We’ve all heard of a growing number of toll horror stories – where the private companies contracted by our state government throw ration and reason out the door and make the lives of unsuspecting Washington state motorists (and sometimes our badly needed tourist visitors too) totally miserable. We usually say something like “that sucks” or “glad it wasn’t me” and don’t give it another thought.
Well …. it has happened to me. I have fallen victim to the Washington “Good to Go” company – and I can assure you, they are not good, but they do need to go …
It all started when I used the toll bridge for a couple weeks while on a project on the other side of the lake. In the mornings I crossed the lake by using the non-toll I-90, but was so beat by the end of the day, I could not endure the rush hour traffic and popped across on SR520 Floating Bridge. I never got any bills in the mail … I waiting a few weeks and still no bills. Then I wrote to them, careful to copy State Representative Ross Hunter on the email chain.
When I finally ended up receiving bills in the mail, they included a $5 charge for “reprocessing fees”. I went online and through the protesting process and today received the following reply from Representative Hunter (or one of his staff I hope ..).
Before inserting the entire email chain here, I should mention that Hunter said the due date for the bill “the date is July 27th, which is next week.” Well, I checked the calendar and July 27th is tomorrow and if I don’t pay the bill, I am being threatened with “the amount of $40 for each unpaid toll transaction, plus all accumulated tolls and fees – which would amount to around $601.75 in this instance. I would encourage you to pay the final bill by July 27 to prevent it from becoming a notice of civil penalty.” by the Good to Go Guy.
Please read the email chain and let me know what you think. This company is sending out no invoices to some people and then threatening usurious late charges – and sometimes collecting them! They are also charging phantom “reprocessing fees” when they screw up – and do not bother to take the time to even address charges that have been protested.
We need to send Good to Go out of Washington! They are bad for our citizen and bad for Washington. They would not even give State Representative Hunter a straight, honest or kind answer to his email as you will read below:
This is the email chain from the beginning. The part at the top is Representative Hunter’s email to me this morning:
I wish they would be more pleasant in their emails. I can write legislation until I am blue in the face and not fix that, but it doesn’t sound like the June 27th date is an issue – the date is July 27th, which is next week.
I hope this addresses your concerns – let me know if there is still a problem.
Rep. Ross Hunter
Chair, Ways and Means
315 John L. O’Brien Building
Capitol Campus
Olympia, WA 98504
Olympia: (360) 786-7936
Bellevue: (425) 453-3064
________________________________________
From: Briglia, Pete [BrigliP@wsdot.wa.gov]
Sent: Wednesday, July 25, 2012 4:32 PM
Cc: Hunter, Rep. Ross; HQ Customer Service; GoodToGoTolling; Stone, Craig
Subject: FW: 520 Bridge Toll – bills in the mail <<#9439-143692#>>
Dear Mr. Kennedy,
Thank you for writing Representative Ross Hunter’s office about your toll bills. His office has asked me to respond.
Our records show you have an outstanding toll bill for $81.75 that was mailed July 9 and is due by July 27. If you fail to pay a toll within 80 days of the day you traveled, a notice of civil penalty will be assessed in the amount of $40 for each unpaid toll transaction, plus all accumulated tolls and fees – which would amount to around $601.75 in this instance. I would encourage you to pay the final bill by July 27 to prevent it from becoming a notice of civil penalty.
Toll bills are mailed to the registered vehicle owner’s address on file with the Department of Licensing. DOL provided us with an address of 817 108th Ave SE, Bellevue, WA 98004-6627. We have verified that the post office forwarded the attached toll bills to 1138 Bellevue Way SE, Bellevue WA 98004-6627, which explains the delay in your receiving them. We have updated our system with the address that was provided to us by the post office so you should receive future toll bills at your new address.
Washington state law requires vehicle owners to update their address with the DOL within 30 days of a change of address. Failure to update your address is not a valid reason for dismissal of any late fees or civil penalties. We would strongly encourage you to update the address you have on file with DOL. You can update this information online at http://www.dol.wa.gov/vehicleregistration/address.html.
In the emails you provided, we see that you sent an email to Good To Go! on May 29 inquiring about your toll bill. Our customer service representative responded to your email on June 8 and asked that you call customer service with your license plate number. We reviewed the notes associated to your vehicle’s license plate (B78059U) and see that you did not call customer service, where they would have been able to look up any toll bills associated with your license plate number and verify which address they were mailed to. You would have also been given an opportunity to pay any outstanding toll bills at that time.
We encourage drivers to contact the customer service center if they have crossed the SR 520 or Tacoma Narrows bridges and haven’t received a toll bill 14 days after crossing. If you plan on using the toll facilities in the future, even occasionally, I recommend opening a Good To Go! account to pay the lowest toll rate. Your tolls will be deducted from a pre-paid balance and as long as there are sufficient funds in the account you will not receive any toll bills in the mail.
Thank you for taking the time to share your concerns. Please let me know if you have further questions.
Respectfully,
Peter M. Briglia Jr., P.E.
Director of Operations, WSDOT Toll Division
—– Original Message —–
From: Hunter, Rep. Ross <Ross.Hunter@leg.wa.gov>
To: Meredith, Julie
Sent: Sun Jul 01 20:35:36 2012
Subject: FW: 520 Bridge Toll – bills in the mail <<#9439-143692#>>
Can you get someone to follow-up on this guy’s account? I assume you get a fair number of these. Thanks.
Rep. Ross Hunter
Chair, Ways and Means
315 John L. O’Brien Building
Capitol Campus
Olympia, WA 98504
Olympia: (360) 786-7936
Bellevue: (425) 453-3064
________________________________
From: Joe “The Connector” Kennedy [joeconnector@gmail.com]
Sent: Sunday, July 01, 2012 3:21 PM
To: ‘Good To Go! Customer Service’
Cc: Hunter, Rep. Ross
Subject: RE: 520 Bridge Toll – bills in the mail <<#9439-143692#>>
Dear Good To Go and Representative Ross Hunter:
I just received my toll bill in the mail (and to the wrong address) – and apparently it was due by June 27th. This is not fair.
To make matters worse, I was billed a “previous balance” (which I should not have and never received a bill for) – and a $5 reprocessing fee.
I should not be penalized for problems you have with your system and will NOT be paying any reprocessing or late fees. I will also need a bill for the “previous balance” you are claiming I am owing.
Please give this matter the attention this deserves. If this is not solved satisfactorily, as a member of the media, I will be making a BIG issue out of it. I have seen lots of other cases where you have been doing people wrong and do not want to end up in that category.
Notice number TB-120764603
License Plate number B78059U
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Joe “The Connector” Kennedy
From: Good To Go! Customer Service [mailto:goodtogo@wsdot.wa.gov]
Sent: Friday, June 08, 2012 12:34 PM
Subject: RE: 520 Bridge Toll – bills in the mail <<#9439-143692#>>
Dear Mr. Kennedy,
Thank you for contacting the Good To Go! Customer Service Center in regards to Toll Bills.
Please give us a call at 1-866-936-8246 to obtain your notice number. We ask that you have your license plate number available when calling.
If you have any additional questions, please do not hesitate to reply or call. Customer Service is available Monday – Friday 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturday – Sunday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. For Walk-In Center hours and locations, please visit www.wsdot.wa.gov/goodtogo/contacts.htm<http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/goodtogo/contacts.htm>.
Thank you for using Good To Go!
Ivan M
Service Specialist
Good To Go! Customer Service
1-866-936-8246 | goodtogo@goodtogo.wsdot.wa.gov<mailto:goodtogo@goodtogo.wsdot.wa.gov>
— Original Message —
From: “Joe “The Connector” Kennedy” <joeconnector@gmail.com<mailto:joeconnector@gmail.com>>
Received: 6/3/12 11:55:51 PM PDT
To: “‘HQ Customer Service'” <HQCustomerService@WSDOT.WA.GOV<mailto:HQCustomerService@WSDOT.WA.GOV>>
CC:<goodtogo@goodtogo.wsdot.wa.gov<mailto:goodtogo@goodtogo.wsdot.wa.gov>>
Subject: RE: 520 Bridge Toll – bills in the mail Still have not received any bills …
Joe “The Connector” Kennedy
JoeConnector@gmail.com<mailto:JoeConnector@gmail.com>
From: HQ Customer Service [mailto:HQCustomerService@WSDOT.WA.GOV]<mailto:[mailto:HQCustomerService@WSDOT.WA.GOV]>
Sent: Wednesday, May 30, 2012 1:22 PM
To: Joe Kennedy
Cc: goodtogo@goodtogo.wsdot.wa.gov<mailto:goodtogo@goodtogo.wsdot.wa.gov>
Subject: RE: 520 Bridge Toll – bills in the mail
Mr. Kennedy:
Thank you for your email to the Washington State Department of Transportation inquiring about not having received your toll bill.
Since I am not a Good To Go! Customer Service Center staff member nor do I have access to the accounts, I am forwarding your inquiry to the Good To Go! Customer Service Center staff and asking that a staff person respond you.
In the future, you can contact the Good To Go! Customer Service Center<http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/GoodToGo/Contacts.htm> through our website.
Again, thank you for taking the time to write to us.
Kimberly Colburn
HQ Customer Service
WSDOT Olympia
hqcustomerservice@wsdot.wa.gov<mailto:hqcustomerservice@wsdot.wa.gov>
From: Joe Kennedy [mailto:joeconnector@gmail.com]<mailto:[mailto:joeconnector@gmail.com]>
Sent: Tuesday, May 29, 2012 2:46 PM
To: HQ Customer Service
Cc: ross.hunter@leg.wa.gov<mailto:ross.hunter@leg.wa.gov>
Subject: 520 Bridge Toll – bills in the mail
Hello to WADot:
I have been using the 520 bridge for the past few weeks without a good to go pass, but have not received any toll bills in the mail.
Please use this email as legal notice that I will NOT be paying any late fees or any other bogus charges – as I have not received any bills (except for one a couple months ago which was paid promptly).
FYI – I have cc’d Representative Ross Hunter.
—
Joe “The Connector” Kennedy
JoeConnector@gmail.com<mailto:JoeConnector@gmail.com>
425-502-5633
TheJoeKennedy.com<http://thejoekennedy.com/>
<http://www.aaaproperties.net/>
—— Please do not remove your unique tracking number! —— <<#9439-143692#>>
Amazing there’s not a single comment yet..
My Neighbor who is in his seventies, and always in pain has found “The Good to Go Guy a real pain!
Roger’s wife used the online ‘report of sale’ tool to assure there was an immediate seller’s report made when they nearly donated the vehicle to a person in need, no good deed goes unpunished.
Some months later a Bill arrived for $1461.00 in fees and fines, each minor toll fee including a hefty penalty!
‘Good to Go’ wasn’t interested in following up with the state to find out why they didn’t have the correct owner on file, that was left for Roger to do.
When Calling Good To Go, they make it sound hopeless, and they even explain that if you want to contest your fines, you need know that the judge, magistrate, or whatever they call their puppet who listens to your complaint, that they have no authority to waive your fine unless you have a legal document proving the transfer.
The goose chase was on! Roger put on a fresh pain patch and visited the local place where you can get help with transfers, they saw no report of sale or record of the transfer in the WSDOT computer, and of course, Roger’s wife was frustrated as she had misplaced the copy she printed out of the transfer, now a year had passed..
Roger made a trip to see the good to go guy in Redmond. His wife drove, as the trip is too long for Roger to tolerate behind the wheel. Good to go tells Roger how to file for a copy of the report of sale.
Finally… by email attachment that document arrives! Yes, WSDOT had the report of sale, but for some reason, the not so good to go guy doesn’t have a clue to question who was driving the car!
I suggest the State fix their system, if there’s some pending file, if the new owner has NOT transferred the vehicle into their name, then the question of ownership should prevent the good to go guy from threatening the previous owner. If the sellers report of sale isn’t reflected in the WSDOT database, what good is it?
This is a half assed system and I can’t imagine how many tourists, and older people who have little idea how to work with such a sick system that threatens even greater fines, civil action, the ruination of your credit rating and more.
Who would allow such an outfit to operate here? It leaves me to wonder if my State will agree to near anything if they get a share of the revenue.
[…] http://bellevuebusinessjournal.com/2012/07/26/washington-drivers-getting-expensive-education-around-… […]