My experience with FastTag from ICICI Bank, including a recent replacement and another tag from Paytm.
Getting FasTag - ICICI
I got mine about 2 years back from NHAI office in Delhi. They have a person from ICICI operating from there. I had to get my vehicle, original and copy of Driving License, Registration Certificate and PAN. The process was smooth but I needed to go on a weekday as the NHAI office is closed on weekends and the ICICI person said he didn’t work on Saturdays!
Anyways, long story short, I managed to get away from my office on a weekday slightly early and got the elusive tag on the car.
The ICICI person insisted on pasting the tag himself and I suspected by the time he was done he would have broken part of the dashboard or some other part of the car. Thankfully, sense prevailed on my friend and he allowed me to paste the tag. A joint effort ensued with my new friend guiding on alignment and me pasting the tag.
Usage
I have primarily used it between Delhi - Rajasthan – Madhya Pradesh – Gujarat - Haryana - Punjab - Uttar Pradesh - Uttarakhand.
The experience has been good. The tag lanes are better managed when doing Delhi – Chandigarh route.
Delhi – Rajasthan is chaotic. You may get lucky once in a while but most likely you will be spending some time on the tag lane.
Delhi – Uttar Pradesh/Uttarakhand hasn’t seen the tag lanes working in essence i.e., doesn’t really matter if you have a tag or not. Tag readers invariably don’t work and they would try and dissuade you to even go on tag lanes. Recent visits though indicate a change in attitude for better. But still a long way to go.
Payment from Tag
Mixed experience here. At times no deduction to double deduction. Though I have heard from friends that if they paid cash not being on the tag lane but the RFID reader (from adjacent tag lane) seems to have deducted money as well. I don’t know how this was eventually resolved, if at all. So, if anyone has similar experience – I would be keen to know.
The charges are also erratic how they are posted / updated on sms. Mostly, sms is real time and then there are times when the sms never comes. For those who don't log into online account to check the usage and toll charges there is no way to know how these have been charged on the tag. Paytm, I am told is better in this aspect as you can see the usage and charges on the app itself.
Replacement
Last year August (2017) on my return from Jodhpur the windshield cracked near Manesar. While I went about replacing the windshield, I had to peel off the tag. It was another 4 months by when I could initiate the process of getting the replacement tag.
Having got the tag from the NHAI office, I walked in with optimism that I should be able to get the replacement tag in 2 visits. Once I went in I realized it wasn’t as simple as I thought it to be.
The ICICI person wasn’t going to be there for next 15 days – marriage in the family. The NHAI folks were cooperative and it was a genuine surprise. They made few calls and I was connected to another person who was supposed to be the guy looking after during these 15 days. I was asked to email a copy of the RC and picture of the damaged tag. I kept on emailing and the ICICI person said he wasn’t getting my emails! I tried both from Gmail and office email. Somewhere it occurred to me there could be attachment size restriction and I was correct. Apparently, 2 mb file size limit at ICICI for my contact. As I had clicked HD picture it was more than the allowed file size. Anyways, I was happy this was resolved and I will get the tag in few days.
A week went by. Nothing. No response to emails and nothing to text msgs. But I preserved and kept chasing.
In comes the Paytm Tag for another car
In parallel having undergone this experience with ICICI bank, I decided to get a Paytm tag for my wife’s car. This was influenced by few of the Bhpians from Delhi NCR opting for Paytm (Ashir and Nohonking). Process was smooth. All online. Tag came by courier in a week.
Having got another tag from Paytm and having got a good experience I was reconciling to giving up the ICICI bank tag, seek a refund of the unused money to my ICICI bank account and getting the Paytm for my car too.
As last attempt – I wrote an email to my good friend at ICICI. Mentioning, (i) awesome experience with Paytm, (ii) passage of nearly a month or more without any progress for replacement tag and (iii) I was traveling out of Delhi soon and needed a solution.
My friend responded. But said I needed to visit Videocon Tower in Central Delhi to collect the replacement tag and that I will be charged Rs. 200 for it.
Some traction at last – a response. But this meant I had to waste nearly 1 day / 4-5 hours if not more. Few emails and Paytm example later my friend agreed to courier the replacement tag. Courier was received earlier this week. Rs. 200 was charged to my account and money deducted from my tag account. The tag was pre-activated and nothing needed to be done from my side. I got sms about deactivation of the previous tag and linking the new one to my vehicle.
When compared to the earlier tag, I noticed the replacement tag was bit long and the RFID patch was as well. More or less same dimension as the Paytm tag.
I put on the replacement tag and tried it out yesterday on our breakfast drive to Karnal. Smooth sailing.
Read about our meet here:http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/team-b...-2018-a-2.html
Paytm Tag
Yet to use it on highway. I will update if there is anything worthwhile to share. I am curious how the payment will work for Paytm tag. It has Rs. 115 in balance and doesn’t give an option to add more. Bhpian Ashir says wallet money will move to toll wallet. He has a Paytm tag.
FasTag lanes at Panipat toll – 2 February 2018:
It was interesting to see yesterday the toll operator having 2 lanes now for FasTag, (i) cars and (ii) trucks. This is a good development. With fleet operators moving to FasTag this was becoming a necessity.
To conclude, I feel the Fastag or the tag usage, how these are managed and everything else that comes with this will evolve significantly over the next 2 years albeit it also depends on who remains in charge of the highways in 2019 and after.