car alarm/starter

[evylgrynn]

Does anyone have any ideas on what I can do to fix this? I recently purchased a car alarm/starter from a tuner shop in Calgary. I live 8 hours away, nobody really has any good products where I live, so I made the trip hoping I would get good quality. After paying top dollar for what I thought was a good system, I had to take the car back twice because the installer forgot something, or messed up something else. This in a matter of a couple of days. After I got home, the alarm started doing weird stuff. I called the shop, hoping for some help, as I had been patient with their not-so-good installation job, and all I have been getting was excuses and promises to "call me back tomorrow" which of course I never got a call. The one suggestion they had was to drive back there, and I told them I could not drive another 16 hours there and back because of their mistakes. Anyone else had similar problems? I bought the Autostart alarm/starter. Any help would be appreciated.

[Davetronz]

Perhaps letting us know the nature of the problem might help. Someone may have encountered something like that before and it might be an easy fix.

[evylgrynn]

Thanks for replying! This is my first post here, so I would like to give props to everyone here as well.
As far as the alarm, one of the things is the doors lock when I push the clutch all the way down to the floor. It doesn't happen all the time, it will do it for a couple of weeks, then stop for a week, etc. Next problem, the alarm seems to "freeze up" sometimes, I will go to disarm it and it won't respond. Then I have to open the door with my key, and close it again, then it sometimes works again. A few times, I have come out and it has been disarmed (this is after sitting in the garage for a couple of hours). Basically I can't trust it to protect the car, and the thing with the locks is just weird. There are other problems too, usually it will just do something different for awhile, and then work okay for awhile, then do something else. The shop has pretty much blown me off, and after my first experience with them installing the alarm, I'm not sure I want them to work on it, even if I could make the 8 hour drive.

[silvercivicsir]

which alarm is it? and where did you get it installed ?

[evylgrynn]

it is a powerstart pl-7000, and it was sold to me and installed by Impressions

[ninspeed]

tell them to send you a new control unit at there cots or they can pay the tow bill for your car to and from your house

[Davetronz]

Sounds like something wrong with the wiring, as the clutch must be down to the floor to engage the engine, if there is something tapped into this electrical feature (such as the power door lock mech) each time you press the clutch it may lock the doors, or it may be intermittent. If the problem is intermittent, it is most likely what Rob said, the main control unit may be fried, or seriously wired in wrong (no offense or do I imply that Impressionz has installed this wrong as they did an awesome job on my car and I would take it back there anytime)...
Phone Impressionz and ask to talk to Rob. He should be able to help you out the most.

David

[evylgrynn]

I've tried calling Rob, after talking to Nicole a few times, she basically has been giving me excuses and telling me "thats supposed to be like that", or telling me to bring it in, which Ive tried telling her is not possible. I'm glad yours works properly, but I was not happy with the installation at all, and the fact that they seem to be blowing me off doesn't make it better. At first they offered to send a brain, but after I told them more about the problems, they don't want to even do that anymore. I'll keep bothering them, hopefully they will do something for me and if not, I'm not sure what to do
maybe I should tell them I will bring it in, but they can pay to have it shipped there like ninspeed said!!

[szw]

I would ask for a complete refund. Get them to take it back, remove everything, and refund your money (INCLUDING INSTALL).

Then maybe they will "fix" the problem faster.

[Autodream]

HOW ABOUT THE NEXT TIME YOU COME TO CALGARY STOP BY MY PLACE FIRST, I WILL HAVE A LOOK AT IT FOR YOU. I PROMISE I WON'T BEND YOU OVER BUT CALL FIRST AT AUTO DREAM (403)248-1566 MY NAME IS NGUYEN. I OWN THE PLACE

[LaughingTiger]

No offence to impressions, but I have choose not to go there anymore due to similar customer service problems....I would ask for a refund... But it's hard to do that, becuase of your situation, and the fact that they have preformed a service... I think you should offer to go in and have them replace the brain unit... Sometimes all you need to do is to reset it... there should be an info ## fot the company that make the alarm, try calling them, they should have the most knowlage about problems...

[evylgrynn]

Yeah, I'm going to have to call the company, I just talked to Rob again, and he told me it "wasnt his fault" that I decided to go there, and therefore it wasn't his problem that I couldnt' make it back to have them look at it. pretty much told me to screw off. I'm not really impressed with their customer service, I should have told them that they lost my business because of this (I bought rims right after from tunerworks, and my buddy bought his spoiler somewhere else because of this)
Thanks for the offer sr20det, I will definitely keep your name and number for the next time I can make it to Calgary, in the meantime I will just live with it as its going in the garage soon anyway

[LaughingTiger]

Originally posted by evylgrynn
Yeah, I'm going to have to call the company, I just talked to Rob again, and he told me it "wasnt his fault" that I decided to go there, and therefore it wasn't his problem that I couldnt' make it back to have them look at it. pretty much told me to screw off. I'm not really impressed with their customer service, I should have told them that they lost my business because of this (I bought rims right after from tunerworks, and my buddy bought his spoiler somewhere else because of this)
Thanks for the offer sr20det, I will definitely keep your name and number for the next time I can make it to Calgary, in the meantime I will just live with it as its going in the garage soon anyway

I have many friends, who bought thousands in parts from other companies because I told them not togo to impressions.. I guess they don't understand when you tell somebody to screw off, they
don't care to take their business to you , and neither do their friends.. Therefor losing more profits then gaining...
I guess that's how they run their business..
I 've delt w/ almost every shop in calgary now or then that I know about... The people that were most helpful and knew their shit was: Tunerworks and Auto Dreams .. Both had the best customer service.. Speedville has very good prices(If YOU know how to bargin..)...... people think that "oh it just happened to you, I got a good bla, bla bla.." Then let-um think that... But we aren't 12 anymore and we both know when somebody trys to screw you or blow you off... I don't see how people can run a business like that???

[impressive]

First off, your 95 integra had a nightmare of electrical problems when it came in as I remember I fixed your tailights and made them work at my time and my EXPENSE ! Also I at no time told you I would not repair your starter, I simply stated if you bring your car to me I will fix your problem, I also stated ( before the starter was put in , and you acknowledged this by saying your taillights didn't work) your car had serious electrical issues and it should be checked by the dealer. So your saying I should tow your car here from Grand Prairie, so if you moved to Florida I should also be responsible for towing yourcar from there. Look at it from my point of view. Also your alarm seems to be very intermitent and you cannot describe the problem to me , nor can you describe it on this site, probably because the problem has to do with your car not the alarm/starter. Also from talking to you on the telephone and trying to help you out it has been made aware to me that you have not even read the owners manual. I try to help you in every way but I cannot afford to buy a plane ticket to look at everyones car who moves out of town. I offer lifetime warranty so whenever your in town I'll take care of it, the problem you say you have in no way makes your car inoperable.

[impressive]

As for LAUGHINGTIGER I have no idea who you are and who in my store would tell you to screw off and I would definetley like it brought top my attention.Maybe you should describe the whole problem and whole story so I know what happened. Alot of people who come into my store have a ton of electrical problems before they even come in and this does effect your car alarm/starter i.e if your dome light doesn't work it won't see the doors opening or closing affecting the alarm/starter.

A good friend of mine once said "SYRUP ON SHIT DON"T MAKE IT A PANCAKE" so in other words if you have electrical problems and you add more electronic items in your car your gone have more problems which was clearly stated to EVYLGRNN and he said he wanted installed anyway and he would take it to the dealer after.

Maybe if everyone charged $5000 to install an alarm starter we could all buy private jets to fly around the world to service all the people that live all over the place. Trying to help this person out I called 4 different shops and 2 car starter reps including Autodream and they all said the customer is responsible for getting the car to you unless it is absolutely undriveable which is not the case here.

[sillysilvia]

I gotta agree with Impressions here it sounds like they are more than willing to fix you're unit if you bring them the car fair enough. You can't really expect anyone in GP to fix it cause that's why you came to Calgary to get it, cause no-one up there knows what going on. You can't really expect the guy to fly to GP to service your system. If you send the unit back for a replacement who's going to put it back in cause they usually need to be programmed. I think before you burn a bridge you should consider what you're saying, cause Impressions was willing to replace or fix your unit , but now you've bashed them so who knows if they will ever fix your problem. I have good expieriences and bad expieriences with all the shops in town, each store has particular people I prefer no to deal with but, I don't judge the store by that one person.

[LaughingTiger]

I was told Impressions was very good at the start and they have very good prices, I did not deal w/ you Rob and I understand how you run your business, I understand how you can't solve rediculous problems, and goto to everyones needs. I know how the import business works, and know about the dick heads that call you every week asking "is it in??". I also know when I am lied
to.... I don't mean to bash your business, it is very respectable..
But from personal experience My friends and I do not wish to do business w/ your establishment.. I will tell you my story in a private message... I not just some punk kid that thinks the world revolves around him, I been places seen things and meet people.
That's how I base my views and decisions....

[evylgrynn]

Let me get this straight...

First off, your 95 integra had a nightmare of electrical problems when it came in as I remember I fixed your tailights and made them work at my time and my EXPENSE !

Actually, the only problem was wrong light bulbs in the tail end. Once you figured that out, which I did appreciate, it worked fine. I even bought some bulbs from you!! How is that your expense? I'm not sure that wrong light bulbs constitute a "nightmare of electrical problems" and I even told you about the alarm I had previous to this one, with which the SAME options worked fine!!

Also I at no time told you I would not repair your starter

I told you a few times that the started worked fine, it was the alarm that was giving me problems!!

So your saying I should tow your car here from Grand Prairie, so if you moved to Florida I should also be responsible for towing yourcar from there.

I never once said you should tow my car from Grande Prairie, I explained to you that I could not make the 16 hour round trip again in the near future, and I wanted you to help me over the phone. Your installer even said he would come up here and fix it, and I told him that that was not what I wanted, basically I wanted some kind of help, not the excuses I got, and being treated like I was wasting your time. Maybe I should have accepted his offer!!

Also your alarm seems to be very intermitent and you cannot describe the problem to me , nor can you describe it on this site, probably because the problem has to do with your car not the alarm/starter.

There are a few specific things which it does, which I explained both to you and on this board. If the problems you refer to are the light bulbs, they are the right ones now. To me, intermittent problems usually point to connections, not to electronics.

Also from talking to you on the telephone and trying to help you out it has been made aware to me that you have not even read the owners manual. I try to help you in every way but I cannot afford to buy a plane ticket to look at everyones car who moves out of town. I offer lifetime warranty so whenever your in town I'll take care of it, the problem you say you have in no way makes your car inoperable.

I have read the manual a few times, but I did not want to get into the wiring of the alarm, hoping I could get some kind of assistance from you.
I don't want to argue about this, I was unhappy about the service, after driving a long ways, paying the asking price, taking the car back TWICE after the original install for mistakes which had nothing to do with the car, I had hoped to have a good working alarm. When that did not happen, I hoped to get some help from you, but what I got were excuses, nobody ever called me back, then you very sarcastically explained that "its not a worldwide warranty, and its not your problem" that I decided to choose you for the alarm. I realize shit happens, but I believe that its the way you deal with them that keeps customers, and the way I was treated was not what I had hoped for. I'm sorry I bashed you like that, but I was pretty unhappy with the whole situation, as I'm sure you were. I just wanted to be able to rely on this alarm.

[evylgrynn]

Rob, I just want to apologize for bashing you, I don't want this to get any nastier. I am very frustrated with this alarm, and I have tried to be reasonable, I have bought stuff from other places where mistakes have happened and things don't work, but they have usually been worked out so both are happy. I don't think I was being unreasonable, but I realize you run your business, and that's the way you saw things.

[sillysilvia]

Not wanting to sound like I'm agreeing or making excuses for Impressions, but I will say that I stayed away from there because of a few certain individuals who worked there and they're attitudes, however when I went in there a few days to look at car starters, I was quite suprised a couple of the people who I did not like were not there the store looked different inside, all the staff was new and Paul whom I had met at Soundsaround worked there, and he really knows his stuff, the whole atmosphere there was really quite different.