I started having site issues a few days ago but no one could tell me why. I emailed to see about deactivation and called two schedulers but both said everything looked good. Then, on 8/10 I got a deactivation email for tolls and receipts. I had submitted everything I had and even forwarded additional info because all I could do was screen grab our traffic site, photo the warning signs and price signs for tolls, and grab photos of the booths (even though it's a hands free state and I was using a camera and a phone camera in the car...errrr I mean allegedly... ) I wrote a friendly/kill em with kindness type email to the help desk last night and asked what could be done. I was written back and told that since I didn't have receipts retrospectively, that as long as they were attached going forward or I bought an EZ pass all would be good but that they couldn't guarantee payment on past tolls. Well, okay, cool. I'll go apply for our EZ pass next week. Apparently they're switching over to only accepting toll receipts and online screen grabs of EZ instead of "creatively getting proof." On a positive note, sending friendly emails can get ya places. I stayed nice throughout the issue and it seems other than losing out on some toll money, I may be back in the MF game. Lately, they weren't a big deal for me income wise but I thought about it and figured I may as well make one last attempt at salvaging a bridge and whatdayaknow.

I've never been asked for toll receipts. Then again, each toll around here is $1.75 or less unlike some places where $5 is considered cheap for a road toll.

ah man, we have tolls! There are 4 of them in my immediate area. If you hit all of them to and from, they are $12.60 and the dang state just approved a DOUBLING of tolls so they're going to be $25.60 going forward. Ugh. I'm signing up for an EZ pass just for shopping. Oh, and I should add the $12.80 is just for passenger, two axle vehicles such as sedan cars and pickup trucks. If you drive an RV or a 5th wheel, have a hitch attached, drive a rig, have a work truck, drive anything with 3 axles or more etc. etc. the fees just climb!!! The oversized trucks pay a whopping $12 before the frackin' fee doubles soon! I cannot imagine.

I'm so glad that it all worked out for you. Occasionally you can get some bonuses so it's worth trying to salvage, especially if you have a favorite shop with them like I do! I don't have tolls in my area but have to pay them when I route through Texas and Florida. It sure helps to have a company that will consider that part of the shop fee!

@MountainCacher88 wrote:

ah man, we have tolls! There are 4 of them in my immediate area. If you hit all of them to and from, they are $12.60 and the dang state just approved a DOUBLING of tolls so they're going to be $25.60 going forward. Ugh. I'm signing up for an EZ pass just for shopping. Oh, and I should add the $12.80 is just for passenger, two axle vehicles such as sedan cars and pickup trucks. If you drive an RV or a 5th wheel, have a hitch attached, drive a rig, have a work truck, drive anything with 3 axles or more etc. etc. the fees just climb!!! The oversized trucks pay a whopping $12 before the frackin' fee doubles soon! I cannot imagine.

Oh, wow. Interesting to read this. Before seeing this thread, I posted on another Market Force thread about my curiosity about what has set off MF alarms for some shoppers who use this feature. I use parking and tolls on only maybe 2% of my reports and the amounts are negligible, usually 75 cent tolls or $1.50 parking. Frankly, I've always been very surprised MF pays these as most other companies do not. And, when they lowered their fees, I expected them to stop paying for tolls and parking, and I was very surprised when they continued. I'm guessing collecting these on a high percentage of shops or a large overall dollar amount might be setting off an alarm. So how much do you estimate they have been reimbursing you monthly for tolls? And what percentage of your shops show toll fees?

I only claim the tolls once per day with them so if I have several shops, I'll just pick one of the shops and attach to tolls to it. Some shoppers say they spread it out, so maybe that is where I went wrong. Depending on the trip, I could only use $1.60, or if I hit every darn booth and side road, it might be a max of $18.60 in tolls. Now, I can get paper receipts at the human-occupied booths but we also have the types you throw your change in. I can't get receipts on those. There are 4 of them at $0.80 each and if you go both ways it's $6.40 a shop. In a month, I really am unsure for tolls. I would estimate now that I've slacked off shopping they might reimburse $60-$125 in tolls and parking. I'm going to invest in EZ pass and if nothing else, at least I have it for taxes. It's apparently delayed at times to show up and they now want our receipts attached in that 8 hour report time. Ah, the learning curve. I did submit pics of me at the booths, photos of the signs, and even screen grabs of the map from my house to the shops. I live in one state, border several more, and my new job has me in and out of states along the east coast. The eastern seaboard is full of toll roads :/ I always attached receipts for the things I could get but sometimes the best they got was a photo of the booth and me going through. Obviously the cars in front of were different in each pic, etc. so idk why those weren't sufficient. I'm not going to block a toll lane to snap tons of photos and waste time scamming. I know we've all heard the horror stories. If we wanna make a good job of it, sometimes we have to bend a little. Of course sometimes we have to cut the cord on a company too. I do get some good work through them so I wanted to salvage what I could for now. The make offer helps me since I've severely slacked off shopping.

Have you looked at the value of claiming tolls you cannot document versus the value of the work? I had an expense paid route which included things like tolls. Considering the high value of the route, where I couldn't get receipts I wrote off those small tolls because they were insignificant in comparison. It seems cutting the cord with a company providing you a significant income right now over 80 cents or $8 could be called cutting off your nose to spite your face.

I do a ton of work with MF. I usually schedule in their shops just to get that toll reimbursement. If I'm on the way to a big box store for $25, I might pick up a $4 MF shop just to get the tolls reimbursed for the day if it's going to cost me $12-$16 in tolls by the time I'm done road running. I wrote to them and it just kinda looks like the EZ pass is the best route right now. I need to post on local social media to see if anyone already has an EZ and could tell me how fast their data pops up.

So you are being paid $4 for a MF shop and picking up another $12-16 for toll costs for the day? That significantly increases their costs for the shops you do. I understand why they have flagged your account for review. I'm amazed that they are continuing to pay tolls for all their shoppers.

@roflwofl wrote:

So you are being paid $4 for a MF shop and picking up another $12-16 for toll costs for the day? That significantly increases their costs for the shops you do. I understand why they have flagged your account for review. I'm amazed that they are continuing to pay tolls for all their shoppers.

That'y really one of the main reasons I do their shops but I imagine other shoppers do the same. Most of the shops sit... and sit... and sit until Make Offer pops up on them. I always submit receipts for what I can get them for but often enough, the side booths are $4-$6 in fees I can't get tickets for. I photograph the booths and I always attach a toll authority screen grab and Google Map shot. The person didn't say not to submit tolls at all-- she just said if I didn't have a physical receipt, then it better be a screen grab receipt of the toll in that day, within shop report hours because it's getting a little more strict. I do try to avoid the low pay shops, but if there's a toll trip involved and I spot a drive thru... I'll snag it up for those reimbursements. Parking isn't usually too bad, thankfully. Most meters here are around a penny or less per minute. The ones in the "city" are $0.05 for 12 minutes. Of course, when you need to spend 30 minutes at the shop, it takes 20 to even get to begin the shop, and the person runs over, parking could add up too here and there. I figure I'll work on what I can and submit most of it for reimbursement. I don't claim any tolls for tax/travel that get reimbursed and often enough MF had my back. I'll try the EZ pass out and see how it goes. Hopefully, it's a quick post to the account screen. If not, I could always do all my reports, save, and then return at the last minute to upload the photos.

I don't "charge" them for any tolls I wouldn't have to pass through for their shops. I'm always careful on that! If it only requires me to pass through $8 in tolls and I use another $4, I'll only put the $8 on my shop. Perhaps that's another reason too because the tolls are not "consistent" in that it's not the same tolls all the time because I do other shops, take other roads, double back, and so forth but I just flag the ones I use for their shops.

@MountainCacher88 wrote:

I don't "charge" them for any tolls I wouldn't have to pass through for their shops. I'm always careful on that! If it only requires me to pass through $8 in tolls and I use another $4, I'll only put the $8 on my shop. Perhaps that's another reason too because the tolls are not "consistent" in that it's not the same tolls all the time because I do other shops, take other roads, double back, and so forth but I just flag the ones I use for their shops.

I'm guessing you still write the other tolls off on your taxes then?

If you have an EZ pass, your toll records are recorded with whoever is handling your EZ pass account. You should be able to get into your EZ pass account and get a copy of the proof that you used the tunnel/bridge at the stated time.

@Kakita987 wrote:

@MountainCacher88 wrote:

I don't "charge" them for any tolls I wouldn't have to pass through for their shops. I'm always careful on that! If it only requires me to pass through $8 in tolls and I use another $4, I'll only put the $8 on my shop. Perhaps that's another reason too because the tolls are not "consistent" in that it's not the same tolls all the time because I do other shops, take other roads, double back, and so forth but I just flag the ones I use for their shops.

I'm guessing you still write the other tolls off on your taxes then?

As long as it's for my 1099 work and not anything else. I keep a notebook in my car with all my shops dates and times, tolls, areas, mileage, leisure and costs etc.

@catlassy wrote:

If you have an EZ pass, your toll records are recorded with whoever is handling your EZ pass account. You should be able to get into your EZ pass account and get a copy of the proof that you used the tunnel/bridge at the stated time.

That's what I'm going to do but MF (the person who finally helped me out) warned that some companies/states toll authorities take a while to report and that it's often delayed 24-48 hours. MF gives you 8 hours over if you're lucky to get those shop reports in. Ah well. I did a couple shops this week and just noted my tolls for tax stuff.

@MountainCacher88 wrote:

@catlassy wrote:

If you have an EZ pass, your toll records are recorded with whoever is handling your EZ pass account. You should be able to get into your EZ pass account and get a copy of the proof that you used the tunnel/bridge at the stated time.

That's what I'm going to do but MF (the person who finally helped me out) warned that some companies/states toll authorities take a while to report and that it's often delayed 24-48 hours. MF gives you 8 hours over if you're lucky to get those shop reports in. Ah well. I did a couple shops this week and just noted my tolls for tax stuff.

Yeah well here in Oklahoma with the Pikepass it takes awhile to post and then they have entered in the wrong date for you going through the Toll. I can just see the court case now.