The Geek Squad Charger Installation

Mitsubishi i-MiEV Forum

Help Support Mitsubishi i-MiEV Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Dan O

Active member
Joined
Nov 23, 2011
Messages
25
Location
Bloomington/Normal, Illinois
Earlier I posted that on November 29th The Geek Squad, sent three guys out to do my home inspection. I think their names were Larry, Curly & Moe. They had no idea what they were doing but they said that I had enough open circuits available in my electrical panel. Which I already knew. None of them could answer any questions about the charger that their company was supposed to install or when it would be done. Ten days later I got a call from The Geek Squad and the person on the other end of the phone informed me that they were ready to install my charger and wanted to set up an appointment. I informed him that I already had a charger installed and that I didn't need their assistance. He seemed taken back by my comment and said thank you and hung up. He never talked to me about price or the unit that would be installed. I thought it presumptious of him to think that I would automaticaly let them install the charger without talking to me about it first. This fiasco seems typical of the confusion over inspections and what the Geek Squad is selling! My dealer wasn't able to shed any light on the confusion since it was Mitsubishi that contracted with The Geek Squad. None of this was Mitsubishi's fault except for the fact that they should have picked someone other that The Geek Squad to perform these tasks. I installed a Leviton charger. Total price for the unit and the installation was $1,355.82. Never did find out what the price is from The Geek Squad. :roll:
 
Dan O said:
Earlier I posted that on November 29th The Geek Squad, sent three guys out to do my home inspection. I think their names were Larry, Curly a and moe. :

They came out to see me in mid September. Despite checks to Mitsubishi and from the dealership I have not heard anything recently. I too am looking for an independent installer. Though it needs to be done this year to qualify for one of the tax credits.
 
That was my impression also, thats why I was in a hurry to get it done. There is no guarantee that the Fed's will extend the 30% tax credit. I posted the name of the person I purchased my Leviton charger from in a previous communication. I was pleased with the service from Black Hawk electric and the price. Dan O
 
I am getting the Leviton L2 installed by a local electrician this comming week was well. I was never contacted by anyone after the Geeksquad visited. Bestbuy really missed the boat on this one.
 
My own Geek Squad experience has been somewhat frustrating. First off, it took many many phone calls to the Geek Squad before I could be put in touch with the appropriate group... usually I'd get transferred to someone trying to figure out which Mitsubishi TV I was talking about, ending by telling me to go to my local Best Buy. Presumably they now have their act together, as the last time I called they did indeed direct me to the right group.

The Geek Squad rescheduled me for a week later on the morning they were supposed to come out (mid-December)... grrr, as I had to again alter my plans and I really wanted to get the L2 EVSE installed before the end of the year for the tax credit. When the Geek Squad rep finally came out, he emphasized that he was not an electrician and was merely doing a preliminary assessment for the electrician who would come out and review my installation. Frustrating, as I wanted to ensure that they validated my "dedicated" circuit-breaker protected 120v outlet to comply with the Mitsubishi agreement I had to sign to ensure that my reservation is treated seriously. The Geek Squad guy seemed to barely know what he was looking at but took a few pictures and made a few measurements and spent most of his time filling out his forms. Didn't help that he totally ignored and was oblivious to all the cool-looking EVs I already have in my garage.

Soon after this Geek Squad visit I received an email from Mr. Electric head office telling me that I'd be contacted by their local rep and thankfully provided me with the local contact info. No calls. This was now just before Christmas and when I called all I got was a recording ... only to then find out that they were closed between Christmas and New Years. So much for the tax credit.

Early this week things looked up as when I called the local Mr. Electric I got a real person and he acknowledged having received my messages and apologized - he had had absolutely no input from the Geek Squad and didn't understand what they were supposed to have done for him. He was nice enough to come out that afternoon and we had a very good technical discussion about the requirements and the optimum location for a Level 2 EVSE and he is going to provide me with a quote for the installation with a couple of options. Two things of interest: he is under the impression that Mitsubishi is going with the Leviton EVSE and he was totally unaware that he was supposed to confirm that I have an individually-protected 120v circuit dedicated to EV charging. I don't want to get him into trouble as he may have mis-spoken and confused the Leviton with the Eaton EVSE. He took a picture of what I have (just to make me happy, I suspect). Overall, I was very impressed by Mr. Electric's competence - he said he'd already done about 400 EVSE installations and I'll have no qualms if I decide to go with him for the install.

I've sent off an email to my Mitsubishi sales person asking if there is anything else that I need to do to ensure that I'm in line for the "i". Online, the Mitsubishi website says that my "i" is being built... dang, I wish they'd left the name as iMiEV as the Japanese "i" has an ICE.
 
JoeS - There are more than a few things off with GeekSquad & Mr. Electric! My experience with GeekSquad was similar - the guy who came out barely knew what he was doing, validated nothing, and I had to explain what circuits we had in the box. For their part, Mitsubishi never asked me about the visit, the report, or my service, and in my two visits to the dealership they didn't mention or seem to have any of that info either, nor did they seem to care.

My experience with Mr. Electric was even worse. They failed to get in contact with me for months. Then they called to ask if I had received a quote. I called back to say no, got a recording, and didn't hear from them for another month. Then I got a call from some exec. in Texas from "the corporate office" (Mr.E. is a francise business). He was following up, heard my tale, apologized and offered to get me a quote. I declined.

As for the EVSE, we're going with the Legrand, as we like the cord management, and it is cheaper. We just bought it on-line from Home Depot. We're having our own electrician do the work of moving our existing 240v 20A circuit to the right corner of the garage. Our total cost will be under $2k.
 
Geek Squad? :p Fuggedaboutit! I simply told my dealer that the EVSE was already installed and they were happy (didn't even have the right form in hand yet for me to sign a waiver). I went with the SPX Level II EVSE. It'll pass up to 32 amps if I ever get a hungrier vehicle, (but has user-adjustable limits, so I dialed it down to 16A max for safety) and I simply set it up with a NEMA L14-30 plug to use the same cordset that charges my homebuilt conversion. Now I've got an extra 20' of 10 gauge cable feeding the car, allowing any visiting EV'ers to plug in without having to move cars around. The SPX charger has a compact bracket to hang on the wall, but is also the most portable Level II unit I've seen, and unlike the Blink, it's had 100% uptime thus far.
-Jay
 
Back
Top