Slashdot Mirror
Dealership Remotely Disables A Car Over A $200 Fee (www.cbc.ca)
An anonymous reader quotes the CBC:
A car dealership in Sherbrooke, Quebec, may have broken the law when it used a GPS device to disable the car of a client who was refusing to pay an extra $200 fee, say consumer advocates consulted by CBC News. Bury, Quebec resident Daniel Lallier signed a four-year lease for a Kia Forte LX back in May from Kia Sherbrooke. Two months later, the 20-year-old's grandmother offered to buy the car outright when he lost his job and couldn't make his weekly payments. After settling the balance and paying a $300 penalty, Lallier said, the dealership told him he would have to pay an additional $200 to remove a GPS tracker that had been installed on the car...
Lallier said there was no mention of the removal fee in the contract and he disputed having to pay it."I just find it absurd that over $13,000 was spent on this vehicle and we still have to pay $200 more to have their device removed," he told CBC. After Lallier refused to pay the fee, a mechanic notified him by text message that his car was being remotely disabled until the dealership recovered the device and $200 fee. "I went outside and tested my car, and it wouldn't work at all...and I got angry," Lallier said.
Lallier had finally started a new job and was headed to work, according to the CBC. The president of the Automobile Protection Association says the dealership's action was clearly illegal, since once the balance is paid off, "it's not your car anymore."
Lallier said there was no mention of the removal fee in the contract and he disputed having to pay it."I just find it absurd that over $13,000 was spent on this vehicle and we still have to pay $200 more to have their device removed," he told CBC. After Lallier refused to pay the fee, a mechanic notified him by text message that his car was being remotely disabled until the dealership recovered the device and $200 fee. "I went outside and tested my car, and it wouldn't work at all...and I got angry," Lallier said.
Lallier had finally started a new job and was headed to work, according to the CBC. The president of the Automobile Protection Association says the dealership's action was clearly illegal, since once the balance is paid off, "it's not your car anymore."
The problem in the US has never been lack of or availability of health care. The problem is that people in the US have a choice and many make poor choices. Even at minimum wage I was never unable to afford healthcare in the US and I've lived here for over 15 years.
I come from a country where healthcare is "free" and run by the government, it's nice but certainly not excellent nor cheap.
Custom electronics and digital signage for your business: www.evcircuits.com
Guess what I have? Food and toilet paper!
"So long and thanks for all the fish."
Does the immobilizer have builtin GPS? If so, then calling it a "GPS device" is correct, and the company die use this GPS device to disable the car.
Yes, the term "immobilizer" may be more precise. But that does not make "GPS device" incorrect.
You could shove one in soft fruit and claim it was immobilized by bananas. Its inaccurate and misleading to refer to features of the device that had nothing to do with how it was used to immobilize the car.
**TODO** Steal someone elses sig.