why would you be penalized for charging a different car? Isn't that the whole point of public charging? As far as I know it is IMPOSSIBLE to charge another car on your complimentary Ioniq plan because the program would not recognize an unauthorized VIN. The only way to charge another car is to use the credit card option. This is wrong of EA to cancel your complimentary plan due to no fault of yours. If there's an issue I say it is on their end and they should fix it so it doesn't happen to another Ioniq owner. If the portal can recognize an authorized Ioniq vehicle it should recognize an unauthorized vehicle and automatically switch to the credit card option. Is this a sneaky way to cancel complimentary accounts to save money? This smells illegal and unfair trade practice. Maybe the Federal Trade Commission should be made aware or at the very least the state attorney general office.

 

Do not have all of the details from the OP on what car was charged or steps but there are a number of vehicles that do have vehicle recognition when plugged into EA. I suppose if it was one and he utilized the EA app with the Hyundai account EA could recognize this

 

i thought ev6 doesn't send the vin information during charging. Thats why plug in charge doesn't work

 

Need more info. How did he initiate the charge?

The only thing I can think of is he either used your phone or had the app in his phone along with your EA log in information.

EA is not famous for having talented software. My guess is that it was too dumb at the moment of charging to reject the car and prevent it from charging at all from the free plan.

My EA account has a regular Pass Plan for the Bolt and the free Hyundai Plan. If you had the regular Pass Plan in addition to the free one, the regular plan should have worked. It would have been smart to make the Pass Plan the default before letting your son use your EA account. But that's easy to forget.

As for restoring it, I'd think customer service should be able to do it if you explain what happened.

 

Used EA app to start charging.

My guess is that it was too dumb at the moment of charging to reject the car and prevent it from charging at all from the >free plan.

Yes their app should have rejected the charging but it did not, then they used defect in their app to cancel free charging

 

Used EA app to start charging.


Yes their app should have rejected the charging but it did not, then they used defect in their app to cancel free charging

So how far did you get with customer service and what is the final resolution if one was offered? I really don't understand the point of how charge was initiated or what car was charged. It's all on EA responsibility to accept or reject a connection. If the process was so convoluted does that mean a customer cannot charge a rental car using his EA account? It's the same situation with the op son who charged a random car using the op EA account. The EA program should recognize it is not the registered Ioniq 6 in the complimentary plan and automatically defaulted to the "guest" credit card plan. Cancelling the op complimentary plan for no violation just seems capricious. The worst part of this whole mess is EA not taking responsibility for their failure and shifting the blame on an I6 owner. This just brings to mind the reason EA was created in the first place. One would think they have learned their lesson but here they go again!

 

i thought egmp vehicles don't send their vin number during charging. what was the other vehicle? Perhaps that supports plug in charge

 

Tyrone

We have asked the question, what was the vehicle actually charged?

 

Nissan Ariya

 

This sounds contrary to my own experience. I own a 2023 Ioniq 5 which came with the 2 years of free charging from EA. My car had to go to the body shop for 3 weeks this past April and I rented a Kia EV6 during that period. I used my EA credentials on my iPhone to charge the EV6 at the EA chargers and there was no charge just as if it was my own car.

 

This is surprising, did you have to inform EA about the Ioqniq being in repair so they made some special provision in that case? Thanks

 

I don't know how to regain free charging but your son did try to trick the system so he should be penalized for that. The free charging that came with the car is for that car, not another car.

 

NObody is arguing that the free charging is for the I6 only. As for the son trying to "trick" the system that is a wild accusation. One of us can rent a car and try to charge at EA because we are so used to doing that, but if EA bills the I6 account because of a defect in their program does that mean we were trying to "trick" the system? It's so easy nowadays to be self righteous when bad things happen to other people, but when it happens to us personally then it's a wait a minute moment.

 

Forget “complementary” BS. The charging is included in the price of the car and you wont be able to get this charging plan without purchasing a car. It's a fraud, I bet Hyundai paid EA for your car charge once EA got their money they used any excuse they got to get rid of you. Complain to the Attorney general, FTC, FBI, and any law enforcement agency that deals with fraud.

 

To what end? EA will point to the terms and conditions that were agreed to when activation the 2 year Ioniq 6 package, where it clearly states it is to be used for this car ONLY. The OP was in breach of contract as soon as the charging session was started. Could EA review the situation and reinstate the OP and others on a case by case basis, sure they could, are they required to, not at all.

It is not fraud if the OP violated the terms of the contract.

 

I suspect it’s more likely that Hyundai pays EA an agreed amount when the car is sold. At that point Hyundai then washes its hands of this whole business of free charging.

 

We don’t have to worry about losing our free charging in Canada. It’s another one of those freebies (coffee cup, anyone?) that we simply don’t get.

 

Just got back from small claims court and will get the judge's ruling in the mail in a week. My case is similar to the OP and once I told the judge what happened he didn't even ask me a single question. After the lawyer for EA finished her argument about "charging an unauthorized" vehicle the judge basically lectured her about dispensing electricity to an "unauthorized" vehicle. His analogy to her is if a person pumped gas into his/her car in a Chevron station and the amount does not show up in the person's credit card bill, then it is up to the gas station owner to fix the credit card reader and not ban the customer and his credit card from all Chevron stations. It would be dishonest for the customer to refuse to pay back the amount once the mistake was discovered but there is no legal basis to ban the customer or his credit card from all Chevron stations. I'm posting now just in case there's a non disclosure clause in the settlement letter.

 

Is there a case name and number? Are you in federal or state court? Who drafted the complaint?

 

This was held in a county superior court so I guess that would be a state court. I used a small claims court filing service so they did all the forms and serving of the claim to EA.

 

Just got back from vacation and found the judgment for plaintiff on the court portal. No non disclosure agreement so...

 

What docs did you need to present? They are also cancelling people for not "waiting 60 minutes" between 30 minute sessions- something never mentioned by ANY sales person leasing the car, or by EA - I can't find it on their T & C and it certainly isn't5 indicated on their chargers-= they have the ability to prevent this- for example- they have some pumps designated as 85% max charge and they won't allow you to go past that. They also, of course, start charging the user immediately after 30 minutes- without warning really- I'm not sure how long they give you after the timer hits 30 but they've charged me countless times $0.12 or so for this tiny half a minute.

There is no signage, no warning, and frankly, no logical reason why you should wait an hour after sometimes waiting 1 or 2 or more! Especially when their 350kw rated pump is charging at 80kw or 90KW or 60KW - which is really the only time an Ioniq 5 Limited AWD would ever need to go past 30 minutes if it started at 20 or more%!

They do not say this on their customer service li98ne when you call- and if you unplug at29 minutes, then what? Or 1`5 minutes? I see that this behavior is super commonplace and so it is a little much to get a sudden rude, cancellation email - considering this was pretty much the entire reason I leased the car!

The car sales people didn't mention these "policies" nor the threat of the consequences and their T & C are buried deep within their app, with, frankly, no reason to look in their for them to begin with.

In my view this is unprofessional, and rude and frankly, it feels like it should be illegal, or certainly some sort of fraud- but in my case, a major breach!

I feel like the remaining 7 months or so on my unlimited free charging should be calculated at the value of however many full tanks I can get or 30 minute charges per month!

Way more than the jurisdictional limits of Small Claims court. Also, They provide no review process or appeal, nor do they provide meaningful managerial review or an appeal process. They simply said, sorry, you are toast, and they said I can transfer you to a manger but they will tell you the same thing. And they did.

This is outrageous- I'm a huge fan and advocate and a significant voice in the industry- I have tried to reach them to no avail.

I also assumed that if the car awas not authorized they'd stop it-but I too have two cars and two accounts both with the same free unlimited and there have been numerous situations where the pumps have left us stranded, unable to disconnect the plugs, or unable to charge- and they make no mention of that- and I personally have spent hundreds of hours at stations advocating for them, helping the elderly, and the less than technical, not to mention those challenged by language! I see that as a sort of civic duty and way to help

They need to fix this fast before it spins out of control - I intend to pursue Small Claims as well unless they resolve it themselves by end of the week.

 

hope this helps the OP with his issue with EA. Now I am not tied to EA and can use that judgement money to charge where it is convenient. I see EVGO is starting to have 350kw ports in the Bay area plus I like their plug and charge method of initiating a charge, so convenient.

 

Hello Reddy6.

Same situation just happened to me. Ioniq 5 and Tesla registered in Electricfy American app. Wife and daughter drove these cars and plug them into Electricfy American stations to charge. No option/warning to them on which car will get the free charge. Now Electricfy American removed the free charging option for Hyundai Ioniq 5 which still has 1.5 years on the lease.

Can I have your small court claim form #? I am in Ventura county and trying to go through small court claim to get Electrify American reinstate the charging option for my Hyundai Ioniq 5. Thank you.

 

Hello CN77
I went to the small claims court website in my county and looked at the form. I was not confident I could follow all the instructions and timeline required ( very confusing at least for me) so I used a small claims court filing service (much like a service for filing your income tax). There are a few that advertise such services but I went with one called SQUABBLE. I'm not affiliated or receiving any benefit from this company and it is not the cheapest. But I was happy with their communication and response to my case if that is of some value to you. Some helpful tips if I may......
1) prepare your proofs and evidence in triplicates ahead of time. ( one copy for you, the judge, the opposing party)
2) wear a suit and tie, it may seem overkill but it shows respect towards the judge.
3) keep your statement short but succinct. The court has to clear a lot of cases so taking up much time might not be in your favor.
4)ask for MORE than what you feel is fair. The judge cannot award you more than what you ask (if you ask for a low amount initially. But he can always award a smaller amount if he feels it would be fair to both sides.

Don't be nervous, small claims court does not expect you to use legalese terms but just want to know what happened in your own every man on the street words in order to make a fair and just decision. Good luck on your case.

 

Not sure if the forms are standard for all counties but mine was SC-100 Plaintiff's Claim and ORDER to Go to Small Claims Court. ( 6 pages )

 

 

I just saw the other replies so you filed yourself with no lawyer but to who ? electrify America or the dealer ?

 

I am going thru something similar I just noticed on my AMEX that EA has been charging me for months but I have a free plan for 2 more years. they said I violated the terms by charging 2 30 minute sessions (2nd which was 10 minutes) as the charging station is 30 minutes away. Im in NY and its a 2 hour wait at most EA stations they are also in bad areas. was your lawyer free ? how do I start this process ?

 

#49 above

 

Congrats, Reddy6, on winning your case. But I would not go so far as to say the OP'S situation is analogous. It seems you had 2 valid EA accounts and simply used the wrong one, while both accounts were in good standing. That is an easy mistake to make and, importantly, EA did not actually lose anything because of it.

In the OP's situation there was only one EA account and it was used for another car which was not entitled to free charging. It will be interesting to see how the judge rules, but I don't see that the decision reproduced at #42 above would be used by the judge as a precedent for the OP's case.

 

I'm sorry if I implied somewhere that my case was similar to the OP. OP was asking for help on how to get back the canceled Ioniq account. I was surprised by the aggressive responses he was getting which were not helpful. I was trying to be helpful by sharing my experience.
I had no idea if the judge was a diesel pick up driving person with no familiarity about EVs so I never mentioned my Kia charging plan to keep things simple and focus on EA cancelling my Ioniq plan. I was not part of any discussion between the judge and EA lawyer after the court trial but I suspect the info about my Kia plan was volunteered by the EA lawyer as additional evidence presented after the court trial. Luckily for me the judge seems to have an overabundance of common sense and a knack for asking the right questions.
One way of looking at it is that EA did not actually lose anything in the case. ANOTHER way to look at it is that the Ioniq plan has no cash value like frequent flier miles. But if EA has to cut a check for $3.5k then did they actually get away scot-free and willing to do this again?
As for duplicating results in #42 above, I am not in possession of a magic crystal ball so like gas mileage and battery range I caution YMMV. Instead of posting my experience it would have been easier for me to simply blame the OP or his son and be self-righteous and lecture about taking responsibility for our "mistakes". But that does not really help anyone does it?

 

FWIW...We have a 2023 6 and a 2025 GV60. Both are on the EA app, of course. The first time after we got the GV (and went through setting up the GV on our EA account), I took the 6 to the EA station and started the charging sequence, which engaged as usual. I just happened to glance at the charger display and noticed that I was charging the 6 on the GV60's EA identity. I hit "stop" immediately, disconnected, and went back to the app to swap the default account from the GV60 (where I had unknowingly left it since setting up the GV) to the 6 and restarted the charge without issue. I never got any communication from EA about that charging session.
Point is, it doesn't look like EA is that adept at preventing crossing up vehicle recognition and payment plans.

 

How long ago was this? I'm just curious if they have made improvements on their end to avoid blaming users for inadequacy in their system. Since I posted my experience nobody else seems to have their free charing cancelled due to no wrongdoing on their part. I'm glad if this is the case so no one has to go thru my experience and that of the original poster. If we all stick together instead of finding fault with other members of this community then we can actually fix something when it goes wrong.