When simple things are far more complicated than they need to be...

Two days ago, I took my car to a shop to have a remote start installed...thinking that it's too f'ing cold in the winter and too far to my car to start it and then run back into the house.  And I've accomplished a lot this year-so why not treat myself?

I found a shop that's been doing installations for fifteen/twenty years and they've got a great reputation around the area.  I go in, negotiate whatever price I can get, and the deal is struck.  I drop the car off on Wednesday morning.  They tell me that it'll take about 4-6 hours in total.  Around 2:45pm, they call to tell me that the car is done and ready to pick up.  I get a ride to the shop, get dropped off, and find out that the car isn't ready-it's actually FAR from ready.  So, I call my ride and go back to work.  I call the shop and they tell me that it's going to be close to 6pm before it'll be ready to pick up.  At 5:40pm, I return and they tell me that they can't get it to work...we go over some of the other options and I leave...thinking it'll be done in the morning.

I called this morning to confirm that the car is done (I'm now talking to the owner of the shop).  He confirms that it is working and that I can pick it up.  CP and I go to lunch, pick up some parts at the Mazda dealership (a new auto dimming mirror) and stop at the shop...where I find out that they can't get it to work.  So, I go back to the office after the owner agrees to call me and let me know what's going on...and offers to deliver the car when they can get the remote start to work properly.

Two hours later, I receive a call that the car is working properly and that they're on their way to deliver the finished car.  Forty five minutes later, the owner arrives with my car...we go over a few things, it appears to work okay but with about 10 steps to make it work.  Far more complicated than for an automatic (shut off the car, get out, lock the doors)...but something that I can probably memorize in short time.

The only caveat is that they had to install a toggle switch to the dash to simulate the door opening/closing because the unit couldn't pick it up when the factory switch was used.  So, it's more like a pitching signal in baseball before I (or any of my passengers) can exit the vehicle if I want to start the car remotely.  It's far too complicated a process...

Oh yeah....and somehow, they screwed up my stereo because it doesn't turn on at all now...so guess who's getting a call from me in the morning?

The upside is that I'm going to get a deal on a tint job in the spring and my car detailed for free...I wonder what will get tacked on after tomorrow...I bet they won't touch another car like mine again.

TBC...