Eflow - paying for toll

thebman

You can prepay in some shops as far as I'm aware, you need your license plate number I think.

fatboypee

ahh eFlow..... more like eFlop.....
I tried in vain 3 times last Thursday to pay my tolls in advance of travelling to the airport early Friday morning. Each time I put in my CC details etc and got an error.

I have to admit I was not aware there are other co's offering this servive (wtf is that all about ?! - separate thread required maybe )..

In despair I called eFlow. On the 3rd attempt I got thru to an agent, delighted I would not have issues I proceeded to give the agent all the details to pre-pay...

Agent: "oooh, looks like we have an error on our system"...

Me: "eerrrrr yes, thats what I got when I tried 3 times using your web site.."

Agent: "oooh, we only have the same method of paying tolls as you do on the website.."

Me: "Well I'm off to the airport at 4AM tomorrow and will be out of the country for the next week, with little or no access to the internet, how am I supposed to pay to avoid penalties?"

Agent: "errrr, perhaps you can call back before 10pm ? we close at 10pm... I'll notify my supervisor of the problem"..

I tried another 3 times before retiring to bed with no success... :mad::mad:

It is my job to technology enable call centres. In my professional opinion, whomever set up this call centre to have a single point payment system should be shot slowly. They could offer NO alternative payment facilities and were not interested in taking my reg number to offset later.

IMHO, utterly MICKEY MOUSE...

FBP.

thebman

fatboypee wrote: »

I have to admit I was not aware there are other co's offering this servive (wtf is that all about ?! - separate thread required maybe )..

FBP.

It wouldn't matter if you were aware of the other services:

http://eflow.ie/news/index.htm#1

If you are a customer of another tag provider and received a toll notice from eFlow:


If you have received a payment request notice from eFlow and are already a registered customer with eFlow or any other tag provider, we apologise for this error. The problem is most likely due to an incorrect licence plate being associated with your tag or an incorrectly mounted tag. To have this notice cancelled and ensure that your correct licence plate is associated with your tag, please press:

Works just as well with other tags as it does with their own payment options

When looking into these tags for my dad earlier, I ran into these site. They used to have an old site which said the tags worked in the UK too. I don't know if that is still the case but they seem to have reasonable payment options compared to some of the others IMO (at least they did before the M50 thing came into use, haven't really looked at it too much since).

https://bookings.parkmagic.net/tolltag/main.aspx

IsThatSo?

IsThatSo? wrote: »

I agree. Either the 3 transactions will have the same reference number,which will prove they are multiple of the same transaction, OR they have different reference numbers and I have the reference number of the one I agreed to and there won't be records showing I went through the toll 12 times!! Either way I can't go wrong so its probably the least frustrating path to take

Muppets!!!!!

CC company won't take a chargeback instruction without confirmation from the muppets, even though I told them I rang and nobody had a clue how to help me. Emailed Eflop last night, it will be interesting to see how long it will take them to respond. I have 60 days to do a chargeback with CC and they said if Eflop give me the runaround then to get back in touch with them, but to keep copies of all correspondence.

Fatboypee, watch your cc statement, you could end up being charged multiple times.

Does anyone know who the other crowds are who are doing the toll charges? I think I will look into them, they certainly can't be any worse than Eflop.

IsThatSo?

brim4brim wrote: »

It wouldn't matter if you were aware of the other services:

http://eflow.ie/news/index.htm#1



Works just as well with other tags as it does with their own payment options

Inspires confidence.....................:rolleyes:

Where did we go wrong in this country?????

I see the toll tag costs €30.00, I think they might be the same ones as I saw on sale in Centra locally. You know what? It might be worth the €30.00 for the ease of use aspect, rather than this paying afterwards lark.

daheff

My sister has a tag for the toll bridge as she has to go to the airport on a regular basis for work. Most of the time she has no problems...she makes sure the tag beeps as she goes through the barrier...but she has also been billed for not paying fora couple of trips despite having a fully paid tag!!!

~Shower of f*ckers

thebman

Yeah its kind of clear their sensors and cameras for taking pictures of plates don't work properly.

I would never trust the license plate camera idea anyway. We studied that kind of thing in college and it just never looked accurate enough to me to be of much use in real world situations like this with thousands of cars going through it. I'm sure other countries have it working though so they might want to see what they did.

The tags should cause less problems, over charging might be due to calibration of sensors where it detects one and waits for a set period of time, your not gone so it detects your tag again and you get double charged.

That might also cause the person behind you to get free pass through.

Its probably something simple like that wrong with the way they setup the sensors that is causing all the problems.

jor el

Today's Indo makes a claim that the system is misreading 10,000 plates, a day. The NRA have responded saying that it's actually only 1,000 plates a day that the system misreads. Well, that's so much better now isn't it? What happened to the promises the NRA made in the weeks coming up to this that there wouldn't be problems such as this.

It also doesn't appear to be just the plate recognition system that's borked, the payment system seems to be a mess too. 4 weeks since I crossed the bridge twice, and paid twice, and still no charges to my card.

Oryx

Ive used the online system to pay, and I dont like it. You put your reg and date of travel in, and what I would like to happen is that the system checks and pulls out its record of you passing the toll. Allocates your payment to that and strikes it off.

But that doesnt happen. You put in your details and it randomly allows you to pay, whether it has a record of you or not. So someone else gets your bill if your reg has been misread, and if you happen through some error to get billed for non payment, you go through the rigmarole of proving you did. Just seems to me they missed a step in setting this up that would have removed some of those issues.

The free flow of traffic is better, but somehow I knew this system would be flawed. I seem to recall though, that the initial stages of the congestion charge in London had similar plate recognition problems, which were resolved.

getz

i am still trying to find out how i can pay the m50 toll--i will be arriving over from the uk on irish ferries in the early hrs on a saturday morning -so i cannot see how i am going to be able to get a tag at 6am--i have tried to contact e/flow?on the net but still have no answer for me--you try to do the right thing -but it looks as if they don,t care

Oryx

getz wrote: »

i am still trying to find out how i can pay the m50 toll--i will be arriving over from the uk on irish ferries in the early hrs on a saturday morning -so i cannot see how i am going to be able to get a tag at 6am--i have tried to contact e/flow?on the net but still have no answer for me--you try to do the right thing -but it looks as if they don,t care

Just drive through the toll and pay before (I think) 8pm the next day, either online, by phone or at a paypoint (try petrol stations)

Cabaal

Oryx wrote: »

Just drive through the toll and pay before (I think) 8pm the next day, either online, by phone or at a paypoint (try petrol stations)

yeah its 8pm the next day, the number to call them on is 1890 50 10 50

EKRIUQ

I had a problem setting up an account with my lazer card and their website just timed out and then when I did use the toll bridge it kept giving me an error when I tried to pay! I emailed them and got the automated email.

When I got back from being away from the country I had to use the toll again and when I got home I paid for both journeys. So maybe I'll get a bill for the first as it was after the 8pm deadline.

What I hate about the website is that you get no confirmation email !! how amateur is that and they don't seem to have any online record of your journey. When I type in the reg of the car the car type comes up but not the journeys I owe for and I have to tell them.

fatboypee

All, imho comes down to the M.Mouse implementation of IT infrastructure and Call Centre. How on EARTH they thought they'd get away with it is beyond me, but then again ........ :rolleyes:

Cuddlesworth

jor el wrote: »

It would be handy if they had some geographic number. Given that the majority of people using the bridge will be Dublin based, then an 01 number would be suitable. Also, a lot of people have bundled call packages that give free national number calls anyway, so a lot of people would be able to call for free. For those who don't, the lo-call number could be left in place.

You can only have so many connections coming in over one number on a normal line. For what they would need, they would have to enter into the contract to tie into a telecom's exchange with their system. And they won't do that until the person is willing to pay for the fact they will be receiving thousands of phone calls. More then a lo-call number will cost them since it partially pays for itself. Nothings thats simple.

patrickpc

Hi there,

I have an eflow post-pay account and just checked my eflow transactions for Septenber and spotted something odd. I had been billed for two transactions over the westlink bridge in the same car 10 seconds apart. The first transaction showed the tag id but no reg number, the second transaction showed the reg number but no tag id. I rang up to query it and got the second transaction removed. If I hadn't checked the transactions online I would have been billed for the extra journey I didn't make.

Just a warning to all those using eflow post pay accounts - check your transactions or you may be paying double for the pleasure of crossing the west link bridge.

Has anyone else spotted this kind of anomoly ? I despised the toll booths but at least they only charged you once !!!

-P

I.S.T.

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

You can only have so many connections coming in over one number on a normal line. For what they would need, they would have to enter into the contract to tie into a telecom's exchange with their system. And they won't do that until the person is willing to pay for the fact they will be receiving thousands of phone calls. More then a lo-call number will cost them since it partially pays for itself. Nothings thats simple.

How come ISPs could manage to do it in the dial-up internet days then? The 01 number for Eircom.net or Indigo must have had thousands of customers. How come blueface can supply an 01 number? Yaptel.com have one also.

dudara

Threads merged. Let's try to keep this topic in one place.

dudara

jor el

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

You can only have so many connections coming in over one number on a normal line. For what they would need, they would have to enter into the contract to tie into a telecom's exchange with their system. And they won't do that until the person is willing to pay for the fact they will be receiving thousands of phone calls. More then a lo-call number will cost them since it partially pays for itself. Nothings thats simple.

As it turns out, we're both wrong. They do have a geographical number: Call 01 6602511 and select the eFlow call centre option.

fatboypee wrote:

All, imho comes down to the M.Mouse implementation of IT infrastructure and Call Centre. How on EARTH they thought they'd get away with it is beyond me, but then again ........

Yes, after the resounding success of PPARs, Pulse and e-voting, I'm very surprised that a government department wasn't able to get a simple video recognition system and a website running.

Sean whatshisname, from the NRA, was on The Last Word this evening, pretty much blaming the drivers for most of the problems, incorrectly mounted tags. There was not much mention of the incorrect billing of people who hadn't crossed the toll, and no mention of the ultra-crappy website that doesn't give you a receipt, or have any way to check what you're due to pay or how much you have paid.

He also blamed the lack of response in the call centre to staff turnover, citing the loss of 40 staff members recently. It's strange that they have staff turnover, only a month after the place opens.

Jack Bauer999

IsThatSo? wrote: »

CC company won't take a chargeback instruction without confirmation from the muppets, even though I told them I rang and nobody had a clue how to help me. Emailed Eflop last night, it will be interesting to see how long it will take them to respond. I have 60 days to do a chargeback with CC and they said if Eflop give me the runaround then to get back in touch with them, but to keep copies of all correspondence.

Fatboypee, watch your cc statement, you could end up being charged multiple times.

Does anyone know who the other crowds are who are doing the toll charges? I think I will look into them, they certainly can't be any worse than Eflop.

Have you got a response from eflow yet?????
I paid a friends tolls charges on thier internet site on my credit card a few weeks ago, it was 54 euro.
the first time i tried to pay an error page came up so i went back in again
and selected the same tolls again and tried to pay again and it worked that time.

Then i checked my statment this week and it seems eflow took the same payment twice!! totaling 108 euro. So i persume the first time i tried to pay where the error page came up actually processed the payment!!!

Rang them up two days and explained it to eflow, they took my number
but still havent called me back.

Anybody know Is it possible to instruct the CC to do a chargeback???
Any other suggestions on how to get my money back?

Nody

jor el wrote: »

He also blamed the lack of response in the call centre to staff turnover, citing the loss of 40 staff members recently. It's strange that they have staff turnover, only a month after the place opens.

Would YOU want to answer the phone from angry upset Irish customers about the toll at the standard 20kish Call Centre salary? :pac:

fatboypee

Fatboypee, watch your cc statement, you could end up being charged multiple times.

Exactly what happend... 5 x 6 Euro !!! Called eFlOP 1890 number six times, got disconnected, used the NRA number and pressed option 1 and got thru. Was told eFLOP is CLOSED :mad::(:eek: at the moment but I would get a callback about my query....


I heard the NRA guy on Matt Cooper last night saying "there are problems, but we're dealing with them".. I find this hard to fathom as what right-minded organisation goes live with a Web Application that has such basic flaws ?

Never mind the issue of not reading the Number plate, charging a customer account multiple times is ridiculous. Even the most noddy of payment applications should have some kind of protection against this, and even if it does'nt (and they know it does'nt), then the error should show "You may have been charged for this transaction".... or somesuch...

Fkkkin Cowboys...

FBP.

IsThatSo?

Jack Bauer999 wrote: »

Have you got a response from eflow yet?????
I paid a friends tolls charges on thier internet site on my credit card a few weeks ago, it was 54 euro.
the first time i tried to pay an error page came up so i went back in again
and selected the same tolls again and tried to pay again and it worked that time.

Then i checked my statment this week and it seems eflow took the same payment twice!! totaling 108 euro. So i persume the first time i tried to pay where the error page came up actually processed the payment!!!

Rang them up two days and explained it to eflow, they took my number
but still havent called me back.

Anybody know Is it possible to instruct the CC to do a chargeback???
Any other suggestions on how to get my money back?

Emailed them 3 days ago and still waiting. If they don't respond by the end of next week I am going to contact my CC company again.

The CC company would not do a chargeback for me without confirmation from Eflow. They told me to email them, keep a copy of all correspondence and if I got the runaround then they would chargeback, but only then. I guess I need (more) proof that Eflow are muppets before the CC company will get involved.

You do have 60 days from payment posting date to do a chargeback, so that does give plenty of leeway. If Eflow don't respond to you (or me) I don't see that we have any other option than starting the chargeback process, but I suppose its best to give them a chance.

Really, this shower are giving me ire................................:mad:

Jack Bauer999

IsThatSo? wrote: »

Emailed them 3 days ago and still waiting. If they don't respond by the end of next week I am going to contact my CC company again.

The CC company would not do a chargeback for me without confirmation from Eflow. They told me to email them, keep a copy of all correspondence and if I got the runaround then they would chargeback, but only then. I guess I need (more) proof that Eflow are muppets before the CC company will get involved.

You do have 60 days from payment posting date to do a chargeback, so that does give plenty of leeway. If Eflow don't respond to you (or me) I don't see that we have any other option than starting the chargeback process, but I suppose its best to give them a chance.

Really, this shower are giving me ire................................:mad:

what email address did you use?
I cant find an address on thier site, only a contact form to fill in but
you cant keep that as proof to show the credit card company.

EKRIUQ

I rang up today over the bill's they have sent me and I'd already paid!, their going to put a dispute on the charge until its sorted and I may have to send them credit card copies.

(I took a screen shot of the payment confirmation for this situation) I suggested that they should send a confirmation email to people who had paid :cool: How difficult coluld that be to set up!

IsThatSo?

Jack Bauer999 wrote: »

what email address did you use?
I cant find an address on thier site, only a contact form to fill in but
you cant keep that as proof to show the credit card company.

customerservice at eflow dot ie

It was somewhere on the site, but I think I was logged into my "account" at the time.

Sizzler

Folks - Plenty more discussion / horror stories / suggestions on what this subject on the motoring forum (Including a boycott!)

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055348839&page=43

Hair Bear

Hi All. Sorry to hear you are alll having so much hazzle paying for the toll. Apparently this computer sysytem, camers etc cost €25 million per year to collect the toll. Even with this enormous investment...it does not work!

BUT - I am annoyed that the M50 toll charges have in fact gone up as the toll is no longer just 2 euro!:mad:

The minimum is now €2.20 and the dearest is €3.00. Why is it dearer when there is no staff required to man the toll booths...surely it could have been €2.00 with all charges included!!!:(

Steelhead

Hi,

E Flow have charged my credit card 7 times at €6.00 for one round trip on 31 Aug 08 which should have cost €6,00, ie an overcharge of € 36.00. This was as un registered trip ( no tag or video account) paid by phone after the trip. I have made every effort to have this corrected though the E Flow customer service by phone and E mail without avail. I suspect I am not alone in this abuse of trust whereby your credit card can be randomly charged without authorisation.

Askaboutmoney has also threards on this issue, so beware.

Steelhead

dr.bollocko

Well it is most likely an honest mistake, rather than a cynical attempt to defraud you of 36 bucks and then posting your details on to russian gangsters.
I understand it can be all kinds of annoying but you have to go through the customer service channels to get this resolved.