EZ Pass New Jersey Proves Kafka Underestimated Bureaucracy

A long time ago in a galaxy far away there was a short story I read in the dark ages (1970s) of computers taking over the world. The plot, roughly, followed the increasingly bad computer generated responses to an attempt to correct an accounting error. It’s too bad that I can’t remember the title, nor the author, because clearly they were ahead of their time.

Today I wasted a couple of hours of my life attempting to update a credit card on my ez-pass NJ account. I had been periodically attempting to do this for several months now, since my credit card number got switched because of some unnamed breach of security. The brianiacs over in ez-pass land have a web site that gets stuck in an endless loop if your balance goes negative, which results in them rejecting payments and prohibiting new credit cards from being added to the account. Which can happen if you happen to drive through a toll on the day that your account balance is just below the amount of the toll.

After a few attempts at trying to make a one-time payment to the account with a new credit card, I gave up. My nest step was to email ez-pass NJ with the problem I was having on the web site. They emailed back a reply that they would call me. They called, left a message that I should go to the website and make a payment. I opted to call them since the web site was not processing the payment. We played phone tag for a week or so, and because I was traveling out of the country, I finally left a message with the customer service agent and my credit card number.

Needless to say that they did nothing. And so today, when it occurred to me to update my license plate info today, I logged in to find that my account got placed into collections, several new fees added, and it was closed. EZ pass NJ sent no email, no letter, nothing to indicate any of this of course. The peeps at the state collection agency informed me of this, since “Elvis” the supervisor at EZ pass NJ couldn’t do anything. It didn’t matter that I had emails and dates of how long I have attempted to resolve the issue, that their responses to update on the web site wasn’t working, and that I was more interested in alerting them to the bug in their system rather than just fix my dilemma. “Elvis” was really not in the building.

After a quick Google search to see how many frustrated people were out there, I discovered that many had experienced the fine zero service of ez-pass NJ. Some with exactly the same scenario, others with more convoluted issues involving perpetual low balances, adding coins to get through tolls and getting fined for not paying. My situation is now resolved. I paid a $25 fine for the privilege of being in collections, $7.06 in tolls and $40 for still having my ez-pass transponders when they closed my account. Supposedly I will get a check back when I send in my transponders. I somehow suspect that this won’t be the end of the story.

  • Master Cheese

    Thankx for posting, I’m going to check my account just in case. So much for customer service, NOT.

  • NorwalkSpectator

    Come on, Turfie, think about it. New Jersey needs revenues and you were one of the chosen. If they processed your request quickly and efficiently, they only would have gotten one fee, maybe two. Now they’ve soaked you for more, just to prove the old adage that inefficiency pays, or at least raises revenue….

    • turfgrrl

      NorwalkSpectator: I think I’m only scratching at the surface of the problem. Watch them report lower revenues because they’ve blocked off a significant portion of their automatic credit card paying accounts.

  • OLD TIMER

    Try EZ pass NY. They do an excellent job and it is efffortless. A EZ pass NY transponder works in many places outside NY, anyplace the EZ pass NJ works.. I have had EZ pass NY for years and never had a problem. It is relatively easy to get a live person on the phone and make changes in the account for new credit cards numbers or new vehicles.

    • turfgrrl

      Old Timer: That’s exactly what I did, a new ez-pass NY is on its way.

      • you go girl

        I have had EZ-pass NY for 10 years-never a problem…I even sent my transponder in at their behest after a number of years because they have a battery that loses its charge (mine never did).

  • ENW

    Sounds like the NJ EZ Pass people would fit in very well over at Bunco of America.

  • Phil McTimoney

    THANK YOU!!! I thought I was alone, going crazy here. Your explanation matches EXACTLY what I’ve been through. I also updated my credit card…looks like it took, but they never charged it. I noticed the negative balance and got an email back from NJ ezpass saying everything was fine, they’d run it through the credit card.

    The next communication was a $70 charge from a collection agency (for a $3 negative balance).

    It’s a scam…but NJ ezpass is so faceless that there’s no-one to complain to.

    Who gives them their authority? NJ DOT? Can we complain to them?

    Please contact me if you wish…soccershout -at- gmail.com

  • Berry

    Honestly it’s pretty funny how you can place the blame on everyone but yourself. I also have an NJ ez-pass and the website is not the only place to make a payment, it is simply the most convenient. You could have gone in person to a service center, mailed a check payment, made a payment through the phone system, or spoke to a live representative rather than relying on leaving a message. Not to mention, I know for a fact when you have low funds the screen says “low balance” or “call customer service”, why did you continue to use your device if you continued to see these messages? Also I highly doubt this happened in a matter of weeks, your account must have had a negative balance for months for this to have happened. Instead of blaming the state and creating conspiracy theories you should take action and responsibility when it comes to your accounts, even accounts as insignificant as “ezpass”.

    • turfgrrl

      If you bothered to read my post carefully, you’ll note that I made several attempts to speak to a live person to update my credit card info. The point is that they have a serious bug in their payment processing web site and are not interested in fixing it.

  • jmw

    going through the same thing now, got an eamil that said my account balance was low?? I said how can that be, I am on an auto replenishment with my credit card. So I go to the web site and check the card, the account number is correct, but somehow they were attempting to charge VISA and I have had it set up for Mastercard for over 3 years and they keep insisting that there is now card on file. Well have you been charging my card all this time than I asked and all I got was Sir, you do not have a card on file.

  • Emma Yulick

    EZ Pass NJ is just FUBAR. I’ve been getting more and more tired of them just arbitrarily taking money from my checking account via my VISA check card. I started at $25 replenishment, they upped it to $35, then to $50. I don’t drive any more or less frequently than I did when I got my transponders 5 or 6 years ago. There’s no set schedule for taking my money, so I can’t even plan for it. Just “surprise!” we got your $50. I asked them to lower it back to $25. They did me a big “one-time favor”, but assured me that it probably wouldn’t last. One of their CSRs told me that I could “go on the website and just delete my card” so they wouldn’t take money without my knowing when. Yeah, right. Can’t be done on the website. When I asked about it, another lovely person told me that if I did want to do that, I could just call them (as though they’re really available by phone, silly girl), and I could pay with a check or cash (did I ever say I wanted that particular inconvenience…hmmm…), but I’d have to pay $10 per transponder ($30) in deposit. Again… Huh? I’ve had the damned things for 5 or 6 years. Why the hell would I pay a security deposit now?
    I think I’m going to take a look at NY EZ Pass as some of the others here have done. I’m just fed up with NJ and their crap.

  • BLARNEY THE IMPALER

    OK Столичный центр знакомств

  • Convoy

    I know I’m late to this but…. LMAO!!!!!!!!! Switch to NY EZ Pass. The only thing that changes is the state and certain rules of the state. NY and NJ outsourced the day to day operations of EZ Pass to the same company. The toll collection program that you all hate was developed for use in NY state first. You’re running to the same people, just a different office.