No good deed goes unpunished

Gus Philpott
Woodstock Advocate
July 10, 2009

This afternoon I found an I-Pass transponder in the parking lot of the Illinois Tollway. In appreciation of someone's hard-earned $10 deposit, I decided to do a good deed and try to return it. I'm having second thoughts, already.

I called the I-Pass Business Services line at 800-UC-I-PASS and reached a nice young man who is probably new. I think he wanted to help me, but he kept having to put me on hold (to ask a question of a supervisor). Then he asked me to mail it in.

Sorry, not going to do that. Send me a prepaid envelope. Back on Hold.

I suggested he call the Accountholder and give that person my phone number and said I would be happy to return it, if called. Back on Hold.

Then I said I'd take it to the Crystal Lake P.D., where the Accountholder could pick it up, if notified by the I-Pass people.

Then he said he would just cancel that transponder and I could throw it away. Well, I could have done that without calling. He agreed the customer would have to pay a $10 deposit again.

He was trying hard to help me, so I asked for a supervisor and got Juanita, the floor supervisor of the telephone customer service crew today. When I asked her to notify the customer, she said that they don't do that.

So much for customer service. I'll inform the Director of the Tollway and maybe he'll chew on the I-Pass Business Center director a little. And a week or two from now, I'll probably just throw it away. Or maybe then I'll spend $2 to mail it in, after all. But first I'll get my money's worth.

If you know a person who lost it (or from whom it was stolen), ask them to contact me. The last five digits of the I-Pass Transponder Number are 51660.