Toll Pass Scams

I recently made a whirlwind trip to New York for Anne's parents' 50th wedding anniversary. I rented a car out of JFK, since that was more cost-effective than a taxi to Westchester county. While driving, I noticed that there was a resin box mounted to the windshield containing an EZPass toll transponder. I was driving, and couldn't exactly read the microscopic terms of service on the box, so I just went through the EZPass lane on the way out. I figured Hertz would add the EZPass toll to my rental bill. Wrong.

I just looked up my credit card charges, and found one for $15.50 from WWWPLATEPASSCOM. I was curious what that was, and after some googling I found this. Platepass is apparently a company that specializes in parting you with your money in exchange for not providing a valuable service. The toll on the Whitestone bridge is $4.57 for EZPass users and $5.50 for cash users. I used the EZPass one way, and paid cash on the way back the next day. So Platepass not only charged me the full cash toll, they tacked on a $10 "service" charge...all without giving me a real opportunity to read any of the fine print. And if they did happen to charge me on the way back, when I used the cash lane and paid cash, then there's something wrong with their resin box...it doesn't block the transponder signal. Yet another opt-out scam.

There have been many stories of people ending up being charged for driving on toll roads when they didn't even drive on one. My advice: if you get a rental car with a toll transponder in it, pull up to the booth on the rental car lot, take the transponder out, and tell them you don't want it. If they give you trouble, return the car immediately and go to another car rental agency that doesn't carry this.

Oh, and please report Platepass to the Better Business Bureau in your area.