Best Buys is a ripoff fraud that employs ignorant & unsafe installation people. Des Moines, Iowa

All remote starters (even if you have one from your car manufacturer) has the safety fixture where the car cannot be remotely started if the hood is up.

Not if you RAISE the hood up while it is started. There is a difference.

Did you not inform your wife that you were under her hood at the time. Now I agree that what you went through can be dangerous.

But also is not informing your spouse that you are under the hood of a car. Even though she hadn't been able to start it, what if she surprised you and your hand slipped. (I did that to my husband before, caused him stiches even though the engine was off.)

So the next time that you are going to be checking anything on her car, inform her of it first. Communication is such a great thing. (And since you took the keys, why didn't you take the remote starter as well?)

ANYONE THINKING ABOUT REMOTE STARTERS, A GREAT ITEM TO HAVE BY THE WAY, BUT THINK ABOUT THIS. I WAS CHECKING MY WIFES OIL AND OTHER FLUIDS UNDER HER HOOD WITH THE KEYS SAFELY IN MY POCKET, ARMS AND SHIRT SLEEVES EVERYWHERE, WHEN SHE COMES OUT THE DOOR SAYING "HONEY MY CAR WONT START". ITS NOT ALL ABOUT KILLING ENGINE, ALSO NEED SWITCH TO KEEP ENGINE FROM STARTING WITH HOOD UP, TOGGLE SWITCH OVERRIDES KILL SWITCH FOR ENGINE RUNNING CHECKS. MAKES MY EYEBALLS BLEED WHEN I THINK WHAT COULD HAPPEN WITH SAFETY SWITCH NOT INSTALLED. SOMEONE SAYS WE NEVER PUT THOSE ON, JUST SAY BYE NOW!

I wasn't going to respond to this inane complaint out of the hope someone else would see what I saw. Leticia is, as she usually is, very astute.

There is no reason anyone would want the engine to stop running when the hood is raised. As Leticia stated, there are many tasks that cannot be done to an engine any other way. Pretty much, NOTHING can be done to an engine with the hood closed.

This is another classic example of my saying:"The customer is always WRONG". I am just glad my customers are alot brighter than John.

The car engine kept running when you lifted the hood and you mention that it's a safety feature that it's supposed to turn off once the hood is opened.

I really wonder about the remote starter then, and if you could give the name so that my husband never buys from them.

There are things in the engine that can only be checked with the car running, the level of transmition fluid being one of them. Also what if you have a leak that is in something that only has fluid moving into it while running? How is the mechanic supposed to do this if everytime he opens the hood, the car shuts off.

that just makes no sense to me.

The car engine kept running when you lifted the hood and you mention that it's a safety feature that it's supposed to turn off once the hood is opened.

I really wonder about the remote starter then, and if you could give the name so that my husband never buys from them.

There are things in the engine that can only be checked with the car running, the level of transmition fluid being one of them. Also what if you have a leak that is in something that only has fluid moving into it while running? How is the mechanic supposed to do this if everytime he opens the hood, the car shuts off.

that just makes no sense to me.

Best Buy auto installers have a rich history of damage, mangling and destroying vehicles of all sorts. I worked at the Merle Hay (store 016), which later moved out to 42nd and University, and the southside location (store 019) for more than seven years. In that time I saw several talented and intelligent installers. Six out of the eighy or so that passed through in my time would fall into that category. They all moved onto better companies or a different carrer path.

Installers at both stores loved to move the cars as quickly as they could go in and out of the bays and around the rear of the buildings. Most of them had little regard for tires, transmissions or clutches. I can attest to the drilling of the brakeline. Years ago a customer wanted a sound system install in his large ski boat. He got extra holes in the hull. The schotty wormanship even applies to fellow employee vehicles (by the way the car audio merchandise is marked u panywhere from 35 to 50 percent on average, at least that is what my employee discount got me). My own personal vehicle and my parents had to make repeated trips in to fix installation problems. The training for these installers was minimal at best.

The few that were good, came in with skills and training from elsewhere or experience in similar fields. I admit that I had several items installed in several different vehicles knowing the risk I was taking. But I got the merchandise and the install at a greatly reduced rate and most of the installers knew I would physically harm them if the screwed up and did not make it right. I left Best Buy on good terms and have no malice towards the company or any of its employees. Now that I pay retail, I do not use Best Buys installation services.

I would just like to comment that I was given a remote car starter for Christmas from this very Best Buy. My experience was totally different that what John experienced (which I totally agree was terrible for him). Either I had completely different staff, or they have changed their staff in the past year.

I had the remote starter and an additional part they thought they needed. When I took it in for installation, they said some models of my car did not require the additional part, they would have to see during the installation process.

They did a wonderful job on installation (left now mess at all) and when I came back they said they didn't need the additional part and refunded the money for that part.

I have had no problems with my remote starter and had exceptional customer service. I just thought I should tell of my positive experience.

You, my friend, have found out a dirty little Best Buy secret, the hard way. Most Best Buy car audio installers have no idea as to what they are doing. I know from experience that most of them aren't even schooled in basic electrical theory. I know from experience that one of the installers at the SE 14th store (an Asian guy named Steve) is a car stereo salesman that was pulled out of the car audio sales department. One of his first jobs was to install an amplifier in the trunk of a brand new car, and he carelessly drilled a hole through a rear brake line, floored the gas when he was pulling the car out, and hit the inside of the install bay, causing a lot of costly damage to the customer's car. There was a guy there named Bryan, that the word "incompetent" doesn't begin to describe. He made huge mistakes on a daily basis, but he's kept around because he sold those damned service plans. In the end, the service plan is all Best Buy really cares about.

Most of the time the "advanced" (read: stuff the instruction manual doesn't lay out in black and white) feature on alarms and starters are never installed. Your best bet for satisfaction is to call the store manager, and tell them that your next call is going to be to the state Attorney General's office if they don't fix it NOW.

I'm seriously beginning to consider getting back into the installation business...I could make a fortune by fixing Best Buy's botched installs. Heh, if you're in the market, John...