Paying for someone else’s mistake. That’s what technocracy brings. We’ve used E-Z Pass for years. We first got initiated in Pennsylvania although we lived in New Jersey at the time. In those days we were taking lots of trips from New Jersey to upstate New York, for which you generally have to drive through Pennsylvania. Hey, we’re a tri-state area. One of the ironies my wife and I noticed is that you have to pay tolls to get out of New Jersey, but not to get in. That’s not a scientifically-verified fact, just a pedestrian (or vehicular) observation. Since I’ve got more things on my mind than I know what to do with, we set the account to auto-replenish. When funds get low, it automatically refills. Nifty, huh?!
For some reason I can’t even remember the card on which this system was based had to be reissued. Like most people I can’t remember all the auto-renews on any given card, so when I get a notice that there’s a problem, I update immediately. So let it be with E-Z Pass. See, there—wasn’t that easy? But apparently not. The day after I updated (and given that transactions are instantaneous these days, what, me worry?) we happened to drive to New Jersey. My wife had four work-related trips to our neighboring state over the next two weeks. Then the violations started arriving. From New Jersey E-Z Pass. I’d spoken with a rep from Pennsylvania E-Z Pass the day before and he assured me everything was set up correctly. But New Jersey plays hardball. They won’t even talk to you until you’ve received the violations by mail—weeks after the fact.
Any violation comes with a $30 surcharge. I needed to speak to a person since NJ’s E-Z Pass menu doesn’t offer an option for “If our system has screwed up and your being charged for it, please press 666.” The message immediately says there will be a forty-minute wait to speak with a representative (PA E-Z Pass picks up on the first ring, just sayin’). Forty-minutes of muzak turned into an hour. My phone died. I recharged and tried again. Another hour passed. Finally I called at 8 a.m. the next morning—there’s still a forty-minute wait, but it’s only forty minutes. I finally spoke with a truculent rep (if you’re already out of sorts by 8:40 a.m. perhaps it’s time to look for a different job) who told me I had to set up an account for NJ E-Z Pass—they don’t have truck with PA E-Z Pass—and check it seven-to-ten business days later to see if the charges had cleared. E-Z Pass really isn’t that easy. Keeping a pocket full of quarters might save you time in the long run.
