$450 bill from NRG / eVgo

[DaveinOlyWA]

I received a call from customer service welcoming me to the network. during the conversation they emphasized that they will be sending me my monthly bill by email if I should have any usage for the month. Guessing they are reading this forum along with facebook

 

[linkim]

I received a call from customer service welcoming me to the network. during the conversation they emphasized that they will be sending me my monthly bill by email if I should have any usage for the month. Guessing they are reading this forum along with facebook

I had a long discussion by phone (and some email exchanges) today with eVgo regarding my bills and the charges to my credit card (CC). What I was told is that the subscription charge ($14.95/month in my case) and the usage charge (DCFC and L2) are billed separately to my credit card. The emailed statement shows the total cost for the month but for some strange reason, eVgo cannot bill you once for the total charge. They also seem to be billed on different dates. So I find some months where I see two entries on my CC statement. One month this year I find both are lumped together as one charge. Then in April, there was no charge by eVgo on my CC (statement ending on 4/2/15). So the $7.80 charge I saw on April 10 for the current billing cycle must be for the earlier month. On top of that, there will be a charge for the monthly subscription ($14.95) that did not show up earlier. My bill from eVgo should appear on by CC at about the 20th of each month, but may not. I think I understand the confusion with eVgo’s billing, but should it be this difficult or confusing?

 

[walterbays]

So I find some months where I see two entries on my CC statement. One month this year I find both are lumped together as one charge. Then in April, there was no charge by eVgo on my CC (statement ending on 4/2/15). So the $7.80 charge I saw on April 10 for the current billing cycle must be for the earlier month. On top of that, there will be a charge for the monthly subscription ($14.95) that did not show up earlier.

I see the same thing. Sometimes usage is billed with subscription, and sometimes it's billed separately. Sometimes they skip a month billing the subscription and then bill two months together. Sometimes they skip several months billing the subscription, add on hefty late fees for not paying, don't tell you about it, and then shut off your access card.

I think all we can do is watch our credit card activity very carefully, and call eVgo customer service any time anything looks a bit wrong. Maybe if they have to spend several times their entire operations profit on fielding customer service inquiries about their billing then they will finally contract out their billing operations to a company competent to operate a billing system.

 

[user 10599]

hmmm....

Reading these posts, I took a look at my credit card. Looks like I've been charged $14.95 on or about the 25th of the month starting Aug 2014 thru Dec 2014. No per use charge and nothing so far this year. Last I recall using one of the stations was Lv2 about early March for about 15 minutes. The card worked fine.

Guess I will be calling them tomorrow to find out what's up. I really hope they don't try to tell me I owe a bunch including late fees. I certainly will not pay any late fee as I always pay all bills on time.

Given the infrequency of using them, I will drop to the Flex plan if I'm not already on that.

 

[DNAinaGoodWay]

Sounds like you were on an "On the Go" plan, the flex plan has no monthly fee. Early termination of the subscription plan is $29.

Seems like their billing system has imploded somehow.

 

[user 10599]

Update -
I think they have some serious reconciliations they need to do to get their accounts all back into good order.

In my case, my On The Go plan had ended in Jan. So when the billing stopped with December, I figured all was good and I was on the Flex Plan as my card still works.

However, they still had me in the system as On The Go as they automatically renewed me for another year. However, I'm guessing that an auto-renewal doesn't automatically renew the credit card charging because I haven't been charged since December. In my case, they were showing a zero balance due. I only recall using the card about 2 times thus far this year, so a retro cancel isn't asking a lot.

Fortunately, customer service was able to correct it over the phone and indicate that since it wasn't supposed to renew, they could switch me to the Flex plan without the cancellation penalty. And she was really nice the whole time. I'm really relieved I didn't have to deal with any run-around and argue over an amount due that shouldn't be there.

So I'm happy and look forward to continuing to work with them.

Since my commute to work changed to 65 miles one way and I don't have good charging options there, it is now my wife's car. And for her local trips, it now rarely needs charging when away from our solar-powered home. So I no longer have the need for the monthly plan. But for peace of mind and to help her with range anxiety, I want to keep an active card on each network. Currently, I have Evgo, Blink and ChargePoint, with Evgo have by far the most convenient coverage in my area.

 

[TonyWilliams]

More surprises from NRG... I thought we had sorted out my account on 10 April 2015. That was when "Betty" emailed me an accounting of my bill, and my "true up" payment of $203.60. I was returned to the $14.95 monthly plan, with $0.10 per minute billing. I was ready (I thought) for my 1200 mile round trip from San Diego to Santa Rosa for the CAFE Foundation "Electric Aircraft Symposium 2015", where I was to give a dinner talk about DC charging standards.

The "**** hit the fan" late Thursday, 30 April, when, out of the blue, I received a call from "Holly" who told me:

1) My account is being "investigated" (a huge surprise, since I thought everything was taken care of with Betty earlier).

2) I was billed the entire $450 to my credit card in two transactions on April 10, 2015; both the agreed to $203.60, and an additional $250-ish that I did not agree to (that added up to the original $450 bill).

3) I would have to call every time that I used an NRG station while under investigation. I mentioned that I was quite literally on a 1200 mile weekend trip (I had just left the Fresno NRG station when I received the call, approximately 1/3 of the way into my trip) and that NRG was a HUGE part of the success of that trip.

4) I still owed yet MORE money (and a late fee)!!!! I actually started to get a little heated by this time, so I don't recall how much more I alledgedly owed.

5) She could not provide her company email or phone number, because it was "private".

6) She was doing me a favor to "inform me" about these issues.

Anyway, I did successfully drive from San Diego (south of Los Angeles) to Santa Rosa (north of San Francisco) about 600 miles, all in one day using only DC charging (non-Tesla). I'm confident that I'm the first person to do that.

 

[RegGuheert]

I actually started to get a little heated by this time,...

A LITTLE heated? I'm sure you could muster a bit more than "a little"!

I've hated that company ever since I saw their first pricing plans. (But I do occasionally use their service now that they have a no monthly fee plan...)

 

[linkim]

More surprises from NRG... I thought we had sorted out my account on 10 April 2015.

The surprise for me would be if NRG were able to correct their error. After sending them an email and attachments showing the same statement for two months, I have still not received an explanation, they just added a charge of $14.95 to my credit card. Still waiting for the usage charge which they bill separately to my credit card. Hopefully they will not bill the same usage charge. If they didn't, that would be a surprise.

 

[cwerdna]

I actually started to get a little heated by this time,...

A LITTLE heated? I'm sure you could muster a bit more than "a little"!

Hahah.

Wow. The issues Tony's hitting are ridiculous. It seems like they need some public shaming via some media attention to get their act together.

 

[TonyWilliams]

I actually started to get a little heated by this time,...

A LITTLE heated? I'm sure you could muster a bit more than "a little"!

Hahah.

Wow. The issues Tony's hitting are ridiculous. It seems like they need some public shaming via some media attention to get their act together.

It got even "better" yesterday. I drove a Tesla Roadster owner from my house to Manhattan Beach (about 120 miles each way).

We drove about half way and pulled into Mission Viejo Mall for some CHAdeMO power at the NRG station. After a 30 minute lunch, we completed the trip to Manhattan Beach, and I returned to the Mission Viejo Mall to charge on the return leg.

My NRG card didn't work. I called and got... Holly! She claimed that her computer didn't work and passed me on to the next representative. He said that at 4:30pm Houston time, my card was deactivated.

I sent an email to Betty, who called me to tell me it was being reactivated, but didn't know why or who deactivated me.

Every day is a new surprise from NRG.

 

[Slow1]

Wow - All these stories are enough to keep me from ever wanting to deal with NRG.

 

[desiv]

Wow - All these stories are enough to keep me from ever wanting to deal with NRG.

I think that's one of the problems with some of these providers tho..
If they are one of the ones in your area and you're likely to use an external charge from time to time, you're likely to use them..
Not a whole bunch of options in some areas...

Kind of like the old (I know they are still around in some places) payphones.
You didn't like the companies that ran them; but when you needed one, you used the one that was there. ;-)

desiv

 

[Slow1]

I think that's one of the problems with some of these providers tho..
If they are one of the ones in your area and you're likely to use an external charge from time to time, you're likely to use them..
Not a whole bunch of options in some areas...

Yup - virtual monopolies. However, on the bright side if you believe in efficient markets then someone else will jump in and provide a better product.

 

[garygid]

I just got a letter from eVgo saying that my account is being (or has been)
canceled. Perhaps because I have not used it in a year (actually never used)?
No indication of what account, as I recall, but I need to look again.

I got the card to use only for emergencies, since their QC fees are/were
quite high, approximately $5 for a 30 minute session, plus $0.20 per minute.

How can they "require" a different account (card) for each vehicle,
when there is no way for their EVSE to identify the vehicle?

 

[desiv]

How can they "require" a different account (card) for each vehicle, when there is no way for their EVSE to identify the vehicle?

Is that the case for Level 2 (or just some devices/networks)?

There's a guy at one of the AVnet places I stop at who has gotten there before me a few times.
So I've waited for his QC to finish, and unplugged him so I could QC. Last time I did that, he showed up before I was done (I usually only need 15 minutes) and we chatted. When he's done with his QC, he moves to the L2 (AVnet has both at each location) to "finish" his charge.

I was thinking, as we both have the same "unlimited" charge keyfob, next time I unplug him from the QC, I could plug him in to the L2 and use my keyfob to start him. No real difference for AVnet, but would be nice for him (as long as he isn't using that timer thing).
But I didn't want to do that if AVnet was going to come calling saying "Hey, don't charge someone else's (another one of our customers) car with your fob!!!" ;-)

That way, he could continue gambling (this EVSE/charger is at a mini mart at a Casino ;-) ) a bit more.. ;-)
(OK, I don't KNOW that he's gambling.. Maybe he's just at the sports bar...) ;-)

desiv

 

[DNAinaGoodWay]

Wow - All these stories are enough to keep me from ever wanting to deal with NRG.

Right when eVgo is starting their push into N.E. Three in eastern MA so far, more in VT and CT, soon in NH. Supposedly, you'd need a separate card fore each state, although they told me they'd waive the extra sign up fees for the extra cards. What a strange operation. Makes ChargePoint and Greenlots look much better. But until they get competition at their locations, they'll probably get some business.

 

[walterbays]

Good news on eVgo: they've started emailing me statements which appear to be accurate.

Bad news: they seem to be a month or more behind in getting statements out. And they appear to be charging my credit card only for the monthly subscription, not for the full amount from the billing statement including usage fees. I have a question in to their customer support, in hopes of getting them to charge me the full amount prior to cutting off my access card.

Overriding good news: they keep building new stations, and pretty much keep them working.

After years of Blink, under old and new ownership, I'm pretty easy to please

 

[davewill]

... How can they "require" a different account (card) for each vehicle,
when there is no way for their EVSE to identify the vehicle?

The CHAdeMOs might be able to identify the vehicle. I don't know that they can, but it is at least possible. More likely its just a rule they have no way to enforce, except if you happen to do something "impossible" like charge two cars at once or simply use more power than they think one car should be able to in a month.

 

[linkim]

Bad news: they seem to be a month or more behind in getting statements out. And they appear to be charging my credit card only for the monthly subscription, not for the full amount from the billing statement including usage fees. I have a question in to their customer support, in hopes of getting them to charge me the full amount prior to cutting off my access card.

eVgo told me that they bill separately for subscription and usage. I often receive two charges on my credit card because of their system of billing. However, I also have received a single charge for both subscription and usage. They can't explain to me why all monthly charges can't be rolled into one charge. It can't be that difficult, but then again this is eVgo we're talking about. In all fairness, their chargers are very reliable in my experience so they get good marks for that. Now they need to address the issues with billing.