E-ZPass customers experience unreasonably long wait times, fight incorrect violations

The Troubleshooters are answering the call from frustrated E-ZPass customers.

Several viewers complained about erroneous violations and a lack of customer service. But there is some good news.

"It takes hours to get through," said Jessica Butterline of Northeast Philadelphia.

Butterline says that eventually some of her E-ZPass bills got sent to collections.

"It's very frustrating," she said.

Fed up, she contacted the Troubleshooters through Call for Action.

"Can't get anything fixed," said Suzanne Schweiger of Marlton, New Jersey.

Schweiger contacted the Troubleshooters about the N.J. E-ZPass after she got a notice.

"A violation, going through the toll without paying for it, in Mays Landing. And then I realized that that's not my license plate," she said. "Not my car, not my license plate."

The violation was for a plate on a leased vehicle that Schweiger turned in 14 years ago.

Schweiger filed a police report and a report with the Motor Vehicle Commission.

"I then got back on the phone to call E-ZPass. I'm on hold for over an hour," she said. "I had to leave a message, and it says they'll call me back in 24 to 48 hours. That never happened. Called again, and E-ZPass was on hold for over an hour again. Again, no callback."

Schweiger says she did finally speak to an E-ZPass representative but still couldn't get the issue resolved.

"I've spent over 10 hours to basically fight a violation, which is clearly not mine," she said.

The Troubleshooters reached out on behalf of both of these consumers and others.

"I can't tell you how grateful I am to have someone like you, that is able to help advocate for us," said Schweiger. "As soon as you did it, I get this lovely notice from E-ZPass saying, 'Oh, everything is resolved,' which was wonderful."

"Troubleshooters absolutely helped us and it was a relief to get it taken care of," added Butterline.

New Jersey E-ZPass is a group of seven independent tolling agencies that together have a contract with Conduent to run their customer service.

The New Jersey Turnpike Authority (NJTA) is the lead agency, and released the following statement on the issue:

"Hold times at the NJ E-ZPass Customer Service Center have been unacceptably long. We're aware of that and have been working with Conduent to address it."

"Conduent has hired, trained, and deployed new staff in recent months, nearly doubling the number of customer service representatives to 210 as of this week."

"I'm so grateful for all that you have done, you and your team," said Schweiger.

You can contact the Troubleshooters via Call for Action at 1-866-978-4232 or go to 6abc.com/Troubleshooters.

Meanwhile, NJTA says the additional staff has already helped cut average hold times by about 42% since January.

It hopes to lower it further by adding self-service tools that allow a customer to manage their accounts online.