GeniePoint 4+

I’m a newcomer to Geniepoint. It is the first company I have used to charge my car other than doing so at home. I have tried 4 times to use their chargers. The first three times were very frustrating as the app did not work and the power cable would not come out of my car unless I phoned the Geniepoint number. I could not pay using my debit card either so I could not get a charge at all.

I decided to get an RFID card through Geniepoint. When I came to paying for the charge on the fourth occasion it worked out ok by holding the RFID card against a sensor to start the charge and once more to end the charging process. The app was just a blank white screen and the charger only provided 7kW instead of the 22kW it is capable of. I also needed to use my car key fob to free the cable at the car end by pressing the lock button followed by the unlock button. The plug has to be withdrawn within 15 seconds after the cable is unlocked otherwise it will be locked in again! I am using a Kia e-Niro by the way.

The sooner these chargers are all changed to allow us to pay with our debit cards the better.

I downloaded this app because you need it to use their chargers. Once you plug their charger in then there is no way to release it if you don’t use some sort of RFID card, which why on earth would you have if you have already a phone app to do everything. Then you press in the app to stop the charge but it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work! So it keeps on charging and costing you money that you don’t want to spend, this is same as scam! You have to call their support service which is keeping you on hold forever for them to stop the charging station and allow to release the charger. You can release it by pressing an emergency button they have on the charging station, but it messes up everything and they have a notice not to do or they will fine you. Awful incredibly awful. Avoid at all costs!

Only good things were not having to hang on for hours to get through on phone, and its being a fast charger, when after an age: first downloading the app, then registering, then giving them my card details to hand over a compulsory £10 (which they say THEY will top up if I'm ever desperate enough to go to a Genie Point again), then waiting for an email to tell me I was registered, then clicking Start Charging to have nothing happen!!! The charger slipped in and out of my car with no feeling that it was engaged and it wasn't, so only by phoning and much fiddling at their end did I in the end get some electricity out of their Point. Desperate to escape, having wasted so much time already, I then saw a button on the Point's screen saying Stop Charging. This didn't work either, so had to phone up again to stop the charge!!! Apparently I should have used the app, so why not make this clear on the Point. Worst charge point ever used