RIV: Electric car chargers have been broken for more than a month

[dropd]

Anyone know of a proper escalation path at Disney to get something like this fixed?

The Chargepoint car chargers at Riviera have been broken since at least July 16, and are still broken as of today (August 22). Front desk has been telling people they're "aware" of the issue, but over a month is a long time for no fix for something like that.

I'm mostly curious if folks have thoughts about ways to try to escalate the issue to ensure someone's actually paying attention to it - worth a call to member services maybe?

 

[BamaGuy44]

Well that's disappointing, since I was planning to use them on my RIV stay next month. Hopefully they get them fixed by then. Not sure if it's Disney that would be responsible for ordering repairs, or Chargepoint, but either way that's an unacceptably long time for them to be broken.

 

[DVCsloth]

Depends on what is wrong with it. Parts availability is still an ongoing issue. Hope they get them fixed soon.

 

[purpliequeen]

Very frustrating. Hope this gets resolved soon as well.

 

[heynowirv]

Are there EV chargers at any other resorts? we are driving down in October and staying at OKW.We drive a Toyota RAV4 prime.

 

[purpliequeen]

Are there EV chargers at any other resorts? we are driving down in October and staying at OKW.We drive a Toyota RAV4 prime.

Are you familiar with this website? https://www.plugshare.com/

It's great - up to date, as it relies on users to post. You do not have to have an account (log-in) to use; it's free. Type "Lake Buena Vista" and you'll see all your options. Enjoy.

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

Lol

 

[erionm]

Are there EV chargers at any other resorts? we are driving down in October and staying at OKW. We drive a Toyota RAV4 prime.

Coronado Springs, Riviera and Wilderness Lodge are the only resorts where Disney has added EV charging stations.
There are also EV charging stations in all four theme parks and in the parking garages at Disney Springs.

Additional details can be found on the WDW Parking webpage: https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/guest-services/parking/

 

[kanerf]

You can report the outage to Chargepoint on their website, but don't know if they will do anything. As an EV owner this is always a problem. At least 50% of the chargers at any given time are broken or off-line.

 

[dropd]

You can report the outage to Chargepoint on their website, but don't know if they will do anything. As an EV owner this is always a problem. At least 50% of the chargers at any given time are broken or off-line.

Yeah I reported it to Chargepoint, but you only get the form letter response with links to their standard FAQs, etc. I also tried calling the phone number on the charger itself but you get put into IVR/button mashing hell and I was never able to reach a human. I'll just end up having to drive off-property mid-week to a charger somewhere else.

You'd think Disney would have a vested interest in ensuring amenities at one of their higher-end resorts were working properly. *shrug*

 

[The Jackal]

Yeah I reported it to Chargepoint, but you only get the form letter response with links to their standard FAQs, etc. I also tried calling the phone number on the charger itself but you get put into IVR/button mashing hell and I was never able to reach a human. I'll just end up having to drive off-property mid-week to a charger somewhere else.

You'd think Disney would have a vested interest in ensuring amenities at one of their higher-end resorts were working properly. *shrug*

Disney is not providing the service. It’s just on their property. Charge point is the only one losing funds probably with it not working. Not sure what the contract with them and Disney is. Broken chargers is a major issue with electric vehicles. They need to make them more reliable and fix them quicker if they want everyone to drive them.

 

[Ms.Minnie]

Another factor to reporting to resort and not getting the needed result is that most people are only there for a week or so, so if they aren't fixed in a timely manner most wouldn't know. Not a good answer but could be part of the reason.

 

[dropd]

Disney is not providing the service. It’s just on their property. Charge point is the only one losing funds probably with it not working. Not sure what the contract with them and Disney is. Broken chargers is a major issue with electric vehicles. They need to make them more reliable and fix them quicker if they want everyone to drive them.

ChargePoint's standard response when you report an issue with one of their charging stations is "we will work with the station owner on resolving this", which suggests that Disney (or some other third party that isn't ChargePoint) is involved in the service.

My point isn't that Disney is "losing money" by not ensuring it's fixed, it's that it adds to the perception that they tolerate shabby amenities at their newest, high-end dedicated DVC resort. It's not a good look regardless of whatever RACI matrix controls the process of getting the stations back in service. It simply doesn't matter "whose fault" it is in a technical sense.

 

[dropd]

Another factor to reporting to resort and not getting the needed result is that most people are only there for a week or so, so if they aren't fixed in a timely manner most wouldn't know. Not a good answer but could be part of the reason.

I don't understand this - the more weeks it's broken, the more people are exposed to the fact that it isn't working, and the more people that are inconvenienced by having to drive off property to charge. If anything it's worse that there's high turnover.

 

[Sandisw]

I don't understand this - the more weeks it's broken, the more people are exposed to the fact that it isn't working, and the more people that are inconvenienced by having to drive off property to charge. If anything it's worse that there's high turnover.

I think the point is that unless someone is visiting regularly, they have no idea it didn’t “just” break.

But, no one really knows if the reason it’s not fixed because there are issues getting whatever supplies are needed to fix it…for all we know, Disney or whomever has tried or is working on it and delay is getting What is needed to get it working.

I mean look at vehicles…it’s taking months to get one due to issues..it could be the same here.

 

[dropd]

I think the point is that unless someone is visiting regularly, they have no idea it didn’t “just” break.

But, no one really knows if the reason it’s not fixed because there are issues getting whatever supplies are needed to fix it…for all we know, Disney or whomever has tried or is working on it and delay is getting What is needed to get it working.

I mean look at vehicles…it’s taking months to get one due to issues..it could be the same here.

I don't think whether it "just" broke or has been broken awhile is material to the experience someone has when they encounter it broken. However, given that we're still relatively on the "early adopter" part of the EV curve, many/most EV owners are using apps like PlugShare which make it easy to discover how long a station has been non-functional (which in fact is how I discovered it's been broken for so long).

 

[bumbershoot]

which in fact is how I discovered it's been broken for so long

Have you actually been there? Are people actively trying to use it and reviewing it currently?

The only place that I've seen with a broken (vandalized, actually...someone had cut the cord off) charger...wasn't broken or vandalized when I got there. Now maybe it had JUST been fixed, but if I had gone by that info and didn't drive by to see, I would have thought it was still broken/vandalized.

 

[dropd]

Have you actually been there? Are people actively trying to use it and reviewing it currently?

The only place that I've seen with a broken (vandalized, actually...someone had cut the cord off) charger...wasn't broken or vandalized when I got there. Now maybe it had JUST been fixed, but if I had gone by that info and didn't drive by to see, I would have thought it was still broken/vandalized.

Yes. I've checked it with my own eyeballs every day this week. I discovered it's been broken since at least mid-July by looking back at the history on Plugshare.
The issue is that the station is in "setup mode" - that is, the owner of the station (in this case, presumably Disney or a subcontractor to disney) needs to physically go to that station, use the Chargepoint "owners" app, input a bunch of activation data and confirm some details of the installation, to get it activated and up and running.

 

[dropd]

On the face of it, it seems like they just need to get the proper disney engineer/facilities person/whoever to just show up with the right credentials and push the right buttons to get it going, which makes it all the more disappointing that it's been in its current broken state for so long.

 

[BamaGuy44]

I’m happy to report both chargers were operational when I stayed at RIV last week. Activated it with the ChargePoint app and charged my Tesla. Only 6kw but I wasn’t in a hurry.

When I left both were in use.