Blink Offer to Extend RPA Through 2013

[DarkStar]

Haven't received an offer yet from ECOtality... Looking forward to some awesome 3rd party software in 2013!

Got my offer via email last night. Agree until end of 2013 and receive a year of software updates and warranty support. Given the recent developments on the potential issues with the J1772 connector I'm tempted to give them another year.

 

[thankyouOB]

talked to blink and posed the question:
how about i give you data for another year in exchange for service, warranty, maintenance and software upgrades
BUT
the ownership transfer doesnt change.
in other words, you service my machine and you get all my data.

Talker said she would send upstairs to that group and they would respond via email

i also switched to basic membership as my usage away from home doesnt warrant paying a member fee.
(i am sure i will, as a result, need to charge this week somewhere. )

 

[gbarry42]

I turned mine in yesterday. Hopefully, I'll have the Clipper Creek running soon, although I have no car to charge today.

I'm surprised. In 30 days you would have owned it free and clear, and you could have made it do anything you wanted (including Just Charging). Sure, the charge connector needed changing, but I know that's what you're doing for the Clipper Creek unit already.

Unless they got you with a new agreement somewhere along the way.

 

[IBELEAF]

I extended as well and next day I realized that I might have to move at some point... oh well

 

[gbarry42]

Given the recent developments on the potential issues with the J1772 connector I'm tempted to give them another year.

If everyone gives in to this I'm going to be the only one left in hackerspace. It's not something I can do by myself.

I'm not worried about the connector, because I don't have see BMW's or Teslas in my near future. What I am thinking is to get my 120V brick evse-upgrade'd and an adapter to the 240V socket (yay!) the Blink is plugged into. That way I have backup level 2 charging.

I've been waiting a looong time to take ownership of this box, and can't use any of the Blinks in town because I've had to hold off on "upgrading" my account. Less than 3 weeks to go.

 

[oakwcj]

Ecotality has agreed to my counterproposal to transfer ownership and title of the EVSE to me at the end of the month:

"AMENDMENT TO THE EV PROJECT RESIDENTIAL PARTICIPANT AGREEMENT
ECOtality agrees that upon your acceptance of the Amendment to extend the term of The EV Project through December 31, 2013, that any provision of the agreement or amendment to the contrary notwithstanding, title and ownership of the EVSE shall pass to the Participant at the end of the day on December 31, 2012.
I agree that during the term of the EV Project, I will not open the EVSE or otherwise take any action that may affect the validity of the data being collected for The EV Project, and understand that doing so will void the warranty of the Blink unit."

I'm going to agree to the extension, because I won't have to worry about Ecotality trying to hold on to ownership of the EVSE with the types of unethical, and probably unlawful, tactics they have been employing over the last six months. Whether I like Ecotality or not, the money for the EVSE came from the Department of Energy and I feel an obligation to continue providing charging data to the EV Project under reasonable terms.

 

[thankyouOB]

I am so stealing that Oakland man.

I also asked them about it and they promised me an email reply. nothing yet.

 

[LEAFfan]

Did I miss it or is there wording that ECOtality will still cover servicing under the warranty. They just agree to pass ownership, but I see nothing about them giving you an extended warranty after 12/31.

 

[oakwcj]

Did I miss it or is there wording that ECOtality will still cover servicing under the warranty. They just agree to pass ownership, but I see nothing about them giving you an extended warranty after 12/31.

All provisions of the original RPA remain in force, including Paragraph 9, which contains the warranty "during the term of this agreement." The only thing that has changed is that I own the EVSE at the end of the year.

 

[GaslessInSeattle]

Tony, did you have to pay anything to get out of the contract early?

That is the only potential downside. Ecotality retains title until the end of the agreement. OTOH, given the flakiness of the product, and the tiny possibility that I would drop out, I like the idea of Ecotality continuing to be responsible for maintenance and repair.

Then they've goofed it again. I'm happy to provide data, but I won't give them ownership past the original date.

I turned mine in yesterday. Hopefully, I'll have the Clipper Creek running soon, although I have no car to charge today.

 

[thankyouOB]

Did I miss it or is there wording that ECOtality will still cover servicing under the warranty. They just agree to pass ownership, but I see nothing about them giving you an extended warranty after 12/31.

All provisions of the original RPA remain in force, including Paragraph 9, which contains the warranty "during the term of this agreement." The only thing that has changed is that I own the EVSE at the end of the year.

Oakwcj got it done for ALL of us.
I got this from Ecotality this AM:

Hi XXXXX,

We recently updated the amendment to include that language. I have attached a copy. Please review, sign, scan and email back to me. If you want, I can also ask Tom Garetson to sign on behalf of ECOtality and send you back a copy.

Thank you for your continued support and participation in the EV Project!

Respectfully,
Michelle Nee, PE
Project Controls Manager
e: [email protected] | d: +1.602.345.9036 | c: +1.602.920.3364

ECOtality North America
430 S. 2nd Ave., Phoenix, AZ 85003
ecotality.com | blinknetwork.com | theevproject.com

Bravo to him/her, and to Ecotality.

 

[Deleted member 770]

Oakwjc got it done for ALL of us.
I got this from Ecotality this AM:

Hi XXXXX,
...
Bravo to him/her, and to Ecotality.

If so, it apparently hasn't taken effect yet. After reading this, I attempted to sign in to the Blink website and got what I'm pretty certain is the original RPA amendment:

AMENDMENT TO THE EV PROJECT RESIDENTIAL PARTICIPANT AGREEMENT

 

This Amendment (the "Amendment") is made and entered into by ECOtality and Participant.

 

This Amendment is an integral part of the Agreement. The terms used herein which are defined or specified in the Agreement shall have the meanings set forth in the Agreement. If there are any inconsistencies between the provisions of this Amendment and the provisions of the Agreement, the provisions of this Amendment shall control.

 

The Term of Agreement shall be extended to December 31, 2013.

 

All provisions of the Agreement not addressed by this Amendment remain in full force and effect.

 

This Amendment will be effective when Participant clicks below to accept the terms of this Amendment.

I think I'll wait a day or two and if nothing changes, I'll e-mail Michelle Nee to see if they plan to change the language on the website, or if they're just agreeing to this change for those who ask.

 

[thankyouOB]

yes, it turns out that you have to ask.
the note from Michelle was imprecise (actually wrong) about that.
but they respond in a day.

 

[FairwoodRed]

This is just what I was asking them for thru the summer and fall. Never did they seem receptive to the idea. One result was many months of no access to the dominant public charging network in Seattle.

I only have 17 days and my contract is done. I have EVSE Upgrade as a good backup if Blink goes on the Blink. Call me bitter, but I’m not going to contact Ecotality and ask for special treatment again. If they go out of their way to contact me, maybe I will, maybe I won’t. The only reason for me to sign up is to share my charging data, for the greater good, and I’m not sure I feel enough goodwill to do that small thing.

 

[oakwcj]

This is just what I was asking them for thru the summer and fall. Never did they seem receptive to the idea. One result was many months of no access to the dominant public charging network in Seattle.

I only have 17 days and my contract is done. I have EVSE Upgrade as a good backup if Blink goes on the Blink. Call me bitter, but I’m not going to contact Ecotality and ask for special treatment again. If they go out of their way to contact me, maybe I will, maybe I won’t. The only reason for me to sign up is to share my charging data, for the greater good, and I’m not sure I feel enough goodwill to do that small thing.

Ecotality has a pattern of rushing out products before they're ready and engaging in infuriating strong-arm tactics. However, very, very slowly, they do evolve. Most of the software bugs have been eliminated in the L2 residential chargers. Mine has an uptime of 50+ days. I first complained a year ago about their unethical, and probably illegal [see the California Unfair Practices Act] attempt to tie Blink memberships to amending the RPA to give Ecotality free rein to do whatever it wanted. Eventually, they dropped the tie-in and I could get a Blink membership without changing the RPA. And now they've given in on their attempt to get authority to make unilateral changes to the contract. Maybe, they'll even get to the point that their QC stations are reliable, but I'm not holding my breath. For me, getting title to the EVSE is just a little insurance in case they enter a devolutionary stage. Still, Ecotality is just the project manager for a Federal program designed to encourage the widespread adoption of EVs. And they have shown the ability to learn from their mistakes.

 

[BudRaymond]

I emailed the same language regarding amending my RPA to include transfer of ownership as of 12/31/12. They said they'd have to get back to me with the changes. So it's certainly not standard at this point, but they seem to be amenable to the changes if anyone asks.

 

[davewill]

I replied to my extend email yesterday referencing the MNL thread and Michelle got back to me in about an hour with a PDF for me to sign, scan, and email back. Painless.

 

[matth]

I should have asked Michelle directly. I talked to 2 CSRs (both very nice) but got no reply. I then replied to a message from Greg Poston, Program Manager (one that many of us got, pestering us to re-up).

I finally got the following message:

Dear ***,

We have received your request for a copy of the Residential Participation Agreement (RPA) that is associated with your participation in The EV Project (me, on the phone--I didn't ask for that!). Attached is a ‘pdf’ file of the RPA. Once you have reviewed the document, we ask that you please login to your Blink Network account. By accepting the extension request, you will be permitting us to continue collecting data through December 31, 2013, and we will extend the warranty on your Blink® unit - which includes any software updates at no cost to you until December 31, 2013.

We again thank you for your continued support of The EV Project, which is shaping the future of electric vehicle infrastructure in the US. You may email a copy of the completed document to [email protected] or you may fax the completed document to (248) 232-5425.


Sincerely,
The EV Project Team

I called again, and as I was on the phone with another CSR, I realized that they did include an attachment with the amended language. They just put stupid canned language in the email! Sigh...

 

[QueenBee]

The amended offer is a generic PDF. I've got a copy here you can download: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/429071/RPA%20Amendment%20Ownership%20Form.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I've emailed my digitally signed copy and I presume once they got it and process it the website will stop asking me to sign their standard one.

Thanks for the people who raised this issue and for Blink for being amendable to this reasonable change.

 

[davewill]

I've emailed my digitally signed copy and I presume once they got it and process it the website will stop asking me to sign their standard one.

Didn't happen for me. I finally clicked through.