Officials in Tallahassee announced Thursday that SunPass customers will be reimbursed for overdraft fees following a glitch while revamping the system in June.
The company that manages the SunPass toll system, Conduent, has been under scrutiny by state transportation officials for delayed and inaccurate charges.
Some drivers who setup their bill payment processes for automatic withdrawal are incurring overdraft expenses from their personal banks or lenders.
The state said Thursday that "late fees and penalties will not be imposed until the system is providing the benefits and ease of access that SunPass customers deserve and expect."
“This isn’t fair to SunPass users who setup automatic withdrawal to pay their bills. To make these customers whole, we are beginning the process of standing up a new system where we can work with impacted users to make them whole, and then forward the bill straight to Conduent. We don’t want customers to be unfairly punished for trying to do the right thing,” said Florida Department of Transportation Secretary Mike Dew in a written statement.
“In the coming days, SunPass will provide detailed information for customers on the process for resolving any potential issues with their banking or credit card accounts. Until all transactions have been fully processed, customers who are concerned about overdrafts from their personal banks or lending institutions should consider changing their automatic withdrawal settings,” said Florida Turnpike Executive Director Paul Wai.
SunPass customers who use Easy Pay and automatically add funds to their account may want to consider changing their replenishment amount to avoid having their bank/credit cards charged multiple times over a short period.
FDOT said they will continue to hold Conduent accountable for the delays that it has caused and will be enforcing all penalty clauses of the contract to the maximum extent possible.
