Web Jerk of the Day

[gplcoder]

So I go to order the EV mode module from Coastal Electronic Technologies. The purchase is proceeding fine. I type in my credit card details and the transaction fails saying that the merchant does not allow Canadian transactions. I send the error message in an email to Costal explaining the error. No reply after 24 hours. So I call them. Oh we don't accept transactions from Canada the lady says. Meanwhile their website has specific details for Canadian customers including province names and shipping prices to Canada.

The lady tells me that I am going to have to get an American to pay for the order and ship the order to a U.S. address and then have it shipped to my Canadian address. The lady also went out of her way to explain that they will not do any tech support for Canadian purchases and they are not aware that the EV module works on Canadian Prius's. Meanwhile, we all know that for the purposes of the EV module, the cars are the same.

I was going to argue with this lady but then I realized that since so many roadblocks where put into place, Coastal really does not want my business. I told the lady on the phone that I will do business with someone else.

[JimboK]

It's remarkable to me that Coastal's customer service can be so up and down. More often down, it seems. PriusChat abounds with reports of little or no support after the sale, no return of e-mails or phone calls, billing credit cards immediately for items backordered for weeks, and even outright rudeness.

I briefly considered purchasing the Coastal EV mod last year. I'm glad I didn't. Instead, I went this route. You might check it out. It's cheap, dependable, and immediate -- Coastal's has a 3-second (I think) delay that I'm sure would frustrate me pretty quickly.

[gplcoder]

Thanks Jim,

I am what you might call mechanically challenged so I would not go the route that you took. I have a print out of that PDF at home and it looked really complex to me. It's a great elegant solution but it is involved. I am not really concerned about the couple-three second delay in the Coastal module. I am going to use this module in good weather when I first get the car out of the garage and down the dirt road that I live on which is murder on consumption. My plan is to try and delay the ICE start until paved road and the rolling resistance is a lot lower.

The other time(s) that I am planning on using EV mode is when the ICE refuses to stop (which happens at least once in each trip). Right now, I am pulling off to the side of the road and waiting the 8-10seconds until the ICE stops and then pulling back onto the road.

I found another supplier of the Coastal module who charges an-arm-and-a-leg but does not balk at Canadians. Even then, I am getting a friend who is mechanically savvy to install it for me along with a ScanGauge courtesy of Wayne and the group-buy here

[JimboK]

I'm not mechanically inclined either, but it wasn't a tough job at all. Alternatively, if you have someone who is willing to install the Coastal switch, they could easily enough do a different version. The toughest part of the job, IMHO, is common to any of them: getting to the ECU plug and plugging the pin in.

Whichever way you go, best of luck. It's a handy accessory when used properly.

[cterwill33]

Hey everyone! This is my first post. Interested in seeing what everyone has to say.

[cterwill33]

GPLCoder,
I know what Coastal Electronic Technologies was talking about when they stated that you needed a US address to buy from them. It can actually save you money. There are companies like usglobalmail.com, BongoUS.com, and USA2Me.com that all provide US addresses to consumers in other countries. I personally thing http://www.BongoUS.com is the best. They have the best prices without all the hidden fees and I think their technology is better too.

If you buy multiple items in the US, the service works great. These companies will consolidate items at their warehouse for you and send all of your purchases as one shipment. Good luck.