Complaint Review: Intoxalock - Internet

As part of my punishment for my 2^nd DUI, I was mandated to drive for a year with an ignition interlock device installed on my car.  I accept that what I did was wrong and I take full responsibility for my DUI’s.  I am happy to report that the last DUI offense has led me to find a life of recovery without the drink and through what has seemed like an endless cycle of legal hoops to jump through, I have managed to make it through with some dignity and grace; 3 and a half years since my last drink.

That said, Intoxalock made this process much harder than it should have been.  I will start off by saying that Intoxalock’s customer service department is generally helpful with basic questions, as any reputable company’s customer service should be.  Unfortunately, the second that the quality of their product is questioned, the company goes into hyper-defense mode. 

I have had multiple problems with the device installed on my car; from the device indicating a red, hot breath sample was given even though I was not drinking and that it was due to gasoline fumes at the gas station, to this last incident which really put the icing on the proverbial cake of bad business practices.

I had driven to college, where I am now a graduate student, with the device that had worked just fine in the morning.  In the afternoon, when I blew in the device to start the car to drive home, there was something missing between the device and the starter.  The device read “Green,” indicating that the breath sample was clear, but when I turned the key – nothing.  I called Intoxalock to see what to do.  They suggested I try jumping the car battery.  I did not have cables and there was no one else around campus to ask.  I called AAA for assistance, AAA came out and tried jumping my car battery.  Nothing.  I called Intoxalock and told them that the car did not start while trying to jump with the cables.  They said it would have to be towed.  I called up AAA again and got the car towed to the garage that does my normal vehicle maintenance.  Throughout this whole ordeal, I had lost 8 hours of my day that I had planned on using to complete graduate coursework, mind you.  The car is dropped off at the garage, I called Intoxalock and tell them that it has arrived and that the workers at this place who had been working on this car with the device installed and have a familiarity with it will be working on it in the morning to run the code and see what was the matter.

The garage calls back the next afternoon and says that the car starts up fine for them.  They change the oil and refill the fluids for me.  I go out there to pick it up from the garage.  I blow in the device, it reads “Green,” indicating that it is a clean breath sample, and – nothing.  No charge from the device to the starter.  The workers at the garage are dumbfounded, they don’t know what to say or do, because the car had been running for them earlier.  I call up Intoxalock again, let them know that their device is flawed and that the car will not start.  They say that it needs to be towed to the service center where I had the unit installed, that’s the only place where it can be taken out, legally.  By this time, my lease of the device had run its course and the unit could be removed.  But it still needed to get towed there.  This tow job cost $179.00. 

The workers at the service station remove the unit, and – the car starts normally!  I call Intoxalock to see what to do to get the tow job that cost $179.00 reimbursed, they directed me to either mail it or fax it to them so that they can review the device and the “facts” of the case to determine whether or not they will reimburse me.  I agree, mail them the receipt, and receive no word from the company for over two weeks.  I just got off of the phone today with a “supervisor” from Intoxalock to ask about this appeal and he stated that the device was in “lockout,” which meant that the device was working “just fine” and that “there would be no review or reimbursement issued.”  I retorted by saying that the car would not start despite the device indicating clean breath samples.  The service workers at the garage can vouch for me saying that the car was working just fine mechanically and that the problem lied with the device; somewhere in the wiring from the unit to the starter, the charge was not getting through.  The “supervisor” stated that there was “nothing he could do because the unit was working just fine.”

Bottom line, the supervisor spoon-fed me a bunch of nonsense and was revising history to suit the company.  He had no answer for why the car would not start.  He had no answer for why I was suggested by his own customer service workers to have the car towed, that the unit was still somehow working fine.  His only answer was “we will not be reimbursing you.” 

At this point, I’m just glad the device is out of my car and that I am able to drive like a free man again.  I understand that I put myself in this position with my 2^nd DUI arrest and that I deserve to jump through numerous legal hoops to regain my standing with society.  I get that, I respect that, and accept that.  BUT, that does not mean that I am a doormat to be taken advantage of.  Quite simply, Intoxalock is a predatory company that feasts on people in vulnerable positions.  If there are other ignition interlock companies at your disposal, select someone OTHER than Intoxalock.  Intoxalock should be embarrassed to call themselves an American company and ought to be ashamed of themselves.  They are not an extension of the law.  Their practices are rapacious and are only out for profit.  This is an area that should be levied by the county or state, NOT a private company.