Ford EV charging no longer working with Charge Anytime - what's happened?

I find it really interesting that you state that you have limited time to respond to thing, and yet you have written a passive aggressive war and peace to me, which is equally unhelpful as the supposed “me-too” posts.

I find it even more interesting that you completely ignored the most important part of the message, strategically put at the end of my post… While I am upset that this has happened, I do understand that things sometimes do and that this may not be OVOs fault. However, after the length of time that this has been a problem, I would have thought that they would have stopped advertising it to new customers… By leaving it advertised, it gives the existing customers cause to raise a legitimate claim for them not providing a service that has been promised.

This is costing customers like myself money every day, and supposed volunteers making snide comments about it is even more unhelpful than the occasional “me-too” post. If I am honest, I don’t care if you get one million notifications, the way you spoke to an OVO customer would not be accepted if you were employed by them. But wait, you aren’t employed by them, and my guessing is that you in fact just another forum user that has taken it upon themselves to try and help the greater good. If this is the case, then I applaud you, but please do not try and belittle individuals who are actually hurting from the current situation…

When you work in IT like I do, or in customer service you are exposed to this stuff constantly - you should try it sometime. It is worth remembering that the human on the other end of the line is rarely the one who's causing your problems.

In actual fact, I can completely understand cases where CS agents lose it with a customer who has been massively abusive towards the agent. In those cases, it’s more likely - but not guaranteed - that the agent might receive a get out of jail free card if the investigation reveals the customer deliberately ensnared or entrapped the agent into doing what they did purely to try and get them fired and/or the customer was found to be extremely abusive, whether or not the customer broke any laws in doing so. In actual fact, it’s more likely the customer might get banned from the service, or at very least won’t be routed to that agent again as a workplace safety measure designed to prevent customer abuse. That last measure doesn’t punish the agent so much as protect them from harm. It’s a last resort, but an effective one.

On the other hand, there’s people like me. Some of OVO’s Support Team - and those of other companies - actually really enjoy talking to me because I give them a break from the usual customer. I’m known to be extremely friendly, respectful and highly understanding and these are all traits that make support reps much more comfortable in their dealings with me. Some of them have even commented that my interactions help them to destress and make their day. It’s a tough job, but at least there are some folks out there who make it easier.

We feel your pain too, and we're also in the "Urrgghh, when is this nightmare going to end" situation as well. Ultimately it is Ford who caused it, leaving everyone else to pick up the pieces. They had a badly designed system which put security on the back burner and it's ultimately burned them with the consequences of doing so.

As it so happens, we care an absolute ton about making stuff work. As the Forum Volunteers, we put a ton of time and effort into researching things on behalf of other members, creating guides, reaching out to DNOs/Gas Transporters and a whole bunch of other things you never see because they’re behind the curtain. We’ve even helped to make other stuff play nice with OVO before, which is part of our commitment to wanting folks to have amazing experiences.

All we ask is, please, consider how we feel too. We’re not meant to be your personal punchbag so please don’t take it out on those of us who are just trying to help.

As for compensation? Going to be brutally honest with you here about that. OVO made the terms clear that if Smart Charging isn't possible, you won't get the Charge Anytime rate and will be charged at standard rates. However, I do personally believe that Ford should be the ones to compensate everyone affected. It was their screw up that is the ultimate root cause, and they should be responsible for putting it right.

Technically speaking, Charge Anytime is still working with Ford EV’s. It’s just a case that Ford keeps doing a ban/unban game every time someone actually tries to use it at the moment. :)

Hi @CowboyJames 

We have heard mild success stories from other Forum Users like @Jc1980 

Although it is frustrating there is a workaround available to allow customers to take advantage of the cheaper charging rates. 

I reached out to the team for any updates and we should have one to share on the 8th of April. If I get any other updates in the meantime I will pop back to this topic.

Update for Ford drivers having issues with Charge Anytime

Thanks for bearing with us while we work with Ford to get you back on Charge Anytime. We hope to have an update by 8 April. If we find out anything sooner, we’ll let you know. 

We really don’t want you to miss out on your Charge Anytime rate. If we can find a solution, we'll ask Ford to share your charging data, so we can backdate your credit. We’ll let you know if we’re able to do this.

And we’ll update you here as soon as we have any other information. 

Any close to a solution on this one

Has it also been confirmed about being able to backdate the credit for the reduced rates whilst this issue is ongoing? I’ve received mixed replies from OVO staff over email over the last couple of weeks. 

Was an update released yesterday by ovo as per earlier post?

It’s being chased up today - they’ll swing by ASAP

Update for Ford drivers having issues with Charge Anytime

You might have noticed issues using the Charge Anytime app to smart charge your EV recently. That’s because, in March, Ford blocked third party access to their system following a review of their security protocols.

Unfortunately, this means we don’t have access to your charging data, so can’t provide Charge Anytime credit until Ford approves the use of third party access to their system. We know this is disappointing and are really sorry for the inconvenience. We’re working with Ford to resolve this, but unfortunately don’t have a solution yet.

A thank you from OVO

We really value you as a customer and want to thank you for bearing with us, while we work with Ford to fix this. As a goodwill gesture, we’ve added £25 energy credit to all our affected customers’ accounts. You need to be on supply to get this payment. You'll see this on your next bill.

We’ll be in touch as soon as we have an update from Ford.

Thanks

The OVO Team

Thanks for this Chris, appreciated, hopefully Ford see sense soon and expedite a solution. I have been;

• Charging my car overnight
• Ford disconnect me the next day
• I delete my car from Ovo app and phone Ford for a password reset
• Reconnect car to Ovo and Charge / delete / repeat, repeat, repeat… 

Bit of a pain and not always stable but I reckon I have managed to get 60% of my overnight charges on the lower rate since the issue arose - seems to work better at the weekend (perhaps because Ford I.T are not working!)