Time to bend over and grab your ankles

[Mister Mullet]

I just love Florida laws and the way they are enforced. One of my kids lives in Palm Beach County. He went to renew his tag online and everything went well until he tried to pay. The message came up "Pending" and nothing else. Next thing he knew, his ex called to say a letter came addressed to him...at her address. They've been divorced more than 3 years, and he's never lived at her address. It was from a law firm telling him his drivers license was about to be suspended for not paying a toll God knows when. HOWEVER, if he sends them $349 dollars they will take care of it!!! Three hundred forty nine bucks for not paying a toll???? Apparently his Sun Pass didn't work that day, and nobody bothered to notify him. His renewal notice came to the right address, but nothing else. What a scam Florida is running. I told him I'd call and try to sort it out for him (he works 5 am to 5 pm) but I think he's stuck. Any advice from you legal minds out there?

[Scoop Sea]

If your son has a sunpass and it's been active and remained active he "may" have a chance at getting the fee lowered. I would call the sunpass operations center and advise them of the situation (and the wrong address the letter went to). If he has the letter sent to his ex's house, he should keep that as evidence that it was sent to the wrong address (since he's never lived there) and the sunpass folks are culpable as well. He might want to offer to pay up the complete toll for the whole stretch in question, i.e. if he was on the turnpike and it occured in the Palm Beach area, that may be around $25 or so (figuring the turnpike starts charging in the Wildwood area and the tolls from there to Palm Beach may be around $25 or so). It's probably worth a shot to try this approach.

By no means am I a lawyer, but common sense is common sense.

[Dubble Trubble]

If his sunpass was paid for and active at that time, they would damned sure see me in court! It is not his problem if the machines did not pick up the sunpass.

He might also try this website. I would NOT deal with some scumbag lawyers that send out letters!

https://www.sunpass.com/violationsCustomer


Dubble

[MudDucker]

If his Sunpass was active on that day, he has violated no law. In fact, the State is violating its contract with him. Contact Sunpass and if that does not work, contact your local State Attorney General's office and see if they will help you.

Sounds like Sunpass hired some lawyer collection firm. They are just a paper mill and it is very difficult to get a human with authority on the phone.

[TallyFish]

A distinction here! He was contacted by a law firm not Sunpass. The $349 charge is to cover the law firms fee & pay off Sunpass. However, I would contact Sunpass directly and find out the particulars before I whipped out my check book and paid anyone anything. Sunpass may well have $$$ charges against his account that his is libel for but will settle with him for the charges and a small fine. And employing the first rule of fixing "find and fix the cheapest thing first"......contact Sunpass.


https://www.sunpass.com/index

[Mister Mullet]

He ended up paying the lawyer. He ran the toll booth because he didn't have enough change with him to pay the toll, figuring SunPass (he didn't have one at the time) would send a bill for the toll. They probably did...but sent it to his ex-wife's address. She never bothered to call him (exes are like that sometimes) so SunPass notified Palm Beach County. They couldn't contact him either, so it went to collection. The attorney's letterhead got his wife's attention, so she opened it to see what kind of trouble he'd gotten himself into. She called me (they don't speak) and I contacted the county. Was told it was to late to plead and go to court, that it had to all be paid up. I tried to contact SunPass, but the recording said they were too busy, call back tomorrow (government for the people??). So he bent over and grabbed his ankles. But in the long run, he got out of the marriage cheap. Lesson learned. Stay on good terms with your Ex.

[Dubble Trubble]

He ended up paying the lawyer. He ran the toll booth because he didn't have enough change with him to pay the toll, figuring SunPass (he didn't have one at the time) would send a bill for the toll. They probably did...but sent it to his ex-wife's address. She never bothered to call him (exes are like that sometimes) so SunPass notified Palm Beach County. They couldn't contact him either, so it went to collection. The attorney's letterhead got his wife's attention, so she opened it to see what kind of trouble he'd gotten himself into. She called me (they don't speak) and I contacted the county. Was told it was to late to plead and go to court, that it had to all be paid up. I tried to contact SunPass, but the recording said they were too busy, call back tomorrow (government for the people??). So he bent over and grabbed his ankles. But in the long run, he got out of the marriage cheap. Lesson learned. Stay on good terms with your Ex.

"Apparently his Sun Pass didn't work that day" - Not what REALLY happened....

That puts a whole different light on it all. Not the way I read it in the first post.
He got what he deserved in this situation. Sorry, but it is the truth. He should have known they would get him sooner or later.

Dubble

[FUTCHCAIRO]

WE WERE DOWN TO PLANTATION A COUPLE OF MONTHS AGO AND I DID NOT HAVE CORRECT CHANGE , THEY SENT ME A BILL WITH A PICTURE OF MY CAR AND LICENSE TAG AND DATE. THE WHOLE BILL WAS $1.50 FOR THE TOLL AND $2.50 FOR HANDLING AND ADMINISTRATION FEES. A TOTAL OF $4 CHARGE FOR NOT HAVING THE CORRECT CASH TO PUT INTO THE MACHINE. IF I WERE YOUNGER I WOULD SPEND THE $50 FOR GAS AND GO FIGHT IT, $2.50 FEES FOR A $1.50 TOLL IS PURE DAYLIGHT ROBBERY.
PA
SEMPER IF

[lonesouth]

sunpass is supposed to match the license plate o the account in the event that the unit doesn't register. Happens to me when my battery is low. I'll occasionally get a hit on my account from a toll weeks earlier. I've only once had to call to get it straightened out, but that time it went from a $25 fee to a $0.50 toll.

[MudDucker]

He ended up paying the lawyer. He ran the toll booth because he didn't have enough change with him to pay the toll, figuring SunPass (he didn't have one at the time) would send a bill for the toll. They probably did...but sent it to his ex-wife's address. She never bothered to call him (exes are like that sometimes) so SunPass notified Palm Beach County. They couldn't contact him either, so it went to collection. The attorney's letterhead got his wife's attention, so she opened it to see what kind of trouble he'd gotten himself into. She called me (they don't speak) and I contacted the county. Was told it was to late to plead and go to court, that it had to all be paid up. I tried to contact SunPass, but the recording said they were too busy, call back tomorrow (government for the people??). So he bent over and grabbed his ankles. But in the long run, he got out of the marriage cheap. Lesson learned. Stay on good terms with your Ex.

Well, that is a horse of a different color. So basically you are upset because he presented his backside to the toll booth and asked to be violated. Don't blame the X ... blame the boy!