Blink and Ikea

[ttweed]

Roger that. My wife took the kids and another friend and her daughter to Balboa Park Wednesday, and tried to use one of the Blinks there. Got me on the phone, because she couldn't get it to work. Called Blink, they couldn't reset it, asked her to move to another, which she did, and that worked.

We have reported that middle unit at Balboa Park twice now, and it's still not fixed. My wife tried to use it on Thanksgiving at the Father Joe Run/Walk event and it was still out. Very disappointing. I'm going to call them again today. Maybe the third time will be the charm... :evil:

TT

 

[hill]

To me, the best thing about the IKEA store in LA is that it is at the junction of the 405 and 110--a perfect spot for many who may need a boost while the travel north or south.

If Ikea is in, can Best Buy and Costco be far behind?

I HAVE to agree with what others have said about Costco. Costco's management has really changed since the early 2000's when they lead the way in infrastructure. Now day? Geez. They can't hardly wait to rip out the legacy chargers, and putting nothing back in, once removed. That's it for our Costco shopping, as soon as Walmart gets EVSE's. I'd highly suggest every member here -to put a note of protest in their suggestion box(es) to let them know what you think of their 180 degree change of business plan. Give 'em hell. Squeaky wheel! If you don't? Then it's what we all deserve. (ok ... climbing off the soap box )

Yay! The Costa Mesa IKEA has three Blinks :!: .... but Blink has never sent me an access card after three tries. I guess I pretty much can't seem to win with them.

My experience in getting a Blink card was not great. Finally got the ear of an accomadating CS guy and got the card two weeks later.

I'm with others - nice to know I can pick up a dozen miles if needed.

Bill

I must have used up all my luck. My blink card came lick-ity split.

 

[Aeolus]

I used the IKEA chargers twice over the weekend, without actually plugging into them.

On Saturday, the Carson IKEA chargers were my back-up plan if the Santa Monica chargers at the end of the 3rd street promenade were not available, but all four were sitting empty when I pulled into the parking garage, and I found them easily with the awesome hand-drawn map I found here on MNL.
My wife was very impressed that this whole world of electric cars was so easy and convenient, with primo parking spaces and free charging just waiting for us a short walk from the Border Grill, where we were meeting friends for a long lunch.

On Sunday, I pushed my range a little, with the idea that I could always stop at the Costa Mesa IKEA for about twenty minutes if I was in very low battery range, but I wasn't quite as low as I thought I might be.

 

[thankyouOB]

Hill,
I dont do walmart.
I wish Costco was smarter about this, but I prefer to shop and spend my money to endorse the kind of things Costco is doing overall, rather than the endorse the walmart brand and labor policies.
I am torn, I admit, because walmart seems so much smarter about the EVSE issue than Costco.
There is more emotion to this than reason, and maybe being able to charge for 45 minutes or an hour is just no big deal as the stores are only 10 miles from my home and on the way from work.
I can even charge at the Nissan dealer next door to the Costco; he invited me, but I never do.

 

[TRONZ]

Crazy! Still no Blink card. And this after calling them and being assured it would come by the 23rd. What do you have to do to get a charge at IKEA? Very frustrating.

 

[JimSouCal]

Crazy! Still no Blink card. And this after calling them and being assured it would come by the 23rd. What do you have to do to get a charge at IKEA? Very frustrating.

BLINK = Non performers = BLINK = Non performers = BLINK = Non performers = BLINK = Non performers = BLINK

 

[TRONZ]

OK, just got off the phone with Blink... AGAIN! Helen says she see's all the card requests in the system, address is correct. "I have no explanation for you Hun" she says. I am actually not really mad about this. It is just turning into another absurd Blink/Ecotality thing. Sort of want to see how long it goes on for as this is now my 5th attempt at a card. Today's assurance, "I will manually put a card in the mail for you, it will be there in a few days".

 

[fooljoe]

OK, just got off the phone with Blink... AGAIN! Helen says she see's all the card requests in the system, address is correct. "I have no explanation for you Hun" she says. I am actually not really mad about this. It is just turning into another absurd Blink/Ecotality thing. Sort of want to see how long it goes on for as this is now my 5th attempt at a card. Today's assurance, "I will manually put a card in the mail for you, it will be there in a few days".

Still no card for me either, despite their webpage showing that 2 have been mailed to me, as of 11/14 and 11/20. Maybe I should call and ask specifically ask for this Helen. Did you get her extension?

 

[smkettner]

I believe you also have to activate the card on the website once it is received.
Don't take it straight from the mailbox to the charging spot.

 

[thankyouOB]

they sent me mine about three months ago, and then I requested another, and I have two, one for wifey.

odd.

 

[fooljoe]

Well I finally got my Blink card Saturday (actually 2), probably not-so-coincidentally after calling in to complain Thursday. Will have to come up with some excuse to go to Ikea again now.

 

[TRONZ]

AHAAA!!! Checked the mail and just got two Blink cards in plain brown envelopes. One looks automated and the other is hand addressed. I shall go online to see if I can activate the one with the lowest #.

 

[thankyouOB]

bravo, mr. tronz.
now go out and use them.

 

[oakwcj]

There are four Blink units at the Ikea Emeryville store. They're located on Level 1 of the parking structure in the Northwest corner, closest to the store. The spaces are not striped or identified in any way. Three of the four spaces were occupied by ICE cars. The fourth spot is a disabled space. Fortunately, for this circumstance, I have a disabled placard. The Blink worked fine with my RFID card. I'm pretty sure that I was the first to use any of the Blinks, because I had to rip off the yellow caution tape from the cord, and the other three units still have tape on them. I left a comment about the need for striping and signage. I knew the units were there, because I saw them on the Blink map. When I got home after using one, they had disappeared from the map. Par for the Blink, I guess. BTW, the map also shows two units at the Oakland Ecotality office on Hegenberger, near the Oakland Airport.

 

[TRONZ]

Got to use the Costa Mesa Blink today for about 4 hours. Card worked , Unit worked , App no work . It would seem that only one or two of the stations are hooked up to the network and I used one that was not. Next time I shall try different units until I find which ones are networked and which ones are not.

 

[walterbays]

We went to San Diego Ikea this evening for the Julbord (http://www.ikea.com/ms/en_US/IKEA_Food/index.html#. A pleasant surprise: both regular chargers were available. They were not occupied by Car2Go cars as I feared, nor were they ICEd. We had some good food and some charging, and bought a few things in Ikea. When we left a second Leaf had parked at the other charger, which was also working. As before, passers by were curious about the electric cars.

Three more cheers for Ikea!

The handicap space was of course ICEd, as it's only signed for handicap parking not for handicap and EV. Sadly, there were several empty regular handicap spaces right next to it; the gasoline car driver just happened to choose the Blink equipped space. It's so pointless to require that one charger be reserved for handicap use if they aren't going to also sign them for EV. Anyone who really needs the charger will never be able to use it since the parking spaces will always be ICEd.

 

[EricBayArea]

There are four Blink units at the Ikea Emeryville store. They're located on Level 1 of the parking structure in the Northwest corner, closest to the store. The spaces are not striped or identified in any way. Three of the four spaces were occupied by ICE cars. The fourth spot is a disabled space. Fortunately, for this circumstance, I have a disabled placard. The Blink worked fine with my RFID card. I'm pretty sure that I was the first to use any of the Blinks, because I had to rip off the yellow caution tape from the cord, and the other three units still have tape on them. I left a comment about the need for striping and signage. I knew the units were there, because I saw them on the Blink map. When I got home after using one, they had disappeared from the map. Par for the Blink, I guess. BTW, the map also shows two units at the Oakland Ecotality office on Hegenberger, near the Oakland Airport.

Thanks for the heads-up on those chargers. I had checked the Blink map last week and didn't see them. I just check now and they are showing up on the Blink map. When I was driving back to Walnut Creek from the Nissan engineering event in Mountain View (Google) I saw the two units at the Oakland Ecotality office on Hegenberger. My wife and I were very tempted to stop, charge, and grab dinner in walking distance, but there was a lot of traffic and we needed to get home to our dog.

I hope Ikea marks the spots off so there is less issue getting those spots. Just today I pulled into one of the two spots at the Lafayette Whole Foods and a guy pulled into the other spot in his Infinity. As I was unlocking the Coulomb charger I told him it's a reserved spot. He moved and just as he did a silver Leaf pulled in

Anyway, thanks for the info.

 

[TonyWilliams]

Last week, three of the 10 Blinks in Balboa Park (San Diego) were inoperative. Yesterday, and entirely different one was inop.

Is there any hope for these things?

 

[DaveEV]

Last week, three of the 10 Blinks in Balboa Park (San Diego) were inoperative. Yesterday, and entirely different one was inop.

Is there any hope for these things?

Hopefully the firmware update that's rumored to come out this month will improve things. I may check out the ones by the Ruben Fleet Science Center today.

 

[tbleakne]

The Ikea map shows 11 stores >>>>>>>>>>>>>

California
>>>>>>>
Covina
>>>>>>>

Today, Dec 11, I charged at the IKEA in Covina, CA. This location is not yet displayed on the Blink map. The chargers have only been operational for a week or so, but IKEA was very organized. Full signage on 4 Blink stations. I had no Blink RFID card, but the security guard, who was quite interested in the whole EV thing, made a call and told me to go into the store's greeter. She pulled out a notebook, gave me a pre-printed card with the Blink web site, and walked out with me with her Blink card so that I could start my charge. She said I was their first customer. She said the charging was free now and would remain so. Hats off to IKEA.

I have submitted site to Recargo.