Dart charge

zipcat1980

I use the Dartford crossing very occasionally. I set up an auto top up account which tops up by £10 if it goes below £10. I thought this would be an easy way to make sure I would also have a payment sorted if I use the crossing.

Today I have received an email saying that because my account has been inactive for 12 months the account will be closed unless I either-

(a) Put further money on to my balance- the minimum amount is £10, or-

(b) Make a crossing in my registered vehicle.

This seems massively unhelpful as I am a very occasional use of the crossing, and it now seems I can only keep an account active by adding a further £10 to my balance every 12 months.

The email also does not make clear what will happen to my £18 balance if the account is closed- will the operators keep my money or refund it?

Also I can see no option on the website to withdraw the balance I have on my account, which seems like a basic function which should be available.

Overall, this leaves me pretty unhappy about the service and I am hoping others may have some advice / experience to share!



Thanks.

unforeseen

Wouldn't the best idea be to actually talk to them? They will be able to answer your queztions

Browntoa

Same for the congestion charge , £10 a year regardless

I use dartsave

https://www.dartsave.co.uk/

No need to pay £10 a year , email reminders to pay , think 7 days to pay them

Chrishazle

Pretty sure I've seen a similar thread elsewhere, and when Dartcharge close the account they trouser any credit balance!


Do you get the discounted price with Dartsave that you get with Dartcharge? Mind you, 50p discount per crossing for a very occasional user may not be a factor!!

Browntoa

No discount but as an occasional user I'm saving money as you point out.

The 50p difference is how they finance it

autople

zipcat1980 wrote: »

I use the Dartford crossing very occasionally. I set up an auto top up account which tops up by £10 if it goes below £10. I thought this would be an easy way to make sure I would also have a payment sorted if I use the crossing.

Today I have received an email saying that because my account has been inactive for 12 months the account will be closed unless I either-

(a) Put further money on to my balance- the minimum amount is £10, or-

(b) Make a crossing in my registered vehicle.

This seems massively unhelpful as I am a very occasional use of the crossing, and it now seems I can only keep an account active by adding a further £10 to my balance every 12 months.

The email also does not make clear what will happen to my £18 balance if the account is closed- will the operators keep my money or refund it?

Also I can see no option on the website to withdraw the balance I have on my account, which seems like a basic function which should be available.

Overall, this leaves me pretty unhappy about the service and I am hoping others may have some advice / experience to share!



Thanks.

Any credit will be returned automatically on closure of the account.

If you haven;t used it in 12 months, I suggest you allow it to close.

Then, just before you intend to use the crossing again (during a chargeable period) set up a new account.

As an infrequent user too, I either tend to aim to use it during the non-chargeable times, between 10pm and 6am daily, or otherwise opt to use the Woolwich Ferry or Blackwall Tunnel, which are always FREE of charge:money:

For the rare, emergency occassion I need to use the crossing during a chargeable time, then the odd extra 50p is worth worrying about, especially when you consider the interest I coould otherwise earn on the £10 tied up (or even more in your case) in a pre-pay account for a year or more.

autople

Chrishazle wrote: »

Pretty sure I've seen a similar thread elsewhere, and when Dartcharge close the account they trouser any credit balance!
...

Hope that thread wasn't on MSE! :eek:

(but it may have been, reading some of the nonsense posted on this site in recent tiomes )

Penelopa.Pitstop

I'm occasional user and I setup automatic payment for crossings. This way, I don't have to top up account. Not sure about inactivity of 12 months in this scenario.

autople

Penelopa.Pitstop wrote: »

I'm occasional user and I setup automatic payment for crossings. This way, I don't have to top up account. Not sure about inactivity of 12 months in this scenario.

In theory, the basic online account lasts indefinitely.

However, you don't get any discount unless you have a pre-pay account - the one that you must credit £10 to set up.

zipcat1980

Thanks all- good to hear that I will get my account balance back if they do close the account. I have emailed the operators to query these matters, so will feed back to this thread if I get a response.

I think it would feel more reasonable / transparent if there were an option on their website to request a refund of any unused balance.

Penelopa.Pitstop

autople wrote: »

In theory, the basic online account lasts indefinitely.

However, you don't get any discount unless you have a pre-pay account - the one that you must credit £10 to set up.

But if travel very rarely on Dart crossing, is it worth the hassle of topping up every 12 months to save 50p? I didn't even know about any discount.

I just get email 24h after crossing with payment receipt. Don't have to worry about anything.