Blink changes usage rules on commercial charges

[ENIAC]

I'm very careful with the companies I share my credit card information with. I personally don't feel comfortable at all with sharing that information with ECOtality. With the Blink "guest" membership you don't get a RFID card. I think you get a one-time use PIN, over the Internet, after they charge the credit card you give them. It would be nice if ECOtality offered a card, with say a $20 balance and no expiration, that you could purchase with Paypal or a check, to keep in the car for an emergency charging situation.

 

[WetEV]

I'm very careful with the companies I share my credit card information with. I personally don't feel comfortable at all with sharing that information with ECOtality. With the Blink "guest" membership you don't get a RFID card. I think you get a one-time use PIN, over the Internet, after they charge the credit card you give them. It would be nice if ECOtality offered a card, with say a $20 balance and no expiration, that you could purchase with Paypal or a check, to keep in the car for an emergency charging situation.

Perhaps you could use a one time use credit card number?

 

[davewill]

If a contract can be changed at any time what is the point :roll:

These are pretty common, but usually the consumer can simply terminate the relationship if the terms become outrageous. The problem here is that if you decide to reject new terms, they come and pick up your Blink.

 

[TaylorSFGuy]

If a contract can be changed at any time what is the point :roll:

These are pretty common, but usually the consumer can simply terminate the relationship if the terms become outrageous. The problem here is that if you decide to reject new terms, they come and pick up your Blink.

I've been trying to avoid using the public Blink units so that I don't have to update my account. Nor have I logged into the Blink network since they started this unilateral extension which apparently has been modified again from 2013 to 2014. If I make it through to December 2012 which is the original expiration date without accepting any changes, does the home unit belong to me as I've complied with my end of the contract we both agreed to? My thought has been that come 1/1/13 the unit is mine and then they can no longer reference the original agreement for extension etc since that agreement has been completed.

 

[Spies]

The problem here is that if you decide to reject new terms, they come and pick up your Blink.

Are you aware of this happening to anyone? Personally I have just ignored Blink's pleas to sign the new contract and I have not heard again from them for months and was covered in this thread http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=6744" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;. I also created a new account in order to receive an active blink card without agreeing to the new terms.

 

[ENIAC]

If a contract can be changed at any time what is the point :roll:

These are pretty common, but usually the consumer can simply terminate the relationship if the terms become outrageous. The problem here is that if you decide to reject new terms, they come and pick up your Blink.

I've been trying to avoid using the public Blink units so that I don't have to update my account. Nor have I logged into the Blink network since they started this unilateral extension which apparently has been modified again from 2013 to 2014. If I make it through to December 2012 which is the original expiration date without accepting any changes, does the home unit belong to me as I've complied with my end of the contract we both agreed to? My thought has been that come 1/1/13 the unit is mine and then they can no longer reference the original agreement for extension etc since that agreement has been completed.

That's my understanding, the Blink EVSE becomes your property. However, you may (will?) have to pay a sales tax on the transfer of ownership.

 

[davewill]

The problem here is that if you decide to reject new terms, they come and pick up your Blink.

Are you aware of this happening to anyone? Personally I have just ignored Blink's pleas to sign the new contract and I have not heard again from them for months and was covered in this thread http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=6744" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;. I also created a new account in order to receive an active blink card without agreeing to the new terms.

Under the original agreement they couldn't. Changes had to be mutually agreed to. It's only under the new one, that they could force through changes without customer approval. I haven't heard of them actually doing taking anyone's Blink.

 

[Blink]

Hi all,

We posted an official statement about our RPA on the following thread: http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=51&t=9521&p=216029#p216029" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[davewill]

Hi all,

We posted an official statement about our RPA on the following thread: http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=51&t=9521&p=216029#p216029" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Hi Blink, :roll:

The official statement sucks rocks. It's all about what you want/need, and nothing to address any of our concerns.

 

[DesertDenizen]

I lucked out. There are four Blinks units at the Kohls near me. In the same development is my dentist, stores, restaurants etc. so it is convenient to charge there. They used to work like my home unit, just plug in and charge. Today they came up with a another screen telling me of the new charges to plug in. I knew this was coming so it wasn't a total surprise, but I read down to the part about the hourly charge and it was $0.00 per hour. I charged for an hour while doing my errands and sure enough when I unplugged a screen came up and said Your total charge is $0.00. Nice.

 

[ENIAC]

Would someone with a finance background please comment on this. I've been thinking about why ECOtality wants to change the residential agreement for us to use their commercial EVSEs. Our home Blink EVSE's (along with all their other infrastructure), should be listed as an asset on ECOtality's balance sheet under property plant and equipment which in their last reporting period stood at $15.6M. So, if we all start taking title to our EVSEs in Dec 2012, that will reduce their property plant and equipment and thus stockholder equity by a like amount, correct? Or is it that our EVSEs will have been depreciation to a $0 value on their books at that point?

How it should work is that ECOtality should honor the original agreement and turn title of the EVSE over to us starting in Dec. Then if we agree to provide them data they agree to provide us free support for the EVSE for another year.

 

[thankyouOB]

here is a very bad kink in the software of the blink commercial chargers: if you plug in to use end-timer, you get charged for ALL the time you are plugged in, not just the hours you are actually charging.

 

[thankyouOB]

I'm very careful with the companies I share my credit card information with. I personally don't feel comfortable at all with sharing that information with ECOtality. With the Blink "guest" membership you don't get a RFID card. I think you get a one-time use PIN, over the Internet, after they charge the credit card you give them. It would be nice if ECOtality offered a card, with say a $20 balance and no expiration, that you could purchase with Paypal or a check, to keep in the car for an emergency charging situation.

why?
by US law, the largest liability is $50, and every card company I have dealt with always makes you whole if you show they are not your charges.

 

[grommet]

here is a very bad kink in the software of the blink commercial chargers: if you plug in to use end-timer, you get charged for ALL the time you are plugged in, not just the hours you are actually charging.

I don't really see a problem here. Owners of EVSEs, if they intend on billing for use for whatever reason, would generally want to bill for time occupied. If not, the resource is unavailable to someone else to use... and, well, be billed for. (FYI: I personally don't think public L2 charging has a viable "for profit" business model.)

 

[thankyouOB]

here is a very bad kink in the software of the blink commercial chargers: if you plug in to use end-timer, you get charged for ALL the time you are plugged in, not just the hours you are actually charging.

I don't really see a problem here. Owners of EVSEs, if they intend on billing for use for whatever reason, would generally want to bill for time occupied. If not, the resource is unavailable to someone else to use... and, well, be billed for. (FYI: I personally don't think public L2 charging has a viable "for profit" business model.)

that is not the case at work site blink chargers, such as my company.
you park, you stay. you charge first or ent-time, but you still leave at COB.

regardless, they shouldnt charge you for plug-in time instead of usage time. it should be variable by setting, I suppose, to support your issue as well as my type of situation.

 

[grommet]

I agree there; all day parking lot/garage scenarios should not charge for time connected unless that's the only method being used to pay for parking. (Stanford University does this; it covers the parking fees.) Give Ecotality & your work feedback before they decide to charge. They might want to think about a "per session" option all well, but maybe they are trying to keep it simple.

My friend that works for PayPal/eBay recently made their ChargePoint EVSEs bill at $1/hr... including time plugged in. I guess they want to cover the ChargePoint fees and, yes, they don't want you hogging the space. This is why 120V plugs make more sense in many work scenarios, and corporate can avoid writing a check to Coulomb.

 

[thankyouOB]

true.
when this place crowds up with cars when summer is over I go back to using the L1 in the sub-basement.
the EV spots with blinks are not restricted to EVs.

 

[ENIAC]

I'm very careful with the companies I share my credit card information with. I personally don't feel comfortable at all with sharing that information with ECOtality. With the Blink "guest" membership you don't get a RFID card. I think you get a one-time use PIN, over the Internet, after they charge the credit card you give them. It would be nice if ECOtality offered a card, with say a $20 balance and no expiration, that you could purchase with Paypal or a check, to keep in the car for an emergency charging situation.

why?
by US law, the largest liability is $50, and every card company I have dealt with always makes you whole if you show they are not your charges.

http://www.gobankingrates.com/credit-card-rates/are-people-setting-themselves-up-for-online-credit-card-fraud/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Because most credit card information is stored online in some capacity, whether a result of online purchases made, or card companies and affiliates storing your information in sometimes vulnerable databases, becoming a victim of credit card theft is a strong possibility nowadays.

And the consequences can be disastrous. Becoming the victim of credit card theft can result in financial devastation, or worse, identity theft, which can be very difficult to overcome in the long run.

Having an identity stolen means the thief can not only spend money in already open accounts, but can open new accounts, take out loans and even apply for jobs under your name. Victims of identity theft often spend hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars trying to clear up their credit while rebuilding their tarnished reputation.

According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, identity theft is on the rise, increasing in 2010 to 7 percent — or 8.6 million households with at least one member age 12 or older. While credit card and identity theft isn’t totally avoidable, it’s important to take the necessary steps to avoid putting yourself in harm’s way.

 

[DesertDenizen]

Odd. I have used the Blinks at my library several times, usual procedure of swiping my card and then entering my zip code at the prompt. Today I plugged in and it just started charging. No card, no zip code, the Blink screen was totally blank, but it was charging.

 

[davewill]

Odd. I have used the Blinks at my library several times, usual procedure of swiping my card and then entering my zip code at the prompt. Today I plugged in and it just started charging. No card, no zip code, the Blink screen was totally blank, but it was charging.

In the Blink L2, the hardware that controls the J1772 protocol is separate from the main logic board that does all the heavy lifting of running the screen, reading cards, querying the network, etc... If the logic board crashes in the right state, the J1772 would remain active and working, as you experienced. This is good or bad depending on your point of view.