JuiceBox Woes

[MrFixit]

new design

I think the take-away here is that you are getting 'current' electronics (both the 'new' and 'old' were manufactured within the last month or-so). The exact plug on the 220V wire is unimportant. If the J1772 connects to the car well, you should be good.

Most importantly, is the replacement unit functioning well for you?

 

[Rangavasu]

I think the take-away here is that you are getting 'current' electronics (both the 'new' and 'old' were manufactured within the last month or-so). The exact plug on the 220V wire is unimportant. If the J1772 connects to the car well, you should be good.

Most importantly, is the replacement unit functioning well for you?

Any customer that spends $500 for a product expects to be working out of the box - JuiceBox failed
Sending testing unit printed on the product as a replacement - JuiceBox failed
I am questioning JuiceBox QC team. The replacement box says professionally packed by associate# 33.

The answer to your question about replacement unit functioning well - yes it is functioning (better to get it right 2nd time).

 

[MrFixit]

I'm not defending them... I agree with you.
Just curious about how things are working out for a fellow forum member !

 

[MNSteve]

Any customer that spends $500 for a product expects to be working out of the box - JuiceBox failed
Sending testing unit printed on the product as a replacement - JuiceBox failed
I am questioning JuiceBox QC team. The replacement box says professionally packed by associate# 33.

The answer to your question about replacement unit functioning well - yes it is functioning (better to get it right 2nd time).

My experience with customer service in today's world is pretty negative. Can we give credit to this company for a timely and appropriate response? That's rare, at least in my personal experience.

You're upset because you got a defective unit. I understand that. I also understand that it might have been outside the control of the manufacturer. Maybe they have a quality control issue; maybe they do not; it's unfortunate that you received a lemon but painting the company with such a broad brush is rather harsh.

To me the more important aspect is that they responded to the issue. And again, this is only one data point; maybe their response is generally poor and you just got lucky. But you now have a working unit. Maybe it's part of a batch made during a redesign; does that really matter? It works.

 

[MajorAward]

I am questioning JuiceBox QC team. The replacement box says professionally packed by associate# 33.

Best to be a little skeptical of anything related to #33. Some believe it to be the magic number.

 

[Rangavasu]

My experience with customer service in today's world is pretty negative. Can we give credit to this company for a timely and appropriate response? That's rare, at least in my personal experience.

You're upset because you got a defective unit. I understand that. I also understand that it might have been outside the control of the manufacturer. Maybe they have a quality control issue; maybe they do not; it's unfortunate that you received a lemon but painting the company with such a broad brush is rather harsh.

To me the more important aspect is that they responded to the issue. And again, this is only one data point; maybe their response is generally poor and you just got lucky. But you now have a working unit. Maybe it's part of a batch made during a redesign; does that really matter? It works.

Responded with prototype testing unit! Good company. Why should I pay full price for a testing unit printed on the handle?

 

[MNSteve]

Responded with prototype testing unit! Good company. Why should I pay full price for a testing unit printed on the handle?

Because it works?

 

[Rangavasu]

Because it works?

Not sure a company can sell test unit to consumer at full price without informing the customer.

 

[Texas22Step]

Not sure a company can sell test unit to consumer at full prucevwithout informing the customer.

Suggest you just return one or the other to Costco, get your money refunded, and then buy another EVSE brand at Costco or somewhere else. You'll never be happy with this brand now, regardless of whether it works or not . . .

 

[Rangavasu]

Suggest you just return one or the other to Costco, get your money refunded, and then buy another EVSE brand at Costco or somewhere else. You'll never be happy with this brand now, regardless of whether it works or not . . .

Thank you for the suggestion. That is what my plan. I sent an email to JuiceBox and see how they defend their action.

 

[MrFixit]

You are just over-emphasizing the "prototype" labeling on the connector.
It would not be uncommon to alter the design in some way, and order some "prototypes".
Once some of these prototypes are verified, then there would be nothing wrong with selling the rest of them as product.

I agree with @Texas22Step... You will just not be satisfied at this point, no matter what their response. Get a different one if that puts your mind at ease.

 

[bfd]

There are just enough pieces of anecdotal data about this charger - and that's just here on this thread alone - that I'd be the last one to recommend it to others. As of today, my DeuceBox is actually connected to the internet - and has been for the past few days now. If it stays true to form, it'll be up for maybe a week or two and then it'll disappear for a few days, then for a month or more until again some day reconnecting for a longer period of time.

While the box has always done the charging job, the undependable wi-fi connectivity is really a disappointment. Customer service was great at first, but once they couldn't figure out the problem they defaulted to making the constant disconnects a problem on my end. Never mind that everything else on the network stays solidly connected - well, everything except for the DeuceBox. Also, as you may recall from reading, it took service sending three boxes to get me one that would remain connected - at least sporadically.

If you've had a good experience, good for you. Because others haven't…

 

[MrFixit]

it took service sending three boxes to get me one that would remain connected - at least sporadically

@bfd - I can't speak to your specific problem, but I have a lot of experience with WiFi and would like to express some general thoughts.

When I have a problem with WiFi connectivity, the signal strength is at the top of my list of suspects. It is very surprising how spotty your coverage can be, and quite often a single router does not adequately cover the whole house. The garage is sometimes farther than anything else with additional walls in the way, etc. In my case, my EVSE has never had any trouble with connectivity, but I had a Raspberry Pi in the garage that was about 10' from the EVSE and it just couldn't connect. I added a second router in the basement, closer to the garage, an it now can connect just fine. It is certainly not unusual for "everything else" on a network to be solidly connected and then another device struggles. Even if you can connect reliably with a cell phone for instance, when you are located right next to the EVSE, that is not very good evidence that the device is 'faulty'. WiFi devices have a wide variety of antennas and correspondingly antenna patterns, and you can easily encounter a null with one device and not another. I am not sure about the antenna configuration with the JuiceBox, but it is a solid metal enclosure, and it is possible that it may require a better signal than other WiFi devices. I have found that the 2.4 GHz WiFi band seems a little more robust with distance than the 5 GHz band. WiFi performance degrades quite rapidly with reduced signal levels.

Maybe you already have something in place, but if you continue to have any trouble going forward, I would suggest trying to boost your signal level with either another router, or a WiFi extender of some kind. The fact that you have seen your connectivity come and go with multiple different JuiceBoxes makes me think that signal level is a strong possibility. Marginal signal often behaves intermittently.

 

[Rangavasu]

You are just over-emphasizing the "prototype" labeling on the connector.
It would not be uncommon to alter the design in some way, and order some "prototypes".
Once some of these prototypes are verified, then there would be nothing wrong with selling the rest of them as product.

I agree with @Texas22Step... You will just not be satisfied at this point, no matter what their response. Get a different one if that puts your mind at ease.

Why do you think that I am over emphasizing the prototype? It is printed on the product I received from the manufacturer (I was told brand new). If you sell tester product you have to inform the customer. I can't brush aside the mistakes made by company. I didn't receive the product free. I paid full price.

 

[DucRider]

Why do you think that I am over emphasizing the prototype? It is printed on the product I received from the manufacturer (I was told brand new). If you sell tester product you have to inform the customer. I can't brush aside the mistakes made by company. I didn't receive the product free. I paid full price.

A prototype component may very well be brand new and never used. What makes you think differently? It could of been one of a small batch sent for evaluation before commencing a large production run (and be identical to the production version).

 

[Rangavasu]

A prototype component may very well be brand new and never used. What makes you think differently? It could of been one of a small batch sent for evaluation before commencing a large production run (and be identical to the production version).

I am not an evaluating their product period.

 

[2002]

It is printed right on the device "PROTOTYPE - FOR INTERNAL TESTS ONLY"



I think the best way to interpret what was intended by this message is :

"This is a prototype unit. It is only to be used for internal tests. It is not to be sold. It is not to be given to customers for evaluation. It is not to be given to customers as a replacement."

If anyone thinks i am wrong about what the message printed on the device means then we have a difference of opinion about what the word "ONLY" means.

Does this mean that the device is automatically bad, defective, will burn the house down? No. It means that Rangavasu was sent a unit that at the time that it was built was clearly intended for internal tests only. This is completely different than doing QC on a production batch. When this unit was built it was not intended to go to a customer, otherwise they would not have printed the warning right on the unit. They printed it on the unit so that no one would accidentally send it to a customer. Among other things prototypes often do not have all of the finishing touches of production units, for example this one did not include the dust cap. Is that the only difference? Maybe, but how would you know?

It can happen that after internal tests are completed it is decided it is okay to send some prototype units to some customers for evaluation. That's fine but in those cases the customer knows they are receiving a prototype unit for evaluation. But that wasn't the case here.

So one of two things happened - either someone accidentally grabbed a prototype unit and put it in the box, or someone decided that since no significant changes were made to the production models that an internal test prototype would be okay to send as a replacement. But sending that to a customer who has already had problems without asking the customer if it is okay is shoddy customer service, if done knowingly. I will give them a pass that they may have intended to inform the customer but someone slipped up and didn't.

But back to the first possibility, that they may have accidentally put the wrong one in the box. Whether or not that is likely is irrelevant, it's the possibility that it did happen that is a concern, and since they failed to communicate then it has to be considered a possibility until an explanation is given by the company.

Here's another problem, what if Rangavasu upgrades EVSE in the future, do you think they can sell this one, or even give it away?

 

[Rangavasu]

It is printed right on the device "PROTOTYPE - FOR INTERNAL TESTS ONLY"

View attachment 5153

I think the best way to interpret what was intended by this message is :

"This is a prototype unit. It is only to be used for internal tests. It is not to be sold. It is not to be given to customers for evaluation. It is not to be given to customers as a replacement."

If anyone thinks i am wrong about what the message printed on the device means then we have a difference of opinion about what the word "ONLY" means.

Does this mean that the device is automatically bad, defective, will burn the house down? No. It means that Rangavasu was sent a unit that at the time that it was built was clearly intended for internal tests only. This is completely different than doing QC on a production batch. When this unit was built it was not intended to go to a customer, otherwise they would not have printed the warning right on the unit. They printed it on the unit so that no one would accidentally send it to a customer. Among other things prototypes often do not have all of the finishing touches of production units, for example this one did not include the dust cap. Is that the only difference? Maybe, but how would you know?

It can happen that after internal tests are completed it is decided it is okay to send some prototype units to some customers for evaluation. That's fine but in those cases the customer knows they are receiving a prototype unit for evaluation. But that wasn't the case here.

So one of two things happened - either someone accidentally grabbed a prototype unit and put it in the box, or someone decided that since no significant changes were made to the production models that an internal test prototype would be okay to send as a replacement. But sending that to a customer who has already had problems without asking the customer if it is okay is shoddy customer service, if done knowingly. I will give them a pass that they may have intended to inform the customer but someone slipped up and didn't.

But back to the first possibility, that they may have accidentally put the wrong one in the box. Whether or not that is likely is irrelevant, it's the possibility that it did happen that is a concern, and since they failed to communicate then it has to be considered a possibility until an explanation is given by the company.

Here's another problem, what if Rangavasu upgrades EVSE in the future, do you think they can sell this one, or even give it away?

Excellent. You nailed it.

 

[Rangavasu]

Here is the lame response from eMotorWerks
"I have been informed that text is a mistake. The handles are not prototypes and other than the text are the same handles as on production units.

If you have further concerns please let me know,"

 

[MNSteve]

Here is the lame response from eMotorWerks
"I have been informed that text is a mistake. The handles are not prototypes and other than the text are the same handles as on production units.

If you have further concerns please let me know,"

As others have said, your opinion on this company is now poisoned. You will not believe anything that they tell you. I am certain that the only difference between what you have and what is now being sold is that decal on the handle. If someone had removed it before sending you the replacement unit, you would not have known.

Send it back and get on with your life. Nothing that anyone says will make a difference at this point. Your mind is made up. The fact that the problem is resolved and that the replacement unit is working has become irrelevant.