ORLANDO, Fla. – On Tuesday, the Central Florida Expressway confirmed the number of SunPass transactions with the wrong date and time stamp is significantly higher than they first thought.
According to their data, more than 2 million SunPass toll transactions have the wrong date and time stamp, not the 64,000 transactions they originally reported last week during the Central Florida Expressway Authority Board meeting.
CFXWay told News 6 those time stamps could be off by as much as 9 1/2 hours for Epass customers who drove on SunPass roads.
Drivers said they think the state vendor – Conduent – should be the one paying for the tolls with the wrong time stamp, not them.
“If you are going to cost us money for the toll roads, it should be accurate,” said Katy of Orlando, who is currently a SunPass customer but is considering switching to EPass.
She says she drives the toll roads every day for work and cannot understand how more than 2 million transactions had the wrong date and time stamp recorded.
But she said it explains why so many of the tolls on her bill were so wrong.
“We should get it for free if you can't back it up,” Katy said.
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Justin Woods is another SunPass customer who said he doesn’t trust his SunPass data.
“The days it was saying I was going through there, I wasn’t (going) through there,” Woods said.
He said he drives the tollways not just to and from work, but for work, and wonders just how much money this is costing both him and his company.
“I don't think they should be able to charge us for it,” Woods said. “If it's a mistake on their half, or computer error or something like that.”
In response to a News 6 public records request, CFX provided a copy of an email sent to both the Department of Transportation and Central Florida Expressway on Saturday, addressing the incorrect time stamp issue.
The email was sent by Conduent Vice President and CTO Mark Cantelli stating, "These files are in your possession and were not part of the original list, if you have not processed these files - don't. Please delete them and we will send new replacement files."
But CFX says as of Tuesday afternoon, they have yet to get those corrected files. On Tuesday evening, an FDOT official said the corrected files had been sent to CFX for processing.
Days before that email was sent, Conduent's CEO was in Orlando, not addressing the SunPass failures, but instead trying to attract new business at the company's Continuum 2018 conference. Conduent held the conference at the Four Seasons Hotel, and brought in speakers such as former Yankees great Derek Jeter.
That does not sit well with Florida drivers.
“Well why isn't he taking us to dinner? We're the one paying the bills,” Katy said.
“That bothers me,” said SunPass customer Douglas Rush. “I’m thinking about just changing my SunPass to Epass but then you might run into it the other way around.”
And Rush is correct.
According to the Florida Department of Transportation, this particular time stamp problem is only affecting Epass customers at this time and happened when CFX tried to convert the SunPass data.
The Florida Turnpike Enterprise held a conference call Tuesday with CFX to fix the time stamp issue. Details of that call are yet to be released.
FDOT has continually stated state contractor Conduent will be held responsible and accountable for the numerous failures and ongoing customer service issues associated with the June upgrade meltdown. The state has already assessed almost a $1 million in penalties and fines and has not paid Conduent since the failures came to light.
Katy said Conduent should also have to pay for all the transactions with incorrect data.
“I understand the fines, I can appreciate the fines. But are you going to give us our money back for the mistakes?” Katy asked. “Or are you just going to fine the company and say, ‘Well you did a bad thing but we forgive you, we will still charge everyone else their toll money.'”