Initial Business Response /* (1000, 9, 2016/05/12) */
Contact Name and Title: [redacted], owner
Contact Phone: X-XXX-XXX-XXXX
Contact Email: [redacted]@sbcglobal.net
Mr. [redacted] contacted me several times over the course of about a month requesting me to program a key for his vehicle. Initially,...
I told him that I was not interested in working on his vehicle due to the fact that the vehicle had been sitting undriveable and Mr. [redacted] could not state whether or not the car even started, ran, or any other possible problems with the vehicle that would make it difficult or impossible for me to program a key for his vehicle. At this time, I told Mr. [redacted] that he had 3 choices. First, take it to a dealer that could work on the vehicle. Second, he could have the car towed to my residence for me to attempt to program the key.And if the key would not program, I would not charge him. Third, he would have to pay my service charge for me to go to his residence to attempt to program the key. Mr. [redacted] contacted me several more times requesting for me to program a key for this vehicle. On each occasion, I expressed my concerns that there was a huge possibility that the key would not program. I also discussed with Mr. [redacted] on each of these conversations that as a business owner, I could not arrive to his residence that was 70 miles away, have the key not program due to the problems with the car and then not at least get paid a service charge for the 70 mile trip and for the 2 hours in travel time. Mr. [redacted] stated he understood that regardless if the key programmed or not I would have to charge a service charge to cover my travel miles and travel time. I also discussed with Mr.[redacted] that if the key did not program due to the unknown running condition of his vehicle that I would not charge for attempts at programming. I would not charge for a job that I could not complete, however I would charge for my travel. Mr. [redacted] agreed to pay a service charge regardless of whether or not the key programmed and at that point I agreed to do the job. Upon arrival to Mr. [redacted]'s residence, the car was assessed and found to have a dead battery(despite the fact that Mr. [redacted] said he had just put in a new battery). After jump starting the vehicle, it was noted that the electrical componenets of the vehicle were not working correctly. I spent over 2 hours attempting to figure out the wiring/electronic problem of this vehicle. Please remember, this was not part of our discussion of services that would be provided, also remember that I am a locksmith, not a mechanic. Also, I did not remove,replace,disconnect or perform any other services on the electrical issue, I just checked for correct connections and attempted to program the key several times. In the course of me crawling all over his car for over 2 hours, my shirt may have lifed up over my gun (which I have a permit for and the right to carry as an American citizen) and I may have adjusted my clothing and gun after crawling in and out and under this vehicle over the 2 hours that I was there. After attempting to program with 2 different types of programmers and the key would not program, Mr. [redacted] stated "so, I still owe you a service charge". I stated that was the agreement.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 11, 2016/05/21) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
Mr. [redacted]'s claims are distorted and untruthful.
When I lost my key I was running low on money, so I borrowed some from my brother to purchase a key from the dealership. I thought they had my car on record and could just program the key there, I have never lost a chipped key before and did not know that they would need my car to program its' computer also. When I arrived at the dealer I found that they would need my car there to program it as well as the key. I told the cashier that I lived in the country and it would cost me a lot to have my car towed 30 miles in order to get my key programmed. She told me that some locksmiths could program keys, so I purchased the new key for [redacted] Later I looked up and found Mr. [redacted] online. I called Mr. [redacted] to ask him if he could program cars. He said that he had bought a [redacted] "machine" to program cars and keys, he also stated that if I brought my car to him it would be cheaper but he charges people in Rochester, where I live, [redacted] to program car keys at their residence. There was no mention of milage or even anything differentiating it from the totality of the service fee. It sounded right to me because the dealer would charge [redacted] that's cheaper but I would also have to hire a tow truck which would have been an additional [redacted] to tow my car into the dealer. Mr. [redacted] did not say anything about mileage, if he did I would have found that it was more expensive for him to come to my house and program my car than for me to pay to have my car towed. I would never have asked him to proceed. He told me that he would have to look up the car and for me to call him back. I later called Mr. [redacted] back and he said that he indeed could program my car. I told him that I would have to wait until payday which was in about a week and a half and I would call him then. When I was finally paid I Called Mr. [redacted] and he said that he would come that day. Again, I believed his charge would be cheaper than a tow and to have the dealer program my car, so I agreed.
Yes, I corresponded with Mr. [redacted] several times for just under 2 weeks. This is because he stated that he bought a [redacted] machine to program keys and he stated he needed to look up my car to see if it was programmable or not. When he stated that he could do it, I told him I had to wait until I was paid. Payday came, I called him, and he came to my house. He did acquire about my car beforehand but I told him that it was running when I lost my key, and there was no reason that it would not start once the computer and new key was programmed. I live in the country and my girlfriend and I work at the same location, we were sharing her car so waiting was not an issue. When I made the oral agreement with Mr. [redacted] it was for the programming of my car and he DID NOT say that he may not be able to do it. He stated that his [redacted] "machine" could program my car and he would be out soon to do it. About my battery being dead, I have a large battery charger and was able to charge my battery in minutes, it was not very dead because it was a new battery and it had only been sitting about 2 weeks, I replaced the battery at the beginning of winter, it is under warranty at Walmart. Mr. [redacted] stated that he was trying to figure out wiring, this must have been due to him not knowing his [redacted] "machine" because there is/was absolutely nothing electrically wrong with my car or its wiring. It was a simple matter of programming the computer and key. If there was a wiring problem, I would have contacted a mechanic and not a lock smith. I do not know how Mr. [redacted] could assess that "it was noted that the electrical components of the vehicle were not working correctly" because he could not program the car and key to get it to turn over and make that determination. What is wrong is, [redacted] is writing false claims, of which he in no way could positively determine without 1) a functional knowledge of the "machine" he allegedly paid [redacted] for (or he would know whether he could program my car or not) and 2) that he would need to be able to successfully turn my car over in order to determine if the "electrical components of the vehicle were not working properly." Furthermore, it was not the electrical components that I asked him to work on, it was simply to program my car key and computer in order to turn the car over. If the car successfully turned over, it would have been "noted" that the electrical components work just fine and no amount of battery drainage would change that fact.
Mr. [redacted] stating, "I told him that I was not interested in working on his vehicle due to the fact that the vehicle had been sitting undrivable" is absurd. If he was not interested in programming my key and computer, why would he have stated that he had bought a [redacted] machine that is designed to "work on" car computers and keys? He did not say there would be an extra charge for him coming to my residence beyond the [redacted] that we agreed on, if it was much more then I would have gotten my car towed to the dealer. He stated that he could program my car and key, if I had any doubt that he could not do it I would have not had him come. I am a poor working man and not someone to gamble over such a small difference. I was very intimidated by Mr. [redacted] being armed. I only payed him because he was armed, a fact that he wanted me to know. Mr [redacted] is a bully, he took money I did not agree to pay him, and if he does not come to terms with his actions being wrong, then he should not be "working on" vehicles key systems even if they have sat for one day. Mr. [redacted], shame on you sir for fabricating this story in order to attempt and not answer for your actions. And shame on you for flaunting your gun to customers, this is wrong even if you do have a permit.
Initial Business Response /* (1000, 9, 2016/05/12) */
Contact Name and Title: [redacted], owner
Contact Phone: X-XXX-XXX-XXXX
Contact Email: [redacted]@sbcglobal.net
Mr. [redacted] contacted me several times over the course of about a month requesting me to program a key for his vehicle. Initially,...
I told him that I was not interested in working on his vehicle due to the fact that the vehicle had been sitting undriveable and Mr. [redacted] could not state whether or not the car even started, ran, or any other possible problems with the vehicle that would make it difficult or impossible for me to program a key for his vehicle. At this time, I told Mr. [redacted] that he had 3 choices. First, take it to a dealer that could work on the vehicle. Second, he could have the car towed to my residence for me to attempt to program the key.And if the key would not program, I would not charge him. Third, he would have to pay my service charge for me to go to his residence to attempt to program the key. Mr. [redacted] contacted me several more times requesting for me to program a key for this vehicle. On each occasion, I expressed my concerns that there was a huge possibility that the key would not program. I also discussed with Mr. [redacted] on each of these conversations that as a business owner, I could not arrive to his residence that was 70 miles away, have the key not program due to the problems with the car and then not at least get paid a service charge for the 70 mile trip and for the 2 hours in travel time. Mr. [redacted] stated he understood that regardless if the key programmed or not I would have to charge a service charge to cover my travel miles and travel time. I also discussed with Mr.[redacted] that if the key did not program due to the unknown running condition of his vehicle that I would not charge for attempts at programming. I would not charge for a job that I could not complete, however I would charge for my travel. Mr. [redacted] agreed to pay a service charge regardless of whether or not the key programmed and at that point I agreed to do the job. Upon arrival to Mr. [redacted]'s residence, the car was assessed and found to have a dead battery(despite the fact that Mr. [redacted] said he had just put in a new battery). After jump starting the vehicle, it was noted that the electrical componenets of the vehicle were not working correctly. I spent over 2 hours attempting to figure out the wiring/electronic problem of this vehicle. Please remember, this was not part of our discussion of services that would be provided, also remember that I am a locksmith, not a mechanic. Also, I did not remove,replace,disconnect or perform any other services on the electrical issue, I just checked for correct connections and attempted to program the key several times. In the course of me crawling all over his car for over 2 hours, my shirt may have lifed up over my gun (which I have a permit for and the right to carry as an American citizen) and I may have adjusted my clothing and gun after crawling in and out and under this vehicle over the 2 hours that I was there. After attempting to program with 2 different types of programmers and the key would not program, Mr. [redacted] stated "so, I still owe you a service charge". I stated that was the agreement.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 11, 2016/05/21) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
Mr. [redacted]'s claims are distorted and untruthful.
When I lost my key I was running low on money, so I borrowed some from my brother to purchase a key from the dealership. I thought they had my car on record and could just program the key there, I have never lost a chipped key before and did not know that they would need my car to program its' computer also. When I arrived at the dealer I found that they would need my car there to program it as well as the key. I told the cashier that I lived in the country and it would cost me a lot to have my car towed 30 miles in order to get my key programmed. She told me that some locksmiths could program keys, so I purchased the new key for [redacted] Later I looked up and found Mr. [redacted] online. I called Mr. [redacted] to ask him if he could program cars. He said that he had bought a [redacted] "machine" to program cars and keys, he also stated that if I brought my car to him it would be cheaper but he charges people in Rochester, where I live, [redacted] to program car keys at their residence. There was no mention of milage or even anything differentiating it from the totality of the service fee. It sounded right to me because the dealer would charge [redacted] that's cheaper but I would also have to hire a tow truck which would have been an additional [redacted] to tow my car into the dealer. Mr. [redacted] did not say anything about mileage, if he did I would have found that it was more expensive for him to come to my house and program my car than for me to pay to have my car towed. I would never have asked him to proceed. He told me that he would have to look up the car and for me to call him back. I later called Mr. [redacted] back and he said that he indeed could program my car. I told him that I would have to wait until payday which was in about a week and a half and I would call him then. When I was finally paid I Called Mr. [redacted] and he said that he would come that day. Again, I believed his charge would be cheaper than a tow and to have the dealer program my car, so I agreed.
Yes, I corresponded with Mr. [redacted] several times for just under 2 weeks. This is because he stated that he bought a [redacted] machine to program keys and he stated he needed to look up my car to see if it was programmable or not. When he stated that he could do it, I told him I had to wait until I was paid. Payday came, I called him, and he came to my house. He did acquire about my car beforehand but I told him that it was running when I lost my key, and there was no reason that it would not start once the computer and new key was programmed. I live in the country and my girlfriend and I work at the same location, we were sharing her car so waiting was not an issue. When I made the oral agreement with Mr. [redacted] it was for the programming of my car and he DID NOT say that he may not be able to do it. He stated that his [redacted] "machine" could program my car and he would be out soon to do it. About my battery being dead, I have a large battery charger and was able to charge my battery in minutes, it was not very dead because it was a new battery and it had only been sitting about 2 weeks, I replaced the battery at the beginning of winter, it is under warranty at Walmart. Mr. [redacted] stated that he was trying to figure out wiring, this must have been due to him not knowing his [redacted] "machine" because there is/was absolutely nothing electrically wrong with my car or its wiring. It was a simple matter of programming the computer and key. If there was a wiring problem, I would have contacted a mechanic and not a lock smith. I do not know how Mr. [redacted] could assess that "it was noted that the electrical components of the vehicle were not working correctly" because he could not program the car and key to get it to turn over and make that determination. What is wrong is, [redacted] is writing false claims, of which he in no way could positively determine without 1) a functional knowledge of the "machine" he allegedly paid [redacted] for (or he would know whether he could program my car or not) and 2) that he would need to be able to successfully turn my car over in order to determine if the "electrical components of the vehicle were not working properly." Furthermore, it was not the electrical components that I asked him to work on, it was simply to program my car key and computer in order to turn the car over. If the car successfully turned over, it would have been "noted" that the electrical components work just fine and no amount of battery drainage would change that fact.
Mr. [redacted] stating, "I told him that I was not interested in working on his vehicle due to the fact that the vehicle had been sitting undrivable" is absurd. If he was not interested in programming my key and computer, why would he have stated that he had bought a [redacted] machine that is designed to "work on" car computers and keys? He did not say there would be an extra charge for him coming to my residence beyond the [redacted] that we agreed on, if it was much more then I would have gotten my car towed to the dealer. He stated that he could program my car and key, if I had any doubt that he could not do it I would have not had him come. I am a poor working man and not someone to gamble over such a small difference. I was very intimidated by Mr. [redacted] being armed. I only payed him because he was armed, a fact that he wanted me to know. Mr [redacted] is a bully, he took money I did not agree to pay him, and if he does not come to terms with his actions being wrong, then he should not be "working on" vehicles key systems even if they have sat for one day. Mr. [redacted], shame on you sir for fabricating this story in order to attempt and not answer for your actions. And shame on you for flaunting your gun to customers, this is wrong even if you do have a permit.