JuiceBox Woes

Discussion in 'Clarity' started by bfd, Apr 4, 2018.

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  1. Rangavasu

    Rangavasu Member

    Yes my mind is made up. Why? The company was not up front with their action. It is not just the label. It is etched and you can't remove. Would you pay full retail price and receive a brand new unit that displayed "Testing unit only"?

    This forum is to inform each others experience (sending defective unit first and then internal testing unit). I posted my experience with this company. It is up to you to see it from my point of view or you can support the company that I don't care.
     
    2002 likes this.
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  3. 2002

    2002 Well-Known Member

    I am surprised at some of the responses that you have received. I can understand the basic concept that if someone's works fine they assume you just had bad luck by getting a defective unit, after all any company can make a mistake. But to imply that you are being unreasonable for giving up on the company after what you have experienced is a bit mystifying.

    Even if we believe the excuse that you were given it would mean the following - here's a company making a device which manages the delivery of 40 amps and 240V of power between your house and your 30K+ car (even though Clarity only accepts 30 amps of this power). While making this device we are to believe that the assembler accidentally used a prototype handle even though the prototype warning is clearly stamped on the handle. When the device was QC'd somehow the text on the handle wasn't noticed. Likewise when the device was packaged it was again not noticed. Mistakes happen but this sequence of mistakes does not engender confidence in their process or in the person(s) who made these multiple mistakes. And by the way what about the missing dust cap? It's an attached item so it's not like it fell off, either this was yet another mistake in the assembly process, or it is proof that this was in fact a prototype unit that was not originally intended for sale, in spite of what you are now being told.

    Made worse by the fact that the unit was sent as a replacement for the first unit which never worked from the beginning. The fact that the replacement immediately worked helps confirm that the problem was not user error or a problem with your electrical. It doesn't 100% confirm this, but naturally when the first item that you buy fails and the replacement works, it is compelling evidence that the first one was defective, or at best damaged in shipping.

    After you experienced that the device that you purchased failed out of the box, and as a replacement you were sent either a prototype unit or a misassembled device, so you have decided to give up on the company. And you are being criticized for this? I just don't get it.

    Now, I can imagine that this is a small company, and this is a somewhat niche market and profit margins are probably slim. So in general we root for these type of companies to succeed. They probably have some good technical people, but as often happens it is the other jobs like assembly, customer service etc. where the old adage "it's hard to find good help these days" can be a challenge especially if budgets are tight. Hopefully your problems are all the result of one less than conscientious employee who won't be there very long. But I can fully understand that you aren't willing to "ride it out" and hope for the best. While at the same time I understand why people who never had a problem with their unit are happy with their purchase. Fortunately for you Costco will not even blink when you go back to return it, their customer service people are the best.
     
  4. Rangavasu

    Rangavasu Member

    Again you nailed it. I am giving another chance to eMotorWerks to make this right. I replied to the response I received asking them to resolve in a positive manner and mentioned about dust cover. I have full confidence on the Costco customer service and Citi card benefits that I can rely 100%. I can even dispute the $200 deposit that eMotorWerks took for the new replacement device. Thank you.
     
    MPower and MajorAward like this.
  5. MajorAward

    MajorAward Active Member

    Good on you mate. Maybe third time will be the charm. I do hope the company is aware of this thread, as the resolution may influence at least a few potential customers.
     
    Rangavasu likes this.
  6. Rangavasu

    Rangavasu Member

    I am not sure this company wants to resolve the issue. See the response:

    "If I get you a letter from the manufacturer of the handle stating that it is not a prototype and is a production J1772 plug with a labeling mistake will that resolve it? The dust cover that comes with the JuiceBox is the holster. Plugging into it protects and orients the plug properly while not being used.
    However if you are referring to a soft cover you can find them online.
    Here is one example:
    https://www.ebay.com/itm/J1772-Protective-Plug-Cover-or-Holster-for-EV-Charging-Station-EVSE-Connector-/121461121080"

    I replied back asking to send a brand new equipment. Is this too much to handle for this company? This is 4th chance for this eMotorWerks. I am curious to see the response from them. At this point I already gave up as you all know. Any guesses on the response?
     
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  8. MrFixit

    MrFixit Well-Known Member

    Why do you continue to torture yourself?
    As some have stated (and even yourself), you will not be satisfied with this product no matter what.
    Return them, contest the charges (more torture) and buy a different brand.

    Just curious - How did you get eMotorworks involved in the first place? You bought it at Costco, they are VERY customer oriented. Why didn't you take it back to Costco on day one and exchange it for another one there?
     
  9. Rangavasu

    Rangavasu Member

    Who do you call if the product is not working? The manual said to call a number and that number belong to eMotorWerks. It is not a torture for me. I am exposing inefficient company to other potential customer. Why do you get ticked off when I post a negative experience with eMotorWerks?
     
    Last edited: Jun 26, 2019
  10. M. Shah

    M. Shah Member

    Let it go Ranga. If I were you I would take the unit back to Costco and call it a day. Not worth the aggravation. I would not deal with the company directly at this point. Thanks for pointing out how inefficient Juicebox is. You can always buy a cheaper EVSE from Amazon if you dont need a wifi connection or Chargepoint.
     
    Rangavasu likes this.
  11. Mowcowbell

    Mowcowbell Well-Known Member

    If you decide to go with a different brand and don't mind opensource software, check out the GoPlug Pro. $500

    https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07N8G6FGN/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_3?smid=A270W8LC79CV6A&psc=1
     
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  13. 2002

    2002 Well-Known Member

    I always go to the store if it's a recent purchase. And Costco you can go even longer and even not have your receipt and they look up your membership number and confirm that you bought it and issue a refund. Costco never exchanges, they always refund then you buy another one.

    A few years ago I bought a Microsoft Surface at Costco, after just a few days the "W" key if I remember correctly on the detachable keyboard stopped working, just went dead. I had already spent time setting it up and didn't want to return it so I called Microsoft thinking they could just send another keyboard. But first the tech dragged me through what seemed like thirty minutes of troubleshooting because that's what they have to do. I think if I had said my keyboard broke in half they would have had me go through the same troubleshooting. Then after finally exhausting all troubleshooting possibilities they wanted to send me a complete replacement computer. Beside the hassle of having to ship it back I was concerned that I might get a refurb. So once I realized I couldn't just get a new keyboard I hopped in the car and went to Costco and got a new one, they didn't even check if it was defective they just took my word for it. I did ask if I could swap just the keyboard, but they said they can't open up a new box and take anything out of it which I understood and actually appreciated that they maintain the integrity of the products they sell.
     
    Rangavasu likes this.
  14. MNSteve

    MNSteve Well-Known Member

    I have also been impressed by my experience with Costco customer support. I bought a rather large item from them last year which seemed to disappear into the Christmas shipping flurry. The Costco agent took the time to track down what had happened; it was not their problem but they cared enough to investigate for me. And yes, eventually the item did arrive and probably would have without their effort, but it was appreciated.
     
    Rangavasu likes this.
  15. Mowcowbell

    Mowcowbell Well-Known Member

    I wonder what's the catch for $70? Some sort of bidding like eBay?
     
  16. Rangavasu

    Rangavasu Member

    Thank you Mitral. I will buy another one soon.
     
  17. MNSteve

    MNSteve Well-Known Member

    Well ... I took the next two steps of clicking "Add to cart" and "Checkout" and got to a normal-looking place to enter a credit card number. So I don't think that's it. But I have no idea. This definitely falls into the "If it looks too good to be true ..." category. I wonder what you get for your $70, if anything. It's pretty easy to download a picture and put it on your website ...
     
  18. Rangavasu

    Rangavasu Member

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  19. ClarityBill

    ClarityBill Active Member

    I just bought the $70 for 32A - Looks too good to be true, but I would love to increase to 32A charging...

    BIG MISTAKE! I just did google on the infoyour site, and the google results are terrible... Typical scam

    DO NOT USE THAT LINK
     
    Last edited: Jun 26, 2019
  20. MNSteve

    MNSteve Well-Known Member

    Ah. The first search I did yielded irrelevant results. Now I see what you are talking about. If I had seen this before I would have included that information in my original post.
     
  21. MrFixit

    MrFixit Well-Known Member

    Yes, such an outrageously low price that screams scam. Just the cables alone for these are quite a bit more than $70 !
     
  22. bfd

    bfd Active Member

    What you said about signal strength (btw, it's always been robust at the Jbox which is what led me to believe that signal strength wasn't an issue) prompted me to revisit an idea I've had for awhile that something else on the network could be masking the signal or randomly overriding it. I've seen this happen with printers on the network that constantly send out a signal that can drag down the rest of the network, and I've recently read some things about Teslas that won't reliably connect because there are DLNA clients on the network - not sure what they do besides constantly ping with an "I'm here" signal. I guess it could cause another network client to lose or drop connection if the client is prone to doing so. Apparently the Tesla internal Wifi is prone to doing that. The suggested remedy is to parallel a guest network unconnected to any DLNA clients. Tried that a few days ago, and it works - time will tell if the JB stays connected this time, but it reconnected rather instantly (to the new 2.4gHz guest network) and has stayed connected for 4 days going on 5...
     

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