Toll-by-mail billing error causes 79,000 NJ travelers to be charged penalty fee
PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, UNITED STATES - 2012/04/20: E-Z Pass toll booth. (Photo by John Greim/LightRocket via Getty Images)
TRENTON - Nearly 80,000 drivers who traveled on New Jersey toll roads in March and April were erroneously billed an unpaid toll penalty fee despite never receiving a toll-by-mail bill.
E-Zpass says motorists who received a $25 'administrative fee' will not have to pay the fee, and those who already paid will be refunded.
A spokesperson says a contractor error caused the secondary notices to be sent out before first notices were distributed.
The 79,000 customers represents 2.5 percent of the 3.1 million toll-by-mail notices processed by Conduent Inc. during the approximately seven weeks when all New Jersey tolls went cashless due to the coronavirus pandemic.
"The toll-by-mail program was a temporary alternative to cash collections, and it was put in place under difficult circumstances," New Jersey Turnpike Authority Executive Director John Keller. "We regret any anxiety this mistake might have caused our customers."
EZ-Pass says Conduent Inc. is in the process of removing all administrative charges from the effected drivers and refunding the faulty charges already paid.
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