eflow "Pay as you go" mess.

LegacyUser

I agree - the website is quite bad. To add to the misery on this thread ...

If you email their personal customer support they don't respond.

It you email their business customer support the email bounces.

businessaccount@eflow.ie on 09/09/2008 15:02
The e-mail account does not exist at the organization this message was sent to. Check the e-mail address, or contact the recipient directly to find out the correct address.
<M50TOLL.local #5.1.1 smtp;550 5.1.1 RESOLVER.ADR.RecipNotFound; not found>

soupireland

I agree with the taxing petrol - that way everybody pays and it relates to how much they use the roads.

BrianD

Anybody got a problem with being charged the wrong toll? All our vehicles (Almera vans/Primastar vans) are being charged as twin axle trucks (€3.30instead of €2.50) when going through the East Link while using eFlow tags.

Red Alert

That's probably just an error in the registration records - but check and make sure they're not also getting overcharged on the M50 too - they probably are.

Guvnor

Cheers MYOB/Red Alert,

I guess I'll keep paying so! :-)

You guys know if non ROI cars need to bother paying as in a friend who comes over now and again from France with a French car?

L1011

Officially they have to pay.

Realistically, nobody knows how the NRA will be chasing stuff up. All they can do is sent nastygrams and private (no real authority) debt collectors after them. If someones over very rarely its unlikely they'll bother. If you're on every day two directions with a foreign reg car, I suspect they'll be tracking you down (and maybe snitching to the VRO! ).

JupiterKid

Well, I got my "tag" in the post and have activated it (by phoning the Eflow number) and have fitted it to my car. It's huge, ugly and unwieldy. Could they not have produced something a bit smaller and more discreet?

I suppose I am being assimmilited. Resistence is futile....:(:eek:

L1011

They could have. Eazypass, eTrip and TollTag.ie all use far, far smaller units.

Carawaystick

Red Alert wrote: »

The system in the Dundrum town centre and Dublin airport car parks reads the number plates in real time of cars as they move through the complex. The cameras on the M50 are helped out by induction loops so they've a decent enough idea of when a car is underneath them. Once the snap is taken, it's pretty simple for a bog standard computer to figure out the number.

harder to drive past the barriers in those carparks at 120kmh though!

Yoda

watty wrote: »

Firefox 2.x on XP works.

Well, no it doesn't. I can't get past the "Update in Progress" message.

Reyman

Total madness - this whole thing. An extra 10 cents on the petrol is the fair and easiest answer.

Let people who drive a lot pay for this infrastructure - the rest of us can stick to our bicycles.

Easy Rider

Yep does not support Firefox on Windows 2000 either, don't think it is the OS is the problem but the fact it does not support firefox...

ravydavygravy

Firefox works fine for me.

BeatNikDub

The service is deplorable.

I have had to resort to writing to them:

To whom it may concern,

Due to excessive attempts trying to get through a human on your telephone service I have no option but to send a letter.
I have already paid this toll. In fact I have paid double the amount as I paid after 8pm the following day.
I was unable to pay by phone (no one seemed to know how to put through a late fee/was cut off/given different non-existent numbers to call) or by the internet site as every time I tried it gave me an error message.
The following day I tried my local newsagent in Ballinteer which has Payzone facilities. They took my payment for the toll and late charge, even though this also seemed quite a challenge in itself.
I have been trying all day to get through to someone as I have confusingly got an invoice for EUR 3.00 which, a) suggests the payment was never registered and b) suggests that there is no late fee so I am now in fact, in credit.
It would be most helpful to be able to talk to someone to see if my payment has in fact gone through before I incur another penalty beyond my control. Unfortunately my attempts at human contact to e-flow result in a brief message that everyone is busy and then I am cut off. I have tried your payments option as that seems to have people answering but it is beyond their ability to check if my payment has gone through and I am referred to the same option that cuts you off.
I include my receipt proving my payment.
And I leave you with this question that your good selves in eflow may want to ponder, maybe just for a moment or so!

Should it be that difficult for our customers to make a payment?

Yours faithfully,

Lizzykins

This Eflow lark is a pain in the neck. I registered back in July for a Video Registration. I got a letter back asking me to activate same which was an ordeal in itself as I waited God knows how long on the phone to speak to someone. No other way to activate or I would have done it. Then I get a letter saying my CC details will expire soon and to update soon. I can do that online but I have absolutely no idea what my User Id is or Password. Dopey me never took note of what they were! And if I want a reminder of my password I still need my user ID. I can't face another wait on the phone so I'm just going to pay as you go in future. I'm hardly ever on the M50 anyway. As someone said maybe it's not a good idea to give them CC details seeing as half the banks etc have lost CC details!

LegacyUser

Call in off peak hours and you will get through.

---

I had an issue with payment when registering for my card. The website told me to ring customer care, the girl who answered assured me the payment had gone through and the tag had been ordered.

Roll on two weeks, not a sign of the tag. So, I ring up to query it and am told that the order never went through. Now in fairness, the guy who resolved my issue lastnight was spot on and had the issue resolved in no time. Pity about the girl who took my call two weeks ago.

I imagine, like any service, there will be teething problems.

cute_cow

My parents and I were in Limerick from Thursday 13th to Wednesday 17th September, and my parents then stayed in Dublin with me until yesterday.

My mum has just called to say that she received a letter from Eflow to say that our car was used on the M50 Toll Bridge on 15th September. If I remeber correctly, we were in Killarney on this day.

How is this possible? Is someone using our car registration over their own passing though? Has this happened to anyone else?

markpb

cute_cow wrote: »

My mum has just called to say that she received a letter from Eflow to say that our car was used on the M50 Toll Bridge on 15th September. If I remeber correctly, we were in Killarney on this day.

License plate recognition isn't 100% accurate. Dirt, screw tops, etc can make it misread the plate. I'd imagine they've planned for this so when you let them know you're appealing it, someone will examine the video footage and get the correct plate number. If someone is masquerading as you(r car), you'll have to get onto the Gardai.

Alun

Lizzykins wrote: »

This Eflow lark is a pain in the neck. I registered back in July for a Video Registration. I got a letter back asking me to activate same which was an ordeal in itself as I waited God knows how long on the phone to speak to someone. No other way to activate or I would have done it.

I registered for a video account too, and I didn't need to activate anything by phone or otherwise. I just registered online and got a letter a week or so later to confirm my registration, that's all. Seems to work fine so far.

shenanigans1982

I recieved a letter wrongly accusing me of not paying the toll today. I think blaming this on "teething problems" is ridiculous and it should have all been sorted out before the system came online. I am sure if every wrong accusation of not paying resulted in free crossings for the accused then it would happen a lot less often.

Has anyone else recieved these letters and ignored them? I have no intention of getting in touch with the company because the mistake is on their behalf and it should be down to them to rectify it.

ardmacha

I recieved a letter wrongly accusing me of not paying the toll today.

report them to the data protection commissioner for not keeping accurate records.

rameire

shenanigans1982 wrote: »

I recieved a letter wrongly accusing me of not paying the toll today. I think blaming this on "teething problems" is ridiculous and it should have all been sorted out before the system came online. I am sure if every wrong accusation of not paying resulted in free crossings for the accused then it would happen a lot less often.

Has anyone else recieved these letters and ignored them? I have no intention of getting in touch with the company because the mistake is on their behalf and it should be down to them to rectify it.

hope you enjoy court

LegacyUser

I ordered a tag and have used the toll 4 times. They claim I have used it 9 times and if I log into my online account I can see that deduction.

AND I have received 2 letters claiming I never paid for 3!

Ridiculous system .. the physical tag still has not arrived yet.

I cancelled my tag this evening - couldn't have a company like that having "free flow" to my bank account. I'd rather pay the 3 euros when I cross the toll myself than having to deal with those letters and hanging on the phone on a regular basis.


In fact, if I had sat in the traffic in Lucan rather than taking the toll I would have taken up the same amount of time as I have on the phone trying to resolve the issues.

Run_to_da_hills

shenanigans1982 wrote: »

I recieved a letter wrongly accusing me of not paying the toll today. I think blaming this on "teething problems" is ridiculous and it should have all been sorted out before the system came online. I am sure if every wrong accusation of not paying resulted in free crossings for the accused then it would happen a lot less often.

Has anyone else recieved these letters and ignored them? I have no intention of getting in touch with the company because the mistake is on their behalf and it should be down to them to rectify it.

Remember you are dealing with a Computer and not a person. The system has found you GUILTY. If you proceed to ignore its automated messages you are still guilty of the offense. Meanwhile It is up to you to prove yourself innocent. Enjoy court and have all the evidence ready.

the groutch

murphaph wrote: »

NTR built it-taxpayers' money bought it and even if they hadn't, taxpayers' money (irish and european) paid for the rest of the M50 to funnel suckers customers into it. It was a brown envelope job from day one and it still is-see Shane Ross' article about the board of directors of the NRA-ALL political appointees bar one man. They are all puppets for FF.

This country is a sham.

DUH!!! People had the chance to get rid of Fianna Failures about 7 years ago, but were duped by Charlie's giveaway budgets which in reality were only making the rich richer, 6% off both rates of a PAYE (a progressive tax), and no 1% off the vat as promised (a regressive tax), and don't get me started on the bertie bowl, the luas which has taken virtually no cars off the roads, etc etc

And now we are paying the price for their financial mis-management and failure to hold back any money for "a rainy day"

Stimpyone

shenanigans1982 wrote: »

I recieved a letter wrongly accusing me of not paying the toll today. I think blaming this on "teething problems" is ridiculous and it should have all been sorted out before the system came online. I am sure if every wrong accusation of not paying resulted in free crossings for the accused then it would happen a lot less often.

Has anyone else recieved these letters and ignored them? I have no intention of getting in touch with the company because the mistake is on their behalf and it should be down to them to rectify it.

I've received 6 letters in total in the last 2 weeks despite me having an eazypass account for the last 4 years.

Each time I've had to ring them up and each time they've assured me that everything is being sorted. By the way the 1890 number only works sometimes, I ring the NRA at 01 6602511 and press 1 which gets you straight through.

Wouldn't bother this morning though, their system is down:rolleyes:. I'm awaiting the return phone call.

cynos

Stimpyone wrote: »

Wouldn't bother this morning though, their system is down:rolleyes:. I'm awaiting the return phone call.

they rang me at 11.45 and again at 12.15 and never mentioned anything about their system being down, they did however say that to me yesterday when I rang.
I get a couple of bills/fines a day despite also having an easypass and was told these fines will be passed onto easypass and I still may recieve future bills/fines from them if my easy pass doesnt read again:rolleyes:

shenanigans1982

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

Remember you are dealing with a Computer and not a person. The system has found you GUILTY. If you proceed to ignore its automated messages you are still guilty of the offense. Meanwhile It is up to you to prove yourself innocent. Enjoy court and have all the evidence ready.

Isn't it innocent until proven guilty?

Anyway I have no problem going to court, I have the proof that the toll is paid and until they have a number that is free phone I will not be getting in touch with them.

Run_to_da_hills

shenanigans1982 wrote: »

Isn't it innocent until proven guilty?

Not according to most of the posters on this blog that have been recieving four pages of invoices each time.

shenanigans1982 wrote: »

Anyway I have no problem going to court, I have the proof that the toll is paid and until they have a number that is free phone I will not be getting in touch with them.

Good idea, if everyone did this they would be quick enough to sort out their problems. There again its your fault for not having a service provider that offers a flat rate fee with unlimited local calls.

Arathorn

Just to add my bad experience. Used the toll twice last tue, paid it the following day, the pay as you go system. I saved the web page that confirmed the transaction. Today I got a letter, 4 pages saying I didnt pay. Sent this to them in an email, no response yet.

It's completely stupid, you have no idea what toll pass you are paying for its just like throwing €3 at them each time hoping it goes through the system.

shenanigans1982

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

Good idea, if everyone did this they would be quick enough to sort out their problems. There again its your fault for not having a service provider that offers a flat rate fee with unlimited local calls.

Agreed, I will get right on to them just incase the stupidity of the eflow system is an issue for me in the future.

Guvnor

Hi Guys,

I received two 4 page letters from E Flow despite paying for the tolls the following day.

I went up and down on the 18th and the 19th of this month. Therefore I used the toll bridge a total of four times.

Now the interesting thing is that they say I owe for just two trips - the southbound trip on the 18th and the northbound trip on the 19th.

Does this mean they have no record of me going through the other two times? Is it feasible that the cameras are only working in one direction at anyone time?

The letter states that if I have already paid the toll to ignore this letter. This is what I intend to do - I probably expect the next letter in 14 days but I have proof of payment and potentially €6.00 in credit!:D

Heroditas

got an email from Eazypass last night telling me to ignore any letters that arrive from eFlow relating to payment of charges. Sweet!

Automatic Cancellation of M50 Toll Notices from eFlow


Dear Eazy Pass Customer,

If you are a registered customer with EazyPass and you have received an eFlow notice in relation to M50 tolls, eFlow confirms that all of these notices will be cancelled and the original toll only (at the tag rate) will be transferred onto your tag account. Provided that the number plate details on your account are correct these notices will be cancelled automatically you do not need to do anything. If you are unsure that your number plate details are correct, just check your most recent account statement.

If the vehicle license plate details on the Notice differs from those on your Eazy Pass account, then please log onto the eFlow web-site and use the Notice Cancellation option to enter your Notice numbers and vehicle details,. This will enable eFlow to cancel your notices and your updated vehicle details will be forwarded to Eazy Pass.

The problem of Notices being issued incorrectly is most likely due to the tag not being mounted correctly in the middle of the windscreen or not having the proper vehicle details associated with your tag. If you require a new tag holder, please reply to this email and we will forward a tag holder to you.

eFlow apologises for the inconvenience caused by this issue but expect it to be resolved shortly by ensuring the proper mounting of tags and by making certain that vehicle registration numbers on tag accounts are kept up to date. Eazy Pass will continue to assist eFlow in eliminating this problem.

Eazy Pass Customer Service

LegacyUser

I cancelled my account two weeks ago becuase of the mess up. It is still active and there is "someone" going across the toll using my tag - and its not me!

keen

I got a letter stating I had to pay six euro for the use of the M50 twice, I lost the sheet of paper that contained the barcode so when I went to my local agent I couldn't pay what was owed.

I rang the the Eflow customer care line at least five times, each time the call was disconnected as there was nobody availble to answer my call. I sent a email explaining my problem and got no response I sent three more and still got no response within 8 days, I finally got through too a eflow customer care rep today on the phone who told me I have to pay an eighty euro late fine, anyone know where I stand on this? If I got some response from eflow either by phone or email I certainly wouldn't of been late, I genuinely didn't know how to pay as I don't own a credit card and lost the barcode sheet of paper that was mailed to my home address.

AlekSmart

Don`t worry until you hear the sound of the Debt Recovery Agent`s knuckles scraping along the ground as he approaches your hall door.....:)

As others will attest to,ignorance of the law or frivolity with ones paperwork is no defence against the muscle which will be increasingly applied to back up this Scam.... :mad:

Scruff

well the fiasco is all over the radio and newspapers today.
I crossed the new toll free barrier for the 1st time this weekend. Registered my car online before hand with my cc details. Does it take the payment automatically? I've checked my account and there is €5 owed..

Alun

Scruff wrote: »

well the fiasco is all over the radio and newspapers today.
I crossed the new toll free barrier for the 1st time this weekend. Registered my car online before hand with my cc details. Does it take the payment automatically? I've checked my account and there is €5 owed..

They tot them up and you pay monthly.

davros

I have made exactly two return journeys on the M50 since barrier-free tolling began. I paid on eflow.ie the same day in each case. Both times I received the 4-page payment demand 5 days later.

I am just forwarding all of this to my local Fianna Fail TD. I hope others will flood their TDs with this rubbish. It's a state-operated and designed system and they need to know the scale of the problem.

I've just heard the NRA on the radio claiming that the system is not so bad as everyone is claiming. They shouldn't get away with that.

Davidth88

I have made exactly two return journeys on the M50 since barrier-free tolling began. I paid on eflow.ie the same day in each case. Both times I received the 4-page payment demand 5 days later.

The same thing has happened to me, I made sure I kept the reciepts because I didn't trust these guys... so I look forward to them chasing me down. I am not going to contact them , or do anything because it says if I have made payment to ignore the letter, anyway why should I waste my time ?

I must be happening to 100/1000's of people .

This system is patently not working , whatever the ' spin doctors' like to say !

IIMII

10,000 per day down from 20,000 according to today's Irish Times

davros

IIMII wrote: »

10,000 per day down from 20,000 according to today's Irish Times

According to that article it's all problems with the tags not being mounted correctly (motorists' fault, obviously!) and the backup failure to match registration plates with tag holders on the backend.

No mention though of my situation. I have no tag and I'm not pre-registered. eFlow read my registration correctly and I paid on their own website but they still couldn't figure out I paid. If they can't get something as simple as that to work they should suspend tolling until they can do it.

CtrlSource

From RTÉ News

The operators of barrier-free tolling on Dublin's M50 say the details of around 200 vehicles a day are not being read correctly. The National Roads Authority has conceded significant problems with billing of cars by the new barrier free tolling system on the M50.

The Authority says up to 14,000 people a week are being billed incorrectly. The system manages tolling for up to 100,000 cars a day on the road.

Some 200 people a day are receiving bills in error as they were not on the motorway, but 80% of incorrect billing is because people have placed their tag incorrectly on their car windscreen.

Footage from the NRA shows drivers have placed their tags in the wrong part of their windscreen, some sticking them onto the wrong side of their car mirror, holding them up to the windscreen and in some cases waving them out the window as they drive past the tolling scanners on the motorway.

The NRA have disputed figures in today's newspapers that claimed that around 10,000 people a day were being incorrectly billed.

The Authority says around 10,000 cars a day that are not registered are being sent toll requests. The Authority says customer service problems at the M50 call centre are largely due to the fact that 40 people left their jobs there.

The high turnover of staff is being blamed mainly on callers to the system who are often abusive and threatening, according to the NRA.

The NRA claimed today that the charging system is 99.8% accurate.
_________________________________________________________


"...holding them up to the windscreen and in some cases waving them out the window as they drive past the tolling scanners on the motorway."

Hilarious! Must watch out for this behaviour when i'm next driving past.


"The high turnover of staff is being blamed mainly on callers to the system who are often abusive and threatening, according to the NRA."

Aw, poor things!

petergfiffin

Quick question....if the cameras can read the reg numbers then why do we need tags? Surely you could just register your car details (reg number etc) and that's all you'd need.

Run_to_da_hills

IIMII wrote: »

10,000 per day down from 20,000 according to today's Irish Times

That is 40,000 pages of invoices being posted out per day taking that each invoice is 4 page document.

This is 28,0000 sheets of paper a week,

1,120,000 a month or

13,440,000 a year :eek:

petergfiffin wrote: »

Quick question....if the cameras can read the reg numbers then why do we need tags? Surely you could just register your car details (reg number etc) and that's all you'd need.

E_tagging is a far more accurate system than ANPR provided that the device is correctly set up.

keen

Anyone know how long has to pass before a late fine is imposed?

shenanigans1982

keen wrote: »

Anyone know how long has to pass before a late fine is imposed?

Initially you have til 8 the following day, then i think you have a two week period and then it forty euro. Aint too sure after that.

keen

shenanigans1982 wrote: »

Initially you have til 8 the following day, then i think you have a two week period and then it forty euro. Aint too sure after that.

Thanks, got the two fines waived.

Tarabuses

petergfiffin wrote: »

Quick question....if the cameras can read the reg numbers then why do we need tags? Surely you could just register your car details (reg number etc) and that's all you'd need.

Yes, but that would be much too easy and wouldn't involve expenditure on tags.

murphaph

My mother registered a video account. Just after registering (but before activating) the account she used the bridge and assumed she'd be billed on her account. She was arong and a standard toll request arrived but the funniest part is that when i called up eflow to pay the STR on my laser card, the operator told me someone else (not my mother) had already paid it! The whole system is an utter joke and folly. They should remove this behemoth of admonistration and waste forthwith and raise taxes more efficiently elsewhere!