court,” said Transurban's Pierce Coffee. “We want this to be 100 percent of people who do not have any issues. We don't want anyone to contact FOX 5 and say 'I'm having issues.'"
Well, 96 percent sounds good -- until you do the math. There are one million drivers on Transurban's 495 Express Lanes. So that means there are 4,000 people out there with these problems. And I found over a dozen of them in just one week.
Transurban suggests a few ways to avoid problems. Make sure your E-ZPass transponder is properly mounted. Your E-ZPass account must have funds in it. Be sure that your license plate is connected to your E-ZPass account so you can be billed by “V-Toll.” Also, be sure the DMV has your current address so you can get the notices in the mail before it goes to collections.
So, while Transurban said it would make an exception for Joe Mischler, the company is not budging on any of these other cases that I've brought to their attention.
I wish I could help all the people who email me daily with shocking fines from Transurban from using the 495 Express Lanes. But the best thing for viewers to do, according to Transurban, is to contact the company directly. Here's the information:
Beware, your fine could be in the mail.