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.
Reply to annieWait, 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??
Reply to AllenI 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.
Reply to John WitterAnnie: 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.
Reply to Donnie Briggs