Smart Start, Inc. Unethical business practices, deceptive marketing, breach of contract. Bellingham, Washington Nationwide

Smart Start provides Ignition Interlock Devices, or IID's, for peole who have had their driver's license suspended or revoked, often for a DUI charge or conviction. I've had their unit in my car for 18 months and have had a great deal of trouble with it. It has repeatedly read a "false-positive" meaning it detects alcohol on my breath when I've had nothing to drink.

Each time this happens, it is recorded as a violation, which extends by 4 months the length of time I have to have the device installed. ($106.08 per month). The terms of the contract state that a violation will be recorded when any one of the following occurs:
1) Attempting to start the vehicle with a BrAC of 0.04% or greater
2) Failing to take and pass any required retests, (max BrAC is supposedly 0.025%)
3) Failing to have the vehicle serviced monthly at the scheduled time.

Approximately every 2 months, the device records a violation, either on trying to start the car or during a rolling retest. In each case, I had had nothing to drink. The company refuses to refund the fees charged for "recalibration" after a violation, refuses to admit to any malfunctioning of the device, and is completely unsympathetic and/or non-responsive to my requests (by phone and email) to address these malfunctions.

I can only assume that the company's business model is to keep people locked into these contracts for as long as possible, by artifically generating violations which keep the money rolling into their coffers.

This company is a TOTAL RIP-OFF!! Stay away from them at all costs.