Eflow - paying for toll

IsThatSo?

Has anyone had the "pleasure" of try to pay their toll fee through Eflow? 5 times I had to ring. I was given an incorrect phone number by one of the CS people to pay and was hung up on twice. It reminded me of dealing with UPC "customer service", actually I find UPC better

Oryx

Used the website. It seemed to work ok. Or at least I havent received any bills yet.

galah

Also used the website, paid, THEN got a bill for non-payment.
Had the same problem - tried to ring, was put on hold, got disconnected 3 times until at the 4th attempt, I got through. But it's not a freephone number, so you pay for the pleasure of ringing again an again (that's probably how they make even more money out of people)

They seem to have trouble matching payment records to number plate recognition...

Very aggravating...

Also, they send about 6 pages of 'documentation' each time - can't classify that as environmentally friendly...

Give me a toll booth any day!

jor el

Been across twice, paid on the website both times. This was the first week in Sept, just after the barrier free started. Haven't heard a thing since, so I'm assuming it worked. Keep a printout of the receipt if you do use the web, just in case, I'm going to keep mine anyway.

IsThatSo?

I kept a screenshot of the error I got when I tried to pay online and got the reference number when I paid over the phone. I felt that they were quite unsure of what they were doing and don't trust that the payment will only go through once, sigh.

January

I live in Ballymun, so anytime I go across and back I just pay at the Topaz garage as you come off the m50. Grand and handy.

jor el

Just checked my credit card statement for Sept, and the payment I made on Aug 31st hasn't gone through yet. Definitely keeping the receipt now.

gogo

Trying to get through to these twats all day, went to pay my three euro ,fine is now forty three euro, even though I'm well within the timeframe counldn't get through via the phone, kept getting cut off, have two different e-mail addresses and neither are working, delivery fail messages. Finally got through yesterday and she said someone would have to ring me back, still waiting on that phonecall.
i understand teething problems, but they are basisally uncontactable, and the fine will increase until I get through to them.:mad:

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

galah wrote: »

But it's not a freephone number, so you pay for the pleasure of ringing again an again (that's probably how they make even more money out of people)

Let's not get in to that type of nonsense. They do not get the benefit of the cost of the phonecall, that goes to your phone service provider - it is not a premium line. Indeed they have to pay for the Lo-call service you are using - so the multiple calls are costing them money!

galah

Fair enough...Still annoying if it's costing me money cause they hang up on me, lo-call or no.

homergriffin

My brother was paying it and also had trouble. May be it has something to do with the time of the day (my brother did it at 5ish). Was the price hike due to administration costs? If so, barrier free tolling was a stupid idea. Possibly add less than a cent to each litre of petrol could have sorted the problem out.

Cabaal

homergriffin wrote: »

My brother was paying it and also had trouble. May be it has something to do with the time of the day (my brother did it at 5ish). Was the price hike due to administration costs? If so, barrier free tolling was a stupid idea. Possibly add less than a cent to each litre of petrol could have sorted the problem out.

err cause thats fair, why should people down the country not using the toll road have to pay for all those people that use it?

RTE

gogo wrote: »

Trying to get through to these twats all day, went to pay my three euro ,fine is now forty three euro, even though I'm well within the timeframe counldn't get through via the phone, kept getting cut off, have two different e-mail addresses and neither are working, delivery fail messages. Finally got through yesterday and she said someone would have to ring me back, still waiting on that phonecall.
i understand teething problems, but they are basisally uncontactable, and the fine will increase until I get through to them.:mad:

<snip>please use the PM function to contact this poster or see their poster's original thread</snip>

jor el

Blaire Nutritious Plastic wrote: »

They do not get the benefit of the cost of the phonecall, that goes to your phone service provider - it is not a premium line. Indeed they have to pay for the Lo-call service you are using - so the multiple calls are costing them money!

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.

axer

I paid the fare the next day well before 8pm and still got a bill. Granted the bill will be ignored since I have proof via my cc that I have paid it. Seems like they are doing things manually or something if the bills are still being sent out even after payment is made.

Hair Bear

Hi All, Just wondering is anyone annoyed over the price hike for this toll on the M50. It once cost €2 with 'human staff' to collect this toll. Now there is no staff at the toll and it costs more!

€3 if one has no tag;:eek:
€2.50 if one's car reg is registered
€2.20 if you spend €40 euro up front
€2.00 if you have a tag and sign up your account for the 'toll robbers' to take the €2 and their admin fee each month.:mad:

I thought automation reduced costs!

Also, it costs €25 million to earn €50 million for the government each year. Surely there are better & more efficient ways of raising taxes to fill the coffers!

IsThatSo?

Yep, gotta admit the price hike has me pretty pee'd off too :mad:

I don't see the point of it other than to scam us out of more money. Technically it should cost less than paying salary to "real people". I know there are installation costs and set up charges etc, but a 50% increase is a joke!!

I rarly use the toll bridge, but registered for the "video account" which gives it to me for 2.50 a trip. I had checked in my local shop and could have gotten a tag that I can top up, but the tag cost 30.00 :eek:

Once again we are being ripped off......................

Sizzler

How sure can they be though when challenged ? You drive across the bridge and then say you didnt, really what can they do? A guy on the motoring forum said he got a 'fine' in the post from them for using the M50 when he wasnt even in the country and his car was at home in his driveway in Limerick FFS ! The thing is a farce.

castie

Anyone think that it is strange that you can pay for the toll without ever being through the toll. So i cant even check if you owe them money.

foggy_lad

surely they provide a photo or some kind of proof that your car/van has been over the bridge when they write to you with the bill/fine?

if not that would mean that most people billed in error will be billed the toll plus the fines as they would not have paid in time as they had not used the bridge but these people are still billed without any proof offered that they are liable and as with many bills etc most people assume they owe the money and simply pop the cheque in the post or pay by credit card.

what is there to protect people from the toll charges being levied wrongly?

castie

nothing as of now.

Im sure like the whole getting caught speeding situation that it will take a few court cases throwing out these fines to make them tighten up the ship.

sparrowcar

I have just discovered that having received non payment documents and at the very least a small amazonian forest worth of paper in each envelope.... that the people running eflow and the system itself are .... well.... basically..... Inept!

I also think that I received non payment forms because somewhere along the payment system there is a delay from when i enter my payment details to when eflow receive them. I have proof of payment for a particluar journey but the non payment forms were sent out 4 days later?

It's only a matter of time before someone with a paintball blackens them or even better someone with a 2.2 destroys them!;)

RTE

sparrowcar wrote: »

I have just discovered that having received non payment documents and at the very least a small amazonian forest worth of paper in each envelope.... that the people running eflow and the system itself are .... well.... basically..... Inept!

I also think that I received non payment forms because somewhere along the payment system there is a delay from when i enter my payment details to when eflow receive them. I have proof of payment for a particluar journey but the non payment forms were sent out 4 days later?

It's only a matter of time before someone with a paintball blackens them or even better someone with a 2.2 destroys them!;)

Hello Sparrowcar,

Thank you for contacting us at consumer.response@rte.ie.

Would it be possible to contact you directly? You can forward your contact details (personal email and/or phone number) via consumer.response@rte.ie in confidence.

Many thanks and I look forward to your reply.

Kind regards,
Claudia
Researcher
RTE, Current Affairs

IsThatSo?

I just checked my account and the charge that I finally got to pay for after the numerous phone calls went through 3 times :mad: Here I was worried that it wouldn't go through at all and keeping the reference number etc.

I will try one phone call tomorrow but I might be better off just doing chargebacks right away

I am NOT a happy bunny :mad::mad::mad:

axer

IsThatSo? wrote: »

I will try one phone call tomorrow but I might be better off just doing chargebacks right away

Just chargeback since it will cost them money everytime you do it. You have your proof that you paid everything so you have nothing to worry about.

IsThatSo?

axer wrote: »

Just chargeback since it will cost them money everytime you do it. You have your proof that you paid everything so you have nothing to worry about.

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!!!!!

CreepingDeath

I used the westlink toll bridge once so far, hadn't registered my reg number nor any tag.
But later that day I paid the three Euro in a garage and had kept the receipt which clearly had my reg number on it.

I still got a bill a week later :rolleyes:
I just sent them an e-mail with the notice number and receipt number.
Hope that shuts them up.

I.S.T.

Cabaal wrote: »

err cause thats fair, why should people down the country not using the toll road have to pay for all those people that use it?

So do you also agree that people in cities should not have to pay with our taxes for roads to be maintained for people who choose to live in remote areas? The toll should be scrapped, this road has been paid for many times over. It is a complete scandal.

thebman

Do they charge for phone calls? If so I'd be corresponding with them by email.

It wouldn't be the first Irish company to release a beta system to the public on the basis that it works out cheaper to have the Irish public do the testing.

Yeah 1890 number.

If you have a contract with any of the mobile or landline providers that provides you with bundles of minutes each month, you can now call this number instead of the 1890 number. These calls will then come from your minutes bundle rather than you being charged upwards of 35c per minute

http://www.saynoto1890.com/geographical-alternative-for-eflow/

At least then you might not get charged for testing their system for them.

Oryx

Anyone know if you can prepay? Im off to the airport and it would be handy if I could pay the toll before I leave. Otherwise I have to find a paypoint as well as checking in and all that, and Id rather not.

I.S.T.

Oryx wrote: »

Anyone know if you can prepay? Im off to the airport and it would be handy if I could pay the toll before I leave. Otherwise I have to find a paypoint as well as checking in and all that, and Id rather not.

They have internet kiosks at the departure gates, you could pay there.

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?