No Charge to Charge SCAM?

[easanchez24]

The "No Charge to Charge" program seems like a scam to me. In the Austin area there area about 98 ChargePoint charge stations, but only about 7 participate in the program. Of those 7, about 4 are behind locked gates at dealerships.

When I enrolled in the three year free No Charge to Charge promotion, I did not fully understand the details and relied on the salesperson's description of the program... for three years, free changing at any charge station that is listed on the card.

I plugged in my car this weekend for the first time and was surprised the ChargePoint company billed me $25 and deducted the 3 hours I was plugged into the station. The call to their "Customer Service" did not go well either, they seemed to be in a loop reading the script and could pointed to their website indicating the station I used was not labeled "NC." The support person refused to pass my call to a supervisor and kept putting me on hold.

Has anyone else faced this?

 

[Firetruck41]

From what I understand, Chargepoint is different than a lot of other charge "networks", in that they are owned and operated by the the property owner/individual and the network essentially provides a way to bill/monitor the chargers, whereas other like Blink are owned/operated by the network. I would expect chargers operated by "owner/individual" would be much less likely to be part of the NCTC. I don't have NCTC, but I do know that when I signed up for a Chargepoint card, there was a notification that the first charge that cost money would incur a minimum charge of $20 or $25 (can't remember exactly), which would be used against future charges. Not sure how the signup process works for NCTC, but I wouldn't be surprised if that notification was in the paperwork/web signup somewhere

 

[Valdemar]

Charge Point withdrew from the program some time back. Refer to this map to find No Charge To Charge locations (marked as NC): https://www.ez-charge.com/stations/

 

[DNAinaGoodWay]

You can also filter PlugShare for them, but you're right, it is a bit of a scam. It's one of those buyer beware/due diligence things.

 

[kovalb]

I always check first on the EZCharge website. https://www.ez-charge.com/stations/
I've used Blink NCTC charge stations in my area and have not had any issue. Not every station is NCTC so I check carefully before plugging in. I check to see that it says it is on the touch screen in addition to using the website.

 

[DesertSprings]

I wouldn't call it a scam. There's plenty of eVGO and Blink chargers in these parts that participate in the program. ChargePoint backed out before the program started (beyond a few test markets). The website is available to verify which stations, if any, are available in your area so you can factor that in before making your decision.

 

[LeafMuranoDriver]

I don't have any complaints for my area but I'd be a little bothered too if there were not many participating stations nearby.

Almost all of the NRG EVgo stations are part of the NCTC program and they are the most reliable. I've done 13 QC's for free. ($129.35 value)

There aren't many Chargepoint stations that are on NCTC. And like you, the first time I used one I got hit with a $25 charge. I wish they would bill on a per charge basis instead of $25 increments but it is what it is.

 

[DNAinaGoodWay]

Of the 7 in the Austin area, all are NRG, and all but one have QC. In fact, looks like those are the only QCs, so at least you have access to those on NCTC. Better than nothing. I had a car with a QC port for a year before we got any QC at all here. If you use them, NRG will get payments from Nissan and maybe they'll put in some more.

 

[powersurge]

I'm in New York and all chargepoint stations are free... I have seen an NRG station at a Nissan dealer near me and they are a rip off. Before I pay their ridiculous rates for charges, I'll go back to gasoline cars!!

 

[Nubo]

Not a scam, but an example of what I call "bundling disease".

 

[DNAinaGoodWay]

Bundling?

As usual, salesman make it sound better than it is. Most are unaware of Plugshare or the variations in stations. Like the 2011 Leaf going 100 miles, it can sure seem scamish.