-contributed
Several Linkt customers have sounded the alarm over problems with the toll road payment system.
John told Neil Mitchell at 3AW Radio he signed into his account last week and discovered there had been a problem with his payment method since July.
Linkt claims he owes $800, but that doesn’t match his travel history.
“The amount they say I owe means I’d be averaging seven trips a week since July. I average two trips a week,” he told Neil Mitchell.
Meanwhile, Linkt told 3AW Mornings listener Ian he was $40 in arrears.
“I topped it up, and all of a sudden they were saying I was in arrears again!,” he said.
“They are denying there is a system problem.”
3AW Mornings has contacted Linkt’s owner, Transurban, about the problem and has not yet received a response.
A Far Northern motorist was hit up $30 by Linkt for crossing the Gateway Bridge twice by car in Brisbane in March. The account duly arrived in the mail with the help of number plate recognition provided by a vast array of cameras on the bridge to which Main Roads Department gives the collection company access.
The motorist said he made a cash payment by mail more than two weeks ago but after 45 minutes on the convoluted phone system trying to contact an operator the caller eventually ended up with a curry muncher from India, then enduring the expected, drawn-out call.
“Are you in Australia?” the caller asked.
“I am at Linkt,” he replied.
“Are you in Melbourne or Brisbane?”
“Which city did you choose on the phone?” he asked.
“Brisbane!”
“I am in Brisbane,” the Indian lied.
“Good, you keep sending letters when the account was paid by mail over two weeks ago,” said the frustrated caller.
“OK when it gets here the account should be paid.”
“I am contacting Linkt because you keep sending accounts in the mail costing $1.50 each time in postage. When will the payment be processed?”
“I can’t answer that because it is not my department.”
Finally giving up the caller asked the best of Linkt intelligentsia not to “send any more accounts demanding payment with menaces. “
The automaton was unable to compute that sentence and politely asked if “there is anything else I can help you with?”
“Yes, make your curry stronger tonight it might clear your head.”
I get a message claiming to be from linkt on my phone ever since the Optus break-in. I haven’t owned a car since 2015 when my car was written off by a clown texting through a red light at 60kph. I just ignore it.
My car was stolen in 2021 and eventually recovered.
A few months ago I used M1 and got a bill for the travel plus a $14+ admin fee.
That was odd I thinks to meself..
Eventually I figured out it was because I had to get new plates and they weren’t registered with Citylink, now Linkt.
I rang expecting the full on runaround but was pleased that the problem was resolved exactly as one would expect and hope for.
That aside, the whole toll thing is just another grift.
Maybe the bad accounting is a one off.
I have been getting messages from that mob recently saying I owe fees. I haven’t been near a toll road since 1977. I live in FNQ.
It has been said often that knowledge will set you free, what is rarely said is which knowledge.
It is my opinion that the knowledge in question is WHO YOU ARE, you are not John William Doe, or Mr J Doe, or John W Doe, All of these variations of the base theme are cesti qui trust names owned by the government. IF you accept being one of these entities then the government OWNS you and you must jump through their hoops. However should you appellation be one of these, then your so called name is in fact john-william. Since “they” NEVER send letters(or anything else for that matter) to any name other than the cestui qui trust name, and IT IS POSTAL FRAUD TO OPEN POSTAL COMMUNICATIONS ADDRESSED TO SOMEONE ELSE, return it! also, “they” have no contract with john-william. Do some research
Smart Cities are compounds for the Dumb, don’t be dumb like your country cousins, be smart, happy and free, come to a Smart City, you can visit but never leave.
They’re calling you by 5G subliminal messaging, ‘come to the dark side, come to the dark side, look at us, look at us, we live in a Smart City, you can see us posing on the deck in bike shorts with all the other sheeple sipping lattes.’
More than a decade ago, I decided to divert around Brisbane on my occasional trips to NSW. I made this decision because it was clear that payment collection was cynically contrived from the outset.
First, no payment-demanding facility should be able to refuse cash payments. That was once illegal yet I recall no legislation enabling such a restriction. Moreover, this constitutes financial entrapment because there is no warning of such extortion that enables a traveller from interstate to divert around the obstacle.
Travellers from beyond the region are eventually invoiced via number plate recognition thus incurring a late fee, which is inevitable for anyone who must travel to town once per week to collect mail from a PO Box. Thus, double extortion.
Third factor: we have already been taxed for these bridges and roads from income tax and fuel tax, so it is triple-dipping by rogue governments. State governments incorporated such cost-coverage in Federal State Grants so it is disingenuous to pretend that new developments are not covered.
These are the sneaky camouflaged taxes that, when added up, make Australians the most taxed people on earth. I propose that, when we eventually restore government of integrity, we identify the politicians, bureaucrats, and public/private executives responsible for such banditry to be prosecuted and hanged for highway robbery which, I understand, is still a criminal offence. I also propose that a special road through convenient wasteland be named Dick Turpin Way, upon which permanent scaffolds dangle their corpses as a permanent deterrant for aspiring white collar criminals.
And in reference to the term public/private, this is a euphemism for corruption. Treasury Regulations forbid funds from Consolidated Revenue from passing into private hands unless a publicly transparent and audited system of competitive offer and acceptance of transaction has taken place. To bypass this mandatory process is embezzlement of public funds and is always prisonable. I therefore propose that we change ‘prisonable’ to ‘hanging offence”; the proposal justified on the basis of ‘prisonable’ gravitas manifestly failing as a deterrent.
Linkt! On four seperate occasions I have been incorrectly charged by Linkt for using Melbourne toll roads. I have contacted them each time and they have confirmed that the number plate in the photo does not match my number plate.
The first call was for 2 trips. The operator was efficient and credited my account plus a $10 good will credit.
The next 2 calls were different. They acknowledged the number plate was incorrect yet the issue had to go to a claims department. Both were approved in time and I have had my account flagged for human checking. (I do not use toll roads out of principle).
What irks me is they remove money from your account falsely and take weeks to credit an account you don’t use.
I requested a refund (put the credit back into my bank account). They did that then it reverted the next day. WT?
Now I am trying to close my Linkt account. Argh 😫
This is the problem with the Government outsourcing collection to contractors. It’s always the customers/constituents that have their pockets hurt. Where’s the watchdog and accountability.
Tolls, fees, inability to pay due to toll collector stuff ups, more fees, lawyer letters, overseas call centre run arounds etc. The idea here is to restrict movement and driving.
Smart Cities is just what we need to resolve all these problems.
Thank You for Highlighting the problems with this toll operator I have now received two bills for tolls supposedly acquired when travelling on a toll road ,Problem I live in Bendigo 160kl North of Melbourne and have never been anyway near the toll road as I do not go into Melbourne and unless its an absolute emergency never will ,I hate the bloody place and I can assure you 160kl is not far enough away.
Regards
Ray Hayward