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Old 26th November 2012, 17:58   #91
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Re: Customer's Q7 being misused by Audi Dealership @ Vakola. Caught by GPS Tracker

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Originally Posted by selfdrive View Post
Is it possible for someone to remove that Purple device and put it on another car which was being used for a joyride?
If it is possible it is a possibility. How and where in Vishal's Audi was this tracker stuff mounted.
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Old 26th November 2012, 17:59   #92
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Re: Customer's Q7 being misused by Audi Dealership @ Vakola. Caught by GPS Tracker

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Originally Posted by VW2010 View Post
I think its just another additional record in any service station. The car would have been received in the system with VIN based record of service request.

More of common sense to have this additional check over Vorsprun durch technik.
The VIN based system would record that the car came for servicing and details related to servicing, not its movement in and out of the dealership.

What I meant was "Vorsprun durch technik" to track the in-time and out-time of vehicles, just like the in-time and out-time of people, goods etc is done in companies / factories etc. instead of a handwritten notebook.

Cheers,
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Old 26th November 2012, 18:15   #93
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Quote:
Originally Posted by diffsoft

The VIN based system would record that the car came for servicing and details related to servicing, not its movement in and out of the dealership.

What I meant was "Vorsprun durch technik" to track the in-time and out-time of vehicles, just like the in-time and out-time of people, goods etc is done in companies / factories etc. instead of a handwritten notebook.

Cheers,
I think the register method of manually logging should still be the most fool proof as digital records can be tempered with later by another party.

In this particular case it is mentioned that the driver purposely left the GPS device in the car so the service people knew about it as its a cigarette lighter mounted device. Its simply incredulous to think that they would still be so stupid to do something like that. Why didn't the perpetrator remove the GPS device before going for the joyride?

Or is there something still not out in public view?
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Old 26th November 2012, 18:18   #94
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The plot thickens eh? Like the proverbial pea souper!
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Old 26th November 2012, 18:51   #95
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Re: Customer's Q7 being misused by Audi Dealership @ Vakola. Caught by GPS Tracker

Is the Audi's ECU (or any chip that which stores the odo reading) smart enough to record any connections made to it? If yes, can this be erased?

Rather than doing the denying or owning up exercise, Audi should take up this matter themselves and get to the bottom of it at the earliest. That would clear up the speculations.

Last edited by thoma : 26th November 2012 at 18:57.
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Old 26th November 2012, 18:53   #96
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Re: Customer's Q7 being misused by Audi Dealership @ Vakola. Caught by GPS Tracker

This thread will soon pack some heat for sure.

Good attacks and counter-attacks.

Can Vishal or his buddy place any proof that the GPS was indeed installed in THE Q7 that very night when this incident happened?
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Old 26th November 2012, 19:07   #97
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Re: Customer's Q7 being misused by Audi Dealership @ Vakola. Caught by GPS Tracker

Quote:
Originally Posted by joslicx View Post
I think the register method of manually logging should still be the most fool proof as digital records can be tempered with later by another party.

In this particular case it is mentioned that the driver purposely left the GPS device in the car so the service people knew about it as its a cigarette lighter mounted device. Its simply incredulous to think that they would still be so stupid to do something like that. Why didn't the perpetrator remove the GPS device before going for the joyride?

Or is there something still not out in public view?
If the car was indeed misused the prime suspect is the security guard/s on duty that day with out whose collusion this is near to impossible. AFIK the keys of all cars under service in the garage are kept under the custody of the security.These guys may not be aware of the prescence/functionality of the GPS. The guards might have made a business out of this by renting out high end cars at night. Once the issue became sensational, rest of cover up might have been done by technicians.

Last edited by poloman : 26th November 2012 at 19:10.
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Old 26th November 2012, 19:07   #98
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Re: Customer's Q7 being misused by Audi Dealership @ Vakola. Caught by GPS Tracker

Quote:
Originally Posted by joslicx View Post
In this particular case it is mentioned that the driver purposely left the GPS device in the car so the service people knew about it as its a cigarette lighter mounted device. Its simply incredulous to think that they would still be so stupid to do something like that. Why didn't the perpetrator remove the GPS device before going for the joyride?
Ahem! Since you guys are just too hooked on to this whodunnit let me answer this one. There is nothing incredulous in this. Entirely possible. The SA took the vehicle and noticed the device and asked the driver to take it away. The driver did not do so. The bottomline is that the SA knew that the vehicle had this device in it. Mind you, he may not have been aware what that device exactly is at that point in time (now he knows, of course).

And we also do not know who took the vehicle out (if at all it was taken out). The SA may not have broadcasted it across the A.S.S. that the particular vehicle has some unknown device fitted in it which people should beware of.
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Old 26th November 2012, 19:11   #99
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Re: Customer's Q7 being misused by Audi Dealership @ Vakola. Caught by GPS Tracker

Quote:
Originally Posted by poloman View Post
If the car was indeed misused the prime suspect is the security guard/s on duty that day with out whose collusion this is near to impossible. AFIK the keys of all cars under service in garage are kept under the custody of the security.These guys may not be aware of the prescence/functionality of the GPS. The guards might have made a business out of this by renting out high end cars at night. Once the issue became sensational, rest of cover up might have been done by technicians.
Yes its actually possible what you say and most probably is what happened here. But I think to deter security taking customer vehicles on joyrides the dealership must have installed CCTVs. So unless they are also in collusion with security, at least the CCTV footage should give some answers.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Zappo View Post
Ahem! Since you guys are just too hooked on to this whodunnit let me answer this one. There is nothing incredulous in this. Entirely possible. The SA took the vehicle and noticed the device and asked the driver to take it away. The driver did not do so. The bottomline is that the SA knew that the vehicle had this device in it. Mind you, he may not have been aware what that device exactly is at that point in time (now he knows, of course).

And we also do not know who took the vehicle out (if at all it was taken out). The SA may not have broadcasted it across the A.S.S. that the particular vehicle has some unknown device fitted in it which people should beware of.
zappo still it seems a bit far fetched that the SA would be so clumsy, although not entirely improbable.

Last edited by joslicx : 26th November 2012 at 19:13.
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Old 26th November 2012, 22:43   #100
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Re: Customer's Q7 being misused by Audi Dealership @ Vakola. Caught by GPS Tracker

Quote:
Originally Posted by speedy View Post
This seems to be a publicity stunt
I find this line of reasoning rather repugnant because it seems to come from an attempt to malign the man, than just question facts (agree to the rest about the theory around the type of GPS device etc). Not for a second is there a sliver of logic that trusts any of Vishals's word - wonder why?

Let me ask a different question - which high profile employee of Disney would want to do such a random stunt? I mean, Disney etc would have clear ethical codes - his job can come under a cloud, if he were to be proven to be a fraud?!

Would you do that in his job? I never would.

Last edited by GTO : 27th November 2012 at 13:41. Reason: Personal attack bits have been removed from speedy's post. Hence, removing from the quoted post here
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Old 27th November 2012, 02:48   #101
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Re: Customer's Q7 being misused by Audi Dealership @ Vakola. Caught by GPS Tracker

Quote:
Originally Posted by selfdrive View Post
Is it possible for someone to remove that Purple device and put it on another car which was being used for a joyride?
Why would anyone want to purposefully install a GPS tracker in a car that they intend to take on a joyride?

Quote:
Originally Posted by joslicx View Post
In this particular case it is mentioned that the driver purposely left the GPS device in the car so the service people knew about it as its a cigarette lighter mounted device. Its simply incredulous to think that they would still be so stupid to do something like that. Why didn't the perpetrator remove the GPS device before going for the joyride?
Where is it mentioned that the tracker was cigarette lighter mounted device? If it was, then it is a pretty useless tracker i must say and certainly not worth the 16K price tag! Any GPS tracker worth its money is usually installed hidden from plain sight. Most of the times even the owner does not know where it is.

Yeah we should ofcourse look at a story from all angles, but those angles should be reasonable. I think some points that have been raised here have been quite good (for example, why didnt the owner report to the police), which have been explained quite satisfactorily as well (like, the owner is a social media nut!)

So far, in this story, its Audi that has come up short by showing handwritten logs (hands which can be greased easily), a shot of an odometer that can belong to any car and a CCTV footage of a car whose number plate is not clear!
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Old 27th November 2012, 08:01   #102
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Re: Customer's Q7 being misused by Audi Dealership @ Vakola. Caught by GPS Tracker

Quote:
Originally Posted by phamilyman View Post
I find this line of reasoning rather repugnant because it seems to come from an attempt to malign the man, than just question facts (agree to the rest about the theory around the type of GPS device etc). Not for a second is there a sliver of logic that trusts any of Vishals's word - wonder why?

Let me ask a different question - which high profile employee of Disney would want to do such a random stunt? I mean, Disney etc would have clear ethical codes - his job can come under a cloud, if he were to be proven to be a fraud?!

Would you do that in his job? I never would.
I am forced to agree with you. If the complainant had planned out this stunt then he is too smart to even hold a job in Disney. With this level of chutzpah, he should have been a pawerful Indian politician. It is not possible to conceive such a twisted tale on one's own but it may be possible to improvise a given situation into something like this.

there are members who have come on here and said that 'anything can happen at Audi Mumbai West' and there are people who say nothing can happen without being noted at the security log. There is another possibility that SA could have take the GPS and put it in his bag and forgotten about it, and the one who took the Q7 may have gone to Pune and back doing 150-170 instead of just 120. Anything is possible, and the car could even be doing taxi service supplementing Mumbai's State Transport buses and giving stranded commuters a luxury liner experience at local cab rates. Kuch bhi ho sakta hain but the most worrying aspect is that at such a loosely guarded facility there is tremendous risk of such cars being used for criminal activity.
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Old 27th November 2012, 08:12   #103
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Re: Customer's Q7 being misused by Audi Dealership @ Vakola. Caught by GPS Tracker

Mod Note: Let's keep off the personal comments and stay focused on the issue on hand, viz. the alleged misuse of a vehicle given in for servicing. Thanks!
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Old 27th November 2012, 09:25   #104
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Re: Customer's Q7 being misused by Audi Dealership @ Vakola. Caught by GPS Tracker

Quote:
Originally Posted by amitoj View Post
Where is it mentioned that the tracker was cigarette lighter mounted device? If it was, then it is a pretty useless tracker i must say and certainly not worth the 16K price tag! Any GPS tracker worth its money is usually installed hidden from plain sight. Most of the times even the owner does not know where it is.
You hit the nail on the head.

I have not seen one GPS tracker till date that runs off the cigarette lighter!

Again, let us grant vishal a basic IQ (i suspect it would be more), who is tech savvy enough to not install a joke of a GPS tracker like that.

FWIW, I have not seen anyone taking out their GPS tracker units while giving cars for service at Maruti service station (apra). Heck, i dont even credit most SAs with caring to check for it or not! If Audi MW has these uber SAs who can ascertain the presence of what is otherwise a hidden device, then I would be seriously impressed
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Old 27th November 2012, 09:47   #105
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Re: Customer's Q7 being misused by Audi Dealership @ Vakola. Caught by GPS Tracker

Usually GPS trackers are hidden underneath the dashboard or concealed elsewhere and discreetly wired to an external antennae. Just went through the technopurple site and it isn't mentioned anywhere that the GPS tracker was exposed and ran off a 12v charger.

A sample install to see just how well these things are hidden.

for eg:
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