Complaint Review: Colorado E-470 Express Toll and Linebarger Goggan Blair & Sampson LLP

My experience didn't rack up nearly as much money as the previous stories, but I can attest that this is still occurring, and I am so fuming mad right now on principal. 

I live in another state, and visited the Denver area for a few days in May of 2013.  It had been a year or two since I had been to Denver, and longer since I had driven E470.  I had, however, driven E470 on several occasions when they still had toll booths and was aware that it was a toll road.  I used it for a few miles on this particular trip because it was the easiest way to get to where I was going.  I had my change ready to pay the toll like before, and was really confused when I saw traffic routed around the toll booth and the entire thing coned off, and no way to pay the toll.  Since there hadn't been any big signs with information about anything other than the "Express Toll" signs here and there, I assumed that for whatever reason they were not charging tolls.  I meant to ask someone about it, but it was a very busy trip for me and it honestly slipped my mind as quickly as it happened. 

Today (5 months later) I received a letter in the mail from the "Law Firm" mentioned.  I almost tossed it, because the first thing that caught my eye was the big yellow flier trying to get me to sign up for Express Toll and I honestly thought it was junk mail.  Then I noticed my car license number, and thought it might be a scam so I decided to call.  Turns out, they collect for E470, and my "delinquent" bill for $5.90 had been sent to them for collections and an additional $25 added on.  Problem was, I had NEVER in the past five months received anything from the E470 people.  If I had, I would have paid it, because I had expected to pay a toll when I used the road, I was just clueless about the new way the toll was assessed.  I was still thinking this might be a scam, especially because the collections agent couldn't give me any details on dates or locations of the original charges, or even how to contact the E470 people directly so I could determine if the charges were legit... but he was sure in a hurry to try to get my credit card number!  When I explained that I was confused because I hadn't received any notice from E470 themselves, he gave me a canned collections response saying that it was like my cell phone bill -- that if it got lost in the mail, that didn't mean that I was excused from paying my bill that month.  I called him out on his very poor analogy -- I get a cell phone bill because I signed a contract with the cell company and therefore expect charges every month.  Since I had not been informed that toll charges were. billed, I had no expectation that I owed anything and should be looking for a bill. 

Anyway, I finally called the E470 people.  I told them that I was happy to pay the original $5.90 for using their road, but that I would not pay collection fees or deal with a collections company regarding something that I was never made aware of until it went to collections.  Talked to an agent and a supervisor, and she offered to waive the $5 "late fee" but kept insisting that the $20 collections fee was "legitimate" and could not be waived.  How can a collections fee be legitimate when they never sent me a bill so I did not have the opportunity to pay it in a timely fashion?!!  (Oh, they SAY they sent me four, but I find it really hard to believe that I happened to miss all four of their bills but saw the one from the collection agency the minute it arrived!)    I am also very worried about this affecttng my credit -- I have good credit and have never had collections agents breathing down my back before, so it's pretty upsetting.. I thnk this is going to end up taking a lot of my time... I'll need to contact the credit reporting agencies tomorrow and let them know I'm disputing this.  If they waive the collections fee, I'll pay what I owe.  However, on principal, I am NOT willing to fork over an extra $25 for something that they had no right to send to collections, since they never sent me a bill! 

That night we got off the phone with the collection company, I started researching the tollway and the collection company for complaints.  Seems like the collection company and the tollway are notorious for unfair practices!!! Anyways, I contacted the BBB, Ripoff Report, looked up the State Attorney General for Colorado and filed complaints with all the options listed, and found a complaint site on facebook regarding them.  I was shocked when the tollway called me the next day to resolve it.  I've seen that they've been in the news multiple times for at least a year or two now.  The last article I saw included the facebook page too.  I pray that this helps and that you get a resolution in your favor also.  It's ridiculous how you're responsible to pay your fine regardless if you get the notice weeks/months later (and you don't know about it!).  The rep told me that's how it works and ways to avoid it would be to setup an account (a couple of ways to do so) so it's automatically deducted and you won't run into the problem of fines b/c you don't receive the bill immediately.  That's just silly, (we don't even live in the state) and my husband swears that if we ever accidentally find ourselves on an unmarked toll again in Colorado, he's going to swerve into the ditch to avoid the thing!! He says we've got better odds with the police and will know what the fee is and it would be cheaper in the long run paying them than the tollway!!

I just received a bill for $582 from E-470.

I called E-470 and they were mailing bills to my old house - and I never got them.  They offered to "settle" with me for $440 dollars

How did you get yours down to the reasonable rate?

They are telling me my only option is to go to a hearing with E-470, or to go to county court - and since it is in three counties I have to go to three county courts

I can not believe they want $582 from $22 in tolls they sent to the wrong address and never got forwarded to me.  Any advice on how to proceed would be appreciated.

Thanks

I did get a call from Sandra operator #73, who did help me yesterday.  We just completed the transaction for $30 to close the issue.  She said we would no longer be getting anything from Linebarger and we do NOT owe the additional $100.  Per my husband, I did tell her that he said that if we received anything ever again regarding this situation, we were going to get a lawyer.  -Reason being after all the research we did on Monday night after receiving the notice, there were many issues where consumers were told the situation was taken care of and a month or so later, they received a bill again w/ more fees.  She was amazing and I am so greatful for her b/c she LISTENED to what the situation was.  Thanks again!!

E-470 contacted Elise today and offered her a fair resolution, which she accepted and will complete tomorrow, June 22, 2011.  E-470 stands willing to resolve customer's unpaid tolls, late fees and the expenses E-470 has incurred to notify these customers of their unpaid tolls, including collection costs.  Please avoid a possible default judgment and subsequent suspension of your vehicle's registration by contacting Linebarger Goggan Blair Sampson or E-470 to resolve your account first.