Complaint Review: E470 Express Toll - Aurora Colorado

I exited left on to I270 from I25.

They say I used the toll lane.  I did not, signage might be a problem.

I requested their hearing and they said it will be 8 months and that I will occure all the late fees in that time.

I said I will pay now and get my hearing.

They say no, you cannot pay and have a hearing.  You can have a hearing but it will cost you A LOT MORE!

I say I want a speedy hearing then not one 8 months from now.  They say no, we will contact you about the hearing.  No date, no hearing address, no details -- just we will contanct you sometime.

I also got the first bill with a late fee.

Anyone have an experance with an end they could share?

Anyone tied the States Attorney General's Office?

I visit Colorado 1-2 times a year and take this road to Ft Collins. Until last year I have never been charged. Last year I received a bill so I paid it. Received the first bill almost three months after my visit. Two months later I am turned over to a collection agency. I had to send proof of my cancelled check. I notified the Govenors Office and was advised they were aware of multiple problems with the Colorado Toll system.

Today I get a bill for $76 for a visit in 7/18. The original toll was slightly over $9.00. This is the first bill I received. They are inconsistant and often times send delinquent letters before sending bills. So another letter to the Govenor's office and this time I am copying Colorado media.

That poster clearly does not reflect the collection tactics utilized by ExpressToll! Do not, I repeat-Do Not ever take the previous post as fact. They do put holds on vehicle registrations.

I am a resident of another state and it is absolutely not clear where you pay or how you are to be billed on the E-470 toll road. Driving at speeds of 65MPH limits your ability to read a dinky sign. In the state which I live, it is not required by law that you update your address with the tag office in between regisration times and who would remember to do such a thing anyway? Keep mind, it is not just Colorado residents who might utilize this road, but out of state travelers as well. Photographing a license plate and then mailing the bill to the last known address does not suffice as an adequate and honest billing practice. I will be contacting news agencies and BBB and anyone else to expose this dishonest company.

I received an Express Toll bill for $3.15; my car was purchased new within the last couple of months has has never been more than 50 miles from Austin.  I can hardly see how this could be a clerical error; it seems like an organized scam.

FYI: It's a billing scam. 
They do not/have not ever stopped someone from registering a vehicle with the DMV.***CALL YOUR LOCAL DMV. THEY WILL VERIFY THIS.**** Be an educated consumer.

They train their "agents" to threaten customers with this as leverage to pay past due tolls/fees. It is simply not true. These agents are your typical call center personnel; uneducated, gullible, just looking for a paycheck. They are told what to say, and they say it. They will tell you over and over that your registration privileges will be revoked if you do not pay the fees. You can be transferred to a supervisor who will tell you the same thing. And the supervisors are not much brighter than the agents. They make a couple dollars more to tell you pretty much the same thing you've already been told. They use BIG words like "toll evasion, and such"...do not fall for it. 

Customers are also under the false assumption that not paying these bills will affect your credit. This does not happen either. They do not have enough of your personal information to do this (ie:ssn, birthdate...etc). Their "collection" agency (Linebarger, whatever) is just a group of bullies who try to back you into a corner to pay these stupid fees. Don't fall for it.

Moral of the story:
There is no recourse they can take to collect these fees. Bottom line. Until the DMV states otherwise, do not believe what these people tell you. Call the DMV for more info.

How do I know all of this? Because I am one of the agents who work there. We were told over and over to tell the customers these things, then I started hearing through the grapevine that they have never stopped registration on ANY account. Then I verified with the DMV. 

I got a bill and I have NEVER been to Colorado! Tag they are showing is NOT mine. I am at work every day and It would be quite impossible for me to drive all the way across my state and then find and dirve their stinking highway and quickly return home. I have turned this over to our State Atty and if the scam artist try to collect my personal atty will file suit. I reall think thy should be questioned as to how they got my name and address. The name they show is NOT how my car is listed with my state. I think they are getting names off the internet. These are a bunch of pot smoking scam artists.

So all of these people (myself included) that are telling you they did not receive a bill until the one with the penalties must be confused?   Oh - I know we need to check with our post offices! It couldn't be that maybe... just maybe...they didn't get a bill, and you have a flaw in your system?  Or could it be that maybe you didn't send the bill.  hmmm.   Have you considered sending them certified?  Ahhh...that would be a double edged cost to your racket.  You would have to increase costs (for consumer satisfaction) and probably lose all of the late fee revenue.   Better just leave it alone and lesten to all of these folks swear they will never drive E470.

BTW, if you need help getting back to NYC, I'm sure a lot of other U.S.  citizens would provide you with directions. It usually takes around 10 years out of NY to get the arrogant, rude attitude out of the system.

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I had a similar experience.  I've been driving for 35 plus years and have driven through a number of toll roads.  I recently moved son and girlfriend to Colorado.  As I entered e470 I kept thinking i'd see the place where I would exit and pay the toll.  The signage is terrible and I didn't realize every 5 minutes of travel down this road I was getting dinged $3.15 for a total of nearly $10 for about 14 minutes of travel accordng to the time stamps on the invoice we just got.  Frankly, I thought it might still be under construction and the toll process was still being built out.  I saw exit ramps with little roofs over them and then the ramp re-entered the main road...strange.  It's not just me, neither my son or his girl friend realized every 4-5 minutes was costing them $3.15. 

I feel they are taking advantage of traveler's ignorance and the fees are obscene.  I will avoid traveling this road in the future and would definitely have avoided it the first time had I known.  Burned once I'm done with E470.  You all can choke on that bond issue and E470 can now be your little monument of government gone wild when travelers eventually realize there's an electronic troll going after their wallets.

E-470 is well-signed at every entrance point with a sign indicating that the ramp leads to a toll highway.

E-470 does not require any pre-registration to use the highway.  Pre-payment accounts can be established but is not required, and individual tolls can be paid within days online.  Toll information is available at www.e-470.com

Customers who do not have an EXpressToll account receive a bill a month after their first toll transaction.  They have 30 days to pay the bill in full.  If that bill isnt paid by the due date, a second bill is mailed with a $5 late fee.  If no payment is made by the end of the second 30-day period, then the account is referred to collections for up to 90 days.  If still unpaid (after 150 days or nearly five months), the customer then becomes subject to civil penalty fines and court fees.  
 
Bills are mailed in a white envelope with large red letters on the envelope:  Important - E-470 License Plate Toll Bill Enclosed.  They are sent to the vehicle owners address on file with the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV).  Vehicle owners are required to keep their address current with the DMV.  Colorado law requires a vehicle owner to update their vehicle registration/address within 30 days.  Updating the drivers license address does not update the required vehicle registration information.  Again, it is the customers responsibility to keep their address current with DMV.
 

Well, here it is:

Bait

Drive on this road, there might be a toll coming up. (I didn't see the signs, but let's just assume I missed it... Was following the GPS.) I can see paying upwards of $5.00 for a toll. As I said, I drove from NYC to LA, and had no (zero, none, not one) problem. I don't have problem paying tolls.

Switch

At end of road, there was no toll, no tollbooth, no signage, no notice. Rather, four months later, I get a $76.00 "Bill", including penalties and fees. If they really wanted my $5.00, I would have paid, mailed it in, given a CC Number, done Paypal, really, $5.00? I am willing and able to pay whatever the original toll would have been.

Pretty clearly a bait and switch. I sense your snarky and dismissive attitude, but remember, I come from NYC, not Colorado. I'm not used to deliberate misrepresentation by whatever agency (and law firm?) are marshalling this toll. You apparently are, and are ok with that, and take some joy in pointing out how obvious this Toll thing is. It's not obvious at all.

Again, bottom line, you want me to pay a toll, give me an opportunity to do so. Pretty simple.

Where is the "bait and switch?"

Did I miss something?

Here's the definition I found for "bait and switch" :

"The goal of the bait-and-switch is to persuade buyers to purchase the substitute goods as a means of avoiding disappointment over not getting the bait, or as a way to recover sunk costs expended to try to obtain the bait. It suggests that the seller will not show the original product or service advertised but instead will demonstrate a more expensive product or a similar product with a higher margin."

Not sure how you got on the toll road without knowing it, but I guess it could happen.

Sorry for your bad experience in Colorado.