3/13/2009

YOU pay for the Toll Tax Bureaucracy

News 8 Austin has a great report called "Toll road billing continues to take its toll on drivers", read the whole article HERE.

"The complaints were so varied and complicated, we had to break them down into recurring themes.

The complaints most prevalent include: accusations of inaccurate billing, exorbitant administrative fees, inaccurate record keeping and promises made by customer service that were not fulfilled.

To be fair, these claims have yet to be substantiated.

For weeks, News 8 has asked TxDOT to respond to these claims. We were told Turnpike Authority Director Mark Tomlinson was just too busy to talk to us.

We wouldn't settle for talking to one of TxDOT's media representatives because, by their own admission, one of them had already given us inaccurate information.

We took the e-mails to TxDOT to be presented to Tomlinson. News 8's Bob Robuck delivered a packet of e-mails, with names and contact information redacted.

We included a note that we would get in contact later this week.

And, remember Lisa Coleman, who TxDOT billed for nearly $4,000, and Samone Murray, billed for more than $11,000?

A TxDOT spokesperson told us each woman received an offer to have her penalties forgiven as long as she paid the tolls.

Murray said no one made her such a deal and Coleman claims customer service made the offer at the very beginning of her nightmare, when TxDOT couldn't provide documentation that she even owed the tolls."