Is Car Net subscription mandatory for Mobile App usage?

[REM]

After multiple calls to car-net and what appeared to be a glimmer of hope (I had functional EV features), I received a call from a car-net supervisor telling me that I need the paid subscription to get the complimentary EV features. I have the brochure right in front of me. Total BS. I think I'll file a BBB complaint.

Are you the original owner/lessee? If so, call VW customer service. It is their responsibility to deliver the features they specified for their vehicle. They must enforce their promises with Verizon Telematics, the operator of the CarNet service.

If you are not the original owner/lessee VW may not have the same responsibility to you. However, if you live in California or another area that has Time of Use metering, I would push VW to provide the EV telematics service at no charge because it is the only way to set the charging schedule in a 2015 US e-Golf.

I'm the original lessee. Thanks for the suggestion. I will give that a try.

 

[REM]

I called VW customer care, received confirmation that the EV features should be active for 3 years, and promptly received a call from Car-Net executive service. My EV features will be active for the remainder of my 3-year complimentary service and they gave me 3 months free full service for my troubles, only this time they do not have my credit card.

 

[miimura]

I called VW customer care, received confirmation that the EV features should be active for 3 years, and promptly received a call from Car-Net executive service. My EV features will be active for the remainder of my 3-year complimentary service and they gave me 3 months free full service for my troubles, only this time they do not have my credit card.

I call that a win.

 

[Skryll]

Beware of their car-net service, when I bought the VW eGolf in 2015 they said it came with 3 years for car-net service and would cost something after that. about 2 years in they call me and say I will lose access if I don't start paying monthly.

I very specifically asked about the 3 years and can I use at least the most basic features after it expires?

The sales rep kept lying to me, said it would stop working if I dont sign up now, and I gave in, month to month $17/month because I did not trust the situation and figured I go into a dealership to clear this up later and rather not prepay for a year to get the $15/month cost. Both are too expensive IMHO anyways.

Finally went to the dealership where I bought the car and complained.

Their first reaction was: We are not carnet, thats a separate service, call them yourself.

After a bit of insisting they were nice enough to call them for me, give them the vin, and with some back and forth get them to stop charging me.

But no offer of a refund for the months they already scammed me out of money for. Upon insisting they say it may take a few days, I have to call back.

Never heard from them again.

This business behavior is fraudulent like comcast, scam people out of their money and only fix it partially when caught. I don't want to have anything to do with them any more.

I do really like our 2015 VW e-Golf, but to pay $17/month just for being able to adjust climate control and see if it is locked etc, the basic features, is just completely unrealistic.

I will sell the car and get a Tesla Model 3 as soon as its my turn in the reservation list, because the phone app is 100% included in the purchase price, has more miles of range for the same price and no stupid on/off pushbutton statemachine to babysit.

Yes I am really pissed off about this still.

 

[PacBlue]

Beware of their car-net service, when I bought the VW eGolf in 2015 they said it came with 3 years for car-net service and would cost something after that. about 2 years in they call me and say I will lose access if I don't start paying monthly.

I very specifically asked about the 3 years and can I use at least the most basic features after it expires?

The sales rep kept lying to me, said it would stop working if I dont sign up now, and I gave in, month to month $17/month because I did not trust the situation and figured I go into a dealership to clear this up later and rather not prepay for a year to get the $15/month cost. Both are too expensive IMHO anyways.

Finally went to the dealership where I bought the car and complained.

Their first reaction was: We are not carnet, thats a separate service, call them yourself.

After a bit of insisting they were nice enough to call them for me, give them the vin, and with some back and forth get them to stop charging me.

But no offer of a refund for the months they already scammed me out of money for. Upon insisting they say it may take a few days, I have to call back.

Never heard from them again.

This business behavior is fraudulent like comcast, scam people out of their money and only fix it partially when caught. I don't want to have anything to do with them any more.

I do really like our 2015 VW e-Golf, but to pay $17/month just for being able to adjust climate control and see if it is locked etc, the basic features, is just completely unrealistic.

I will sell the car and get a Tesla Model 3 as soon as its my turn in the reservation list, because the phone app is 100% included in the purchase price, has more miles of range for the same price and no stupid on/off pushbutton statemachine to babysit.

Yes I am really pissed off about this still.

Agree that the service outfit that maintains this is pretty awful; it took me a number of calls, as well as callbacks, etc. to finally get only the 'free' EV functions that actually do work fine with the e-Golf working properly; mine is good through Oct 2018 and also (at least at this stage) plan to upgrade to a Tesla Model 3. I do really enjoy my e-Golf and the smart phone app functions aren't bad at all once you have them setup, you just should NOT have to jump through all these hoops to get what now has become standard in the newest cars (can control % charge, etc. in the car w/o an app) -- my best guess is that their 'sales' approach is more designed for non-EV VW's (people who like GM On-star type services) but that's no excuse.

 

[JoulesThief]

Beware of their car-net service, when I bought the VW eGolf in 2015 they said it came with 3 years for car-net service and would cost something after that. about 2 years in they call me and say I will lose access if I don't start paying monthly.

I very specifically asked about the 3 years and can I use at least the most basic features after it expires?

The sales rep kept lying to me, said it would stop working if I dont sign up now, and I gave in, month to month $17/month because I did not trust the situation and figured I go into a dealership to clear this up later and rather not prepay for a year to get the $15/month cost. Both are too expensive IMHO anyways.

Finally went to the dealership where I bought the car and complained.

Their first reaction was: We are not carnet, thats a separate service, call them yourself.

After a bit of insisting they were nice enough to call them for me, give them the vin, and with some back and forth get them to stop charging me.

But no offer of a refund for the months they already scammed me out of money for. Upon insisting they say it may take a few days, I have to call back.

Never heard from them again.

This business behavior is fraudulent like comcast, scam people out of their money and only fix it partially when caught. I don't want to have anything to do with them any more.

I do really like our 2015 VW e-Golf, but to pay $17/month just for being able to adjust climate control and see if it is locked etc, the basic features, is just completely unrealistic.

I will sell the car and get a Tesla Model 3 as soon as its my turn in the reservation list, because the phone app is 100% included in the purchase price, has more miles of range for the same price and no stupid on/off pushbutton statemachine to babysit.

Yes I am really pissed off about this still.

Agree that the service outfit that maintains this is pretty awful; it took me a number of calls, as well as callbacks, etc. to finally get only the 'free' EV functions that actually do work fine with the e-Golf working properly; mine is good through Oct 2018 and also (at least at this stage) plan to upgrade to a Tesla Model 3. I do really enjoy my e-Golf and the smart phone app functions aren't bad at all once you have them setup, you just should NOT have to jump through all these hoops to get what now has become standard in the newest cars (can control % charge, etc. in the car w/o an app) -- my best guess is that their 'sales' approach is more designed for non-EV VW's (people who like GM On-star type services) but that's no excuse.

That's what you get when VW USA headquarters are in MI, with all the other American Car makers, their mentality from being previously indoctrinated there and then working for VW starts seeping in. Maybe VW should move their headquarters closer to Apple and Tesla in Silicon Valley, CA, for a better user experience, since more and more, these cars are controlled by software, firmware, and computer programmers.

 

[jillianvanliew]

I have been experiencing the same as most of you (after 6 months of free Carnet, the features have stopped). I went & looked at my VW paperwork and Carnet booklet, all of which say the same "3 year complementary service". I usually check my charging status, lock & unlock my egolf from my desktop. Even the website (not the app) gave me the warning that I needed an active subscription in order to use the basic features! I've been a Verizon (cell) customer for more than 10 years, but I'm not going to give them my business for Carnet or even jump through the hoops that most of you guys did just for the basic services to be rendered. They can suck a big, fat d*ck!

 

[RonDawg]

I will sell the car and get a Tesla Model 3 as soon as its my turn in the reservation list, because the phone app is 100% included in the purchase price, has more miles of range for the same price and no stupid on/off pushbutton statemachine to babysit.

Yes I am really pissed off about this still.

And if previous Tesla models are any indication, your Model 3 will make any VW seem as reliable as a Honda or Toyota. And your servicing costs will be as high if not higher than that of an ICEV.

 

[RonDawg]

That's what you get when VW USA headquarters are in MI, with all the other American Car makers, their mentality from being previously indoctrinated there and then working for VW starts seeping in. Maybe VW should move their headquarters closer to Apple and Tesla in Silicon Valley, CA, for a better user experience, since more and more, these cars are controlled by software, firmware, and computer programmers.

Actually, VW's Electronics Research Laboratory is located in Silicon Valley:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VW_Electronics_Research_Laboratory

 

[Spektre]

That's what you get when VW USA headquarters are in MI, with all the other American Car makers, their mentality from being previously indoctrinated there and then working for VW starts seeping in. Maybe VW should move their headquarters closer to Apple and Tesla in Silicon Valley, CA, for a better user experience, since more and more, these cars are controlled by software, firmware, and computer programmers.

VW USA headquarters has been in Herndon, VA (Western suburb of DC - right near Dulles Airport) since 2008. I worked a block away at the time they opened and used to walk around the building at lunchtime. Got to see some pretty awesome stuff move through there.

 

[JoulesThief]

I have been experiencing the same as most of you (after 6 months of free Carnet, the features have stopped). I went & looked at my VW paperwork and Carnet booklet, all of which say the same "3 year complementary service". I usually check my charging status, lock & unlock my egolf from my desktop. Even the website (not the app) gave me the warning that I needed an active subscription in order to use the basic features! I've been a Verizon (cell) customer for more than 10 years, but I'm not going to give them my business for Carnet or even jump through the hoops that most of you guys did just for the basic services to be rendered. They can suck a big, fat d*ck!

Speechless. These dutch girls. Figure out a workaround. I don't use the app on my smart phone, I just use Carnet vw in my browser on Chrome on the smart phone. Problem solved. Galaxy 4 Note Verizon, for phone reference. Randy of the River. With the miles per kwh I have been getting lately, now that it's nice and warm all the time, and rarely running the AC, 6.3 or better miles per kwh, I am recharging at about 38 to 40 miles in an hour. I know that 2 to 3 hours, tops, at 241V and 30 amps in my garage will leave me fully recharged, with what I usually leave for charge in the battery. YMMV, depends on how frugal or conservative a driver you are. I keep my e-Golf on city streets and BLVDs, rarely if ever do I go on freeways with it, they seem to suck the battery down at an alarming power consumption rate. 12,170 miles on the e-Golf now, since Oct 6th, 2015.

Used in this manner, and driven without the red light racer herd mentality so frequent in Los Angeles, 100 to 105 miles per recharge are being accomplished with 15 miles of charge remaining almost all the time, this summer.

 

[Skryll]

I will sell the car and get a Tesla Model 3 as soon as its my turn in the reservation list, because the phone app is 100% included in the purchase price, has more miles of range for the same price and no stupid on/off pushbutton statemachine to babysit.

Yes I am really pissed off about this still.

And if previous Tesla models are any indication, your Model 3 will make any VW seem as reliable as a Honda or Toyota. And your servicing costs will be as high if not higher than that of an ICEV.

We actually were lucky enough to be able to afford a Tesla Model X June 2016 and put 24k miles on it already in less than a year, so I know both about reliability and Fahrvergnügen on our 2015 VW-eGolf and on our 2016 Tesla Model X. I drive the eGolf daily, and the tesla on the weekends and on road trips, and whenever I can convince my wife that she should ride the eGolf for a day.

While I love hothatching around in my eGolf, and since I replaced the tires with Bridgestone Potenza Pole Position they do not spin when flooring at the light (I know this might make you cringe but I just love seeing the gas cars sitting behind me like a duck revving up while I already left) I really can do without the terrible implementation of the entertainment system and the remote iphone app (car-net), the idiotic fake engine noise module, and quite a few other things that would have already been fixed with an over the air update if this was a tesla.

So from personal experience, I have no doubt that the ownership experience will be significantly better in the tesla model 3.

 

[JoulesThief]

I will sell the car and get a Tesla Model 3 as soon as its my turn in the reservation list, because the phone app is 100% included in the purchase price, has more miles of range for the same price and no stupid on/off pushbutton statemachine to babysit.

Yes I am really pissed off about this still.

And if previous Tesla models are any indication, your Model 3 will make any VW seem as reliable as a Honda or Toyota. And your servicing costs will be as high if not higher than that of an ICEV.

We actually were lucky enough to be able to afford a Tesla Model X June 2016 and put 24k miles on it already in less than a year, so I know both about reliability and Fahrvergnügen on our 2015 VW-eGolf and on our 2016 Tesla Model X. I drive the eGolf daily, and the tesla on the weekends and on road trips, and whenever I can convince my wife that she should ride the eGolf for a day.

While I love hothatching around in my eGolf, and since I replaced the tires with Bridgestone Potenza Pole Position they do not spin when flooring at the light (I know this might make you cringe but I just love seeing the gas cars sitting behind me like a duck revving up while I already left) I really can do without the terrible implementation of the entertainment system and the remote iphone app (car-net), the idiotic fake engine noise module, and quite a few other things that would have already been fixed with an over the air update if this was a tesla.

So from personal experience, I have no doubt that the ownership experience will be significantly better in the tesla model 3.

The fake engine noise is for pedestrians, and a DOT mandate, soon enough.... VW chose to avoid a lawsuit from suing pedestrians that might claim they didn't "hear" the car approaching, while stuffed into their ipod or iphone and listening to anything, other than paying attention to their immediate surroundings while walking and in motion.

 

[jillianvanliew]

I have been experiencing the same as most of you (after 6 months of free Carnet, the features have stopped). I went & looked at my VW paperwork and Carnet booklet, all of which say the same "3 year complementary service". I usually check my charging status, lock & unlock my egolf from my desktop. Even the website (not the app) gave me the warning that I needed an active subscription in order to use the basic features! I've been a Verizon (cell) customer for more than 10 years, but I'm not going to give them my business for Carnet or even jump through the hoops that most of you guys did just for the basic services to be rendered. They can suck a big, fat d*ck!

Speechless. These dutch girls. Figure out a workaround. I don't use the app on my smart phone, I just use Carnet vw in my browser on Chrome on the smart phone. Problem solved. Galaxy 4 Note Verizon, for phone reference. Randy of the River. With the miles per kwh I have been getting lately, now that it's nice and warm all the time, and rarely running the AC, 6.3 or better miles per kwh, I am recharging at about 38 to 40 miles in an hour. I know that 2 to 3 hours, tops, at 241V and 30 amps in my garage will leave me fully recharged, with what I usually leave for charge in the battery. YMMV, depends on how frugal or conservative a driver you are. I keep my e-Golf on city streets and BLVDs, rarely if ever do I go on freeways with it, they seem to suck the battery down at an alarming power consumption rate. 12,170 miles on the e-Golf now, since Oct 6th, 2015.

Used in this manner, and driven without the red light racer herd mentality so frequent in Los Angeles, 100 to 105 miles per recharge are being accomplished with 15 miles of charge remaining almost all the time, this summer.

Yes JoulesThief, it may seem like I race around like a bat outta hell on these LA streets (& I'm not gonna lie, I do occasionally like <10% of the time), but I don't as much now that I don't have the control that I used to (2003 5 speed GTI). I was & still am upset that I was getting minimal data on my egolf's charging status, locking & unlocking remotely, and trip data are now not even an option to me now that my 6 month trial is up. How are you able to take advantage of the above services? Am I correct in remembering that you went through a lengthy process of calls/complaints with Carnet/Verizon to get the basic features back?

 

[JoulesThief]

I have been experiencing the same as most of you (after 6 months of free Carnet, the features have stopped). I went & looked at my VW paperwork and Carnet booklet, all of which say the same "3 year complementary service". I usually check my charging status, lock & unlock my egolf from my desktop. Even the website (not the app) gave me the warning that I needed an active subscription in order to use the basic features! I've been a Verizon (cell) customer for more than 10 years, but I'm not going to give them my business for Carnet or even jump through the hoops that most of you guys did just for the basic services to be rendered. They can suck a big, fat d*ck!

Speechless. These dutch girls. Figure out a workaround. I don't use the app on my smart phone, I just use Carnet vw in my browser on Chrome on the smart phone. Problem solved. Galaxy 4 Note Verizon, for phone reference. Randy of the River. With the miles per kwh I have been getting lately, now that it's nice and warm all the time, and rarely running the AC, 6.3 or better miles per kwh, I am recharging at about 38 to 40 miles in an hour. I know that 2 to 3 hours, tops, at 241V and 30 amps in my garage will leave me fully recharged, with what I usually leave for charge in the battery. YMMV, depends on how frugal or conservative a driver you are. I keep my e-Golf on city streets and BLVDs, rarely if ever do I go on freeways with it, they seem to suck the battery down at an alarming power consumption rate. 12,170 miles on the e-Golf now, since Oct 6th, 2015.

Used in this manner, and driven without the red light racer herd mentality so frequent in Los Angeles, 100 to 105 miles per recharge are being accomplished with 15 miles of charge remaining almost all the time, this summer.

Yes JoulesThief, it may seem like I race around like a bat outta hell on these LA streets (& I'm not gonna lie, I do occasionally like <10% of the time), but I don't as much now that I don't have the control that I used to (2003 5 speed GTI). I was & still am upset that I was getting minimal data on my egolf's charging status, locking & unlocking remotely, and trip data are now not even an option to me now that my 6 month trial is up. How are you able to take advantage of the above services? Am I correct in remembering that you went through a lengthy process of calls/complaints with Carnet/Verizon to get the basic features back?

I don't use many of the features. I find it faster to just get up out of my seat, walk to the kitchen, open the door to the garage, and tap the drivers door with the back of my hand to see how much charging time left in the dash. Normally, I check the clock as soon as I start recharging, and as I have a JuiceBox 40 Pro, hooked up to my wireless access point at home, I can check the amperage draw or charge rate the last 15 minutes of recharging, and know when it's complete.

When the app went to crap, I didn't sweat it, I used the online version of car-net instead. Problem is it takes forever to log in, put in password, and update the status, it's very poorly implemented by Verizon.

I didn't buy my e-Golf for that feature. Home recharging pretty much makes it a non issue, for me.

You can see what's there by going here, either on phone or on computer, by going online at https://carnet.vw.com if you have a 2015, and pull up the information under "Trips" Tab. Forget using the App , go online and use the website.

Just call me a Luddite.

Randy of the River. ;-) Figure that out in dutch.

 

[Kubla]

Ihave a 2015 Egolf sel I bought used, is car net the only way to set the climate control timer if I want the car pre heated in the morning?
I did not sign up for Car net sine I only charge it at home, and do not want to pay a fee just to pre heat the car

 

[msvphoto]

We just bought a used 2015 e-Golf SEL at a VW dealership and Car Net set us up with 3 years free, and when I asked what happens after that I was told by the guy on the phone "we don't know yet" but he implied that it would likely be ongoing because a portion of the car's user interface is only available via Car Net (no timer controls via the Infotainment UI in 2015).

When I first registered over the phone I was told 90 days free and limited features after that but there was some follow up that needed to be done to complete the registration (had to press the "i" button in the car to talk with someone to complete registering). The guy who came on via the i button in the car was the one who told us our account is free for 3 years and he wasn't sure what happens next. He said there is an exception being made for e-Golfs.

You can try pressing the i button and see what happens if you haven't registered yet.

 

[Kubla]

I will have to try that, can't hurt, thanks

 

[TwoCarsAWeek]

You don't need full subscription to use the mobile app. Some functions, like remote unlock/lock, require subscription. Others, like climate control and charge control, is available for free.

 

[normf3]

My 3-year subscription just ran out. Heck if I'm paying $18/month for something that doesn't work most of the time. Funny how when you try to resubscribe, the web site doesn't even tell you how much it will be before you put in your credit card info. Now the only way I can tell if it charged is by looking at the Juice Box app.