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‘The tyranny of apps’: those without smartphones are unfairly penalised, say campaigners
(www.theguardian.com)
this post was submitted on 22 Feb 2025
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Worst case scenario, call support to put a credit card on file with your account. This is what I did when I ran into problems with the app (turns out I was too eager trying to use it before they were done setting me up).
When you use a supercharger, at least as a Tesla, there is a handshake where your car identifies what account to use, then it just works
You definitely lose a lot of convenience features if you don’t use the app, but I believe you can do it, if you want it enough
Edit: just use a web browser. I verified I can login through my web browser to manage my account, my products, my payment method. Not the car features though. I have no idea if this is new, but just use any web browser
i'm really not sure how the non tesla super charger experience looks, that concerns me. Though i assume that must be a somewhat solve problem, if people are using it so.
that's good, there should definitely be some available features for the card, but you can at least handle payment. Though i would still prefer not needing to provide my payment info to a third party anywhere except for time of transaction. Just opens me up to more bullshit.
For sure. Most of my objection is when the purpose is automatic renewal of subscriptions (which ought to be treated as a type of theft because it’s non consensual stealing my money), and at least it’s not that.
My credit card does rotate the numbers a bit but I keep meaning to find one that can generate different virtual cards per service so I can turn a virtual card off when they get abusive with it or when they leak it
my two biggest concerns are accessibility, and privacy. I want it to be both, accessible, and private, card readers accomplish this to a significant, and universally accepted degree. I can understand a subscription service being based on something a little different, or an auto charge mechanism similar to tesla super chargers, but that should be an option, not the sole means of interacting with it, because then it lends to really shitty behavior on the side of the company operating it.
The subscription thing is understandable, but the unfortunate reality is that this is going to be a contract law problem, rather than any other problem, you are legally agreeing to a monthly payment model at some point in the checkout, otherwise it wouldn't be legal. Shitty laws and consumer protection problems really.
it's funny actually, i wonder if checks will see a comeback, with all the shitty services that exist now, it's a very explicit way of paying for a transaction. I don't really have a huge problem with auto charging systems, most of the time banks can even unfuck some really funny shit if you need them to, though that gets into a different world very quickly. The subscription problem is an interesting one though, my solution is just avoid them at all costs, because it's a parasitic drain. So far i've succeeded in that. Also having a minimal amount of subscriptions really helps you to keep them in check, because there are only so many that can exist.