Remember all those stories when Obamacare was first launched, about the terrible website and then people having to wait on hold for hours to try and clean up the problems the law was causing them? Well, the folks at the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) seem to have taken a page from the federal bureaucracy’s playbook with how they are administering their tolling program on I-405, the Highway 520 bridge, Tacoma Narrows Bridge, and Highway 167 toll lanes.
As reported in the Seattle Times today, so many mistakes are being made by the vendor administering the WSDOT’s Good to Go payment program that the state is telling those calling to complain that “there’s no need to waste time phoning a customer-service line if you’re among thousands of highway tollpayers caught in this month’s credit-card processing snafu. So says the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT), which acknowledged Monday it can’t keep up with the incoming calls.”
However, the WSDOT bureaucrats are promising to fix the problem, which is impacting people who had followed the department’s encouragement to establish an automatic replenishing account. But in the last month, “through no fault of their own, drivers were receiving stern emails or even a bill that showed negative balances and unpaid tolls.
“The state will eventually reconcile those, so people with automatic replenishment shouldn’t need to take action, Bergerson said.
“‘We are going to take care of this for them,’ he said.”
Or, if they can’t fix it that way, “if customers still find late fees that are the state’s fault, they’ll eventually be able to call or email to get those canceled, according to Bergerson. If all else fails, people can use the state’s one-time amnesty program to erase fees and penalties. Customer service lines (for later use) are 1-866-936-8246 or [email protected].”
That’s right, later use. Unless WSDOT messes up something else. But what would the odds of that be?
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