Eflow unpaid tolls - solicitors letters

magicmushroom

Hi all

So I used the M50 in Feb for a return trip and totally forgot to pay the tolls.
I did get a letter from Eflow about it, meant to pay but again just forgot.

I've now had a solicitors letter arrive this morning so I phoned them straight away to offer payment, expecting it to be about €30 at this stage.

No, they want €300.20 - WTF?
So I said I wouldn't be paying this as (a) I don't have the money and (b) it's ridiculous to charge so much.
I was then told I could pay €150.10 which I still can't afford and I wouldn't pay even if I could as it's still extortionate.

Now I've been told I'll be taken to court.

Has anyone had this happen to them and should I be worried? What's the worst that can happen here?

ETA - Please no lectures on 'you should have phoned them sooner' that kind of advice won't help me now!

Thanks

Victor

Not only do you owe them the money, they have had to go to the effort or chasing you and engaging a solicitor - these activities aren't cost-free and they are entitled to recover this money.

magicmushroom

I am well aware that their work isn't free which is why I expected to pay more than the original tolls.

However, I have only received one letter from Eflow and one letter from the solicitors - the time it took them to print these generic letters, the cost of postage and then the time to accept a 3 minute phone call from me would not equate to €300.20 or €150.10.

I would pay around €50 to get it cleared and call is a lesson learnt but I just don't have €150.10 to spend on a drive down the road.

So, as per my original question - What's the worst that can happen here?

Has anyone else had this happen to them and what was the outcome of non payment?

Many thanks

seamus

The worst that can happen is that they can take you to court and they can win. They may not, they may just sell the debt to a debt collection company.

Example:
http://www.independent.ie/regionals/droghedaindependent/news/motorist-wins-17k-toll-fight-27150462.html

Funny that case is presented as a "win" for the driver, when near the end it becomes clear that the court ordered the driver to pay nearly €4,000.

My suggestion would be to ring eflow and reject their €150 offer, and offer €75 instead. If they accept that, consider it money well spent to save headaches.

mickdw

I never let it get that far with them but on 2 occasions, I stupidly forget to pay Even after reminder and got a bill for 47 euro per journey.
On both occasions they reduced the penalty. The first time they just took the actual journey cost and the second time they took double the journey cost as long as I agreed to sign up for account with them.
Very good to deal with. Your case may have gone past that stage as solicitors are involved however you should call them, explain that you were not familiar with system etc and offer to take account with them to prevent it happening again.
If it's gone too far, contact the solicitor with similar and see what comes of it.

magicmushroom

seamus wrote: »

The worst that can happen is that they can take you to court and they can win. They may not, they may just sell the debt to a debt collection company.

Example:
http://www.independent.ie/regionals/droghedaindependent/news/motorist-wins-17k-toll-fight-27150462.html

Funny that case is presented as a "win" for the driver, when near the end it becomes clear that the court ordered the driver to pay nearly €4,000.

My suggestion would be to ring eflow and reject their €150 offer, and offer €75 instead. If they accept that, consider it money well spent to save headaches.

Thanks for the advice, I'll give EFlow a call and discuss with them.
I work in credit control and we would never pursue such a small debt through the courts as it's not worth the cost - hopefully EFlow will take the same approach and accept a fairer amount.

Thanks again

ComfortKid

I got the same but I ignored the solicitors letter. Never heard anything since, that was about 4 years ago.

ComfortKid

It's actually ridiculous that they didn't keep 1 toll gate open for people who preferred to pay cash on the day. They love it when people "forget to pay as it makes them alot more money. Doesn't it double ever day late

magicmushroom

ComfortKid wrote: »

I got the same but I ignored the solicitors letter. Never heard anything since, that was about 4 years ago.

ComfortKid wrote: »

It's actually ridiculous that they didn't keep 1 toll gate open for people who preferred to pay cash on the day. They love it when people "forget to pay as it makes them alot more money. Doesn't it double ever day late

Well that's a relief, hopefully I'll hear nothing more either then!
Totally agree about there not being even one lane for cash payers, there's no excuse for no one paying then.

Thanks for your reply

SteM

ComfortKid wrote: »

It's actually ridiculous that they didn't keep 1 toll gate open for people who preferred to pay cash on the day.

People are people. They would just think to themselves that they'll pay later rather than having to pull over for 3 minutes to pay now, then they'd forget to pay later and end up in the same situation.

Having a gate there will not make people who want to pay later remember to actually pay later. A system where you sign up your car reg and your mobile number and then get a reminder text message 3 hours before payment is due would be a better system for the OP in my IMO.

ComfortKid

I'm sure there's a lot of people who very rarely use the toll and would prefer to pull in and pay on route. Much easier than having to register online or find a shop where you can pay. I've no problem paying for a toll but I'm not going to hassle myself looking for a way to pay it. And once they sent me a bill for 60 euros I just thought, fcuk them. If i travel to dublin I have to have change ready for a toll in port laoise and then register or something for the Dublin toll. It's not designed to speed up traffic at all, more an opportunity to over charge people and also to save money on not having people working in a toll booth.

The Diddakoi

ComfortKid wrote: »

Much easier than having to register online or find a shop where you can pay.

You don't have to register to pay online. Takes a couple of minutes with a mobile phone. Really couldnt be easier.

ComfortKid

alf66 wrote:

You don't have to register to pay online. Takes a couple of minutes with a mobile phone. Really couldnt be easier.

It'd be alot easier to wind down my window and fire change into a bucket. Not everyone is online, I'm not long on the internet myself.

miezekatze

ComfortKid wrote:

It'd be alot easier to wind down my window and fire change into a bucket. Not everyone is online, I'm not long on the internet myself.

The old toll booths really used to slow down traffic on the M50, it was a nightmare! I certainly wouldn't want to have them back just because one or two people can't remember to pay their toll online/in a shop.

magicmushroom

miezekatze wrote: »

The old toll booths really used to slow down traffic on the M50, it was a nightmare! I certainly wouldn't want to have them back just because one or two people can't remember to pay their toll online/in a shop.

So me and ComfortKid are the only people who have ever forgotten to pay their tolls...they opened a whole legal department just for us!

I feel so privileged

schemingbohemia

ComfortKid wrote: »

I got the same but I ignored the solicitors letter. Never heard anything since, that was about 4 years ago.

Have you applied for any credit since?

MileyReilly

Don't pay them whatever you do. Don't mind the goodie goodies telling you to pay. Don't deal with solicitor that's only to scare you. Ring toll people and they'll sort if out for you. You'll still have to pay something but not even quarter of what their looking for. And I've done it a few times before someone says this is not true

SteM

ComfortKid wrote: »

I'm sure there's a lot of people who very rarely use the toll and would prefer to pull in and pay on route. Much easier than having to register online or find a shop where you can pay. I've no problem paying for a toll but I'm not going to hassle myself looking for a way to pay it. And once they sent me a bill for 60 euros I just thought, fcuk them. If i travel to dublin I have to have change ready for a toll in port laoise and then register or something for the Dublin toll. It's not designed to speed up traffic at all, more an opportunity to over charge people and also to save money on not having people working in a toll booth.

There's no pleasing some people. People moaned when the toll gates were there and now there are people are moaning that there are none. Have no doubt though, the journey times have been improved during rush hour since the gates were taken away, might not effect you but it has an effect on thousands of others.

From eflow.ie:

If unregistered, you can pay your M50 tolls in three ways:

1) Online at eFlow.ie - select I Want to Pay a Toll on the home page and follow the on-screen steps.
2) In person with cash or card at any conveniently located retail outlet nationwide that has the Payzone sign. Have the vehicle’s licence plate number ready and tell the cashier how many journeys you’d like to pay for.
3) Call us on LoCall 1890 50 10 50 from the Republic of Ireland

You don't have to register for anything, just keep driving and pay later. You can even pay at a garage that has the Payzone sign when you're getting petrol. Couldn't be easier.

Remembering to do it is the hardest part.

ComfortKid

schemingbohemia wrote:

Have you applied for any credit since?

Yes, my credit rating is perfect.

seamus

Installing even a single lane tollbooth would cause no end of traffic problems. Get even 3 cars queueing up to pay will cause a ripple effect slowing down traffic on the bridge, which in turn causes gridlock further back down the M50. Get a bad day where you have a queue of 20 cars and you're talking about 10km tailbacks.

"I'm no good at this internet thing" is not an excuse anymore, people just need to get their sh1t together instead of making excuses about why they ignored the enormous "pay your toll by 8pm" signs on the bridge.

Burning Bridges

alf66 wrote: »

You don't have to register to pay online. Takes a couple of minutes with a mobile phone. Really couldnt be easier.

3 euro phone call

GerardKeating

ComfortKid wrote: »

It's actually ridiculous that they didn't keep 1 toll gate open for people who preferred to pay cash on the day. They love it when people "forget to pay as it makes them alot more money. Doesn't it double ever day late

So are you telling us that you would actually use it, if there was one there?

ComfortKid

seamus wrote:

"I'm no good at this internet thing" is not an excuse anymore, people just need to get their sh1t together instead of making excuses about why they ignored the enormous "pay your toll by 8pm" signs on the bridge.

If you're going on an outbound flight from Dublin airport you're not going to be able to pay by 8pm. By the following day, you have to pay double the money and also pay for an expensive phone call from whatever country it is you went.
I don't use it enough to really care, I just thought it was a bit of a scam but they ended up losing out anyway.

GreatDefector

ComfortKid wrote: »

If you're going on an outbound flight from Dublin airport you're not going to be able to pay by 8pm. By the following day, you have to pay double the money and also pay for an expensive phone call from whatever country it is you went.
I don't use it enough to really care, I just thought it was a bit of a scam but they ended up losing out anyway.

You can pay in advance.

timetogo

ComfortKid wrote: »

If you're going on an outbound flight from Dublin airport you're not going to be able to pay by 8pm....

Unless you pay in advance.
Or you pull into a garage and spend 2 minutes paying there.
Or you use one of the new fangled internet kiosks in the airport while you're waiting on your flight.
Or you use the internet on your phone.
Of you ring somebody who has the internet and ask them to pay for you.

If you really can't remember or figure out how to pay the toll maybe you should get somebody to drive you around.
120,000 motorists a day manage to pay the toll. Well I presume most of them do as there's only 2 people on this thread with an issue with it.

Hollister11

It's an unfortunate situation, but not only did you forget to pay, you didn't pay after they sent you out a reminder to pay. They have now had to pay solicitors, so you owe them the money. Maybe try negotiate down to €100, but they are quite entitled to take you to court, where it could cost you more than the €300 you owe them.

SEPT 23 1989

anything under a grand is not worth chasing

ComfortKid

Yeah of course, isn't that what I said. The only reason I didn't pay as it went up to 60 euros after 3 weeks. If there was a toll I would have paid on the day and they wouldn't have to waste money on a solicitor.

seamus

ComfortKid wrote: »

If you're going on an outbound flight from Dublin airport you're not going to be able to pay by 8pm. By the following day, you have to pay double the money and also pay for an expensive phone call from whatever country it is you went.

Internet is free. Or you can prepay.

Or you can get a video account whereby they'll bill your credit card directly and you don't need to worry about paying.

"I'm going to the airport, I'm far too busy for these things". Excuses, excuses.

Micky 32

You can register your debit card/credit card and it's auto deducted at the end of the month, isn't taken out straight away.. I did this for the last few years and it works great. It's even 50c cheaper each way and you don't have to worry about paying on time. I have never had any errors either.

GreatDefector

Micky 32 wrote: »

You can register your debit card/credit card and it's auto deducted at the end of the month, isn't taken out straight away.. I did this for the last few years and it works great. It's even 50c cheaper each way and you don't have to worry about paying on time. I have never had any errors either.

€1 cheaper you mean?

I do it this way and tolls are €2.10

ardmacha

Set up an account and register your reg number, so they know you'll pay in future, and they'll do a good deal.

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

The_Pretender

GreatDefector wrote: »

€1 cheaper you mean?

I do it this way and tolls are €2.10

I assume they're talking about the video account. No maintenance fees on the account but only 50c off the toll.

ComfortKid wrote: »

Yes, my credit rating is perfect.

It won't be if you don't pay. Unpaid tolls can effect your credit rating after 6 months.

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

The_Pretender

Fred Swanson wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

Apologies, tried to look for it and realised that a complaint had actually been upheld against eFlow regarding the advertisement I was basing what I said on.
Guess you shouldn't believe everything you hear on the radio

http://www.asai.ie/complaint/travel-2/

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

Micky 32

GreatDefector wrote: »

€1 cheaper you mean?

I do it this way and tolls are €2.10

I think the toll is 3.10 each way? I have the video account so i get it for 2.60 each way. It's very handy that way and you can have a few other cars on the account also..

The tag one works out cheaper at 2.10 i think but that might be more suited for people who use the toll a lot
because you have to pay 1.23 a month for a tag.

ComfortKid

The_Pretender wrote:

It won't be if you don't pay. Unpaid tolls can effect your credit rating after 6 months.

I got the solicitors letter in 2010 and my credit rating wasn't affected!

The Diddakoi

Burning Bridges wrote: »

3 euro phone call

What ??

I was meaning the 30 seconds it takes to bung in your reg and your credit card details on the eflow website.....

The Diddakoi

ComfortKid wrote: »

If you're going on an outbound flight from Dublin airport you're not going to be able to pay by 8pm. By the following day, you have to pay double the money and also pay for an expensive phone call from whatever country it is you went.
I don't use it enough to really care, I just thought it was a bit of a scam but they ended up losing out anyway.

So pay on the website, which is accessible from every country flights from Dublin airport fly to.

billy few mates

Yes the tolls ar expensive and yes the fees are expensive if you forget to pay the tolls or if you find it too awkward to have to find a garage or a shop with Payzone, but if it's too much hassle to remember to do all that you can avoid the tolls altogether by using the back roads between Lucan and Clonee which will bring you back out on the M50 at Blanchardstown. It will only add an extra half hour to your driving but save you €3.10, or more if you forget to pay....

billy few mates

Fred Swanson wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

The DAA give you free WiFi at Dublin Airport so you can even pay your toll while you sit down with your cup of coffee before you board your flight....

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

ComfortKid

billy few mates wrote:

Yes the tolls ar expensive and yes the fees are expensive if you forget to pay the tolls or if you find it too awkward to have to find a garage or a shop with Payzone, but if it's too much hassle to remember to do all that you can avoid the tolls altogether by using the back roads between Lucan and Clonee which will bring you back out on the M50 at Blanchardstown. It will only add an extra half hour to your driving but save you €3.10, or more if you forget to pay....

I don't think anyone here is arguing about the price of the toll. Im happy to pay the 3 euros as I dont fancy going the long way and spending more than 3 quid on petrol. It's the charges for late payment which I think is scandalous!

ComfortKid

billy few mates wrote:

The DAA give you free WiFi at Dublin Airport so you can even pay your toll while you sit down with your cup of coffee before you board your flight....

I don't have a bank account so that would be no use to me. Is there a payzone in Dublin airport where it can be paid, with cash?

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

Kimbot

ComfortKid wrote: »

I don't have a bank account so that would be no use to me. Is there a payzone in Dublin airport where it can be paid, with cash?

http://www.payzone.ie/

ComfortKid

Fred Swanson wrote:

The Spar will take your toll payments.

Good to know for next time. Thanks.

SteM

ComfortKid wrote: »

Good to know for next time. Thanks.

You'll probably forget by then

Maximus Alexander

ComfortKid wrote: »

If you're going on an outbound flight from Dublin airport you're not going to be able to pay by 8pm.

Not true, you can pay on the mobile in the airport. Or, if you have a passenger in the car, get them to pay it the moment you go under the signs (that's what herself and I do). Problem solved.