SENATORS: INVESTIGATE SUNPASS VENDOR
Drivers claim they were hurt financially by technology upgrade.
A company under fire for problems handling Florida SunPass tolls defended its performance Tuesday after members of Congress called for a federal investigation.
Two senators asked the Federal Trade Commission to probe whether Conduent State & Local Solutions engaged in unfair and deceptive trade practices in several states. Democrats Bill Nelson, of Florida, and Gary Peters, of Michigan, wrote a letter to FTC Chairman Joseph Simons.
“Conduent’s pattern of mismanaging cashless toll systems is deeply troubling and warrants further scrutiny,” the senators wrote Monday. “If drivers are being hurt financially, the FTC should hold the company accountable and prevent it from doing further harm.”
An attempt to seek comment from the FTC was not immediately successful, but company officials responded.
“We’re working diligently to address Florida’s SunPass tolling system issues,” Sean Collins, senior director of communications for Conduent, said Tuesday. “We have dedicated additional resources to improve the system’s performance and the customer experience. Our contract with the state of Florida doesn’t allow us to communicate about client-specific matters.”
The Florida Department of Transportation said July 16 it would suspend contract payments for Conduent after the company’s handling of a $287 million upgrade of the state’s SunPass toll system.
Florida drivers say they have been not only inconvenienced but also hurt financially in the botched upgrade — by, for example, being unable to get receipts to be reimbursed by employers for tolls incurred on the job.
The SunPass Centralized Customer Service System went offline for what was billed as a week of upgrades June 1, but work dragged on for nearly a month. Customers could not track their charges.
One Palm Beach Gardens driver said he has been unable to collect reimbursements for about $60 in toll charges. An Orlando driver started a petition asking SunPass to waive all tolls during the disruption.
A woman in Texas, where Conduent also has been a vendor, said she was billed more than $40,000 after high fees were tacked on to tolls sent to collections, reports show.
The company has come under scrutiny for its handling of electronic tolling systems in Florida, Michigan, California, Texas, New York, New Hampshire and Maryland, the senators said. It has been accused of billing customers for inaccurate toll charges, late fees and penalties, they said.
An FDOT statement Tuesday said more than 167 million transactions have been posted as of Monday and the total backlog of transactions is 146 million.
The agency said it will “continue to hold the vendor fully accountable for the delays that it has caused” and will be enforcing all penalty clauses of the contract to the maximum extent possible.
Late fees and penalties will not be imposed until the system is caught up and functioning smoothly, officials said. Customers will receive transaction bills in increments, beginning with the oldest first.