I have been sober since 3-3-08. I have not had a SINGLE drop of alcohol since then. The Sec. Of State took away my license. After one year, I appealed and was denied. The following year I appealed again (spending another $3000.00 - lawyer fees, etc.) I was given driving privileges under a restricted license. One of those restrictions was to have an Interlock safety device installed in to my vehicle. I called around 4 different places for prices and chose "Smart Start" to have this device installed. The main reason I chose this place was because it was about $50.00 cheaper than every where else. Now I know why.
I had the device installed for $200.00 and that covered the first 2 months. Every other month is $160.00. On a Friday night (friday the 13th it just so happened to be!) I was leaving a hospital after visiting a friend, got in to my vehicle and blew in to the machine (following proper protocol, as I had done this entire time with no problems) The first blow read: VIOLOCK4days. Then it had be blow about 30 seconds later and it then read "PASS". My heart sunk. The first thing that came to mind is, THIS IS A SCAM! I had done absolutely NOTHING wrong to put myself in jeopardy of blowing "dirty". I go online and found out that I am not alone when it comes to Smart Start. A lot of other people have fallen victim to this scam/trap. I broke in tears at the place where this device was installed, because I do not have $50.00 to just hand out for doing NOTHING wrong! I drank water before blowing in to the device, had not eaten anything a LONG time before blowing in to the machine, nothing was out of the ordinary. I now suffer severe anxiety to even drive. Every time I get in to my car I am scared to death that there is going to be another violation and there is nothing I can do about it. I should not have to feel like a victim.
It has been almost 4 years since I have drank and now this is haunting me. I feel like I should not have to defend myself because NOTHING I did was wrong. I demanded answers when I had to get the device off "lock". The guys at Auto Lab gave me the run around, and a bunch of stutters. They said that "Smart Start" leaves them in the dark when it comes to explaining why there was a violation. They explained that it wasn't an alcohol related offense (no kidding?) that it was a violation because I missed a "rolling retest" which is IMPOSSIBLE because I had JUST started my vehicle. I feel like I have been taken completely advantage of. I have no idea who else to take this up with. I do not know what I will do if this happens again.
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