The second mistake for today was to use most of my remaining charge to get to Florence SC to the Electrify America Fast Charge Station at Walmart in Florence. We arrived on time and proceeded to connect to a charger. Unfortunately after 50+ minutes of trying to connect and dealing with a professional customer service rep from EA we could not get a charge! This meant we were stuck at a mall with only 34 kms of power left and the two nearest fast chargers in Columbia (wrong way!) or Charleston (on route but 180kms). The only real option was to use a L2 at a local car dealership. An L2 charger might give us 40 kms of travel per hour charge meaning we needed 4-5 hrs of charge to get to Charleston....ouch...
This is where my luck turned. We drove 2 kms to Five Star BMW/Chev and began a truly wonderful experience.
As soon as we got out of the car we were greeted professionally a sales staff and directly to Dan in Service. Dan listened to my tale of woe and made several offers. First we could use a charger for as long as we needed and that it would be complimentary. Secondly, since it was 11:30 he was concerned that we might need food, so he made some suggestions. He then suggested that we might like to visit the Mall and that he had a driver that would take us there by dealer shuttle and pick us up when we wanted to return. He gave us his card with the number to call. Another employee listening suggested that she had just put a pot of coffee on and we were welcome to watch TV and relax in the lounge. Dan then pointed out washroom locations and said that his driver would be ready when we were. This was just the start.
The charger was a Chargepoint J1772 and very easy to get started. We were ready for the Mall!
While shopping at the Mall I received a phone call from a Electrify America manager who had listened to the recording of my lengthy phone call with their customer service rep at the EA Fast Charger. He wanted to apologize for their inability to get us the charge we needed and after the appropriate discussion he offered us a free charge at our next stop. Not a totally satisfactory solution but the intentions and behaviours of he and his staff were appreciated, just hard to say so when you are still at little ticked!
We were picked up at the Mall after a coffee and Quiche at Starbucks and returned to sit in the lounge in the service bays at Five Star. Dan came to check in on us, now known as "his Canadians". We chatted a bit and ended up knowing a fair bit of his ties to Canada through an earlier life in Waterdown NY. He showed us pictures of his current chicken roost, his rooster, hens and the daily egg production. I must apologize in that I am new to blogging and should have had him send me pics of the rooster, eggs etc so that i could share them with you. I didn't even take a pic of Dan or his shuttle driver.
One thing that became evident over the five hours that we spent at or near Five Star was the consistent level of professional and friendly service at the dealership. This not "just" southern hospitality. This business has standards and believes in training. I was responsible for the same during my career and can not overstate how impressed I was. To that end I asked for the card of the General Manager so that I can forward my thoughts. I was told that I could meet him in person if I had the time. John Coomer listened to my tale and compliments and was as gracious as his staff. I was really happy that I could pass on my appreciation for Dan's help and the courtesies extended to Mary and I by all of his staff.
So now all we add to do was to drive the last 340 kms to Sea Pines at Hilton Head. We made it to the first of 3 Fast Chargers in Charleston, the half way point, without incident, and arrived at the condo by 10 p.m. for a wonderful dinner with Linda and Martin. Good wine too!
Very glad to finally arrive!
