EVgo Subscription: consumers beware! **UPDATED**

pickShortly after I started working at Classic Chevrolet, in Grapevine, Texas, EVgo (a subsidiary of NRG) offered a two year EV charging subscription plan for $99. You could charge as many times as you wanted, during those two years. I knew I didn’t need it, but bought a subscription anyway, in order to show the fob, used to authorize charging, to my Volt customers, in case they were concerned about being able to charge and what the costs would be.

I hardly ever used the subscription, as I can charge both at home and at work.

A few months, after the subscription ended, I was contacted by EVgo. The representative told me that they had inadvertently charged my credit card $2,813.20! They said they had caught the error and would be crediting my card within a few days. When they credited my account, they only credited $2,705.00, leaving a charge of $108.20 on my card.

When I received my next credit card statement, I called and asked why the entire amount was not credited and the representative said the $108.20 was for the next year’s subscription. I explained I did not want to continue the subscription and had not signed up for it, so they eventually credited that amount to me card.

Twenty-two days later, they charged my card for $108.20 again. The next month, charged another $108.20, for a total of $216.40 in overcharges. I contacted my credit card provider and they credited my account the $216.40, pending an investigation, putting things back to zero. Eventually, EVgo credited the $216.40 and my credit card company reversed the credit they gave, again leaving things at zero, where they should have been.

Finally, it’s all resolved! (or so I thought)

The next month, EVgo (oddly) credited my account another $216.40, leaving me with a $216.40 surplus, I should not have received. This was followed a month later, with a new charge for $266.40, which corrected their over-refund, but left me with $50 in the hole, because the correction should have been for $216.40 instead.

I called EVgo, on a Sunday, to protest the charge and explained I did not want their service, had not asked for the service and wanted the overage refunded. The representative, while looking through my account records, stated the account had been closed and there should not have been any charge. Then he noticed a new account number had been created, in my name. It was this account that had the $50 overcharge. He said he’d have to send it up to a higher level, within EVgo, to have it corrected, which would have to wait until Monday (tomorrow).

Hopefully, this will all be resolved tomorrow.

This has been a nightmare for me. If you sign up for any kind of subscription charging plan for your EV, be sure to check your credit card statements very carefully.

**UPDATE**

I just received a phone call from an EVgo rep, who told me the $50 was two $25 charges from the bank, due to a processing snafu. Ego has waived the two fees and will be crediting my account for the $50.

Hopefully, this is the last I’ll ever hear of this.

About the author

An accidental EVangelist: On my way to work at Apple one morning, my car was rear-ended (and totaled) by an SUV, driven by a guy playing with his smartphone.
This led me to get my first plug-in vehicle.
I started blogging about my experiences immediately.
A year later, in 2013, I was hired by the dealership as their "EVangelist."
I became a board member with the Texas Electric Transportation Resources Alliance (www.TxETRA.org) and perform public speaking in the DFW area regarding electric vehicles and environmental issues.
I also teach others how to sell plug-in vehicles or manage EV sales.
I'm on a mission.

Comments

  1. I have had EVGO over charge me on a free card from Nissan. they charge me for extra time that I am not on the charger. It appears that their business plan is to “accidently” charge people and hope they do not go through the numerous phone calls to get their money back. What crooks!

    1. I’ve never personally had a billing issue with EVGO. I’ve found that their service and charging stations are way more trustworthy than Blink. Plus cheaper.

      But I would be furious if I got a nearly 3,000 charge on my account! Or if I was being charged for time even after I had suspended the session. Hopefully this is not a common problem!

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