Complaint Review: CST - Intoxalock - Des Moines, Iowa

We totally are having the same problem with Intoxalock!!

System got intalled on July 2, 2015 as a replacement for another device that we loved. Unfortunately, the company of the first device didn't have their license remewed with the state and we were told this was the system we had to use instead.

Service people at Colorado Interlock in Lakewood, CO had the truck all day ... and then we started having lockouts and error messages right away.  We had very little training with the new system and didn't know why the alarms were occuring. Brought the truck back in and they couldn't even find a record that they had installed the sys;tem. OMG.  

Alarms continued and Intoxalock tech people called us .. really! .. to tell us they thought the system was installed wrong. I was so impressed. The guy even called the shop while he put me on hold so that he could ensure that they knew what to fix.

Went back to the shop again (visit number 3) and they had NO clue why we were there. They didn't make note of a service call. I told them to call Intoxalock and they said it wouldn't matter because they didn't have any systems to fix the device. I asked the;m to please call Intoxalock and set up an appointment for the next week. Waited a full week and then called Intoxalock .. had to go through the whole spiel again and was told to bring it back to the service shop because wires were loose or not wired correctly. Told us we didn't need any parts .. just rewiring.

Went back to Colorado Interlock for the 4th visit on July 30.  We only had this system for 4 weeks!!! The technician was observed by my son and his friend to start cutting wires and soldering wires into place to make sure they stayed. 

Guess what.  Still had multiple alarms. Now the system was acting goofier than ever, telling us to "start" the system while we were driving.  This was so weird!!  And received a nasty recorded message from Intoxalock saying we had moved the camera. No we didn't .. the shop did!! We readjusted the camera (it was off by about 6" .. not much!!).  But still weird alarms and another lockout message.

On August 4th, called Intoxalock again and yes we were frustrated and upset. To add to the frustration, the phones at intoxalock kept losing our call. By the 4th time of calling back in an hour, you could really hear the frustratiion in our voice. The techs were rude and said if we didn't like the system we could just yank it out.  I tried to explain to them their phones were acting wrong .. and they said it was our mistake.   Finally got one tech that would listen and he agreed to send out a new wiring harness to a different service shop.  Yeah!!

CAlled service shop 2 ... Kings Garage .. and they were slammed with calls. Couldn't get us in until August 10th.  This would make 5 week since install .. and the system had never been installed correctly. This would also make service call number 5.

Kings gargae seemed to know what they were doing .. but they took one look at the wiring and reported that we had tampered with the system as it was apparantly hot wired and had wires soldered in weird places.

Intoxalock told them to yank out the system. Then they IMMEDIATELY reported to the state of Colorado that we had tampered with the system. The first shop couldn't have made this mistake, in their opinion. No matter that we brought the car in 5 times for service in 5 weeks, and begged and begged to get a different shop to fix the system. We must have tampered with it.  No .... it couldn't have been their professionally trained guys.  They wouldn't even consider tha tthe first shop was a total screew up and messed up the system from day one.

So now we will have a legal battle to allow my son to keep his license .. but how do we prove we didn't tamper with the device??  Besides 5 weeks of constant phone calls tryi;ng to get the system fixed and 5 visits to the garage. Would someone trying to tamper with the device go through this much s**t?? Really? And take it to the garage to have them see that a device was tampered with?

d**n these fools!! 

Bring on a class action lawsuit!!! What do I want?  I want them to retract the "tampering" statement. I want a system that WORKS in the car. ANd we expect to be treated like decent human beings.  

Calling my daughter the lawyer.  Messed with the wrong d**n family.  

I just got off the phone with a customer service rep who flat out refused to give me even her name, and then when I asked to speak to a supervisor was told that I could be transferred to voicemail.  I asked her to please have the supervisor contact me when available, and asked when that would be.  Not only did she refuse to even give me a ballpark estimate, she wouldn't even give me a day when the supervisor would get back to me.  My car has been sitting, dead of course because this product is a piece of junk that ruins car batteries, in a Car Toys parking lot for 4 days now.  3 days ago I had another hour long phone call with another very rude Intoxalock rep who insisted that it was basically my problem and that my battery was the cause of the recalibrated device not working.  It took me putting the Car Toys technician on the phone with her to confirm that it was not my battery, it was their faulty device, before she would even listen to me. 

At that point she guaranteed me that they would overnight a replacement part and it would be in by Saturday.  It's Saturday, no part, my car is still sitting dead in a bad part of town, and I couldn't have had a more rude conversation with a customer service rep than the one I just had.  The customer service rep made it very clear that she could care less about my issue and made it clear that I was an inconvenience to her.  I am beyond fed up with this joke of a company.  They have a captive consumer base that has no other options and they feel they can treat their customers like garbage.  I will at a minimum be filing in small claims court, I would love to file a class action lawsuit.  I've already emailed a class action attorney, and would love it if anyone else who has had similar experiences with intoxalock contact me at (((email redacted)))

Hello ARueda, 

My name is Juli, I work for Intoxalock and I would like to address your concerns. I apologize for the service you received. We do not ever want any customer to feel they were treated the way you are describing.  We also understand that having this type of device installed can be a lifestyle change for any person and it is our goal to make each and every one of our clients experiences with the Intoxalock as seamless and smooth as possible.
 
The Intoxalock, as well as any other ignition interlock device, will read any source of alcohol, not just an alcoholic beverage.  Because there are thousands of products that contain alcohol, we strongly recommend that you wait at least 15 minutes to submit a breath sample after you eat, drink, or use any product that may contain alcohol.  This recommendation is not meant to be a hassle, but to help drivers avoid lockouts caused by non-alcoholic beverage readings. 
 
I know the 72 hour lockout is short, unfortunately each state sets the rules for the turnaround times and we must follow these requirements.  When a device goes into a lockout, this state requirement does in some cases leave a customer with the choice of using UPSs expedited shipping or leaving your car parked once the unit expires.  We understand how frustrating that is, but we try to get you a new unit as fast as we can at the best price.
 
Again, I apologize for any inconveniences you have experienced and I invite you to please contact me at 877-777-5020 if you would like to further discuss your situation.

DON'T DRINK AND DRIVE!!!

Be happy some of us who have had friends and family killed by drunk drivers, such as yourself, don't write the laws.

You'd be in jail for a LONG time and license revoked for 10+ years and then the monitoring device on your vehicle.

The device is NOT your problem...YOU are. Grow up.