PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. — Who is stepping up to defend taxpayers who feel cheated by SunPass? More drivers are turning to WPTV for help after we first reported on massive bills just now showing up in the mail.
Just this week, Vicki Tate of Lake Worth received a SunPass bill from the Department of Transportation she said she did not take seriously.
"$1507.38," said Tate. "I started laughing, I mean I just assumed there was a clerical error and maybe there was a 15 dollar charge."
Tate's son has a transponder in his car but for some reason, she says she's getting charges from the TOLL-BY-PLATE service. Tate called customer service and one hour and 20 minutes later...
"They billed us the highest amount possible," said Tate.
Tate says customer service had no records of where her son got on the Turnpike.
"To let something like this go for months and months," she said. "Somebody needs to be held accountable for this."
SunPass users like her are being told if they don't pay by March 31 the invoices go to collections. On Friday, we asked Governor Ron DeSantis if he plans on taking action to resolve the issue with 'Conduent' the company that had a system-wide failure last year.
"Obviously, there's problems. DOT is working on it, but bottom line is I'm going to stand up for the taxpayers," said DeSantis.
Last month the governor selected a new department of transportation secretary who is now weeks into his job.
"He's looking into it and we're going to get read up on the way forward there, but we will defend the taxpayer," he said.
Tate and her family hope someone will take action soon.
"None of us are using the Turnpike right now," said Tate.
Tate also said that when she complained about her bill to a customer service representative, somehow they got the bill down from 1500 dollars to 700 dollars without explaining how.
