California: Blink Membership Software is Rolling Out

[Blink]

Hi Everyone,

We are currently rolling out our new membership software to all of California's Blink EVSEs.

[edited to remove commercial information]

Also, we answered quite a few questions for mnl.com users a few weeks ago when we posted about AZ's software roll-out, take a look: http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=9390&hilit=blink+membership#p211639" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

If you have further questions, please post below or on BlinkShare!

 

[thankyouOB]

what if we want all of that but dont want to alter our residential agreement?

 

[oakwcj]

what if we want all of that but dont want to alter our residential agreement?

I asked Sharon Koval, Ecotality's Marketing Director, that very question. She wasn't even aware that her company is tying memberships to the absurd changes in the RPA. She has promised to get back to me by tomorrow after discussing the issue with their legal department. You might want to email her directly: [email protected]

She did mention Blink guest codes, which apparently don't require any kind of membership:


"In the meantime, charging is still free at our commercial chargers so please keep charging up! Once Membership software is rolled out you can charge up as a Blink Guest using guest codes (without having to sign up for a membership). In order to activate a guest code, you will simply select the Guest Access option on the Blink charger touch screen. Once selected, a QR code will be shown on the screen. Simply scan the QR code with any smart phone and follow the steps for entering your credit card information and charge on. You can also go to http://www.blinkcode.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; on your smart phone or computer and sign up for a Blink Guest Code as needed or before your trip."

 

[EricBayArea]

Blink rep: I just read this info and realized what you are doing with ECOtality to get us EV Project participants to sign the updated Residential Agreement in order to sign up for a Blink Membership.

I submitted a request to Blink to have my membership request rescinded and the agreement to the update of the contract redacted.

Please prove your worth on this forum by looking into this and setting this right. Had I realized the Blink agreement had anything to do with the ECOtality agreement I would not have checked that box and signed up.

I will be sending you a Private Message.

 

[davewill]

what if we want all of that but dont want to alter our residential agreement?

I signed up using a different email address as if I were a brand new member instead of an existing EV Project participant. You then don't get the second checkbox. BTW, before I gave up and did this, I must have sent my objections to Blink customer support four or five times, and got absolutely no response.

 

[thankyouOB]

what if we want all of that but dont want to alter our residential agreement?

I asked Sharon Koval, Ecotality's Marketing Director, that very question. She wasn't even aware that her company is tying memberships to the absurd changes in the RPA. She has promised to get back to me by tomorrow after discussing the issue with their legal department. You might want to email her directly: [email protected]

She did mention Blink guest codes, which apparently don't require any kind of membership:


"In the meantime, charging is still free at our commercial chargers so please keep charging up! Once Membership software is rolled out you can charge up as a Blink Guest using guest codes (without having to sign up for a membership). In order to activate a guest code, you will simply select the Guest Access option on the Blink charger touch screen. Once selected, a QR code will be shown on the screen. Simply scan the QR code with any smart phone and follow the steps for entering your credit card information and charge on. You can also go to http://www.blinkcode.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; on your smart phone or computer and sign up for a Blink Guest Code as needed or before your trip."

have you done this?
because to get to the guest code, I had to let the blink unit scan my card.
now that I signed up, it IDs me.

 

[thankyouOB]

what if we want all of that but dont want to alter our residential agreement?

just to make it clear, I signed the two agreements to use the blink unit at work. i had no idea I was doing something related to my unit at home with the EVProject.
They dont even label the boxes with the word residential. Rather they used inititals: RPA or some such.
I think it is deceptive and a fraud to trick new blink commercial users into changing their longtime residential agreement when they sign up to use a card at a commercial site.
who knew the two activities were even related?
this is very very bad consumer relations and, if not recscinded, I will make a complaint to the state AG in CA.

 

[oakwcj]

what if we want all of that but dont want to alter our residential agreement?

I asked Sharon Koval, Ecotality's Marketing Director, that very question. She wasn't even aware that her company is tying memberships to the absurd changes in the RPA. She has promised to get back to me by tomorrow after discussing the issue with their legal department. You might want to email her directly: [email protected]

She did mention Blink guest codes, which apparently don't require any kind of membership:


"In the meantime, charging is still free at our commercial chargers so please keep charging up! Once Membership software is rolled out you can charge up as a Blink Guest using guest codes (without having to sign up for a membership). In order to activate a guest code, you will simply select the Guest Access option on the Blink charger touch screen. Once selected, a QR code will be shown on the screen. Simply scan the QR code with any smart phone and follow the steps for entering your credit card information and charge on. You can also go to http://www.blinkcode.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; on your smart phone or computer and sign up for a Blink Guest Code as needed or before your trip."

have you done this?
because to get to the guest code, I had to let the blink unit scan my card.
now that I signed up, it IDs me.

No, I haven't done it. I didn't even know about guest codes until Ms. Koval mentioned them in her email.

 

[oakwcj]

what if we want all of that but dont want to alter our residential agreement?

just to make it clear, I signed the two agreements to use the blink unit at work. i had no idea I was doing something related to my unit at home with the EVProject.
They dont even label the boxes with the word residential. Rather they used inititals: RPA or some such.
I think it is deceptive and a fraud to trick new blink commercial users into changing their longtime residential agreement when they sign up to use a card at a commercial site.
who knew the two activities were even related?
this is very very bad consumer relations and, if not recscinded, I will make a complaint to the state AG in CA.

There is at least one other thread on this topic. I tried to alert people to Ecotality's trickery when they started the signups for memberships. I agree with you. I believe this is an unlawful tie-in agreement, which probably violates the California Unfair Business Practices Act [Business and Professions Code sections 17200-17210]. It provides for rather substantial violations for "any unlawful, unfair or fraudulent business act or practice." A citation to B&P Code sec. 17200 may suffice to get Ecotality to rescind your agreement to the RPA amendments.

 

[thankyouOB]

as the originator of the other thread, I would ask the mod'rtrs to combine these or eliminate the other.

 

[oakwcj]

as the originator of the other thread, I would ask the mod'rtrs to combine these or eliminate the other.

That's one of the threads. I was referring to:

http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=7216" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[EVDRIVER]

Dear "Blink"

As a commercial interest, please read the forum rules. Are you a forum supporter?

 

[walterbays]

I'm no fan of Blink's commercial "reliability" nor of Ecotality's slow pace of deployment, but...

I didn't mind at all extending my residential agreement with them, and would do it again if they asked. The essence of my original deal was free EVSE in exchange for data DOE could use in support of extending EV usage. Cars came slower than expected. Public charging infrastructure is being deployed much slower than expected. Now cars are being purchased slower than expected. So relevant data is coming much slower than expected.

DOE has given Ecotality one or more extensions on their original contract, and I'm happy to do the same. Go ahead and study my charging habits a while longer, hopefully even long enough to see whether/how availability of public QC may change my usage when QC finally arrives.

 

[wsbca]

I'm no fan of Blink's commercial "reliability" nor of Ecotality's slow pace of deployment, but...

I didn't mind at all extending my residential agreement with them, and would do it again if they asked. The essence of my original deal was free EVSE in exchange for data DOE could use in support of extending EV usage. Cars came slower than expected. Public charging infrastructure is being deployed much slower than expected. Now cars are being purchased slower than expected. So relevant data is coming much slower than expected.

DOE has given Ecotality one or more extensions on their original contract, and I'm happy to do the same. Go ahead and study my charging habits a while longer, hopefully even long enough to see whether/how availability of public QC may change my usage when QC finally arrives.

I agree that (agreeing to) wording that extends the term of the data collection is not a problem in and of itself. The problem is that there is an additional clause in the new RPA that says Ecotality can unilaterally change any aspect of the agreement at any time, and that any continued use of your EVSE constitutes your agreement to those additional terms whatever they may be. As written, they could decide a year from now that you can no longer keep the EVSE, or that you have to start paying a subscription fee to keep using it, or whatever else they might come up with. There's a reasonable chance that nothing onerous is planned or will happen beyond perhaps extending the date even further beyond the April 2013 date shown in the new agreement, but if that's the case, they should say that, not say they can do anything under the sun and you have to play along or stop using the EVSE -as written it's completely ridiculous. You didn't just "extend" your agreement with them, you gave them the right to completely rewrite it any time they please, forever, without any further agreement required by you. Whether they actually do that isn't the point.

 

[peter]

So what is the impact on the DC fast chargers? Will a membership plan be required to access those? What will the charges be?

Thanks.

 

[Deleted member 3147]

what if we want all of that but dont want to alter our residential agreement?

just to make it clear, I signed the two agreements to use the blink unit at work. i had no idea I was doing something related to my unit at home with the EVProject.
They dont even label the boxes with the word residential. Rather they used inititals: RPA or some such.
I think it is deceptive and a fraud to trick new blink commercial users into changing their longtime residential agreement when they sign up to use a card at a commercial site.
who knew the two activities were even related?
this is very very bad consumer relations and, if not recscinded, I will make a complaint to the state AG in CA.

Sorry, I just have to ask: you checked the "I agree with the RPA" box without clicking through to read what you were agreeing to? RPA could have stood for anything!

 

[Blink]

Hi Everyone,

We want to thank you for your patience as we work through this. Right now we are in the middle of extending The EV Project so that we can gather sufficient data in various topographical and climatic conditions. As part of this extension, it will be necessary to amend the Residential Participation Agreement (RPA) with our EV Project participants. Because this is a federally funded study with specific performance requirements, we are amending the RPA to reflect an additional year of data collection. In effect, this means that the cost-free maintenance of the EVSE and participation in the blink network are extended for you, and in that time we will continue to collect EV charging data to gather the most complete picture of EV charging behavior. We will update all of our participants as soon as details are finalized, but we wanted to address this subject directly here on the forum.

 

[Blink]

So what is the impact on the DC fast chargers? Will a membership plan be required to access those? What will the charges be?

Thanks.

Hi Peter,

Our software will roll out to the DC area within the coming weeks and a membership will be required. We will let you know the official date when it gets closer. As of right now, L2 and DCFC pricing will be free for a bit longer; as far as DCFC pricing we will let everyone know when fees will be officially announced! Thanks for the question.

 

[gaswalla]

So what is the impact on the DC fast chargers? Will a membership plan be required to access those? What will the charges be?

Thanks.

Hi Peter,

Our software will roll out to the DC area within the coming weeks and a membership will be required. We will let you know the official date when it gets closer.

ha! that reply pretty sums up the problems with Blink. You got a guy on a public forum representing an EV charging company and he doesn't know what a DC fast charger is?? This is definitely a company going down hill.

 

[wsbca]

Hi Everyone,

We want to thank you for your patience as we work through this. Right now we are in the middle of extending The EV Project so that we can gather sufficient data in various topographical and climatic conditions. As part of this extension, it will be necessary to amend the Residential Participation Agreement (RPA) with our EV Project participants. Because this is a federally funded study with specific performance requirements, we are amending the RPA to reflect an additional year of data collection. In effect, this means that the cost-free maintenance of the EVSE and participation in the blink network are extended for you, and in that time we will continue to collect EV charging data to gather the most complete picture of EV charging behavior. We will update all of our participants as soon as details are finalized, but we wanted to address this subject directly here on the forum.

That all sounds reasonable - so why do you need this omnipotency clause in the revised agreement?

13. Changes. ECOtality has the right to unilaterally change the terms of this agreement and Participant shall be deemed to have automatically agreed to such changes if the Participant continuesusing the EVSE after receiving the changes.

Why not just extend the date far enough into the future to reflect the additional year and be done with it? Or limit the "we can do whatever we want" clause to just the agreement timespan, with an adequate but reasonable maximum. I'm sure most if not all participants would be happy to provide data for a longer term, but this opens the door to any number of onerous future actions completely unrelated to the duration of the data collection effort, regardless of whether that's your current intention.