Photo by EverdredIt turns out that the trip Katie and I took to Dallas in April was not satisfied with just being plagued with bad luck, it’s now reaching out from the past to charge our credit cards and raise my blood pressure.
When I went to pay our credit card bill from our Dallas trip, I noticed a second, strange charge for $9.00 to WWWPLATEPASSCOM (and a subsequent $2.25 a few days later, just for good measure). I went over to their website, thinking maybe my wife had charged som ething she hadn’t mentioned to me.
Apparently, www.PlatePass.com is a company that provides a “service” that allows people to be charged electronically for tolls incurred on toll roads. Certain roads are equipped with gear to take pictures of your license plate and relay that plate information to the tollway authority, at which point they will bill you for your toll charges. If it’s a rental car, they send a bill to them and in turn bill the renter.
No one at the rental booth told us that we’d be getting this “service”, and we were never offered a way to opt out. Plate Pass says it was in our rental agreement (a signed agreement is being sent by mail to us, since we’ve thrown it away by now, so I can verify this) where we should have been notified that we would be responsible for any charges incurred.
Katie and I weren’t even aware we even went on any toll roads (and are still doubtful that we did), since we didn’t see any toll booths. The PlatePass people informed us that the roads might not have had booths, but that it still could charge… without a sign or anything, I guess.
It really burned me up when I got further into a conversation with the PlatePass customer service people. They insisted that we’d been on the toll roads, that it was us, and that we were obligated to pay for this service because we’d signed the rental agreement. I asked if she could refund the administrative charges at the very least, since it wasn’t made clear that we were going to be charged fees in addition to being charged for using unfamiliar roads which may or may not have been toll roads.
She said they can’t refund customers because they’ve signed rental agreements, which is kind of like saying that Best Buy can’t take returns because the customer purchased a product from them once before. It makes no sense. Because we signed an agreement, they CAN charge us, but that doesn’t mean they CAN’T refund us. The agreement (buried in a rental agreement) that we had to pay something (which we knew nothing about), doesn’t have any bearing on whether a company CAN offer refunds.
Apparently, she didn’t have the authority to offer refunds of any kind, and when asked whether there was a supervisor or anyone else there who had the authority to help me, she said no. My only option, according to PlatePass, was to contact the North Texas Tollway Authority for images of the rental car’s plates.
After a few minutes, wherein I questioned the ethicality of their business model (akin to auto-renewing trial subscriptions, hidden fees, surcharges, etc.), we ended the conversation without resolution. I honestly think they hand-picked this lady for the special way in which she conveys apathy. She had an amazing way of saying ‘We’re right, you’re wrong. You’re the three thousandth person I’ve had to talk to today who didn’t read their rental agreement and thinks this is unethical’, with her tone alone.
Anywho, I wanted to get my frustration out on the web for anyone else who’s been surprised by this practice. Like many other people, I’m tired of having to keep my guard up at all times to avoid being nickel and dimed. Granted, I did (or my wife, in this case) sign something without reading it, but to be fair this service is new to rental cars and should’ve been properly explained. Additional services should be opted into, rather than being forced to opt-out of these things… it’s just dirty what companies will do for a buck these days.
If I get resolution, I’ll post the process for that here on the blog. If not, join me in my burning desire to stop doing business with companies who opt me in to tangential services without a clear indication of such.
Posted by Jordan at May 12, 2009 6:50 PM | TrackBack
Comments (46)
If a service has to rely on an opt-out agreement, it ain't a service. This kinda stuff pisses me off. I usually like to call the company I do business with, in this case Hertz, and explain that I will never use their business until I get the money back, an apology, and they stop screwing people. Of course, it never happens, but it lets me vent to the people who enable the scam.
Posted in reply to Johnny's comment |
I could've written your comments. Exactly the same thing happened to me with one exception--PlatePass has sent me a bill for $10.75 which is a $10 charge plus one toll which was charged to my licencse plate, I guess. I blame Hertz in Dallas which directed me to use the automated sign-in rather than assist me at the counter at DFW. I knew nothing of any tollway program. I paid all my tolls manually. Hey, do I deserve a refund? On the third day of my stay in Dallas it looks like they zeroed in on me skipping a particular toll. I was with a Dallas native and she insists I did no such thing. I refused to pay the bill and wrote a letter. PlatePass sent me another bill. I won't pay that either.
Posted in reply to Tom Hagarty's comment |
I see a platepass charge on my card even though I had me own toll transponder. To avoid missing a toll I went through manual lanes to make sure my transponder was charged. Something's is fishy here!
Posted in reply to abhi's comment |
Thank you for posting this. I just got an identical letter from PlatePass today and was totally shocked!! I'm outraged to be charged for something I never agreed to. I would've just paid tolls with cash had I known they were going to tack on this $10 "admin" fee. Waited on hold with Hertz for ages.....never got through. I made my Hertz reservation through Priceline, so I'm going to call and see if they actually answer their phones.
Posted in reply to Katie's comment |
I had the same problem just yesterday I got a Plate Pass bill in the mail for $9.10. So I called them up as soon as I got the bill and they were sending me from one person to the next, and me having to explain to them exactly what had happened...nothing got solved. The only thing that 4 different people told me that was the same was to call up Hertz and have them refund my charges. In which I did call them, and yet again have to explain to them what had happened...they said that they aren't the ones who own the Plate-Pass...so they aren't able to refund the money, because they aren't getting any money for it. So it would be a loss to the company if they some how managed to refund the money. They advised me to call the Plate Pass people up and ask for a manager or supervisor, and I did and a woman's answer was that they are all on vacation and aren't going to be back for 3 weeks. She told me that if I didn't pay for the ticket that they will charge me the full price as if there weren't any Plate Pass's in the car. So I guess that I lost this one...but I will never rent a car from Hertz again, and I will forever make sure that there isn't one of those in the car. Most positive.
Posted in reply to Lukas's comment |
I also got charged of $12 from Passplate. I was traveling from Boston to Miami and was driving a rental car from Hertz. I know they had EZPass in the car but i am sure i have not used it and each and every time i have paid the toll by cash. Any suggestion what to do?? I am so pissed off because i haven't used their services.
Posted in reply to vaibhav's comment |
My boyfriend rented from Hertz 2.5 weeks ago as we drove to SF for my birthday. After our trip, we returned the car with no problems until my boyfriend noticed a $18 credit card transaction with PlatePass aka American Traffic Solutions. He thought it was odd and did more research, then called them demanding for an explanation. The customer service manager, Ahkmed, was extremely rude and told my boyfriend that the rental agreement he signed stated such service then asked for his credit card info. How did they charge his credit card if they don't have his info on record?? Hertz is giving our credit card info to PlatePass aka American Traffic Solutions and they are illegally charging our credit cards! Ahkmed told my boyfriend that we drove through a Denver Toll which was false as we were no where near Denver! Anyway, the phone call got pretty heated as Ahkmed insisted that they were in the right while we were wrong--typical business scam. My boyfriend got really angry and threatened to contact his lawyer asap if they did not refund his money immediately. Ahkmed continued being rude and the phone call ended with no resolution. (BTW we reckon that Ahkmed is NOT his real name.) So 10 minutes later, Ahkmed called my boyfriend's mobile and assured us that he will refund our money while acting unusually friendly. It was like they were caught running a shady business--what a piece of work!
It has been 4 business days and we have not received our refund. We decided to give it until Monday as it is the weekend right now. FYI we also called Hertz only to be directed to a useless answering machine. Hertz's automated system tells you they will return your call in half an hour but it is a lie. They finally returned our call 5am in the morning and never left a message. It was as though they did not want to deal with it. Hertz has a history of scamming innocent renters and I'm sure they are partnering with PlatePass aka American Traffic Solutions to scam innocent renters. If you share a similar problem, we would suggest you to speak to the manager and threaten him legally should he not issue you a refund asap. A lawsuit will cost him way more than just $18 especially if he wants to keep his job. Thanks for reading and I'll keep you all updated next week. Cheers
Posted in reply to Susanna's comment |
I am viewing an invoice from PlatePass ($10.30 = $10.00 fee + $.30 toll violation) as I read all of these comments, this is exactly what happened to me. As I am on my way to fly back to Atlanta from Chicago, just so happen to be on 26 May 09, I am charged with running a toll, that I never even noticed (and don’t believe happened), and by the way, have paid every toll through that road I have traveled at least twice during the five days I was in the Chicago location. That doesn’t even sound right. This appears to be systemic occurrences happening throughout our country should be addressed. The blood sucking company that Hertz decided to team up with to nickel and dime ($10 fee) it customers to death will eventually be their own (death). I will surely not rent with Hertz every again and will inform every friend, co-worker, and my companies travel agents to include the Better Business Bureau about this impractical method that PlatePass (Hertz sponsor) hoping to boycott their rental service forever. Now, don’t get me wrong, $10 is not a lot of money, the principle is where my problem lies. DON’T CHEAT CUSTOMER OUT OF THEIR MONEY. Hertz is whom I blame regardless.