I am a moderate user of Houston toll roads, usually 2-3 times a week. On April 20th I find out that I have a 18 toll lane violations. I think, "this can't be right, I just received my last TxTag statement on April 7th showing my account in good standing". I call up TxTag, and they state that they deactivated my TxTag on March 31st because they were unable to run my credit card. This makes no sense, since my credit card account is fine and I never get close to my limit. According to MasterCard, TxTag never attempted to run a charge on my account anytime after February.

I call Harris County Toll Road Authority and tell them the situation. They instruct me that I should call TXTag, have them issue a statement to HCTRA, and that HCTRA will then clear the violations. I do as instructed and figure all is well.

Today, I come across the HCTRA violation notice on my desk, so out of curiosity, I log into their website to make sure the violations are cleared out. Not only are they not cleared out, they have just been referred to collections! I called TxTag and they confirmed that they sent over an explanation to HCTRA, but that HCTRA refused to remove the violations.

I didn't do anything wrong. I had a toll tag associated with a valid account. Why the hell should I have to pay over $400?! Anyone else deal with this? Any constructive suggestions would be appreciated.

[This message has been edited by Mr. (edited 6/14/2012 4:29p).]

Go speak to someone in person. They are usually pretty good about dropping fines.

They'll deal with me in person about this at the Ez Tag store?

Don't expect any help from hctra. I had a situation where we bought a new vehicle and swapped the tag over from the old one. Both were 4 runners. Apparently when I went in to switch the tag to the new car, the flunky at hctra said "oh...its a 4runner...close enough" and never put the new license post info in the system. Years later, when the tag quit working, they started sending us a bill for the tolls plus a $37 admin fee for each toll. When I went in to clear it up, they claimed there was no record of me ever registering the new vehicle with them and refused to waive the admin fees. No level of their incompetent bureaucracy was willing to acknowledge that they were responsible for the problem...it was immensely frustrating. I wish the county would allow private toll payment companies to issue tags and compete for the business. It sucks when the only option is to pay the ridiculous fees or stop using a toll tag.

I just spent the last hour on the phone working up the HCTRA chain of command. Completely worthless. What #$%@ed up situation.

My favorite exchange with the supervisor, paraphrased:

Super: "Even though you called us and we told you we would resolve these violations, your account was automatically referred to collections and there was nothing we could do about it."

Me: "The law firm performing collections is working on HCTRA's behalf, so can't you just call them up and tell them to end their collections efforts on this account?"

Super: "I could do that, but I'm not going to. You've had several weeks to correct this mistake, now you owe it."

I think the law firm might be able to negotiate a settlement for a smaller amount, but you're probably stuck paying something at this point.

Call Professor Treece at KHOU!!!

Might wanna set up your email to receive notices when they charge your CC. That way you know if they can't charge you. They will email you and tell you it wasn't able to be processed/

I hate dealing with those people. Go talk to them in person and see if they can work it out. It's easy to say no on the phone.

Write or call your county commisioner's office. They run HCTRA. Sort of like calling your congressman when the IRS or some other fed is screwing you over.

Did HCTRA issue your tag or did TxTAG? HCTRA is Harris County administered and TxTAG is administered by TxDOT. If TxTAG issued your tag make them fix it.

I had a similar issue when they still used the old style tags. I bought a new (to me) truck. Called them up and gave them the make, model, and license plate number. I guess something was wrong with the Northbound exit just before 249. Later that summer I got a letter, with a great photo of my truck asking for the 3 busted tolls and the collection fee. I called them, gave them account number and sure enough they'd fat-fingered my plate number. I gave her the correct license plate number and I believe her response was, "that's the truck in these photos, and it's registered to the same name and address as the account number you just gave me!" Thank you captain obvious! I'm driving the truck in those photos!

My account was billed for the 3 tolls and the penalty removed.

i dislike them immensely.

like all big companies, it seems like it's the luck of the draw on who you get to help you.

i spoke to the most ignorant, barely understanable, and most likely barely literate people i know.

absolutely terrible experience.



[This message has been edited by Only1BFish (edited 6/15/2012 10:12a).]

We had an issue with my wife's txtag on houston toll ways earlier this year. Txtags customer services sucks and has a tendency to lie, so get anything they say in writing. They claim the credit card was declined, however the CC company had no record of them even submitting the charge.

TXtag said they would take care of the issue by sending a statement to HCTRA, so we let it drop (stupidly and then got a letter from collections for several hundred dollars. HCTRA says they never received anything from TXtag.

I went in person to HCTRA after several phone calls and ran it up the chain there and there really wasn't anything they would do once its at collections.

The big issue was the interagency lack of cooperation. When I had issues with my EZtag in the past, they took care of everything with absolutely no problem and no charges, even though it was my fault for forgetting to tell them I had a new CC# after having my card compromised.

We eventually paid the damn fine after too damn much time arguing and then canceled my wife's txtag and then added her to my EZtag account. TXtag customer service didn't even try to retain her when she asked to cancel, it was simply ok this is what you need to do. We thought about getting an NTTA tag, but decided that it was best that we stayed in the HCTRA system since that is where all of our driving really is.

Sounds about right Brad. I am thinking of cancelling TxTag, but I occasionally use toll roads outside of Harris Co.

I've kept my NTTA tag for 4 years since I moved back to Houston and haven't had any problems. They also have been good to work with in the past with customer service when I forget to update credit card information and the like.

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Sounds about right Brad. I am thinking of cancelling TxTag, but I occasionally use toll roads outside of Harris Co.

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Pretty sure EZ Tag works throughout the state. I've taken it on toll roads in Austin.

The EZ Tag works on all toll roads in Texas, so you don't need to keep the TxTag for that reason.

Well then, I'm done with TxTag. Then again, I hate HCTRA. This is a conundrum. Thanks for the input folks.

There was an issue with the TxTAG billing system earlier this year. It was in the news a few times. They originally reported that they had been hacked, but then i think it ended up being their system that was messed up.

IMO it is TxTAGs responsibiltiy to fix the problem with HCTRA. I would not pay one cent of over charges.