The M50 Barrier Free Tolling Thread

L1011

cormie wrote: »

He's also looking into why I was charged 4.80 on the M1 instead of 3.40, even though I've been charged 3.40 every other time

Don't hold out on them getting it sorted anytime soon, they (easytrip)'re still trying to sort out my being charged for a barrier that didn't raise on the M4 in April! The tag isn't meant to let you get charged again within a short time period and did, 15 seconds later, at the next gate (which opened) so its fairly clear its an error...

Seth Brundle

Goodbye & Good Riddance to one link in the chain!

M50 users promised a better service as complaints take toll
THE COMPANY handling customer queries from M50 toll users has lost its contract due to the high volume of complaints about its service.

BetEireFlow, the firm that operates the M50 tolling system on behalf of the National Roads Authority (NRA), confirmed last night it had terminated its contract with its customer service operator, Teleperformance. It had also handled queries for the eFlow electronic toll tag service.

The contract has been awarded to Cork-based business services provider Abtran, which is to hire an additional 100 staff for its head office in Bishopstown to handle the approximately 6,000 telephone calls a day associated with the service.

More than 100,000 vehicles use the M50 each day.

Simon McBeth, BetEireFlow’s communications director, said customers had experienced “unacceptable problems”.

BetEireFlow and the NRA had become increasingly frustrated about the high level of complaints since the introduction of barrier-free tolling last August.

Among the most common complaints were calls to the service provider being “dropped” or the customer cut off, problems resolving account issues and motorists being promised a call-back which did not materialise. The National Consumer Agency had also received complaints.

This led BetEireFlow to review the service and it ran a trial which gave a proportion of customer calls to Abtran and compared its performance with that of Teleperformance.

Mr McBeth said that after an initial two-week “bedding-in process”, customers would benefit from the change. He said M50 users “can be guaranteed that all calls will be answered and that queries will be dealt with in full”.

The Abtran call centre will take general M50 queries and also provide customer support for the eFlow tag.

Mr McBeth said the contact number (1890 50 10 50) would remain the same and queries would be dealt with between 7am and 11pm seven days a week. The changeover happened yesterday evening.

A spokesman for the NRA welcomed the announcement and said the number of complaints to it from M50 toll users had fallen during the trial. In April the NRA had expressed concern about the level of customer service “errors”.

One apparent consequence of these errors was that the legal firm appointed by the NRA to pursue motorists who failed to pay the toll sent letters to motorists who claimed their account arrears had already been paid.

A spokesperson for Teleperformance declined to comment last night. It employs 2,400 people in Bangor and Newry, Co Down, and provides customer services for firms including Setanta and Sainsbury.

It is understood customer service issues were the only reason for the change in service provider.

BetEireFlow refused to comment last night on the value or the duration of the customer service contract with Abtran.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/frontpage/2009/0611/1224248613172.html

Big Nasty

Correct me if I'm wrong but reading between the lines is that saying that 6% of users have a complaint and the 100 staff have to handle 600 calls each per day - or more probably considering shifts etc! :eek:

mcwhirter

At least the public are finally being heard.

Teleperformance you are a joke, I wasted so much time with phone calls to you over your incompetence.

L1011

MCMLXXV wrote: »

Correct me if I'm wrong but reading between the lines is that saying that 6% of users have a complaint and the 100 staff have to handle 600 calls each per day - or more probably considering shifts etc! :eek:

If all 100 were working at once, it'd be 6 calls a day with is a miniscule figure for a call centre. Obviously they're on shifts (is it 24 hour?), but I've seen longer serving staff (who are either better at their job or better at fobbing customers off!) doing 60+ calls a day.

Big Nasty

MYOB wrote: »

If all 100 were working at once, it'd be 6 calls a day with is a miniscule figure for a call centre. Obviously they're on shifts (is it 24 hour?), but I've seen longer serving staff (who are either better at their job or better at fobbing customers off!) doing 60+ calls a day.

I think we're both wrong dude - 6,000 call / 100 staff = 60 calls.

Our man in Havana

Even 60 calls a day is alot for a call center employee.

Seth Brundle

I think you are all misreading it (unless I am!)
they recruited an additional 100 staff to help handle the 6,000 daily calls - their existing staff will also help (who knows, with the recession, they may be idle at the moment!).
Even if it was just 100 staff dealing with 6,000 calls per day (averaging 60 calls each) and bearing in mind that most are for paying the €6 charge I would bet, then that is not that much as they would be fairly short (1-2 mins each) - its not 6,000 complaint calls.

Toto Wolfcastle

kbannon wrote: »

I think you are all misreading it (unless I am!)
they recruited an additional 100 staff to help handle the 6,000 daily calls - their existing staff will also help (who knows, with the recession, they may be idle at the moment!).
Even if it was just 100 staff dealing with 6,000 calls per day (averaging 60 calls each) and bearing in mind that most are for paying the €6 charge I would bet, then that is not that much as they would be fairly short (1-2 mins each) - its not 6,000 complaint calls.

I don't think that's it. I have a friend who works there (and who trained them in) and I think it's just 100. The existing staff are pretty much tied up with existing contracts. Unless I took what she said wrong.

Meh, they should just sort out their website and reduce the amount of calls coming in.

BarryErfree

mcwhirter wrote: »

At least the public are finally being heard.

Teleperformance you are a joke, I wasted so much time with phone calls to you over your incompetence.

I worked for the E-Flow campaign in teleperformance and was laid off yesterday, we were given zero days notice. Calling teleperformance incompetent has as much logic to it as me saying every single M50 user is incompetent for not being able to read a few road signs or call a number.

It might not have been clear to any M50 user, but every single person in teleperformance tried to help you as much as we could. Its not our fault the system is a complete rip-off, we helped as much as bet-eir permitted us (which by the end was not alot).

I have worked on the campaign since it started, for the first few months we waived all the fines we could for customers that had legitimate reasons for not paying, including €40 fines. Then BetEir Flow told us we couldnt waive anything and considered sueing teleperformance for monies they may have lost.

Then we helped M50 users by recommending setting up a FREE account to waiver the fines. Yes free! a post paid video account costs nothing to set-up, you previously had 20x tolls and 20x €41.50 fines on your vehicle, you now have 20 tolls to pay and their each 50 cent cheaper!!! You dont ever use the M50 again, thats fine, the account costs nothing.

Then in april Bet-Eir flow tell us we can no longer offer to set up an account to waive fines, they must all be paid in full before registering. So now we have no way of helping a customer - our hands have been tied and we have now been limited to the advice we can give customer - Pay Up.

Before April, every single person in the call centre would have happily set up an account to waiver the fines, did you think we liked taking payments of tolls that had gone up 1300% ?? its not like we get any of it.

The last few weeks before our campaign was pulled, we encountered a new kind of complaint - customers are paying their €3 toll and their €3 fine in a shop, but they have not received the first STR (standard toll request) letter from E-Flow. For those of you that dont know, there is a barcode on the letter that unless you scan this in a shop, your payment will not pay off the toll with the fine, it will instead be used as credit for future journeys.

So a customer pays €6 for a toll and fine but without the barcode, the toll is left open and incurs the €41.50 fine after 14 days. The customer calls us up and explains that they have paid but without the barcode, the advisor looks at the details on the system, because our powers to waive fines have been revoked all we have the option to do is "dispute" the tolls as already paid. This sends a message to Bet-Eir flow who review the toll and post a letter response to the customer. the response?
The customer has to pay their €6 again as they did not pay it correctly, their vehicle is(whether they like it or not) €6 in credit for their next two journeys which can also be refunded.

This response is not a response from teleperformance, this a response from Bet-Eir Flow. If you ask me, I cant see the point in the customer being forced into paying €6 again and then e-flow having to issue a €6 cheque out in the post. Its a waste of time and has to be illegal somewhere along the line.

Also several customers that I have dealt with did not receive the STR letter or only received one once the 14 days were up. We were told to inform customers that it is their legal responsibility to pay the tolls before the set deadlines, but how can customers pay when they havent been given the correct tools to pay by the company seeking payment?
Scam anyone???

Everyperson in teleperformance had their hands tied, everything was dictated by Bet-Eir flow. We tried to provide as much customer service as we possibly could, its just the public couldn't see it.
As for taking long to reply, every request put through to us was forwarded to Bet-Eir flow and we had to await response from them before we could relay any message to the customer. Sometimes these responses never came and other times they just completley disregarded what the customer had requested.

All the letters sent out in error, all the bad number plate readings, all the incorrect charges on accounts, all the fines, all the slow response times for disputes: Bet-Eir Flow! They did all of that stuff, all we basically did was take payments,register accounts and forward complaints to Bet-Eir flow.

So in response to teleperformance being called a joke, I would have to strongly disagree, Bet-Eir flow are a joke and if they dont change their system Abtran are soon to be seen as a joke aswel.

But they will probably just try and change the system for the better now and pin everything on us anyway. At least I dont have to work for them anymore.

My advice? Keep your front licence plate on your dash board and hide it when you drive through the toll. There are no cameras to face the rear of your car. There is no way of tracing the vehicle without the reg number, it is legal to have your licence plate facing out your front window as long as you can see it.Also, M50 cannot read the number plate if its different coloured, black background with silver numbers for example.

Bet-Eir Sucks,

Anonymous Ex-Eflow Advisor

unkel

Welcome to boards, BarryErfree

Great first post!

Kotek Besar

BarryErfree wrote: »

My advice? Keep your front licence plate on your dash board and hide it when you drive through the toll. There are no cameras to face the rear of your car. There is no way of tracing the vehicle without the reg number, it is legal to have your licence plate facing out your front window as long as you can see it.

Thanks for the tip!

Our man in Havana

So eflow are the problem, quelle surprise.

I am sorry for your trouble Barry.

Cuddlesworth

I was going to post a scathing reply to the news but I see a employee has already done it. So instead I will reword the first line of the article.

Original
"THE COMPANY handling customer queries from M50 toll users has lost its contract due to the high volume of complaints about its service."

What it should have read,
"THE COMPANY handling customer queries from M50 toll users has lost its contract due to the high volume of complaints about the M50 tolling system."


Typical Irish that we feel free to blame the people who were there to clean up somebody else's mess.

jmck87

Fair play Barry, top man.

Does anyone know of any case in court where a person was done for not paying toll/fine?

How could they prove you entered into a contract to pay the toll if you hold your hand over your face when going by the cameras? (becuase by going by it you are consenting through your actions...but wasnt me judge).

Surely theres too much doubt to actually be done for it?

Now obviously this would be a lot of trouble to go to for a €3 toll charge...but its the principle...you pay road tax for the roads. The M50 is a pile of dung and ridiculous to be paying to use it.

unkel

Bond-007 wrote: »

I am sorry for your trouble Barry.

I don't think the posters name is Barry

jmck87

unkel wrote: »

I don't think the posters name is Barry

Haha good spot!

Kotek Besar

unkel wrote: »

I don't think the posters name is Barry

I must be really thick. Took me a while there, staring at the name until I got it! Duh.

BarryErfree

Lol my name isn't Barry Erfree, kudos to everyone who got it, I thought no one would!

Our man in Havana

Amanda26

I am also an ex worker with the Eflow campaign and I have to say to arrive for work and be told that Bet Eir Flow pulled the campaign with no notice at 5pm the previous evening was a total blow to us all. Then to hear and read that they are blaming us totally for this is just unbelievable.

They have no idea what it was like to have people ring you up and cry down the phone because they had fines from eflow totally hundreds and in some cases into the thousand mark, and we were put in the position that we were unable to help because the Greedy Bet Eir didnt think to give us options eg a payplan to help the customer that found themselves in this position.

I started working with Teleperformance in October and from what I and other colleagues seen was that they bent over backwards to make sure that this campaign was done to the letter as set by Bet Eir Flow. As for Abtran Good Luck because they're going to need it!

unkel

Welcome to boards, Amanda. It is always good to hear from people within the system. Quite revealing I find.

simples

good luck to Abtran, they have inherited an absolute sham of a system.

ART6

unkel wrote: »

Welcome to boards, Amanda. It is always good to hear from people within the system. Quite revealing I find.

The posts by BarryErfree and Amanda26 are more than revealing. To me they confirm just what a bunch of utter crooks the present government really are. They have absolutely no concept of morals at all. Not content with using our money to buy out NTR they then increase the tolls out of all reason and make sure the taxpayer pays twice, and then they rig the whole system with dirty tricks to screw the last red cent out of the users. I'm sorry you both lost your jobs, and I can only hope that Cowen et all very soon lose theirs.:mad:

Ms E flow

mcwhirter wrote: »

At least the public are finally being heard.

Teleperformance you are a joke, I wasted so much time with phone calls to you over your incompetence.

Are you mad you stupid person!!! Teleperformance???? Its the system, you thick ignorant fool!!!!!!!! and the horrible rules that the agents had to follow given by BetEireFlow!! and the NRA do you honestly think that we enjoyed enforcing their hiddious rules?

Anan1

Ms E flow wrote: »

Are you mad you stupid person!!! Teleperformance???? Its the system, you thick ignorant fool!!!!!!!! and the horrible rules that the agents had to follow given by BetEireFlow!! and the NRA do you honestly think that we enjoyed enforcing their hiddious rules?

Banned for a week for personal abuse.

Sponge Bob

at least the ex eflow people can spell in this thread unlike an illiterate bigot over in Consumer issues . Please stop registering and ranting at the victims will yiz, we never asked to be ripped off by eFlow down here Miss e Flow seems like banned user madbitch , cannot spell .

'hiddious' is hideous

There are 3 keys post in that Consumer Issues thread that should be noted along with the excellent contribution by BarryEr here yesterday

Main Consumer Issues Thread on e-Flow

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055407898

Posts where Names of Culprits are provided and email addresses too.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=60689076&postcount=153

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=60691554&postcount=157

and

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=60691829&postcount=158

madbitch

Didn't realise "yiz" was in the dictionary correct me if i'm wrong, which i'm sure you will. Victims??? Victims of BetEireflow and the NRA maybe, but nobody was treated badly by any TP agent! Everyone on this site has slated TP agents on a personal level so we will defend ourselves. The abuse that we had to put up with over the past year was disgusting so any wonder alot of us are venting are anger now. We were all threatened in some shape or form for doing are jobs and following proceedures implemented by BetEireFlow and the NRA. We are only scapegoats for these people, they are the ones that are taking your money and enforcing the fines, so why don't you slander them on a personal level and as for not being able to spell, I was using a form called "shorthand" just to update you on that

Sponge Bob wrote: »

at least the ex eflow people can spell in this thread unlike an illiterate bigot over in Consumer issues . Please stop registering and ranting at the victims will yiz, we never asked to be ripped off by eFlow down here Miss e Flow seems like banned user madbitch , cannot spell .

'hiddious' is hideous

There are 3 keys post in that Consumer Issues thread that should be noted along with the excellent contribution by BarryEr here yesterday

Main Consumer Issues Thread on e-Flow

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055407898

Posts where Names of Culprits are provided and email addresses too.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=60689076&postcount=153

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=60691554&postcount=157

and

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=60691829&postcount=158

Kotek Besar

madbitch, your outbursts of obscenities and sectarian tripe is what got you banned from the Consumer Issues forum, not your poor spelling.

Sponge Bob

madbitch wrote: »

I was using a form called "shorthand" just to update you on that

You were ranting in an illiterate doggerel commonly known as text speak , shorthand is a different beast entirely .

Please use the Queens English in this discussion forum as it is far more pleasing to the eye and refrain from ranting about people who are justifiably angry at being ripped off by eFlow and who are rarely impressed when they come across a Customer Care Agent who registers on a website to tell us that they don't 'care' , never did .

Oh and "our" , try "our" !