Nearly three years after state Sen. Kirk Watson called TxTag tolling a "badly broken system," customers -- including some of our own reporters -- are having billing problems.
KVUE's Amber Downing recently received a bill for $5.87, even though she has a TxTag and should not get bills. Numerous viewers have also reached out to KVUE, saying they've had similar experiences.
"That happened to me too! Just a few moments apart from each other and my bill was like $38 when I only used (sic) the toll twice in two days," Christal Cramer wrote.
Ruth Snodgrass wrote, "We have a TxTag and get bills ALL THE TIME. I still don't understand it."
"I just had this happen to me last week. Rather than complain, I just paid the dang thing," Ryan Mroczenski added.
Downing called TxTag to resolve her billing problem and was disconnected three times due to a "high call volume." On the fourth call, she was kept on hold for two minutes before she reached a human.
In the end, her problem was that she hadn't updated her license plate with TxTag when she got a new one. Sometimes the sensors would scan her license plate and other times it would scan her TxTag.
KVUE reached out to the Texas Department of Transportation on how people should handle their problems with TxTag and what recourse or legislation is in place to help customers.
A TxDOT spokesperson gave the following statement:
"In order to determine an issue with a billing or transaction history, TxDOT policy requires written permission to access the account.
"If a customer believes he or she has been billed incorrectly, they can call 1-(888)-468-9824 to discuss the account.
"In recent years, TxDOT has increased customer-service staff and improved its website to address issues related to TxTag accounts.
"As for legislation that was recently passed, it has yet to take effect, making it impossible to measure its impact at this time."
KVUE also reached out to Watson's office since he played an integral role in holding Texas Department of Transportation to account for the TxTag problems in 2015. His spokesperson said they were unable to comment Wednesday.