Blink Offer to Extend RPA Through 2013

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oakwcj

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 27, 2011
Messages
339
Location
Oakland, CA
I just received an email from Blink offering to extend my RPA [Residential Participation Agreement] for one year, through the end of 2013. Unlike Blink's previous attempts to change the amendment provisions of the RPA to permit Blink to change the contract at will, this amendment would simply change the termination date, while leaving all other provisions intact. Essentially, in exchange for agreeing to participate in the EV Project for an additional year, Blink agrees to continue to be responsible for the maintenance and repair of the EVSE. This seems like a reasonable deal to me, but I'd be interested in the views of other Blinkies.
 
What about ownership? If you have to drop out during the extension period for some reason, do you get to keep your Blink? If so, it sounds like what they should have done to start with.
 
oakwcj said:
I just received an email from Blink offering to extend my RPA [Residential Participation Agreement] for one year, through the end of 2013. Unlike Blink's previous attempts to change the amendment provisions of the RPA to permit Blink to change the contract at will, this amendment would simply change the termination date, while leaving all other provisions intact. Essentially, in exchange for agreeing to participate in the EV Project for an additional year, Blink agrees to continue to be responsible for the maintenance and repair of the EVSE. This seems like a reasonable deal to me, but I'd be interested in the views of other Blinkies.
I had my Blink installed about the same time as you----haven't received this offer yet. But, it seems like a "win-win" to me.
 
davewill said:
What about ownership? If you have to drop out during the extension period for some reason, do you get to keep your Blink? If so, it sounds like what they should have done to start with.

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.
 
oakwcj said:
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.
 
davewill said:
oakwcj said:
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.
 
davewill said:
oakwcj said:
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'm considering making the following counterproposal:

While the offer to extend the termination date until the end of 2013, with all other provisions left unchanged, is a step in the right direction, I cannot agree to the offer as presented. I will agree if the following language is added to the proposed amendment: "Any provision of this agreement 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."
 
One of my big handups with Blink was the extention of the RPA if you signed up for a Blink Membership. Despite a few one on one email conversations with Blink, they wouldn't accept any counter offer, and they never followed up with me again.

But about a week ago, I decided to try signing up again. Guess what I found? The RPA agreement button was no longer on my membership signup screen. Since Blink has been sneaky in the past, I took half an hour and read the entire User Agreement, just to make sure they didn't stuff it in there.

All panned out and I now have a Blink membership.
 
Hello Blinkers,
I went to my Blink dashboard today but got halted by a popup window requiring I accept an amendment to the Residential Participation Agreement, basically extending my participation until 12/31/2013. I have not accepted yet and will have to figure out what my priorities are. I'm all for supporting EV's BUT............... I would like to have ownership transfered to me as agreed in 2010. Might this be about Ecotality keeping the hardware on their balance sheet? I'm pretty sure the transfer of all those assets would have a negative affect. I called them and was told the DOE extended the program and it was "advisable" for me to agree. Hmmmm................

RPA.jpg


I am going to build an Open EVSE as soon as I get the parts from Chris.
Thanks,
Don
 
There they go with the clodhoppers again. I've never seen a company so dead set on screwing up customer relations. It looks like you can refuse, but I don't really want to refuse, I just want them to agree that I own it after the original date, but that I'll keep providing data during the extended period. That way, if I move or decide to buy a Tesla during the extension, I can keep my Blink. I tried to send them a note to that effect, but after pressing submit it went to the RPA screen so I have no idea whether it went through or not.
 
Davewill, Ecotality has an office in San Diego. You can call them directly and see what they say about your request.
 
Blink called me today and ask me to extend the agreement. I am tempted. I do want to provide data about EV charging and one more year of free maintenance sounds good.
 
I guess I'm in the minority of those who don't mind their extension. I don't think I'm any sort of Blink cheerleader: I dislike the poor reliability of their public chargers, the slow pace of their public L2 installations, and the glacially slow pace of their QC installations. But on this I'll cut them some slack. My residential unit is almost completely reliable the last year or more since Wifi was disconnected. But still, given Blink's overall reliability record another year of free maintenance is worth a lot to me. Especially in the first months they had to come out several times to fix things. I didn't like it breaking, but I liked them taking care of it quickly and efficiently. It seems fair that Blink can retain title for another year while they retain maintenance responsibility. And of course anything that gives more data to DOE, the state, and the utility to advance EV infrastructure is good.

The risk is that during the next year I'd lose my Blink unit. It's very unlikely I'd drop out of the EV Project. If I did, the value to me of an out-of-warranty Blink unit isn't all that high. Maybe I'd get a rock solid Clipper Creek or something at much lower cost, Blink already having done all the site prep to just plug in the new one. And the value to them of an old Blink unit might not be high enough that they'd even bother asking for its return. It's a low risk of a small loss, in return for another year of next day service to fix anything that goes wrong.
 
I got the notice today.

Options:
a. Sign the new agreement and extend warranty for 1 year. At the same time every other obligations is also extended by 1 year.
b. Don't sign. Own the Blink by Dec 31 and all its problems (if any). No more obligations. Bonus: Ability to hack it.

Did I get the options above right?
 
I was happy to extend the agreement. After all, I got "paid" quite a bit in the way of tax credits and state rebates.
 
smkettner said:
How much maintenance does it need? I would pass on the extension.
If they want more data let them write a check.
After the initial snafus with the initial installation (wifi related problem which they gave me a powerline network unit to circumvent the problem), my Blink had reliably work until about a few weeks ago, when it suddenly "died". I called Ecotality up that night, and the next morning someone was at my door step to fix the problem. Turned out that the SIM card went bad/corrupted and they replaced it with a new one. It also seems like it's a common enough problem because they knew right away what the problem was and already had several new SIM cards with them for replacement. They also replaced a wire that they said has been know to cause problems with many Blink units, and even though it hasn't caused a problem in mine, they replaced it anyway just in case.

Needless to say, I had signed up for the extension through 2013 so that my Blink will still be under warranty for another year. I always thought that nothing else could go wrong with it after the initial installation problem was fixed because it performed flawlessly for a year and a half. But I was wrong because the SIM card went bad after 1.5 years. Who's to say that it won't go bad again next year when I'm out of warranty. I don't plan to move out of my currently owned home any time soon, so I don't care if Ecotality will own my Blink for another year, as long as they also own all the problems that may arise with it and will promptly fix it for me if the problems arise.
 
camasleaf said:
Blink called me today and ask me to extend the agreement. I am tempted. I do want to provide data about EV charging and one more year of free maintenance sounds good.

i am with you. i am not moving in 2013 and dont plan on abandoning the LEAF.
some seem to get knotted up in the negatives.
I would like the free servicing, maintenance and software improvements, and am glad to give data for that.
I too would like to keep the ownership date stable, but that seems like a lotta wasted effort.

i have to remember to drop my gold membership that gets me the $1 an hour fee, now that we actually have to pay for the gold.
i buy charging enough away from home to have it make dollars and sense.
 
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