New (only) archenemy: the NTTA
Last night, after picking up the rental car, I drive to the Dallas tollway to get to my friend’s place. The entry sign clearly said “Change Made”, so there shouldn’t have been a problem with me having naught but a $10 bill.
The sign should have said “Change Made only if you have a $1 or $5 bill”. Instead of an actual person manning the booth, there was a change machine that worked for $1 or $5 only. Seeing the cars pile up behind me, I desperately slipped in the $10, but no dice. Panicked thrashing through luggage wasn’t any help either. Left with no choice, I meekly crawled through the booth, well aware of the behemoth camera recording the scene of rental car’s license plate in conjunction with a red light indicating an unpaid toll.
The next booth actually did have a person; with relief, I got change and asked for the NTTA’s number (North Texas Tollway Authority).
Cool! The NTTA’s homepage already has a picture of me running the red light.
This morning I tried to call them to do a little preemptive action. After jumping through several voice menus, I managed to get to where a violation number had to be entered to go any further.
Not having one (yet), I attempted to call them a second time. After pressing “1″ for English, the system started spewing the second voice menu. Apparently, a defeated sigh is a valid option, because that took me to the Tolltag customer menu.
Time for attempt #3. I hate this.
(UPDATE: Spoke with a representative who said if it was only that one time when that happened, there won’t be any problems. NTTA is now off my archenemies list, bringing the total to zero.)
i don’t think you need to worry. the toll road authority only goes after you if you violate three or more times. although since it’s not houston… i dunno. sorry to hear. would you call me please? my mother in law might also be staying with us and I need to know the length of your stay.
Comment by annie | 17 August 2007
Wait, Donnie, it’s a rental car. How would they know it’s your only time? Don’t they mean if it were the only time for the rental car’s tag??
Comment by Allen | 18 August 2007
I wanted to let you know that I linked to this post in my article on “Ask Not For Whom The Bell Electronically Tolls” and also I’m tagging you for the 8 Random Facts Meme.
I enjoy your blog and look forward to reading your posts.
Comment by John Witter | 18 August 2007
Annie: Guess there’s little need to respond to this because
Allen: No clue how they figure it out. As long as I’m not in trouble.
John: As a warning, you may regret the decision to read Liquid Egg Product. Fortunately, most people come out unscathed.
I’ll have to check out your site, and continue the 8 Random Facts Meme posthaste.
Comment by Donnie Briggs | 24 August 2007