SunPass billing issues continue as fees, penalties suspended until June

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (FOX 13) - SunPass customers have a little extra time to pay bills for transactions that occurred through December 2018.

A massive backlog kept drivers from receiving their bills last year. Now people are getting them all at once.

Governor Ron DeSantis announced Friday he's ordering SunPass to give people until June 1 to pay their late bills.

But some say they're facing more than just an influx of toll bills. 

"It's extremely, it's extremely frustrating," said Walter Ercius, a St. Pete Beach resident who claims he's received hundreds of erroneous bills.

According to Ercius, his SunPass transponder stopped working with E-Pass, the Central Florida Expressway Authority toll system, around the time SunPass announced its payment system failure.

Ercius says he now gets a TOLL-BY-PLATE bill in the mail every time he drives to Orlando, even though his SunPass transponder is supposed to pay the toll automatically at a discounted rate. 

"I've gone to the (local SunPass) office personally probably 8 to 10 times, and I've probably called an equal number of times on the telephone," he said.

Ercius is being charged up to $400 in tolls that he argues would be much less if his SunPass transponder had been working with E-Pass.

The contractor responsible for maintaining the toll payment system, Conduent, could face up to $4.6 million in penalties, according to Governor DeSantis, who added Friday, that this is a "customer service issue."

“Since I’ve been governor, I’ve heard the concerns from citizens and customers of SunPass and the hardships they’ve been facing related to their delayed bills and billing errors," DeSantis said.

Ercius says he's fed up with the run-around he's been getting from SunPass and hopes his case is straightened out before the June 1 deadline.

"It's just horrible," he said.