One EVSE installed 401 miles apart

Blink has never gotten my records straight after a year and a half. For those who missed the saga the first time, the "short" version is that I ordered an SV, but when the EV Project came to the Bay Area, Nissan called me and got me to upgrade to an SL. I did that but when the car came it was an SV. The factory never got the upgrade info. They told me I would eventually get an SL. I had not been allowed to enter the EV Project because they had no record I had ordered an SL, so I ordered another SL and joined the EV Project immediately upon placing that order. When Nissan finally found an SL for me based on my original order I had the EVP install the Blink EVSE. That was a nightmare I won't bother with recounting here, but it eventually got installed and works fine. When I picked up my Leaf I told the dealer I wouldn't be buying the second one I ordered and when it came, they could sell it off the floor, which they were delighted with. When it finally came, though, the EV Project and Blink apparently thought I was the one who took delivery and in their records they installed an EVSE at 5170 Sepulveda Blvd suite 260, Sherman Oaks, CA (L.A. area), a surgery center 401 miles from my house. The billing address for that unit is my home address in Los Altos (No. Cal.) and the serial number of the EVSE is the same as the one at my house. They have two separate email addresses on the two accounts, but the only difference is a dot between the first and last names, and both end up coming to me because Gmail tries to match a non-existent email address with an existing one, assuming it to be a typo so I get two emails on everything.

When I called Blink today, the clerk was very polite and tried to be helpful, but doesn't have the editing access necessary to fix things. This is at least the third time I've tried to fix this records snafu and each time they assure me they will fix it. Their own records show this was fixed in May. Obviously it wasn't. I also can't log into their network any longer, even though I used to. They recognize me when I go to the Blink site, apparently from a cookie, because it says Welcome [my name] at the top, but then says I have no account, and it no longer shows the info on my EVSE or on my car. The clerk at Blink can see that I do have the EVSE and the car, though. Supposedly the Sherman Oaks address has a black car (with my car's VIN) and my actual email address, while I have a blue car and the actual EVSE in Los Altos. I got one of those InCards when I got my EVSE, and I suppose it works, or work(ed) on the free Blink stations, but apparently I don't have an actual membership under either address. I never paid for one, so I guess that card doesn't work now on the pay Blink stations. But I would at least like to get my true email address and physical location correct in their records and get the second account deleted altogether. Supposedly the necessary editing access rights to the database are not with Blink but with some vendor who does their web services. They do have a record that I agreed to the RPA extension so at least I can call the EVP for service.

Does anyone know if there is an actual Blink unit at that surgery center on Sepulveda? Or maybe someone with a black Leaf there? Does anyone know someone with enough authority at Blink to get this fixed once and for all? This probably won't make any difference until such time as the EV Project stops covering the cost of service and upgrades, but at some point I may need Blink to send someone and I don't want them going to Sherman Oaks, nor do I want to be billed for some service in Sherman Oaks for an orthopedic surgeon's black Leaf's EVSE.

Man! Your saga never ends, does it? I hope I didn't suck all the good luck away from you, leaving you with only the bad. I, too, inquired about the EV project when they announced it would be available in the Bay Area, but I only sent one email inquiry for information; I never agreed to be part of it. However, some gears apparently started turning in Nissan NA and I ended up with VINs for both the SV I ordered and an SL. I had to wait six weeks (which felt like bad luck at the time) beyond the expected SV delivery time, but that VIN then disappeared and they finally told me the SL had arrived. (Not sure whether that was good luck or bad - I did find one feature I liked, the backup camera.) I didn't get nearly as good a deal as I had originally negotiated (definitely bad luck) and I didn't get a "free" charging station (really good luck, because installation would have cost a bundle). But I did get a $750 check from Nissan (good luck), presumably to pay for the QC port I didn't think I wanted. (Actually, I have used it one time, but that was on a trip where I needed it twice, and that turned out to be bad luck, too.)

Ray

Yeah, I used my QC port once, too, just to get used to doing it if I ever had to. I didn't need the charge. I doubt I will ever use it again, and I consider the backup camera and solar panel useless, too. The SL was not a good buy for me. The Blink EVSE has been reliable and handy, so I'm glad I have it, but I don't think it was worth the money I spent to upgrade my panel. I was having no trouble with the Nissan EVSE that came with the car. I expected there to be a network of reliable QC stations throughout the Bay Area by now, and it would have been worth it to join the EVP if so, but Ecotality has proven to be a disappointment in that regard.

Rat said:

They have two separate email addresses on the two accounts, but the only difference is a dot between the first and last names, and both end up coming to me because Gmail tries to match a non-existent email address with an existing one, assuming it to be a typo so I get two emails on everything.

Click to expand...

That's actually a gmail feature: dots in addresses are purposefully ignored.
2 hidden ways to get more from your Gmail address

Rat said:

Yeah, I used my QC port once, too, just to get used to doing it if I ever had to. I didn't need the charge. I doubt I will ever use it again, and I consider the backup camera and solar panel useless, too.

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If you knew how many kids have been run over by their own parents and by other drivers too backing up, you would realize how valuable an RV cam really is. Every car should have one.

LEAFfan said:

Rat said:

I consider the backup camera and solar panel useless, too.

Click to expand...

If you knew how many kids have been run over by their own parents and by other drivers too backing up, you would realize how valuable an RV cam really is. Every car should have one.

Click to expand...

A lot of people feel as you do, but I couldn't disagree more. The danger to backing over a kid is from looking forward at the cam instead of backward where you're driving. Probably 95% or more of the backing up I do is out of my driveway or out of a straight in parking place. The danger is always from a child, pet or bike rider coming in suddenly from the side just as I enter the roadway or parking lot lane. I can see those dangers in my peripheral vision, or just by turning my head both ways when looking backward. They are at anywhere from 90 to 45 degree angles from the car's direction of movement at the time I need to see them. I can't see them if I'm looking at the screen in the dash. The cam not only has a straight back view, and thus doesn't cover the area of the moving danger, but the image on the screen is nearly unintelligible most of the time so even if something were within its view I might not recognize that it is there. Most of the time it's just a black rectangle due to heavy shade. If there were a child, pet or object directly behind the car not moving at the time I got in, I would see it before getting in the car. It's always those moving quickly into the car's path from the side that is the danger. I don't know for sure that it is illegal not to look out the back window when backing, but I do know that when I took my driver's test, the tester would flunk you if you didn't.

Guess what. Ecotality is once again sending me two email announcements for everything. One with the dot in my gmail address, and one without. They still have two accounts in my name despite assuring me yet again last December for at least the third time that they have consolidated them and deleted the second one. It is simply impossible to get them to correct their records. It's like trying to correct your credit record after an ID thief has ruined it. I'm not going to bother to try again. It would be fruitless. I'll just delete the emails and hope that when I have an emergency and need service they send the repairman to my house instead of the doctor's office in Southern California.