Loveable John

CHARGEPOINT CHARGER UPDATE AGAIN:

Chargepoint, Inc. and it's CEO have ignored me for the last few weeks. I now have in my possession two Chargepoint chargers, both defective. I will not return them to Chargepoint until there is a settlement or until somebody wants to inspect the defective chargers. I have not installed my JuiceBox charger to date. I need some guidance from all you loyal Audi E-Tron people: Should I file a lawsuit against Chargepoint, Inc and it's CEO? Should I file formal compaint with the Federal Trade Commission and/or the California Attorney General, Department of Consumer complaints? All I want is my refund of $750. including tax. Amazon, where I purchased the Chargepoint charger will not assist me because of their stupid return item deadline which expired in early 2022. What do all of you advise?

INITIAL INQUIRY:

My 2021 AUDI e-tron is a beautiful engineering masterpiece, but I cannot say many positive things about the Chargepoint charger organization. At the beginning of this month my Chargepoint home flex charger lost the connection to my WiFi system. I called customer service and cooperated to re-establish service, but I could not do so after several hours of effort.

The Chargepoint charger had been installed by a licensed electrician and worked fine for about 10 months.

Today I lost my patience after being offered "free charging" about 10 miles away from home until a "replacement" charger is shipped and a tracking number will be provided to me.

Chargepoint must swamped with requests for replacement chargers or is concentrating on selling new unit to customers on Amazon and elsewhere.

I live in northern California. The Chargepoint global headquarters is in the SF Bay Area and the chargers are manufactured in Mexico.

Would you buy another Chargepoint charger? If not, what would you recommend? I have a 50 amp breaker and a good electrician standing by to help me.

mks632

I have a JuiceBox 40. Love it. Works perfectly. Highly recommended. In my opinion best to NOT hardwire - instead, plug in to adjacent 14-50 outlet. That way you can easily change out charger if needed and take it with you if you move.

GL921

i have a Wallbox L2 charger at home. it was $300-$400 cheaper than the Chargepoint and offered the same capabilities and data/statistics. the UI in the Chargepoint seems to be a little more sophisticated though, but i saved a few hundred with the Wallbox and have generally been very happy with it compared to using the supplied Audi charging brick.

i will say though that a lot of these third party EVSE devices have a lot of software bugs and glitches. i had issues with wifi dropping recently, but it was a recent software update bug that they have seemed to fix now. the wallbox customer service is very attentive and works with you to resolve issues.

during the wifi disconnections, you could still communicate with the charger via bluetooth if you needed to, and most importantly it was still charging the car at the designated times i scheduled. so no issues there, but just annoying to have little bugs like that from time to time. the audi charging brick is not without its issues too, and it has left me stranded with red warnings and an uncharged car in the morning a few times. the wallbox has not done that to me (yet), so overall i would say i'm a satisfied customer.

can you use the supplied Audi charger until you receive your Chargepoint replacement? driving 10 miles to get free charging doesn't seem ideal and the chargepoint public L2's are pretty slow.

rdgrimes

WiFi issues are frustrating, to be sure. But I'm not sure that Chargepoint is to blame. You'll know more when you get the replacement, but won't you feel silly if the new one also can't connect? Anyways, there's no reason not to take and use the replacement. If they gave you a tracking number, it can't be too far off. Seems to me like they did a pretty good job of supporting you.
Good advice above, to avoid hard-wiring even if it limits your charging rate a little.

needforsleep

My Chargepoint Flex unit has been hardwired to a 60 amp breaker for almost three years with no issues. I've never had any Wi-Fi conneciton issues, so I can't speak to Chargepoint's customer service. For reference I have a Netgear Orbi Mesh router with satellite unit. It's been the best Wi-Fi setup I've ever had. It's very stable and rock solid. I've had a lot of Netgear Nighthawk routers and some other Cisco/Linksys routers in the past, and they've all had their issues. I would replace my router once a year because of issues. I've not had to touch the Orbi Mesh system since I've installed it about three or four years ago.

Loveable John

Yes, I used my supplied Audi charger and it worked, but I was surprised the Audi charging cable was warm to the touch compared to the Chargepoint cable.

needforsleep

If the Audi cable is getting warm, then it's pulling too much current than what your outlet can supply. What sized breaker is hooked to the 220v outlet, or are you using a 120v outlet?

Loveable John

No tracking number has been supplied to date and that's what bothers me. The customer service people either don't know what the warehouse is doing or they are dragging their feet for some reason. I noticed Amazon now is selling the Chargepoint chargers(NEMA 14-50 plug) for $919.00.

Loveable John

50 amps at the breaker.

rdgrimes

I thought you stated you had a tracking #. Most likely they are sending a refurb unit which will take a couple more days than a new one. Anyways, if you're looking at getting a different EVSE there are many choices. Chargepoint is by far the most expensive, but then its rated for 48A which is also pretty rare. If you're accustomed to using the "smart" features you want to stay with one of the units that offers that. All of the top brands are highly rated, including Chargepoint.