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interlock extortion
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interlock extortion July 29, 2010 05:16AM |
Registered: 4 weeks ago Posts: 1 |
Lorraine Hurley
P.O. Box 1703
Brewster, MA 02631
July 28, 2010
To Whom it may concern:
I am under contract with Smart Start interlock system and licensed in Massachusetts. I have been attempting to speak with a supervisor or manager of the company in my area regarding what are now two incidences with the device that led to a lock out. Other incidences not involving lock-outs have occurred and were reported to the service station that installed my device.
Of particular concern at present are lock outs that occurred on July 3rd, 2010 and July 24th, 2010. The first incident involved blowing on a routine rolling retest and having the device register a violation. The device proceeded to signal a blow a minute or so later and register warn, it signaled a third time a minute or so later and register pass. I was in the car with two other people that witnessed this event and the ensuing consequences.
At the time I had been in the car for nearly an hour and had not consumed any drink, food, gum, coffee etc. and certainly no alcohol. I understood the reaction of the device to be registering an alcohol level. I became very agitated and apprehensive and upon returning home called the 800 number. I explained what happened and told them that the device was registering a false positive, that no food or drink of any kind was ingested by me prior to the device registering a positive and that I was with, and had been with, all day, two people that could verify this. I was told there was nothing they could do, that I would have to have the device downloaded and “evaluated”. I explained that I was in Vermont and that it was the 4th of July holiday. I asked where I could go on Monday. I needed the location of a service station that could re-set the device on a holiday Monday. I was told 1) the closest station was in Pittsfield (2 1/2 hours away) and 2) Smart start could not tell me who was and wasn’t open, I needed to call the service center.
I called the service center in Pittsfield and the answering machine stated that normal business hours were Mon-Friday. There was no message stating the service center was closed on Monday the 5th. On Monday I went to the station in Pittsfield with my family and it was closed. I once again called smart start and asked them to direct me to a center that was open as I now had only a few hours before lock out. I was told that they could not tell me who was open but was given the phone number of a “supervisor for emergencies” that would have that information. His name is Dan and the number has a 781 area code. I called Dan who did not pick up and left a message. We waited 1/2 hour for a return call that never came. We returned to VT where the device, by the way, stuck on 4 hours to lock out.
The next morning I called the 800 number and once again waited about 30 minutes for a human to pick up. Calls to smart start typically involve 20-40 minute hold times. I was given a code and ONCE AGAIN sent to Pittsfield.
When I arrived in Pittsfield the owner informed me that he did not have an operational service machine for the device. He said it had been broken for over a week, that smart start knew this and that they also knew he was closed on Monday as they sent him a letter telling him he was on their “closed list” for the holiday. When I related what was happening, he pointed to a shelf full of devices that he said were yanked because they had failed. He said he had had so many device failures recently that he did not even have a new device he could install. He (the service station owner) then sent me to North hampton which as it turns out is only one hour from where I am staying in VT. So now I have spent two days and over 8 hours in the car (with a 12 year old I could not leave alone for hours and hours), have endured excessive anxiety and apprehension only to be sent to a station an hour away. I am further advised that smart start KNEW he was closed and KNEW he did not have service equipment available. The owner also expressed his own frustration and discontent at dealing with smart start and assured me I was not alone in being victimized by the companies carelessness, malfunctioning devices, abuse and misrepresentations of “service”.
I arrived in Northhampton and again explained what happened. This time the owner said that if alcohol was registered there had to have been SOMETHING I ate or drank. I reiterated that there was nothing and that two other people were with me during this incident and could attest to that. When he put the device on the computer he looked a little surprised and said “you violated for a missed rolling re-test”. I assured him I did not miss a test and explained once again what happened and once again asserted that there were two people who witnessed the entire fiasco. The device went off, I blew, a violation registered and two subsequent signals to blow occurred within a couple of minutes and registered first warn and then pass.
At this point I requested a phone number to speak with a smart start representative and a new device. I was told he could provide me with neither, that I had to contact “them”. I told him that the device had failed in other ways over the past few months. The car has started without blowing both with and with out the device attached. I told him that I had reported the first two incidences to the service station in Orleans MA where I routinely received service until moving to VT for the summer. I did not want trouble and I had no idea why the device or car was randomly starting without a blow. I further explained that the service station in Orleans tried to reach smart start following the second time I reported such an incident. I was having the once a month download and once again let them know that the device was behaving improperly. This time the service tech called smart start and hung up when his call was not answered in 10 minutes. I explained to him at that time that I had concerns that I had a faulty device. He said there was nothing he could do about it.
After relating the sum of my adverse experience with the smart start interlock device this service station owner echoed the gentleman in Pittsfield. He assured me I was not the first person this had happened to, that device failures/mistakes were very common, that smart start was extremely difficult to deal with and that it amounted to legalized extortion.
The lock out was rectified and I came home and once again tried to reach smart start. I no longer had the number of ‘Dan’ the supervisor I was told to contact, so I called Texas. I put Dan’s name into their directory and got an extension--x 240. When I put the extension in I was once again sent to the recording that says “dial the first two or more letters of the persons first name”. Round and round and round it goes! You never get a voicemail box, person or option.
I began a prior version of this letter to send to smart start, the RMV in MA, the Attorney General in MA and the Better Business Bureau. Then it happened again. I was grocery shopping and started my car by blowing without incident. I was alone this time. Less than three miles away the device goes off as is the norm. There is the blow to start and then a subsequent blow 1 to about 10 minutes later. I do not have the exact times but when the second blow signal went off I picked up the device, blew and guess what? You got it! A violation. A minute later it went off again, I blew and now a pass. But now I’m locked out and once again it is Saturday.
I did not call smart start as it is becoming obvious that it is a waste of my time and intelligence to do so. You spend 20-40 minutes on hold only to have a representative state the obvious. They are unable or not permitted to put you through to a higher up. I will say this for the company, the people that answer the phone are absolutely professional and composed in their response. However, they are utterly useless under these circumstances.
On Monday the 26th I once again went to Northhampton, I once again explained what happened and once again the computer said that I missed a rolling re-test. I did not. I asked the service tech to tell me what time the violation occurred as it takes 6 minutes to violate and I was fairly certain that this blow was less than 6 minutes out from the blow to start my car at the grocery store. Not only that there was a third blow (registered pass one minute after violating) and I was pretty sure that happened less than 6 minutes out from the time I started my car. Correct me if I am wrong, it DOES take 6 minutes to miss a rolling retest does it not?. Of course there was no missed blow, there was a false + that the software put under missed rolling retest because there was no alcohol. Imagine this though! He can’t tell me what time this happened! He said he doesn’t have access to times but that they are recorded “somewhere” and “someone” has access to them. I once again requested a replacement and once again was told I had to deal with the company.
I once again attempted to reach ‘Dan’ through the number on your website for the Texas corporate office and AGAIN, I was sent in circles that never put me through to a person or voicemail box.
There are asides and smaller pieces I will not go into. I am requesting phone contact with a human being in some position of authority that will explain what is happening, provide me with times (I have witnesses to the first incident) so that I have further defense of my position with the RMV, authorize a replacement to this device and credit or reimburse me for two lockouts that were the result of device error and not a failure on my part to observe the rules of operation.
I expect to be contacted in a timely and professional manner after receipt of this letter. I expect, at the very least. credit for money spent to release the lockouts and a new device installation at no cost. I am further putting you on notice that failure of the company to work with me towards these ends will compel me to seek legal avenues against you. I may be required by the RMV to contract with you to maintain my license but this does not make you exempt from operating with fairness and integrity in business. One of two things is happening: the device is malfunctioning or the device is actually functioning as well as can be expected and you are misleading people about the limitations of it’s accuracy and reliability.
At present, I am experiencing extreme anxiety whenever I am in the car alone and the device goes off. I don’t know what will happen. Further, I have no way of knowing what the registry will do under these circumstances. When I first had the device installed I did not have full my full license or my own car. The device was first installed in my husbands car and then mine after I purchased my own vehicle. It was about a month before I had my license and my husband frequently used the device. He is hard of hearing and managed to miss rolling retests. When he called smart start he was told the incident would be documented.
I understand I am responsible for any and all use of the device but my point is this; I have put almost 10, 000 miles on my car since January and have never personally missed a blow. I am not hard of hearing and I don’t drink and attempt to drive. I am doing exactly what is expected of me under contract and smart start is failing not only in their contractual agreement to provide a reliable method of monitoring compliance but they are making it impossible for people to defend themselves against device failure and malfunction without expending extreme effort and expense.
Copies of this letter will be forwarded to the RMV in MA, the Attorney General in MA, the Better Business Bureau and any other entity or person that I subsequently determine may be helpful to me in rectifying this matter or interested in what is taking place.
Sincerely,
Lorraine Hurley
drlorrainehurley@gmail.com
802-365-0272
P.O. Box 1703
Brewster, MA 02631
July 28, 2010
To Whom it may concern:
I am under contract with Smart Start interlock system and licensed in Massachusetts. I have been attempting to speak with a supervisor or manager of the company in my area regarding what are now two incidences with the device that led to a lock out. Other incidences not involving lock-outs have occurred and were reported to the service station that installed my device.
Of particular concern at present are lock outs that occurred on July 3rd, 2010 and July 24th, 2010. The first incident involved blowing on a routine rolling retest and having the device register a violation. The device proceeded to signal a blow a minute or so later and register warn, it signaled a third time a minute or so later and register pass. I was in the car with two other people that witnessed this event and the ensuing consequences.
At the time I had been in the car for nearly an hour and had not consumed any drink, food, gum, coffee etc. and certainly no alcohol. I understood the reaction of the device to be registering an alcohol level. I became very agitated and apprehensive and upon returning home called the 800 number. I explained what happened and told them that the device was registering a false positive, that no food or drink of any kind was ingested by me prior to the device registering a positive and that I was with, and had been with, all day, two people that could verify this. I was told there was nothing they could do, that I would have to have the device downloaded and “evaluated”. I explained that I was in Vermont and that it was the 4th of July holiday. I asked where I could go on Monday. I needed the location of a service station that could re-set the device on a holiday Monday. I was told 1) the closest station was in Pittsfield (2 1/2 hours away) and 2) Smart start could not tell me who was and wasn’t open, I needed to call the service center.
I called the service center in Pittsfield and the answering machine stated that normal business hours were Mon-Friday. There was no message stating the service center was closed on Monday the 5th. On Monday I went to the station in Pittsfield with my family and it was closed. I once again called smart start and asked them to direct me to a center that was open as I now had only a few hours before lock out. I was told that they could not tell me who was open but was given the phone number of a “supervisor for emergencies” that would have that information. His name is Dan and the number has a 781 area code. I called Dan who did not pick up and left a message. We waited 1/2 hour for a return call that never came. We returned to VT where the device, by the way, stuck on 4 hours to lock out.
The next morning I called the 800 number and once again waited about 30 minutes for a human to pick up. Calls to smart start typically involve 20-40 minute hold times. I was given a code and ONCE AGAIN sent to Pittsfield.
When I arrived in Pittsfield the owner informed me that he did not have an operational service machine for the device. He said it had been broken for over a week, that smart start knew this and that they also knew he was closed on Monday as they sent him a letter telling him he was on their “closed list” for the holiday. When I related what was happening, he pointed to a shelf full of devices that he said were yanked because they had failed. He said he had had so many device failures recently that he did not even have a new device he could install. He (the service station owner) then sent me to North hampton which as it turns out is only one hour from where I am staying in VT. So now I have spent two days and over 8 hours in the car (with a 12 year old I could not leave alone for hours and hours), have endured excessive anxiety and apprehension only to be sent to a station an hour away. I am further advised that smart start KNEW he was closed and KNEW he did not have service equipment available. The owner also expressed his own frustration and discontent at dealing with smart start and assured me I was not alone in being victimized by the companies carelessness, malfunctioning devices, abuse and misrepresentations of “service”.
I arrived in Northhampton and again explained what happened. This time the owner said that if alcohol was registered there had to have been SOMETHING I ate or drank. I reiterated that there was nothing and that two other people were with me during this incident and could attest to that. When he put the device on the computer he looked a little surprised and said “you violated for a missed rolling re-test”. I assured him I did not miss a test and explained once again what happened and once again asserted that there were two people who witnessed the entire fiasco. The device went off, I blew, a violation registered and two subsequent signals to blow occurred within a couple of minutes and registered first warn and then pass.
At this point I requested a phone number to speak with a smart start representative and a new device. I was told he could provide me with neither, that I had to contact “them”. I told him that the device had failed in other ways over the past few months. The car has started without blowing both with and with out the device attached. I told him that I had reported the first two incidences to the service station in Orleans MA where I routinely received service until moving to VT for the summer. I did not want trouble and I had no idea why the device or car was randomly starting without a blow. I further explained that the service station in Orleans tried to reach smart start following the second time I reported such an incident. I was having the once a month download and once again let them know that the device was behaving improperly. This time the service tech called smart start and hung up when his call was not answered in 10 minutes. I explained to him at that time that I had concerns that I had a faulty device. He said there was nothing he could do about it.
After relating the sum of my adverse experience with the smart start interlock device this service station owner echoed the gentleman in Pittsfield. He assured me I was not the first person this had happened to, that device failures/mistakes were very common, that smart start was extremely difficult to deal with and that it amounted to legalized extortion.
The lock out was rectified and I came home and once again tried to reach smart start. I no longer had the number of ‘Dan’ the supervisor I was told to contact, so I called Texas. I put Dan’s name into their directory and got an extension--x 240. When I put the extension in I was once again sent to the recording that says “dial the first two or more letters of the persons first name”. Round and round and round it goes! You never get a voicemail box, person or option.
I began a prior version of this letter to send to smart start, the RMV in MA, the Attorney General in MA and the Better Business Bureau. Then it happened again. I was grocery shopping and started my car by blowing without incident. I was alone this time. Less than three miles away the device goes off as is the norm. There is the blow to start and then a subsequent blow 1 to about 10 minutes later. I do not have the exact times but when the second blow signal went off I picked up the device, blew and guess what? You got it! A violation. A minute later it went off again, I blew and now a pass. But now I’m locked out and once again it is Saturday.
I did not call smart start as it is becoming obvious that it is a waste of my time and intelligence to do so. You spend 20-40 minutes on hold only to have a representative state the obvious. They are unable or not permitted to put you through to a higher up. I will say this for the company, the people that answer the phone are absolutely professional and composed in their response. However, they are utterly useless under these circumstances.
On Monday the 26th I once again went to Northhampton, I once again explained what happened and once again the computer said that I missed a rolling re-test. I did not. I asked the service tech to tell me what time the violation occurred as it takes 6 minutes to violate and I was fairly certain that this blow was less than 6 minutes out from the blow to start my car at the grocery store. Not only that there was a third blow (registered pass one minute after violating) and I was pretty sure that happened less than 6 minutes out from the time I started my car. Correct me if I am wrong, it DOES take 6 minutes to miss a rolling retest does it not?. Of course there was no missed blow, there was a false + that the software put under missed rolling retest because there was no alcohol. Imagine this though! He can’t tell me what time this happened! He said he doesn’t have access to times but that they are recorded “somewhere” and “someone” has access to them. I once again requested a replacement and once again was told I had to deal with the company.
I once again attempted to reach ‘Dan’ through the number on your website for the Texas corporate office and AGAIN, I was sent in circles that never put me through to a person or voicemail box.
There are asides and smaller pieces I will not go into. I am requesting phone contact with a human being in some position of authority that will explain what is happening, provide me with times (I have witnesses to the first incident) so that I have further defense of my position with the RMV, authorize a replacement to this device and credit or reimburse me for two lockouts that were the result of device error and not a failure on my part to observe the rules of operation.
I expect to be contacted in a timely and professional manner after receipt of this letter. I expect, at the very least. credit for money spent to release the lockouts and a new device installation at no cost. I am further putting you on notice that failure of the company to work with me towards these ends will compel me to seek legal avenues against you. I may be required by the RMV to contract with you to maintain my license but this does not make you exempt from operating with fairness and integrity in business. One of two things is happening: the device is malfunctioning or the device is actually functioning as well as can be expected and you are misleading people about the limitations of it’s accuracy and reliability.
At present, I am experiencing extreme anxiety whenever I am in the car alone and the device goes off. I don’t know what will happen. Further, I have no way of knowing what the registry will do under these circumstances. When I first had the device installed I did not have full my full license or my own car. The device was first installed in my husbands car and then mine after I purchased my own vehicle. It was about a month before I had my license and my husband frequently used the device. He is hard of hearing and managed to miss rolling retests. When he called smart start he was told the incident would be documented.
I understand I am responsible for any and all use of the device but my point is this; I have put almost 10, 000 miles on my car since January and have never personally missed a blow. I am not hard of hearing and I don’t drink and attempt to drive. I am doing exactly what is expected of me under contract and smart start is failing not only in their contractual agreement to provide a reliable method of monitoring compliance but they are making it impossible for people to defend themselves against device failure and malfunction without expending extreme effort and expense.
Copies of this letter will be forwarded to the RMV in MA, the Attorney General in MA, the Better Business Bureau and any other entity or person that I subsequently determine may be helpful to me in rectifying this matter or interested in what is taking place.
Sincerely,
Lorraine Hurley
drlorrainehurley@gmail.com
802-365-0272
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Re: interlock extortion August 13, 2010 08:51PM |
Registered: 21 days ago Posts: 9 |
My heart goes out to you, Lorraine Hurley. We all expect the government to be fair and reasonable, or at least to do no harm. Your experiences show again that the government is creating very DEADLY DANGEROUS road conditions, by forcing you to be distracted by such an unreliable and distracting device, while having to drive through traffic. Genuinely drunk drivers performing sex acts while texting and reaching into the back seat for another beer are safer to everyone else on the road than anyone having to be drive with the government mandated DEADLY DANGEROUS device you are being forced to drive with. Let's keep talking about these outlandish conditions that only benefit the ignition interlock industry and put everyone on the road in grave, DEADLY DANGER.
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