Dart Charge taking the ****?

Dart Charge taking the ****?

Author
Discussion

donkmeister

7,999 posts

99 months

Monday 9th December 2019
quotequote all
Bit off topic but some people have been fined despite paying the toll... All the cases I've read about involve someone picking up a hirecar that was previously driven over the crossing by someone who did not pay. The new renter then pays the toll, which clears the charge from the previous renter, so when a ticket comes through the time and date point to the new renter.

Makes you wonder if hirecar companies should just register all their vehicles and add the charge on to the rental invoice?

jesta1865

3,448 posts

208 months

Monday 9th December 2019
quotequote all
Stoofa said:
I dropped them an email after I received the message - it took them three weeks to reply.
All their email did was confirm the inactive status and that in 90 days from the date of the original email the account would be terminated.
If I want to close the account I need to give them a few details - refund will be via a posted cheque, no other option.
That if I wanted to keep the account open I'd need to call them and arrange a top-up of at least £1 to reactivate it.
I had a similar issue when I left the country, but if you keep emailing them and finally get through to someone who can understand a situation, they will send the money back via an electronic transfer.

it may have helped my case that I have moved to Auckland.

Monkeylegend

26,227 posts

230 months

Monday 9th December 2019
quotequote all
I have found them to be very easy to talk to over the phone, you actually get to speak to a human being, and they have always been very helpful.

I wouldn't bother with email.

Aeroscreens

457 posts

225 months

Monday 9th December 2019
quotequote all
I generally only use it for 4 or 5 return trips each year and have opted for the manual top-up option. It now only gets topped up when there isn't enough in the account for the last return journey, which means that I let the account run down to £2 or £3 before adding another tenner. The account very rarely stays above the minimum £10 limit and I've never received any communication for Dart Tag, maybe I've just been lucky.......

Rude-boy

22,227 posts

232 months

Tuesday 10th December 2019
quotequote all
I think i use it about 8-10 times a year.

Never had any issue with it, save i did get an email telling me account was running low and needed to be topped up - i had only used it a few days before - and yet there was over £25 still left in the pot...


GJB

444 posts

257 months

Tuesday 10th December 2019
quotequote all
I have used the Dart Charge online and account system for a while now. Same reason as many others as it means you haven't got yet another thing to remember (laziness probably). It has all gone fine apart from one random charge from Essex into Kent. When I queried it the vehicle was a Vauxhall, not an Audi and the reg number had been read incorrectly. The call centre operator apologised and it was sorted. We all make mistakes so it was nice to know that after challenging it the procedure was pretty straight forward and relatively painless.

I was polite and assertive. No need to raise my voice or swear because I didn't need to bolster a weak case. I often find that if the person at the end of the phone is a woman a combination of politeness and humour works wonders.

Hairsy16

135 posts

137 months

Wednesday 11th December 2019
quotequote all
I read this thread yesterday, having received the same email, and it wasn't completely clear to me so I called them this morning.

For the sake of others, what I was told was:

1) If I don't use the crossing or top up then my account will be closed
2) When my account is closed, I will forfeit the money I have in my account (£20 in my case)
3) However, if I ask them (during the same call) then they will refund my money
4) If I set up a Pay As You Go account then I will only be debited when I cross

I cancelled my account during the call and my money will go back to the card I used to pay it.

Of course the natural questions that leaves me with are:

a) Why bother closing my account when it's been perfectly OK for the last 12 months - if it's in the T&Cs that it must be closed then just change the T&Cs (with an option to cancel for anyone who doesn't like the new T&Cs that mean they won't steal your money). That would save them hassle, earn them a little bit of interest and save a number of people in the future getting fines.

b) Given that they're refunding onto the card I paid with, why couldn't they have done that without me asking? I didn't give ANY more information than "well, yes please, I'd like a refund"

c) Why don't they just have one type of account that is PAYG but allows a credit balance. Then transfer everyone to that.