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To retrieve your lost E-ZPass account number, just enter your E-ZPass account number
By adamg on Fri, 09/26/2014 - 2:09pm
Kevin T. Vine was not much amused when he went to the MassDOT page for recovering his E-ZPass number only to see that "account number" is a required field to recover it. He adds:
I actually just spoke to a Cust Svc rep at @MassGov who said they're aware of it but doing nothing.
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I spoke to a MassDOT/EZ-Pass CSR on the Phone as well,
for exactly the same problem. I didn't have my account number, only my transponder number. The customer support representative informed me that the only way to retrieve my account number would be to come to an EZ-Pass/FastLane service location in person.
Very inconvenient.
Wow! This hits home.
I had a ridiculous problem gaining access to my National Grid and E-ZPass accounts this summer! Grrr...
A year or so ago i was able
A year or so ago i was able to call and get my account number after verifying some personal information. I was never told to visit a location.... I wonder if thats new
I did this recently
I had to make some changes to my account last month and I also called to get my account number. I had no trouble getting it over the phone. Could be a new thing--maybe they are concerned about identity theft?
National Grid
National Grid's website is worse. Two separate accounts for gas and electric. They each have a different set of username/password restrictions.
Once, I needed to reset my password because I couldn't figure the F out what one of them was, but I needed to enter my account number alongside my email address. However, I had no idea what my account number was because I went paperless and they do not include your account number on the emails when you are notified that payment is due.
Lastly, if you want to pay through credit card, you need to pay through Western Union and there is a "convenience" fee or some BS that you need to pay to use WU.
Lame-o!
Maybe because their account systems are still in Cobol
Given that National Grid snapped up a bunch of companies, each with their own customer-account systems, they probably are just not even trying to integrate them at all. Wouldn't surprise me terribly if they're still based on code written back in the 1960s, but maybe that's because back in my tech reporting days, I covered the pressing issue of utilities trying to maintain their legacy Cobol systems when all the Cobol programmers out there were retiring and dying (I even once wrote about an attempt to create an object-oriented version of Cobol).
I know someone who's a COBOL
I know someone who's a COBOL programmer and, given that he seems to go on vacation every other week, I guess he's paid very handsomely for his expertise...
an object-oriented version of Cobol
Was it going to be called "ADD 1 TO COBOL GIVING COBOL." ?
What you did there.
I see it. funny++
In 2011
I followed the directions on my National Grid bill to set up an online National Grid account, since we were having mail issues thanks to the wonderful Allston Post Office.
I get an email back welcoming me to my Niagra Mohawk Energy account, but was never able to log in after fully creating the account because the information didn't work in their records.
My bank at the time didn't acknowledge them as a payee either, so I kept sending them paper checks until my bank got its act together some point in 2012.
The National Grid Programmers Are Doing The Best They Can ...
They're just a little befuddled by all this newfangled technology.
At least you could view the site...
I've been trying to get my accounts set up with auto-pay all day, and www.nationalgridus.com/ is just... down.
It's disappointing that an electric company, which is so important to all kinds of technology, seems to have not a clue how to handle these things.
Not only that, but even if
Not only that, but even if you go to the electric website, it logs you into your gas account. You have to click "pay bill" and then sign in at the page it takes you to to get into your electric account.
Still?
This happened to me at the beginning of the summer. After a few calls I gave up and then was sent a charming letter threatening to fine me $40 every time I used my pass without updating my information. Eventually I went back through my old credit card statement and found my account number but they made it as difficult as possible.
It looks pretty clear to me.
The form that asks you for your account number is for resetting your password. It's under the section titled "To Reset Your Password." To retrieve the account number, the page clearly tells you to call customer service.
Terribly designed webpage but
Terribly designed webpage but yeah apparently people also can't read.
And when you call they do
And when you call they do tell you your account number. Sometimes UH feels like the virtual front porch of a particularly cranky retirement home.
From:
http://www.massdot.state.ma.us/highway/TrafficTrav...
GET OFF MY LAWN!
n/t
I had...
The same exact problem 2-3 years ago. However, unlike everyone here is reporting, I was actually able to retrieve my account number fairly easily with a quick call into the customer service. I must be one of the lucky ones.
Still though, I can't believe that someone knowingly wrote that into the website and was like "yup, looks good! Time to go home for the day". Someone at the DOT or the contractor they hired must have had a rough day.
The problem with
going paperless is that there's no statement to look for in your house. And - you guessed it -- if you go online to look up your account, you end up at that messed up web page at the top.
Whomever's email is
Whomever's email is registered to the account is getting electronic statements monthly. And those statements *contain* the account number. When I log in I see:
Monthly Account Statement
$2/mo. seems pretty reasonable for tree-killing, printing, stuffing, and mailing.
It's actually a pretty well designed system near as I can tell.
Yeah the statement contains
Yeah the statement contains the acct number but you need the acct number to log-in. The statement itself isn't delivered to your email--its a link for you to log in and view it, so if you forgot or lost your account number you can't log in til you retrieve it.
Print the statement each
Print the statement each month? Make a little pile of them? It will be *just* *like* they mailed them to you, except cheaper and faster.
Seriously people I do not know what my problem is I need to let this go.
It's true
I did print out one of my statements at some point but I suck at organization in general. So of course, when I needed it I forgot where I put it :p it would be a lot easier though if you could just sign in to their site with an email or username and pw.
So print to PDF, and file
So print to PDF, and file with an obvious name (company_year_month.pdf) or in an obvious folder and you can find them any time with a quick search. Be sure to back up, of course.
But the whole point
is to cut down on trees, right? This is the modern dilemma -- we have all these online accounts that we forget how to access.
Can't Pay On-line
I signed up for manual account replenishment and was disappointed to find out that you can't make a payment on-line. I have to go to a service center or mail a check to replenish my account. In the 21st century!!!
I'm sure the Commonwealth will fix the MassDOT website
right after they're finished with getting the Health Connector website up and running.
Try NH
My EZ pass is with NH, it seems to be much easier to recover a user name and password. Originally the transponders were free, but later they went up. Recently they lowered the price of a transponder to $8.90. I think that they offer a discount on NH tolls.
Yes but Mass transponders are
Yes but Mass transponders are free and offer you discounts on Mass tolls, which people in Mass are more likely to benefit from, and you don't get with an NH transponder.
Nothing stops you from having as many E-ZPasses as you want though, if you'd still benefit from them all.
How many E-ZPasses?
"Nothing stops you from having as many E-ZPasses as you want though, if you'd still benefit from them all."
I suspect that if you have more than one E-ZPass in your vehicle, they'll charge you a toll on EACH ONE every time you drive through a toll station.
I recall the story a few years ago, when someone wanted to close their account and mailed the transponder back to MassDOT. They got charged a toll for every time the Postal Service truck went through a toll station, until the transponder finally got delivered to the MassDOT office.
Put The Transponder In A Foil Pouch And It Won't Transpond
NH charges a fee for transponders
because the NH Legislature (mostly Rs at the time) stupidly passed a law requiring the Bureau of Turnpikes to charge such a fee (IIRC, it's based on the manufacturer's price to the state for the transponder).
Massachusetts transponders became free in 2009 after the Turnpike Authority was dissolved upon creation of the current MassDOT.
Sounds like Verizon.
Sounds like Verizon.
HAHAHAHAHAAH TYPICAL!
I wonder if these website bozos are the same as the Health Connector clowns?
This is still happening, and
This is still happening, and no I don't want to call customer service to get my account number when I know both my email address AND transponder number. Why can't they handle a "forgot my account number" situation with an automated email like every other system in the world?