Failure to pay toll charge. Which was actually paid! Unpaid Toll Notice (UTN) Eflow

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Thedavman

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Returned from work yesterday to find an Unpaid Toll Notice (UTN) from Eflow. In addition to the €3.00 toll charge, a further processing charge of €40.00 has been included. The UTN also advises on the date, time and direction that the car was travelling together with the relevant legislation and the maximum fine and potential imprisonemnt of a term not exceeding 6 months.

On reviewing my calendar, I noted that I did not have my car on the alleged unpaid toll date, I had allowed my girlfriend use it for a long drive to the West. Indeed you can just about make her out behind the wheel. Herein the problem lies, as my girlfriend had paid the toll within the specified deadline.

I spoke with Eflow this morning and all the Customer Services Rep. could do was cancel the charges if I advised of my car's registration number. At the bare minimum I want a letter of apology, accordingly I did not give my Reg. merely a telephone number that a 'team leader' may contact me on later today.

My query is whether Eflow have acted illegaly by issuing the UTN when the toll was paid? I am an accountant and I know that if I raised an invoice for a service which I had not provided I would be sued immediately and lose my Practising Cert. Have Eflow acted in contravention of the Sale of Goods and Supply of Services Act? Should I complain to the office of the Ombudsman?
 
Re: Failure to pay toll charge. Which was actually paid!

Eflow is a disaster. Let it go.
 
Re: Failure to pay toll charge. Which was actually paid!

I know they are a disaster but i really dont want to just let it go. My blood has been boiling since last night when i received the UTN. It is totally unprofessional and unfair. Surely they must be acting in contravention of some legislation?
 
Re: Failure to pay toll charge. Which was actually paid!

I'm sorry, but I don't get what the problem is. Maaybe I'm reading it wrong, so correct me if I am, but what I see from that is that your girllfriend used the car on the toll, paid it, and you got a notice as the registered owner of the vehicle that the toll was unpaid. You rang up and said it was paid, and they offered to cancel the charge.

I don't see where the problem is there.
 
Re: Failure to pay toll charge. Which was actually paid!

The problem is that they caused me stress as i was unable to confirm whether my girlfriend had paid the toll for a number of hours. They are also wasting my otherwise chargeable time.

Everytime i have gone through the toll i have paid, however i still received notices advising that i did not pay. Then i received a notice advising of the further charge. How am i to accept these notices when they are totally incorrect. I have already suffered from their errors and paid a toll twice.
 
Re: Failure to pay toll charge. Which was actually paid!

So write to them and demand an apology if you feel that strongly about it. And if they don't then complain to the ombudsman. Or forget about it.
 
Re: Failure to pay toll charge. Which was actually paid!

Thedavman said:
Returned from work yesterday to find an Unpaid Toll Notice (UTN) from Eflow. In addition to the €3.00 toll charge, a further processing charge of €40.00 has been included. The UTN also advises on the date, time and direction that the car was travelling together with the relevant legislation and the maximum fine and potential imprisonemnt of a term not exceeding 6 months.

On reviewing my calendar, I noted that I did not have my car on the alleged unpaid toll date, I had allowed my girlfriend use it for a long drive to the West. Indeed you can just about make her out behind the wheel. Herein the problem lies, as my girlfriend had paid the toll within the specified deadline.

I spoke with Eflow this morning and all the Customer Services Rep. could do was cancel the charges if I advised of my car's registration number. At the bare minimum I want a letter of apology, accordingly I did not give my Reg. merely a telephone number that a 'team leader' may contact me on later today.

My query is whether Eflow have acted illegaly by issuing the UTN when the toll was paid? I am an accountant and I know that if I raised an invoice for a service which I had not provided I would be sued immediately and lose my Practising Cert. Have Eflow acted in contravention of the Sale of Goods and Supply of Services Act? Should I complain to the office of the Ombudsman?
Click to expand...

They made a mistake. You are not out of pocket. What is the problem?

Do you want to be compensated for the stress while you waited to hear whether your girlfriend had paid or not?
 
Re: Failure to pay toll charge. Which was actually paid!

This one could go all the way to the European Court of Human Rights.
 
Re: Failure to pay toll charge. Which was actually paid!

Try to keep on topic, if not dont bother posting europhile.
 
Re: Failure to pay toll charge. Which was actually paid!

europhile said:
This one could go all the way to the European Court of Human Rights.
Click to expand...

:D Thedavman why don't you take on board the advice given here and let it go, you'll get yerself into a knot if something like this get's you so stressed!
 
Re: Failure to pay toll charge. Which was actually paid!

Thedavman said:
I know they are a disaster but i really dont want to just let it go. My blood has been boiling since last night when i received the UTN. It is totally unprofessional and unfair. Surely they must be acting in contravention of some legislation?
Click to expand...

I'm having my own similar problems with eflow at the moment - but in your case they've apologised and taken the costs off - I fail to see what else you're going to achieve! - it's admin error plain and simple!
 
Re: Failure to pay toll charge. Which was actually paid!

To get back on topic

They made an error, and offered to correct it. You decided to withhold you registration and prevent them from correcting the error, and now want to compain to the authorities that they broke legislation.

What did they do wrong that merits a complaint?
Making a billing error? Please don't tell me that doesn't happen - in my past dealings with ESB/Eircom/ESAT/O2/Smart/Vodafone/Sky/NTL etc every one of them has sent me a wrong bill at some stage, and I would have been damned lucky to have had it sorted as fast Eflow offered to sort you out. These things happen.
Offering to fix it? Well that's just ridiculous.
Taking time to do so? If someone rang you and said I don't owe this invoice you sent me", would you just say "that's fine, forget about it", or would you get it checked out. What if it happened just before your lunchtime - would you forget about lunch to ensure that this person doesn't owe you money?

Edit: How many chargeable minutes are you losing by ranting here? :D
 
Re: Failure to pay toll charge. Which was actually paid!

Edit: How many chargeable minutes are you losing by ranting here? :D[/quote] Ha ha, we're all in flying form this morning!!!!!:)
 
Re: Failure to pay toll charge. Which was actually paid!

All joking aside, this is a serious issue for consumers.

How many people are being incorrectly billed for tolls they have already paid, along with an extortionate "processing charge" and threats of court action?

How many of these people are paying these incorrectly-billed charges, either for the quiet life, or their employer is reimbursing the cost, or because they're afraid to confront Eflow? I know my mum would be in the latter category.

Would we accept similar practices from the likes of eircom, vodafone or 02?

Thedavman said:
I am an accountant and I know that if I raised an invoice for a service which I had not provided I would be sued immediately and lose my Practising Cert.
Click to expand...
Oddly enough, I had reason to point this out to the ICAI a few years ago when they debited my credit card account twice for a CPD course fee, and then claimed they were unable to reverse the error. They were highly impressed :rolleyes:
 
Re: Failure to pay toll charge. Which was actually paid!

ubiquitous said:
How many people are being incorrectly billed for tolls they have already paid, along with an extortionate "processing charge" and threats of court action?
Click to expand...

Used the toll both ways, paid the €6 euro but a couple of hours after deadline. Got two four page letters in post - setting out extra charge but paragraph included there somewhere to state extra charge was waived.
Got another two two page letters in post with the extra €40 euro fine.

Noticed then the eflow had refunded me the €6 to credit card hours after first paying.

Quick phonecall and then got "Everything in order" letter. While there may be a mess, obviously they sort out issues when called.
 
Re: Failure to pay toll charge. Which was actually paid!

I got the non-paid letter myself , but may car was sitting outside my house in cork at time (and hasn't been within 100 miles of dublin in the last 2 years)....


It was however all sorted with a phone call , including a very generic letter of apology....
 
Re: Failure to pay toll charge. Which was actually paid!

I got 4 - AKA a small rain forrest through my door.

My brother used my car on 10/10 and 12/10 going through the tolls both ways. He paid €12 on 11/10 (prepaying the 12/10 trips). I got the unpaid letters for all 4 trips. Called the bro who provided the receipt, he called them and they told him it was sorted. Last week i got the invoice for the fines - €172 in total. Called them again - this caused a prob as my bro had by then discarded that receipt. Luckily the guy on the phone found a 'note' on the system about his last call. My bro has since used the car and prepaid another €12. The guy told him 'never' to prepay as it is causing difficulties. So now i am waiting now to see if i get a summons and also more invoices/fines.

Ironically i used the toll last month and totally forgot to pay despite working next door to a pay station. I have never received a bill. ???
 
Re: Failure to pay toll charge. Which was actually paid!

Boy do i love to tell stories - just 1 more i promis.

My boyfriends company vans go throught he tolls on a regular basis. They are registered so there should be no problems. His accountant got a couple of unpaid letters. The letters stated that they should be paid within the 14 days - she got them on day 15. When she called she was told she had to pay €43 euro each as they we outside the allotted time. She pointed out the the vans were registerred and received a ' o right sorry about that' kinda apology.

The system is crap there is no doubt. But i did just talk to a guy who claimed that barrier free tolling had cut his travel time for 40 mins. each way.
 
Re: Failure to pay toll charge. Which was actually paid!

How many people are being incorrectly billed for tolls they have already paid, along with an extortionate "processing charge" and threats of court action?
Click to expand...

Some of the lawyers on this board maybe can elaborate.

Dont these fall under unjust enrichment, paying under duress? Isnt there a series of precendent cases whereby organisations have been unjustly enriched because, due to the power they claim to wield - in this case the threats of court action - that many people, who are not confident with legal situations, are afraid not to pay a demand for fear of getting into trouble and/or because there is too much hastle associated with contesting the demand?

I would expect that there is a large % of people fall into these categories thus illegally enriching the toll companies?
 
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