30thWS6

I'm at the store walking back to the car when I notice my keys are missing. I figure I must have dropped them in the car when I grabbed my coat from the backseat. So, I'm thinking no big deal, I'll call Onstar and have them unlock the doors, and I'll be on with my perfect life. I call them, and much like the commercials and like my first interaction with them, the Onstar person was exceptionally nice. Prior to this time I've been debating with myself whether I'd ever use any of Onstar's services and if I'd pay the $200 to renew once the free year was over. So now I'm thinking as I'm on the phone with them, since I'm such a clumsy idiot I'd better give them my business. So they told me it could take as long as ten minutes to unlock the doors; apparently the Onstar satellite must be orbitting Jupiter for the signal to take 10 freakin' minutes. Anyway about this time I'm thinking how convenient other manufacturers keyless entry system is compared to Onstar, but overall I'm still pretty satisfied. About ten minutes later I get a call back telling me that the first attempt was unsuccessful and asking whether I was parked in a structure or if any building or such would be obstructing the satellites signal. I told them that the car was in the middle of huge parking lot with not a single car around it, with absolutely no tall buildings, mountains etc. Another 20 minutes go by and I get another call back saying that after several attempts they still cannot unlock the car but they will send roadside assistance in about an hour. I tell them forget it and to shove their worthless service up their *** (not really, its hard to be angry at such polite people). To wrap it up, I went to customer service in the store and they had my keys. In case you forgot the moral of the story here it is one more time: ONSTAR BLOWS!!!!!!!! If they can't even unlock your freakin' doors how are they going to track your vehicle once it's stolen. My guess is they'll give some lame excuse like "The guy must have made a left turn which deactivates the system, but we want you to know we're always here for you."

ctsvett

haaauuuurrrrmppppfffhhh... [I agree]

I have been waiting until this month when my service expires to remove that ugly antenna from the back window also... I have received ZERO from them since the beginning and I think installing a lojack (or other satellite device) will be cheaper (not 16/ month) and only give me tracking if my car is stolen.

Since I am not paying for that service, I dont want them to be able to see where I am going either. I am going to physically disable the unit, I will post the procedure when I finish.

ahahnu

Reed, what type of things are you doing that you don't want them to see?




Left turn, and it was disabled, cna we do anything else - too funny!

ctsvett

Technically, even if your service is active, they can GPS track you.

I dont want them knowing when I am going to make my tijuana drug runs....
Oops I've said to much already.

HAHAHA

carpe dm

Sorry you had a bad experience with Onstar. There was a carkjacking here in Tucson over the weekend and, thanks to Onstar, the police had the two perps in about a half hour.

lawfive

I don't know what you guys are talking about. Last Sunday, thanks to the OnStar Virtual Advisor, I discovered that the XM Los Angeles traffic channel was wrong about the interstate blockage that I was stuck in; in reality, it didn't exist and there were "No incidents" in my area. Made me feel better.

2005V

I agree completely. I had an experience just the other day that made me want to scream. On one of the few nice days in the last couple of weeks, I decided to have some minor electrical service done to my Jimmy. My girlfriend met me at the shop and gave me a ride home only for both of us to discover I had given my mechanic the entire set of keys including those for the V I had intended to use for the rest of the day. Like an idiot I said "No worries, I'll just have OnStar unlock it" as I had the spare set from the dealer in a box in the trunk. A quick call to OnStar and they promised to have it opened within 10 minutes. A second call and the same response. A third call (by now we could have taken her Jeep back to the shop and retrieved the keys personally) and they ask me when the car was last driven. I tell them 3 days ago and they inform me that it has to have been started in the last 48 hours for them to unlock it. Something about saving the battery - perhaps they are hooked into the infamous dimmer switch!

What a pain! Beware if you don't drive your V in the winter and you need lockout service....

PSM

iTrader: (2)

Sadly onstar is very easy to disable. A lot of car theirfs take a bolt cutter and bye bye antenna. Up in canada where people often have snowmobile trailers behind their truck/suv the theif snips the antenna and drives away with a new truck and sleds