WSDOT says stop calling them when they steal your money

They understand they screwed up and potentially stole your money. Now, remarkably, they would like you to stop calling them and asking for a refund or help.

This week, the Washington State Department of Transportation acknowledged that thousands of drivers were hit with unpaid toll bills and “stern emails,” after an error with the Good to Go automatic-replenishment feature.

The way it’s supposed to work is when you get too low on your Good to Go account. WSDOT automatically adds $30 from your linked bank account so that you can guarantee you’ll never owe late tolls to the state. And it’s a fantastic feature, when it works. It’s not working.

The Seattle Times reports that “WSDOT said its toll contractor, Electronic Transaction Consultants (ETC), had intermittent problems handling credit-card payments. Many cards are being blocked.”

Now, WSDOT is asking customers to stop calling their already-overwhelmed call centers, promising that the department will reconcile the billing problems without notifying them. Right.

In the past, motorists have had to go to news media to get WSDOT to fix the problems their incompetence has caused, but we’re supposed to suddenly trust that WSDOT, at some point, will credit and fix your account? No chance. They don’t even know how many drivers are facing problems.

Related: WSDOT creates traffic, then charges you for relief

And this isn’t the first time they’ve had problems with billing. In October, I reported to you that they were double-billing drivers erroneously. Just this month, a man was charged for drives he didn’t make because WSDOT’s software couldn’t tell the difference between his license plate and another driver’s license plate – then WSDOT said it wasn’t to blame.

It’s become clear that WSDOT is woefully inept and unprepared to handle tolling. Traffic has become so bad that the department is bribing you not to drive, they’re pretending to be perplexed as to why the toll lanes on I-405 are so expensive (even though we predicted this on the Jason Rantz Show for months). Yet they don’t even acknowledge traffic for drivers has become worse during times drivers typically had an easy commute. And they seldom admit they’re in error

Their ineptitude has spawned a group to petition lawmakers to nix the toll (already with nearly 25,000 signatures) and State Representative Mark Harmsworth is working legislatively to address the problem because, according to Rep. Harmsworth, the department “isn’t listening” to his concerns.

WSDOT is a mess. Check out the recommendation, courtesy of the Times:

If customers still find late fees that are the state’s fault, they’ll eventually be able to call or email to get those canceled, according to [Tolling Director Ethan] Bergerson. If all else fails, people can use the state’s one-time amnesty program to erase fees and penalties. Customer service lines (for later use) are 1-866-936-8246 or goodtogo@goodtogo.wsdot.wa.gov.

They’ll “eventually” get to you, but if they don’t, only then you should call them or enter an “amnesty program” for help. That doesn’t really sound like WSDOT has your best interest at heart, nor does it indicate the department will actually handle the problem. What I suspect is they’ll hope you don’t really catch the problems and they’ll keep your money. How many more problems do you think there are that we don’t even notice yet?