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2.7

.. to do two things.

1) Go and talk to the place that will be servicing your unit. Smart Start as a company is incompetent (as, I would guess, are most of them because they have a customer set required by law to purchase their services so they don't have to be competent). See if they will talk to you like a person and try to be helpful. MOST of your interactions will happen there and the attitude that you encounter will kind of define, for the most part, your experience.

The tech that did most of my work was excellent, so this was tolerable in my case. 2) Buy a 'companion device' (if they sell one) to use to "pre-test" yourself. For example Food Lion Diet Ginger Ale and a specific brand of tub cheese will both set off the device. You never know for sure and Smart Start sells one of those.

BTW, this was not a huge problem but I would NEVER take a 'real reading' without first verifying in my companion device. I have had a couple of technical problems that were irritating but ultimately resolved. In the one case that created an additional charge to me, I ultimately got that refunded as I was able to show them that there was NOTHING in their documentation that said that turning on your ignition (to run the radio) without the device attached (and without trying to start the car) is a violation. But trying to get the device off is a huge problem revealing their corporate incompetence.

I made an appointment for the day before Thanksgiving to have the device removed. I was told 'by corporate' that I needed a letter from the NC DMV but the NC DMV was clear that they don't issue such letters. However the helpful person at the place doing the work verified that all I needed was a free and clear license. So I showed up on that day and nobody was there.

The helpline had no idea what was going on. And the local place is only open one day per week. So I decided that I would drive 90 minutes to either Fayetteville or Raleigh to have this done. The Smart Start helpline folks told me that they are open, but clearly they are not open.

I feel pretty confident that the entire state of NC is closed today and nobody at Smart Start (unless they work in NC) knows that this is the case. Regarding the device itself it sometimes is easy to use and sometimes is very difficult to use. On 'bad days' (I have no idea what creates a bad day) it will sometimes take four or five tries to get a reading (hum stronger, hum softer, don't inhale (???), etc). I am in very good physical condition and sometimes I don't have the lung capacity to complete a reading.

And there is no way my wife has strong enough lungs to do this if she ever needed to drive my car. I would be surprised if any of the other providers are any better - they have no reason to be better.

Reason of review: Poor customer service.

Smart Start Pros: Tech that worked on my vehicle.

Location: 500 E Dallas Rd #100, Grapevine, TX 76051, USA

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