EZ Charge == "No Charge, No Charge"

[ElectricMonkey]

So, like many here, I've experienced the constant hassle of trying to find an open and functioning charge station when I need one. The other day, I went a Blink area, only to find that all stations were down. So, I drove across the street to the nrg EVgo station that had denied me last time. Last time I tried that station, which was brand new, I was told that the "not authorized" message was because the charger was actually not operational yet. This time I saw someone charging there. When they pulled out, I grabbed it.... same message as before, so I called the magic number. The NRG eVgo rep asked if it was OK to put me on hold for 5 minutes. I found myself in a rather cooperative mood, given that I needed a charge, so I waited. Anyway, 10 or so minutes later, I hear that my card has been suspended due to an outstanding balance. Hmm, that's funny. I never received a bill. I went through all of my contact info with the rep, and it was all correct. Apparently my credit card had expired. They tried to charge me like 3 cents, and it failed, so they fined my account like $3, then they tried to charge that expired card again for the fine, it failed again, so they FINED me more. Who knows how long they were planning to repeat that cycle. So, 3 cents over the "No Charge To Charge" promotion limit bought me almost $12 worth of fines and a suspended account before I found out about it just by coincidence. I received no warning, despite them having my correct home address, my correct phone number, and my correct email account. I was told that my email program must have spam filtered the message. I checked. According to my email account, they never sent anything about my account. And no, they are not spam filtered. I continue to receive their promotional emails..

So, long story short, it's "No Charge, No Charge" for me now. I've been told that it can take up to a week to get back my charging privileges. So, in the meantime, I don't have the range to use the car.

Oh, and, ironically, the last time I had my EZ Charge account suspended, it was because I was attempting to get charge cards directly from the networks, rather than EZ Charge, just in case my EZ Charge card stopped working. And, as a result, it immediately stopped working, so I had to battle the bureaucracy to get it back online, leaving behind the prospect of having other cards.

I have seriously started looking at Teslas becaues of this. I know that makes me a trader, but this has gotten ridiculous. I don't have the range to run errands on my lunch hour without topping off. I have trouble finding a working and available charge station. And now, I've had my account suspended over effectively 3 cents!

 

[inphoenix]

Thanks for sharing and shame on EZ-Charge for imposing a fine for an outstanding balance of 3c. They could've emailed asking you to update the CC info.

To begin with, I find the EX-Charge's NCTC promo very misleading. It may be the misinformation on the dealer's part, but months ago I was told that I could charge ANYWHERE and there was no mention that it was limited to 30 minutes on L3 and 1 hours on a L2. I chose to research some more to validate what the dealer said (how ridiculous of me lol) and I fond out that there were the limitations. The NCTC promo is valid only at a few places and there are time restrictions.

EZ-Charge has a good business model where a user does not need to carry 5 different cards from different providers but it is poorly executed with literally no support. When you hear such stories why would someone want to continue to use them past the NCTC promo period?

If anything they should apologize and give you a $25 credit to use on "their network".

 

[ElectricMonkey]

I complained a while back because I was charged at a Blink network charger that was listed as being part of the program. They credited my Blink account for like $15. Unfortunately, that is now a broken charger. It's nice though. Nobody is ever parked there

The thing that bugs me about the EZ Charge card is that I have no way of logging in to see my account information. Short of calling, and sitting on hold forever, I have no way of knowing the status of my account.

In this case, with the 3 cent overage, I don't even know the date I went over. I don't know when I was fined the first time for an expired credit card. I don't know when I was fined the second time for the same expired card not being able to pay the first fine. Heck, I don't even know what card they think is expired. I don't remember receiving any new credit cards since the time that I signed up for the program, so there's a complete lack of information.

I do know, however, that in a week's time, if my EZ Charge privileges are not restored, I will begin shopping for a Tesla.

 

[inphoenix]

The thing that bugs me about the EZ Charge card is that I have no way of logging in to see my account information. Short of calling, and sitting on hold forever, I have no way of knowing the status of my account.

I hear ya. That is one I like about blink that they will send you an email shortly after your session is complete and will tell you the charge for that session. Also, they email once a month to confirm the transactions which is nice.

Yes, these guys need to have an online account where transactions can be viewed. Maybe they are waiting for a big fish to buy them out and revamp them.

 

[ElectricMonkey]

As I understand it, with a Tesla, you don't need anything special other than just a car to plug in. That's the way to do it. I look over at their array of maybe 10 or 12 chargers, mostly open, right across the street from where I eat lunch, and I think to myself, "self, I'll bet nobody driving a Tesla has range anxiety" :? Heck, with 200+ miles of range, who even needs to charge away from home. I hear they've even fixed their reliability problems... somewhat.

Too bad though, because the Nissan Leaf is perfectly reliable, and aside from the fact that I feel completely at the mercy of EZ Charge to top off, it's a exactly what I need. It's no hassle, reliable, practically free transportation... that gets me into the carpool lane. All that engineering effort, only to be wrecked by one little thing...