DART CHARGE RANT

General Discussion Forums Car Talk
2

Ok, I felt like I needed to get this off my chest folks? 

As some of you will know, I was at Goodwood for the Spring Rally. Mrs B and I stayed in Stratford for the Saturday and Sunday nights, met up with our eldest son which was nice. Anyway, we travelled to Goodwood early (ish) Sunday morning and went over the bridge southbound at Dartford (07.29am) Last time I did that you could pay for the crossing toll at a booth IIRC? We just drove through and on the overheads were several reminders to pay the toll before midnight the following day? This gave us approx 40 hours to sort the payment out. In the ensuing day’s activities and the drive back up North the following day, totally forgot to pay?  My fault, hands up and all that!

got up Tuesday morning 1st May, realised what I’d done so went straight on line, found the correct website, entered car details, card details etc, got an email confirmation and an approval code, result! Absolutely nothing to indicate anything was wrong, card account shows money out, job done! Or so I thought?

Roll on to today Thursday 10th May. Letter pops through door with a PCN (penalty charge notice) for an unpaid Dartford crossing? Stamped/franked envelope, letter, PCN, prepaid envelope, full package! Letter said if I paid the crossing charge (£2.50) by the 23rd of this month, they would waive the penalty charges? but I have already paid them and have a card statement and a receipt from Dart Charge confirming all this?

i rang them, they are based in Leeds, not too far from my own house as it happens? Having gone through the usual menu driven system, none of the options suited my particular issue, so held and I got through to a young lady. This is where it gets stupid.

I had already been back on the website to check paid crossings and having entered all the correct details, as issued by Dart Charge ( you are given a number with prefix of FJ when youve paid) but it said the transaction didn’t exist?

Provided all the information to the young lady, along with other stuff, only to be told that I had paid, they did have the money but it was paid late? I suggested, as they had my money and no penalty charges were going to be applied, could they not just use my money for the purpose it was intended for?

Apparently not? 

We could give you a refund though, she stated? Right, I’ll have that then! but you can only have that refund if you pay the crossing charge, she said? I’ve paid it, said I. Yes, but you paid it late and you only have 24hours to pay it, she said? I reminded her that the matrix signs entering and leaving the bridge (at the time I crossed) allowed me 40 hours? All went quiet but then a response  " oh, well it’s normally 24hours" now Goodwood was a great day out but I didn’t expect them to make special arrangements for me by extending the payment cut off time by over 16  hours!

As we were getting nowhere, I said that I would pay the 2nd charge and then ask her for a refund? She said I could hold the money against my car for 12 months in case I used the facility again, instead of a refund? I suggested that we could use the payment they already had from me then to pay this one off crossing charge? We jumped back on the merry go round for a few more rotations at this point 

Had to give a different set of card details this time round, payment duly accepted, refund details taken of the original card (they already had them as it had already been paid once, I only gave her the last 4 digits of the card, which isn’t even mine) then, the young lady informed that it would take two working days to credit my account, fair enough, but then went on to say “allow for four or five days though just to be certain” I couldn’t go on so, thanked her for her assistance and hung up!

Barrie

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Barrie - why on earth did you travel from Stratford to Goodwood via the Dartford crossing.? Never mind charges, your motivation confounds me - sorry. Also, are you sure you didn’t read the 40 signs as speed limit, and not hours to pay? Speed is limited over the crossing, so the plate readers can register your number.

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To prevent any future issues I set up an account and put a tenners worth of credit on it !

Saves my addled brain having to remember to pay when I get home, when all I really want is a beer and a rest .

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Thanks chaps. I went via the crossing as it was set as quickest route? Having lost time going through the Blackwall tunnel enroute, or in this case not going through it as it was closed, we just got stuck in and followed the sat nav  regarding the signs, I may be entering the autumn of life but even I can recognise written text rather than just numbers?   I just wanted to vent my spleen, as it were and I guess the main point of this post was how beurocrosy hits home once again! At a cost too! I posted elsewhere today about my dislike of card usage (much prefer cash transactions) but its the way of things these days? Fine when things go right, not so much when things go wrong?  

Barrie

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I sympathise with your travails. I use the crossing frequently and when it opened I started an account.  After some use the balance dropped and I forgot to deposit further funds. Got a penalty notice, they said pay the normal fee now and we’ll waive the penalty.  They then needed £20 deposit.  They then wanted permission via direct debit to demand funds when they wanted. That was the day I closed the account. I now pay online for two crossings about 1 hour in advance.  Having said that it is a boon not to have to queue at kiosks any more but I wonder how many people lost their jobs.

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Following on from Gerryn’s comments about my using the Road bridge (see my previous post) I thought I’d check just now on google maps, In unfamiliar territory, the A13 south with not being able to use the tunnel seemed the best bet? I am able to accept constructive criticism here if a wrong choice was made? However, not sure posting on here at 6.30am on the day of the Rally would have got me there any quicker?

Barrie

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Quite right about the job losses? I wonder if those folk were retrained to answer the calls they must get when the inflexibility of their systems creates issues? Surely, when I paid for the original crossing, the system told me how many crossings and what the charge was so why didn’t it stop me paying as I’d infringed the process by paying late? The mind boggles 

Barrie

 

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thanks, I need to top up my account. I stopped it doing the auto top up, so I never have much more than £10.00 in there, but hey, I only go across half dozen times a year, and in various of our cars, but it worth keeping the account in credit saves all the messing about paying each time  and the risk of forgetting . I wouldn’t be without the account, 

 

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Barrie - an Apology from me! When I read your post, I thought you meant Stratford (on Avon !) but having since searched on Google, I now see Stratford is east side of London, so I misunderstood your original post. First time I’ve heard of it, Lewisham , Hammersmith, I know and Downtown roughly, other suburbs of London escape me. - I was never a great fan.

The comment about speed limit signs was just that, knowing that motorway signs can be confusing, like on the M25, when the signs say 40 mph, cars are still doing 70 - why is that? (I often catch up to them when the queue starts.)

Anyway - overall, I’m sorry.

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 It happens to the best of us Gerryn?

Barrie

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Someone who doesn’t know of Stratford? Surely not! I thought the 2012 Olympics had made it famous the world over.