An Abbotsford man says he was charged extra fees on his Port Mann Bridge toll bills, even though he paid on time-- and that it wasn’t until he contacted CTV News that the charges were removed.

“I call it bullying. Pay or else,” Dieter Hoefner told CTV News.

Hoefner is an infrequent user of the Port Mann Bridge, so he never registered his plate with TrEO to set up an account.

Drivers who haven’t registered their plates need to pay their tolls within seven days or they’re charged a plate processing fee of $2.30 for each crossing. That fee covers the cost of TReO looking up your plate and sending you an invoice.

Hoefner says he followed the rules and paid through his credit union before the deadline, choosing to pay using a TReO account number from an old invoice that he had received from TReO last year.

He showed CTV proof that the payment was made and accepted by TReO on March 20 for Port Mann Bridge crossings made on March 15. However, TReO didn’t apply the payment until March 29 and then charged Hoefner four plate processing fees of $2.30 each.

The same thing happened again when he paid for a crossing in April. Hoefner was stuck with $11.50 in unwarranted fees and says no one at TReO would listen to his concerns, adding one TReO representative even hung up on him. 

“We looked into the customer’s concern and this shouldn’t have happened,” said Greg Johnson, manager of communications with Transportation Investment Corporation which manages the Port Mann Bridge tolls.

“We’ve reached out and apologized to the customer. We’ve reversed the licence plate processing fees he was charged and we’ve also provided him a modest good will credit to make up for the inconvenience."

TReO attributes the mistake to a technical glitch. Johnson believes it’s an isolated incident, noting TReO doesn’t have a lot of unregistered users who try to pay through their banks.

But they may get more drivers who get hung up with billing problems. TReO says traffic on the Port Mann Bridge has increased since construction began on the Pattullo Bridge.

TReO encourages users of the Port Mann Bridge to register their plates and set up an online account. It’s free and registered users get 30 days to pay their bill instead of one week.

Hoefner has now signed up with TReO and registered his plate to avoid future problems.