Smart Start
Reviews and Complaints

I contracted COVID-19 and was not able to make my appt on the date. before the date came, i called them and told them. the lady told me that I shouldnt go in, and that there was a 7 day countdown and I would have to call and get lockout codes after that until I was off quarantine from the health dept. Never said anything about being charged for them (important for later). Now I'm in quarantine and had to go to the hospital, call for a code and go. THEY GIVE ME A 6 HOUR CODE. I get out of hospital and I start to recover, and have to drive to get meds. I then call again for another unlock code and the guy says "we should have given you a 3 day unlock code from the start. I'm sorry about that". He gives me a 3 day unlock code. So after never advising me of a CHARGE when i have COVID-19 and CANNOT go to a service apt, and then saying they screwed up and didn't give me a 3 day code from the beginning, I then have a family member take the car in after sanitizing it etc, and she calls and tells me the service guy (the *** service guy is awesome btw. Knows what he is doing and can diagnose faulty Smart Start devices like a pro. but of course smart start never admits its a faulty device so good luck with that. Just read the other complaints. this company is mafialike) saying I have to call into the cust service line for the smart start company and pay them, they changed it 3 months ago. I'm supposed to get charged 178.50 every two months. when i call them, they try and charge me 298$ ! I find out the extra charge is for unlock codes. I tell them I'm not paying for those. I cannot go to my calibration apt because the health dept quarantined me. I AM STILL IN QUARANTINE. They say "too bad, you have to pay and you were advised on Nov 11th when you called in." I tell her no i wasn't, she says "ok ill pull the call and check". She does so and guess what... has to admit flat out that she lied. I was NOT told there would be charges, especially for COVID19 related delay in getting the car in and needing a code. Nor was there a 3 day code given as the phone rep said should have happened in the first place. so they are trying to charge me for 2 codes, 120$. And lying about "advising" me of that (and got caught in the lie). She transfers me to a supervisor "***" who (I admittedly I got angry and snapped at him a bit) starts telling me over and over "you WILL be charged for this and ill put your account in an admin lockout until you pay it." So I ask for a supervisor, and he claims that there IS NOONE higher than him. he doesnt have a supervisor. so i just start repeating myself and asking for a supervisor over and over. I am tired of this at this point, and very angry. Im still sick and on meds and tired of dealing with price gouging jerks who lie and they extort money from people for being sick. So im a bit of a jerk to him, but reel it back in and just repeat over and over that I want a supervisor now. He claims he is the last stop and there is no supervisor above him. Then he threatens to put me on hold until a supervisor can be reached but says flat out after that there is no supervisor. So i tell him 'you dont get to dump me in a queue and ignore me. and you dont get to claim you told me there was a charge when you didnt, and you dont get to CHARGE ME when im fighting to breathe and hoping my asthma and COVID-19 doesnt kill me". He keeps repeating himself and saying inflamatory things like "i dont know how much clearer i can be, there is no supervisor and your account will be locked out until you pay for the codes you got" etc. Finally i just stop responding and say "let me speak to your supervisor" over and over and he refuses over and over and hangs up on me. THIS is the type of service you will get with smart start. Liars, thieves, extortionists, who care only about profit, and not about anything else. If they can lie and charge you for something, they will. They WILL charge you for anything they can regardless of their faulty devices or administrative mess ups. I expect, IF they answer this, it will be some corporate doublespeak non answer and I still will get charge 120$ for having COVID after they TELL YOU not to come in if you have it. Of course they would tell you that, they get more money if you dont! This company is exploitation and corporate malfeasance at its worst.

Price Gouging by way of unnecessarily delaying the retrieval of my device (and necessary data download) so that I would be penalized by the department of revenue in the state of MO who would then deny my application for re-licensure based upon the requirement (again) that I re-install a Smart Start Interlock device for an additional 90 days - while paying all necessary costs to install, maintain, and remove the device (again) - AFTER I had already completed the requirement for the 12 month duration I had the device originally installed / maintained / and returned to Smart Start as agreed upon almost a YEAR prior to the repeat, subsequent 90 day requirement ...this was all documented in their system AND in my previous Complaintsboard.com complaint I filed throughout this ongoing nightmare of an experience as I was being inappropriately charged during my initial 1 year service period with this company and their ignition interlock device as a result of a malfunctioning product and quite possibly the worst customer service across departments of any company on the planet. This industry needs more competition to ensure Smart Start and providers like this cannot take advantage of folks who are already in an uphill battle with legal costs and legal mandates they are facing as they work to get their personal life in order following a mistake they are already suffereing severe consequences as a result of. In my case, I have had enough. I already had erroneously charged fees refunded after NUMEROUS complaints because I will simply not stand for being charged fees that are illegitimately charged as either a (dis)function of the product/process in which they are assessed and/or the procedures in place that should be safeguards for preventing them. However in my case on the day my original device was to be removed my vehicle stalled AS A RESULT OF THE DEVICE that was interfering with the wiring and also draining my battery. (a secondary point altogether) Despite this my car was older anyhow and I wasn't able to come up with the money to get it out of the tow lot so I coordinated with Smart Start for a technician to retrieve the device in February and was told my obligations were complete. However, I was contacted for the next 180 days by multiple Smart Start customer care reps saying I was financially responsible for the device and each time I re-routed them back to the initial convo in which I was told over and over again my device was retrieved and I would never be contacted again. Yet again and again I was called for the SAME REASON only to find out that Smart Start did not have a tech retrieve my device for MONTHS despite my OFFERING TO PERSONALLY go and meet them there on the day of the scheduled removal in February and every time they called after that. Fast forward to December and i am suddenly INELIGIBLE for license renewal because 'my end date with DOR was not rreached before the bounty/removal was complete" despite me making every single effort and fielding every single phone call resulting with my obligations being satisfied. *** (my MO rep who knows me well now) sid I would have to 'reinstall and go 3 months violation free despite 0 violations in the previous 12 months and I would then be cleared nationally" - instead of push back I asked her to document the HECK out of her part as well as the dozens of internal smart start reps assigned to this nightmare over the previous 8 months since my device was returned so that I would NEVER EVER be ethically charged for the biggest debacle in customer service history...and yet when time came to 'reinstall' a device in a vehicle it had no business being required to be installed in but no human being with smart start willing to connect the dots, download the data from the previous device and review the notes to take responsibility for the ACTUAL DISCONNECT and DETERMINE HOW THEY COULD HAVE CURED THE ISSUE BEFROE IT EVER BECAME A RETROACTIVE ONE and how maybe instead of passing the buck to the next guy on the dialer they could have looked at their internal communications, policies, and PROCEDUREALLY made the adjsutments needed to properly resolve this issues by doing the one thing their monopoly on the industry does not require them to do: WHICH IS DOING RIGHT BY THE CUSTOMER FIRST and avoiding penalizing many of us who DONT EVEN DRINK and ABIDED BY THE REQUIREMENTS of this ignition interlock seriously ad choose SMART START when they promised to be everything they had no intention of ever being... and after being denied repeatedly for my fees to be refunded as should have been done and many threats of further complaints as far up the chain as it takes from me - I am seeking indemnification from the Complaintsboard.com and the powers that be