Well it was a usual day with a usual start, i use Dark Angel for commuting to office ad so i left for office, reached destination to find that parking was already full (An expected result for latecomers) hence i decided to use the Pay 'n' Park facility besides my office, i parked my car and then promptly locked it and went to my office, Now you may ask what's wrong with this whole scene ? and my answer would be - read on
I was working late that day and left office at around 11 PM IST, reached my car, used my remote to unlock the car, "nothing happened", i was both surprised and disappointed, usually it would welcome my command and presence with a "Click Click", but not today, no response from the car, i tried multiple times but the Angel just refused to unlock
I thought maybe the battery on the remote must have gone kaput as this has happened in my other car once since the battery provided with the bundle is usually local make and we cant expect it to last an eternity anyways, so i thought to myself that what could be done next, then came an idea , i had read in many emails how you can unlock the car remotely if you have an alternate remote at home and a cellphone, well i had both so i called home and asked my mother to use the alternate remote and press unlock, meanwhile i was imagining the signal frequency traveling via cellphone right into my car's receptor, She tried multiple times but again nothing happened - well at-least to the car, but yes something else did happen, my mother thought i have lost my mind and i had decided to kick the person who sent me that mail
Then i remembered something else, my remote also has my car key, my car has a manual lock, put the key into the lock and car will open (When you are in a crisis the brain seems to break up the sequence of tasks into simple steps
), i thought it would start the alarm but i could always shut it off once i crank the engine, so i swiftly did the above step and voila - the car door opened, but i was missing something - No Alarm sound ! i wondered if my autocop security system has gone Kaput (In a year) but then i felt "Why is it so dark in here", i saw that the indoor lamp which should get lit when i open the door was not working either, now it occurred to me "BATTERY DOWN"
The next possible action was to check what caused it and i quickly found out that i had left my headlamps + fogs on, with 100 / 90 in headlamp and 55 W fogs, my car would have drained battery in less than couple of hours, i felt terrible for what suffering i had caused to the car and felt that now it was my turn to suffer; I had wasted almost 45 minutes in this activity and my watch showed the time as 11.45 PM
Suddenly i remembered about on road assistance, i always carry an LED torch in my car and it came in very handy, i scanned thru the vehicle papers and found the number, one thing funny happened while i was doing this - Now imagine a guy sitting in a car with a torch scanning through glove box, how would it appear to you from outside, yes a gentleman came to me and asked if i was stealing the car (How polite of him, i don't know how he would react if i said YES) I told him that my car had broken down and i am a corporate employee (flashing my I Card), he left the scene with silence
I gave a call to the number and thankfully it was not that menu driven answering system which drives you to a deadlock, i got connected to a lady and she quickly noted down the details, she asked me not to panic and help will be here soon , somehow it inspired confidence in me, i got a message confirming the request in next 5 minutes, within next 5 minutes i got another message confirming the name of the dealer who will be attending to my failure, and then i got a call after 10 minutes, here was the flaw, i got a call from Wonder cars Pimpri, while i was in Yerwada, Pune, it appears by default the system routes the request to dealer who sold the car, i told them i needed urgent help and then in next 5 minutes i got another message confirming the new dealership, it was Kothari Maruti service, i got a call and he said he will reach the place in 30 minutes as he was on a call in Hadapsar, i said OK and waited patiently (what option did i have)
The folks arrived in a Maruti omni which had "MOS" written all over it, i asked them for their Identity cards and they showed me the same (You cannot be too careful but with crime rate going up, better safe then sorry) they quickly asked me what was wrong, once i told them the problem they moved their car next to mine, attached the cables and got it jump started, requested me not to let the car engine stop on my way home and keep the revs a bit high
They charged me Rs 250, for which i got the bill as well and then they quickly left the scene, it was all over in a matter of 20 minutes, the clock showed the time as 1 AM IST and i was able to drive home
Inference
1. When you are in trouble and own a car(my mother was worried at home, it was late and we don't carry a spare CAR Battery
), Rs 250 is an amount you can live with for the above service given
2. The service is prompt and well organized (though routing the requests needs improvement)
I also learnt from them that these cars cannot be Push - Started as it might blow away the ECU due to spike, i don't know how much of it is true but i am not interested in testing it out
In next 2 days, i got a feedback call from Kothari Maruti and I rated it 9 (I could have given it a 8 for wrong routing of request, but help arrived in time hence a 9)