Just wanted to share my cautionary tale about the needlessly complicated process involved in canceling E-ZPass. I live in Connecticut, in the days before Covid I used to drive into NY and MA regularly, so when they made all tolls cashless, I got an E-ZPass through NJ to save me some hassle. Since Covid I’ve hardly traveled anywhere, and the balance in the EZPass just drips away slowly with their $1 service fees. So yesterday I got an email telling me my balance was negative 23 cents, and I needed to pay up or they would send me to collections.
Since I don’t use my EZPass hardly ever anymore, and don’t anticipate I will, I called them up and asked to cancel. I was told that the only way to cancel is to send them a certified letter in the mail, then they will send me a response so I can return my transponder, and the whole process takes 30 days. Or I can just refill my account online which has a $10 minimum and forget about it until I do this dance again in 10 months when my account gets drained by their service fees.
So yeah, EZPass clearly knows what they’re doing by making the cancellation process such a headache that most people don’t even want to bother. If you live in a state without tolls, and only need it on occasion, don’t bother, just let them send you a bill in the mail.
We've made a few road trips recently and we've been getting a bunch of very annoying toll notifications in the mail, since no-one actually staffs toll booths any more.
Looks like you can sign up to E-ZPass in any state. It also looks like (from looking at the NH FAQ) that maybe you can create an account that's just linked to your plate and not have to get one of those stupid ugly boxes.
In any case, fuck toll roads, what a pain in the ass. What do you all do?
This is my first time enrolling on an E-Zpass plan and was wondering if i have to purchase the transponder separately. I didnt got any email about them mailing me a transponder hence why i asked the question.
P.s im from NJ but Seems like ive been ban from their subreddit
Update: heres what've found "....When you establish an E-ZPass prepaid account, you receive a small electronic tag that attaches to the windshield inside your car. Within the tag is an electronic chip that contains information about your account."
I've noticed within the NJ E-Zpass app under My Account, theres a "Tags" section where you can request tags/tags supplies. Theres something that read "Outstanding Tag Requests: 1" so im assuming they'll mail me one. I'll wait a couple days to see if they actually do, else i'd have to purchase one separately.
Thanks for the replies :)
It seems like we can now pay with our transponders.
Link https://www.e-zpassiag.com/about-e-zpass/driven-by-e-zpass
I just received a packet in the mail from MD E-ZPass, a total of 10 fines. My account is up to date, the license plate numbers on the fines match the plate numbers I have on file with E-ZPass. I have the commuter plan on one transponder because we use the Key Bridge so much. How is the E-ZPass system so broken? All the tolls are the last week of June, first week of July. It's like they deleted me as a customer for those 2 weeks.
I am #174 in the online chat que and the phone system told me it is a 190.75 minute wait. What a joke of a system.
UPDATE: Yesterday I got down to #4 in the online que, then the site froze and I was kicked out. Today I am #142 in the online que and was told an estimated 159.75 minute phone wait.
UPDATE 2: The estimated 159.75 minute phone wait turned into an actual 198 minutes. The online system again froze at #3 in the que. Issue taken care of, hopefully I will never have to do that again.
I see a ton of E-ZPass complaint threads, so I'm dreading what I'll be having to deal with...
Got a notification that I was billed $65 to my E-ZPass plan today. It's been at $55 for years and I haven't authorized or heard of any increases. What's more, my normal rebill is monthly around the end of the month, so this bill is about 10 days early - no earthly way I drove so much during that time that it would have needed it.
My account is old and I didn't know the site changed in April; when it prompts me for a PIN to verify my first log in of course I have no idea what it is, and when I click the button to send it to my email, it simply doesn't (I checked junk/spam boxes). If I call customer service, after a ridiculous routing to get to talk to a person, I am put on a 2 hour hold. If I log in to the online chat option, there are over 120 people in line in front of me.
I'm currently waiting in the queue for both a call back and the chat. Just wondering if anyone has had any success with E-ZPass help, or might even know of what the charge/early billing might be. Appreciate any help.
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Update: Had the good fortune of getting my call back (that I set up around 9:30am!) shortly after posting. Apparently the system now does an "audit" every 90 days and automatically adjusts commuter accounts falling under replenishment thresholds based on the results. According to my rep, the reason for the early bill was because this 90-day cycle just happened today. This feels a little dubious, granted I've had the same schedule for the past decade and rarely take weekend trips that require tolls, but the funds in the account were accurate with no other surprises.
Regarding the PIN reset, I was told the email to do so could take hours to arrive in your inbox - which I have a hard time believing. The rep was adamant that she would not reset my PIN over the phone, and her own personal attempts to send PIN reset emails never arrived. I've doublechecked all spam/junk folders and gone so far as to whitelist driveezmd.com just to ensure it comes through, and still nothing. So at the moment I still do not have access to login to my account.
tried to reload my cards it wont let me do it on the website and you wont get a live rep, anybody with the same experience ??
Just moved to Connecticut and it seems like it would be a good idea to get an E-ZPass for travel in NY/MA. I saw on the website options to buy from other states but not CT. If you live in CT and have a E-ZPass where do you buy it from?
The speed limit is usually 15 MPH and I generally get it down to below 25 or even 20, but cars are always whipping through them. Do they even give automated speed tickets at toll booths?
Hey all, going to mount my E-zpass tag and was thinking about orientation. I'm getting slightly confusing information from online, and nothing recently.
I know where I want to mount the tag, but my question is: Does the orientation matter? Eg-
Does it matter which side faces 'out'? The printed side or the side with the velcro & "M" sticker.
Can the tag be mounted vertically? Rotated 90 degrees from the way you usually see it pictured in guides.
Currently I'm looking to put it on the fairing underneath the windscreen, facing out. So the label with text would be facing forward and the velcro would be on the bike, not the windscreen. I don't really want to put it on the windscreen.
I know many of you just put it in your pocket. Not looking to do that. I want a hands free option.
Thanks!
editing to add:
Here's a pic of my bike: https://www.revzilla.com/blog_content_image/image/12517/gallery/IMG_4090.jpg
So I want it on the bike part, not the windscreen. Which means that the velcro part is on the bike. Which is facing the opposite direction than what the ezpass instructions show. Facing 'out' not 'in'. And you can see the fairing is curved, so I'm not sure yet it will mount solidly if putting it horizontally. So I might put it vertically.
(Consensus seems to be so far that orientation doesn't matter, just adding this for clarity).
Final Edit- So the velcro works like a charm. I got the 3M outdoor 'extreme' velcro and it looks just like the pads that come with the EZPass tag itself. Just a little larger footprint. Stuck to my bike no problem and the tag has held secure over several rides. Doesn't feel like it's moving at all. (YMMV, of course, check where you're mounting it. But generally it's a viable solution.)
The tag works fine as mounted (which is 'reverse' from how EZPass instructs you to mount it; see the comments below. But it's read fine everywhere I've gone. I do notice, now though, that I have to go through the gate pretty slow. Under 10 mph. Only recently I've noticed that some gates tell you when the tag has been read correctly. Not sure if it's always been this way but whatever. Works now!
After living downtown in a major East Coast city and being car-free for a few years, I recently bought a new car and am debating whether to put an E-ZPass in it.
The way I see it, there's no winning this particular privacy battle as much as it pains me to say. Perhaps at one point, paying cash was a fine privacy-preserving option. And that's largely what I've done my whole life. But today, license plate readers are already in widespread use and at toll booths and nearly everywhere else in urban and suburban areas. In addition, most states on the East Coast have eliminated the cash option during the pandemic and are doing pay-by-plate systems that capture the license plate of anyone who does not have an E-ZPass.
In addition, I've gone deep down the car telematics rabbit hole and I've come to report back that modern cars are basically privacy nightmares. I expressly purchased a car without the OnStar-style driver assistance service (which opts-you into 'anonymized' location tracking and data collection... as if your patterns and where you park at night can be anonymized), but a very close read of my automakers privacy policy indicates they are still collecting telematic data about the state of the car, miles driven, and there is no way to turn that off other than doing warranty-voiding surgery on the electronics of the car.
New Hampshire apparently lets you register an anonymous E-ZPass account and even pre-pay but you're still required to give over your plate number no matter what — which to me, defeats the purpose of an anonymous account unless you've taken some extraordinary steps like registering the car in the name of a trust or an LLC. Which I have not done. Here is the NH link: https://www.ezpassnh.com/static_files/documents/anon_terms.pdf
So what's a guy to do? Are there better "anonymous" E-ZPass options than NH? If you're plate is getting scanned at a toll booth anyway (and everywhere else you go, for that matter), is it worth it just to link the E-ZPass transponder to a credit card, get the toll discount, and forget about it instead of paying off paper bills one-by-one that come in the mail months later?
If so, where do you keep it while you're riding? The E-ZPass FAQ says the "transponder is designed to function best at an angle, similar to the one created by the windshield of a passenger vehicle". However, I have no windshield on mine. Are people having luck simply stuffing it in their jacket pocket or backpack?
/r/motorcycles has several threads on transponder mounting, but nothing specific to the tag readers in this area. I've registered the plates with E-ZPass just in case, but I'd like to know if anyone's experienced any unexpected issues.
