More questions than answers on SunPass problems, when customers will be billed

FDOT says Florida Turnpike Enterprise will not be collecting late fees

ORLANDO, Fla.SunPass customers still don't know when they will start being billed for drives they took on Florida toll roads during the month of June.

The amount they owe was never deducted from their accounts due to problems occurred during a scheduled maintenance upgrade to the SunPass website and mobile app.

The Florida Department of Transportation on Thursday announced it would be waiving all SunPass late fees and penalties due to lingering problems with the website and mobile app update.

[READ: New app lets Florida drivers pay tolls with cellphone

The SunPass system has accumulated toll charges for customer accounts since the system maintenance began on June 1. 

Mike Dew, secretary of the Florida Department of Transportation, said SunPass won't take out money from accounts until it knows the new, upgraded system is working. 

FDOT officials said the billing delay will not have an impact on the cost of tolls or the ability to drive while using the system. 

Despite the problems, FDOT says it will still charge for all tolls, but will post the charges gradually over a number of weeks. But the question of when that will begin remains.

[RELATED: E-Pass 'Reload Lanes' now open

News 6 went to the SunPass Customer Service Center in Ocoee looking for answers. We also went straight to the vendor, Conduent, which is the company that helps run Florida's Sun Pass Centralized Customer Service System.

The company's Twitter account states that it handles the digital platforms for both government and business entities. Employees at both the Customer Service Center and Conduent directed all questions back to the Florida Department of Transportation.

[READ: Battery-powered SunPass transponders to stop working]

Late Friday afternoon, News 6 received a response from FDOT stating:

"The conversion to the Centralized Customer Service System (CCSS) represents a massive migration of account information and data to an entirely new platform. Over 6.5 million accounts are held by, and 4 million daily transactions pass through, the SunPass system, and the transfer to the new platform has come with unexpected challenges.

"At this time, there are tens of millions of transactions which will be processed over the next several weeks. In order to better serve the customer and avoid unintended consequences, individual account charges will be posted to accounts gradually over a number of weeks.

"The contract with our vendor includes a number of provisions related to performance and financial penalties for failing to meet obligations. We will be holding the vendor fully accountable for the delays that it has caused, and will be enforcing all penalty clauses of the contract to the maximum extent possible."


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