Unlucky 13th…
Have you ever dreaded the 13th? Or worse Friday the 13th? We have never been superstitious until two days ago. We have been called out to a gentleman whose Renault Espace key card stopped working. From what we were told it sounded as it was really a simple matter of replacing a key card. We agreed on the time and price and were on our way shortly.
When we arrived at the location and saw the Espace owner key card we were sure that the key card was to blame. It was in pieces, poorly glued together and falling apart in our hands. The Renault Espace owner said that he posted the key card for repair and this was the state he received it back. I know I repeat myself here but this is exactly why we will never recommend having your key card fixed by an external company. The key card was working two or three days after being repaired and died completely.
As always before programming a new key card we have run some diagnostic tests to make sure that the card is to blame… Unfortunately our testing system returned the information that both key card and the card reader are faulty. The key card was still intermittently connecting with the on board computer but frankly it was on its last legs. I have explained the situation to the owner of the Renault Espace. As you can imagine he wasn’t thrilled, and a bit worried that it may not be the end of his problems with this car. From what he told us it looked like the car was cursed or at least possessed.
We always carry spare card readers with us, so we could fix the issue on spot quickly. Also it is simple enough procedure so we have promised the gentleman that if exchanging the card reader won’t work we will not charge him. He was very happy and gave us the green light. We started the work and soon we could easily understand why the Espace owner thought his car was possessed. I have cut myself twice when taking of the middle panel with the key card reader (trust me it wasn’t the first one I done), my colleague got his hand trapped inside the tangled wires and even thou we have unscrewed all of the screws holding the card reader it wasn’t moving at all. The rain was pouring and we were both soaking wet, what’s worse the car was parked on a busy High Street so we had to interrupt our work constantly to allow cars pass us safely. Finally after almost an hour of struggle the card reader was exchanged. When we took the old card reader out, we could hear a rattling side inside. My guess is that poorly repaired and glued key card had damaged the card reader as it wasn’t locking properly inside with the hatchet.
We have used some Sellotape to secure the old key card, tested it and it was working, unfortunately the lock/unlock buttons were not working but at least it was able to start the car. The gentleman was overjoyed and decided to purchase a new key card from us. That was done very quickly now the reader was working and as we were just about to take off it turned out the car wasn’t starting. Seriously I thought I will drown myself in one of the puddles… I tried starting it up and as you would expect nothing happened. Fortunately all the controls on the dashboard were lightning up meaning that the key card and card reader were not to blame. Battery – was my first thought, the owner wasn’t sure about my idea and used my favourite quote – ‘but it was working yesterday…’ Apart from starter motor that was the only other thing I could think off. Bear in mind it was a 2.2 Diesel Espace so it needed a lot of power top start up. I went to my car and parked next to him causing a huge traffic jam in the middle of High Street, but to be honest I didn’t care at the point. I just wanted to revive this forsaken car. We have attached the jump leads quickly and Hallelujah!!! It’s alive!!!
I had to drive off quickly to allow the others to pass us, went back to the customer and all I can say is that he was so happy he hugged us both. I can understand why, his Renault really is a special one and not to be messed with haha.
It was the 13th but in the end it turned out quite lucky, for us because we helped another customer and for the Renault Espace owner because he had his crazy car back on the road. We always strive to deliver best service possible and we never give up when facing obstacles. You can trust that we will do anything to revive your car and get you back on the road.
