SemaConnect Reviews

by FenigDurak

I live in an apartment complex that has Sema Connect stations for residents. When I first moved in the stations were “plug and play” with no need for SemaConnect . Now that app functionality is turned back on, it causes so many issues that the chargers rarely get used. The map view doesn’t register the station at all. The “charge now” screen instantly erases the station ID number rather than turn on the station. I have the building saved as a favorite, but when clicked, the available stations never load. So each time I want to charge I have to call the 800# and enter my credit card and accept a $20 hold. SemaConnect has worked for me once. I plugged in, tried the favorites screen, but had to walk away from the car back into my apartment to get on wi-if before it would connect to the station. SemaConnect is garbage. The stations are not.

Contacted Sema for support and was advised to turn off 5G. So to utilize charging for one of the technically advanced vehicles available to consumers I have to throttle my mobile phone?

by Arkenean

SemaConnect was and company overcharge and under deliver. They seem to market mostly to large property owners who want to charge excessive rates (still cheaper than gas per mile, but barely) and don’t care about user experience. SemaConnect was so buggy, I had to enter my CC information into their website and just consent to whatever they had going on there in order to charge. They had me input CC info before even giving a quote! This company replaced our previous ChargePoint provider who had a similarly terrible app, but not unusable like this one. I have no idea why the property manager felt the need to change, but they must have not understood how shoddily built SemaConnect and company appear to be. DO NOT USE THIS UNLESS YOU HAVE TO. 150mi of range slow charging at 30A should not cost $24.

by HokieFan#1

this app is by far the worst charging network I’ve encountered. I live in an apartment that has this app chargers and I’ve encountered the following issues:

1. “station is offline” in SemaConnect , but the actual station doesn’t indicate. Reporting an error takes 1-2 weeks for any resolution

2. SemaConnect never shows confirmation on whether the car is actually charging. I don’t get phone signal in the garage, so I have to start charging when I get to my apartment, I’ve had many times where SemaConnect bugs out and my car doesn’t charge.

3. “Error: no power” this error comes way too often, the chargers look like their working, but there’s no power coming from them.

4. “Cannot connect to charger” some of the chargers are using T mobile 3G networks, which have been phased out. So those chargers are essentially not working, it’s impossible to connect to them.

If you have an electric car and have to rely on charging from this app chargers. I’ve strongly suggest finding somewhere else to stay. This has been a nightmare, and the problems mentioned above are not isolated to just my apartment complex, I’ve tried to connect to this app chargers outside my apartment and they never work.

by Mapguy75

Can’t believe that SemaConnect is a junk and too complicated to use. this app, you need to look at ChargePoint as a role model. All they need is tap with any payment card then charge. No registered account required. I registered with this app and they required me to put in serial number of charge but app won’t function properly and it won’t accept me tapping with any of my 3 payment cards. JUNK APP! Will dispute the charge to get my deposit money back then goodbye, will not use this app ever again until they fix it to remove all hassle obstacles.

by Mw15273

Just let us swipe a card at the station and charge. The stupidest thing about having an electric car is having to have a charged phone and phone service everytime you want to fill up. And even the you have to download an app, register, confirm email address. Add a payment method… give info about your car then… if you still have phone service and a charged phone after all that.. then you can charge.
I hope all of these stupid car charging companies go out of business they are the worst.

by Pmitch91

Apple wallet doesn’t work. Causing me to have to waste time and type in the Bae # manually every time I park. Apple Pay integration is broken for refilling funds for charging sessions. I have to manually enter in my card information likes it’s the early 2000’s. When refilling I’m charged a minimum of $20 versus what my charge session actually costs. My complex over charges for electricity with sema connect instead charging a $1 a hour vs. the price per kWh dispensed per session. Please fix your app / infrastructure / business model and I’ll be happy to reassess my review.

by Dobermint

I use SemaConnect almost every day, and not by choice. I plug my car in, the station comes up as free, but I am required to update my card every day. I am charged for charging anyway. My station isn’t even listed on the map and I have to type it in manually every time. Many days I have to call the service line because when I am once again required to update my card, it fails in SemaConnect . I’ve watched many people give up on even trying to charge using this system it’s amazing they ever do business.

by Kuliano

SemaConnect is awful. I am forced to use it for the charger at work. I do not have any issues with the charger but at least once a week (sometimes everyday) I have to delete SemaConnect and reinstall it for it to start charging my car. The charging notifications are not reliable and sometimes SemaConnect will say I am charging when it is not. Or say the charger is in use and unavailable when no one is plugged in. The map is also difficult to use to find other stations.

by I Am Hopelessly Hooked

I was charged $10 upon adding my credit card at 8:33 am today, but that $10 is still not available to use on my Apple wallet this app card at 10:10pm, and SemaConnect would not connect to the station when I put in the serial number directly, although I tried numerous times. I had to call the automated phone number for payment and have yet another charge to my credit card in order to charge my car.

by Ahavah Shirah

I tried to email this to them but was told that my email was blocked as it’s not part of their system, so here is a warning for others.
Please make your charging more user friendly. I have given up on it several times. Today it took about 20 minutes and the help of another person who spent even longer to get it done. Plus moving my car twice—one time due to “backup error”, the other because your charger cable is too short for Prius and other side-charging cars, unless we park in the half of the spaces that have the charger on the side of the charger of the car. The small amount of money you are taking from each user is not worth the hassle. Maybe you can replace it with some self promoting ads like Zolta does—once you recreate something more worth promoting.

by Mom-2011

50% of the time SemaConnect and/or this app charge point simply does not work. Usually the following error is seen “Something went wrong. Please try again!” Takes 5 minutes to connect when it does work. I have called the company many times and they usually tell me that either there is nothing wrong with the station or that they need to reset the station. This often works but it takes a half hour to get through to customer service just to charge my car. Sometimes customer service blames the local power service or apartment manager. Today they blamed SemaConnect itself. I updated SemaConnect and same problem. I restarted SemaConnect and it seemed to work briefly. The whole process is annoying and unreliable. Simply horrible.

by AFive720

Probably the worst charging experience I’ve had. First, Tesla J1772 adapter barely works with these stations. It requires a ton of force to fully insert it and removing it is insanely hard. Literally no other station brand has this issue. Then starting to charge? My god, it’s a terrible experience. SemaConnect doesn’t offer a quick an easy way to do it, have to go through a cumbersome process. No way to initiate it easily on the unit either. SemaConnect itself is also not intuitive. On iPhone 14 pro max I can’t even add a virtual pass to Apple wallet, it just doesn’t work at all. And requesting a physical card is not great.

by Pastaeveryday

Every couple of weeks for the past two years I’ve lived in my apartment complex, the this app stations break (won’t start charging, will stop charging after 1 minute, etc) and then the apartment has to reset them manually. this app, you need to focus on fixing your hardware if it’s this faulty.

Instead this company recently made a big deal about changing how SemaConnect looks. But you still can’t set up Apple Pay — the link is broken. Why should I care about your app redesign if it doesn’t help me charge my car??

Today was the last straw. I went to go charge my car and SemaConnect said “station is offline” ???? Meanwhile I can see the stations in front of me and they are definitely on.

I had to leave my complex to find the closest Chargepoint, where SemaConnect was simple to use, the Apple Wallet setup worked, and the station started charging immediately. I should have done this sooner. I would rather go out of my way to charge my car outside of my home, than deal with this app’s abomination of a product.

by Grassypokemon

$10 to just add your card, $20 anytime your balance hits zero and no ability to change that. The charging stations are poorly built and impossible to read, they wouldn't connect to the Sema smart card I had to add. Then it makes me find a serial number on the station to try to connect??? Surprise, that didn't work either! Not only will they take your money, you won't be able to use it thanks to poorly built hardware and software. I have two other charging apps I use frequently and this one is the worst I have EVER used. Do not use it!!! Waste of time, waste of money! I was so frustrated trying to set up this buggy app!

by ZebulonDanny

I bought a condo (new construction) and the builder chose Sema units for our charging spots. It is not only ridiculously difficult to set up your account, it is also difficult every single time you use the charger. ChargePoint allows me to “bump” my phone and start the charge. Electrify America is plug and play (it knows my car). Sema is not the best use of tech or charge management as it doesn’t link anything to allow automatic charging (it’s like 50 first dates with it-I’ve had to memorize the Sema serial number to enter it every time). We’ll most likely have control of the HOA and can scrap these units soon and go with a more automated solution.

by Dingoboy72

This is literally one of the worst applications I have used on iOS. It doesn’t follow any of the standard capabilities like easily entering a phone number or email address. Worse, the Apple wallet feature didn’t work, just giving me an invalid URL error. When I tried to manually add a credit card number, I was not able to paste the credit card number from my password manager so I had to manually enter the number from my card. Finally, I got an error message about invalid funds after entering the credit card number, which made no sense at all. A terrible experience, and I gave up trying.

by Lkh12!

Very long process to even set this up, and then when I did it didn’t recognize the station numbers I was using wouldn’t even let it go past “submit” for me to charge my vehicle at my condo. The absolute worst charging station I’ve ever seen.
I appreciate the developer responding to most of these replies, but it doesn’t appear you’re actually doing anything to fix it.

by Oriheck

I got SemaConnect last week for charging at my workplace. I signed up and then tried to log in on SemaConnect but every time, it just tries to connect for a few minutes and then times out. I’ve tried to log in so many times, it just won’t work. What’s more, there’s a $10 charge on my credit card. Not sure for what, since I haven’t been able to even log on, let alone use it to charge.

by Adams Chi

Just terrible. Makes you sign up to charge, makes you buy credit (nobody else does this), and then you get the sema card to your Apple Pay after you buy credit, and doesn’t auto add so you still need to wait for their machine to show you the number and manually type in. Also, just got it work, and got a notification that charging stoped. Ugg. Get some better engineers 🙏

by Jimmyland65654

Not sure how SemaConnect could be so bad. Half the time the map view doesn’t show the stations. Seems to work fine if you’re on WiFi, but how often are you on WiFi when you’re at a station??

User experience is horrible. You have to enter some serial number that immediately disappears once it’s entered??

This is like someone’s senior project or something.

by JesseCruz07

I downloaded SemaConnect at first but once I read the reviews I stopped and decided not to use their charging station. So why was I still charged 10 dollars. Don’t even download SemaConnect and give them your information. Everyone is right, they will charge you for nothing and their app is horrible. You have better luck using other charging stations.

by Tri-glm

Poorly written. Slow doesn't work most of the time. Was told by their tec support to use the web page on a computer. Should not be this much of a hassle to charge my car! Latest version still doesn't work.
Tried again weeks later and it still does not work. Instead of replaing to the reviews why don't you just fix the thing!?

by Joseontiveros

These are typically at apartment facilities or commercial properties. DO NOT USE THEM. App is cheaply made with poor functionality. Especially since they charge $1/hr even if your vehicle is completely charged or if you stop charging. The billing runs until you unplug.

SemaConnect is confusing. This was not made for a consumer rather made to profit off cheap energy.

Also, watch them copy and paste the same reply to my comment.

by GRose74

SemaConnect will automatically charge your card $10, regardless of how much you want to charge. Then it’s $2.00/hour. So at first you get 5 hours of charging. The problem is that if your car is plugged in and your $10 runs out they automatically charge you $20 more dollars. Chargers at a whopping 24 mi/hr, so if you need about 150 miles it’s gonna cost you $30.

by RichFo1

I have tried several times. I open SemaConnect , hold my phone in front of the charger, and nothing. Usually Apple Wallet opens, but Sema isn’t in wallet. I can get it started by manually putting in the charger number, but it should work as advertised. SemaConnect needs to put a card in Apple Wallet, and on Apple Watch, like ChargePoint does. That is so convenient.

by SpenceGM

The credit card hold is annoying and the NFC function does not work but it works ok

by Ioniq Electric 2020

SemaConnect is not smooth but it does what it’s supposed to. I recommend setting up SemaConnect and immediately requesting a card and just using that all the time instead of SemaConnect . Much easier

by Bobbe2000

I find these are easy to use. However, the places I use them ALWAYS have 2-3 out of service/ offline. It’s a little frustrating that some have been offline for over 200 days!
However, when they are working they are easy to use and get the job done!

by DCRobbie

Whenever I find a charging station and it is this app, im excited as your app is so easy to use. My only regrets is that the chargers are always such low wattage which may be a customer decision and it would be helpful if the charging station walked you through getting started.

All in all. A great product.

by Evbolt18

Not sure if it’s site owner issue or this app issue. When the station is broken, it takes way too long to get it fixed or replaced.

by PetPhotographer03

I love charging with Sema connect, they are very reasonable and affordable. I don’t have to pay an arm, a leg and 2 bodies to charge me car. To me they are a God send, they need more locations though. Anyone with an electric vehicle should use their chargers, you’ll be very happy that you did.