MFG Connect

First off the app signed me out and now won't let me sign back in. When it didn't accept my credentials I tried to reset my password so it sends a OTP to email BUT THAT NEVER ARRIVES! Thereby making it impossible to reset and login. Then when it WAS working it gave very limited information. Often just saying "charging" with all other info zero'd. It wouldn't tell me status, time remaining, power delivered or current charge. Then there's the moronic trick that all the BPs have with these chargers where they say "if you use the MFG app to charge, you can get a free costa on us", which you need a DIFFERENT APP to claim and even the service rep at the BO station couldn't explain to me how it worked and admitted it was very convoluted. It's just to get you to charge there and then they make it as difficult as possible so you don't claim it. All in all EV drivers end up with a ton of apps for different charging companies (I currently have 15 installed...), giving us plenty of basis for comparison. And this one ranks right down the bottom. A disgrace for such a huge company with abundant resources.

It’s this kind of app and poor design that puts people off using EV’s. We are stood at a charging point by MFG and there are two of us struggling to charge our EVs. The ChargePoint refuses to accept contactless for any of our debit cards. Tried to use the app instead. The charge points are poorly labelled. We’ve tried several different credit cards. The app throws up an error every time you try to use the app. Others are having the exact same struggle. Eventually discovered that if you swipe then use contactless it will work (only if you have a physical debit card). Do companies like MFG actually test their charging stations with real humans before commissioning them?

First time using this app, and it was malfunctioning. It failed to connect on four occasions, and each time (as I later discovered) it had taken the £40 pre-payment charge (£160 in total). I rang the app management company twice, once whilst still trying to connect on the app, when the person who answered said that they ‘didn’t know’ why it wasn’t working properly. After several attempts, (and speaking to them all the while), they then suggested using contactless, which I did, and which worked. However, during this process £160 was taken as pre-payment. This should never be allowed to happen! I rang the app management people back, and the person to whom I spoke said that there could be no immediate refund on the 3 unnecessary extra payments taken from my account, despite their app being at fault. They said that it would not be refunded until 7 days later and were absolutely resolute. This is totally unacceptable and I shall never put myself in the position where I have to use their app ever again. It is tantamount to fraudulent behaviour to refuse to reimburse my account with the money that they took illegitimately. Disgusted.