ScottSpec

Update on my experience with Autel. After many months of unreturned calls and emails, I finally decided to file a law suit against them. I sent them an email letting them know my plans, and within a few hours a rep was on the phone with me setting up the return process. I sent it back and they gave me a full credit. Scott

I get your point about the adaptation of technology. I'm not sure the progression of the acceptance of the cell phone is the best analogy, but I'll go with it. Right now you are in complete control of your cell phone. Cell phones give everyone freedom and empowerment. If you had a choice between your current cell phone and one that decides who and when to call, what apps you could use, or how fast they can operate, which would you choose? Even as great as cell phone technology is today, calls are frequently dropped, you have to walk around a room to get a signal or maybe outside. How often do you still here "let me call you back on a landline". I have to reboot my phone every so often. Unintended calls are so popular that they have their own term "butt dial". And the number one cause of distracted driving accidents of course, is cell phones. If my cell phone fails in an unpredictable way, it is not going to cause me to veer off the road into a tree. I don't even trust the GPS on my phone to get me to the right place every time. We accept all the shortcomings of cell phone technology because there is no other choice and no one gets hurt if their cell phone malfunctions. Unless of course the text we intended to go to our girlfriend actually goes to our wife. A few other questions I just wondered about self driving cars. Will they be able to detect a failing master cylinder? What about the vibration of a wheel whose lug nuts are coming loose after someone forgot to tighten them? Or, the flap, flap, flap of a failing tire before it flies apart. How will they deal with the snow, and what about the patch of ice in the road up ahead. How will they detect that? What about an obstruction in the road, will it come to a stop and sit there until the obstruction is moved? How does it interpret the police officer tell it to turn around or continue on the opposite side of the road because there is an accident ahead? The list goes on and on and it changes everyday.

I think the idea of self driving cars is going to look much different once the realities show up. Right now all we are seeing is perfect world scenarios. Can't help but to think about the Marlboro man and the realities of smoking. Anyone who has been in this business for a while learns very quickly that electronics and software do not always act as expected. Some manufacturers are still struggling with unintended acceleration and ignition switches. Then there is the maintenance side of it. How many customers have you seen that ignore the check engine light or many of the other warning lights? What are they going to do when the "self-driving" failure light comes on for the third time after spending $2000 - $3000? What about the second and third owners of a car that don't fix anything unless it is broken? I won't even get into computer viruses or malware. I'm sure fail safes would be the argument, so does that mean these cars would shut down or drive themselves at 5 mph to the closest dealer every time an issue is detected? There are just too many unknowns to deal with. What does the car do when you are sleeping and your 3 y.o. gets out of her car seat and starts to climb out the window? Flying an airplane from point a to point b is a much easier task than driving a car from point a to point b yet there is still no commercial system to do this. There are auto pilots which can maintain heading, speed, and altitude all of which must be set by the pilot and cannot be engaged till a certain altitude is reached. There are automated landing systems that most pilots will not use unless they have to. Even those only get them on the runway where they must take over. Just wait till there are a few unexplained fatal accidents with self-driving cars. Here is a great experiment that I have been doing for some time. I continually ask people, would you ride in a self-driving car? Would you really get in the back seat of a car with no steering wheel and let it drive you to work? I have not even gotten a maybe. Do a quick search on Google, and you see some of the following headlines. Most Consumers Say They'll Steer Clear Of Self-Driving Cars, Survey Says People ‘horrified’ by self-driving cars, says survey, as trials begin

My suggestion would be to stop worrying about a few customer's who say "unhappy with the service" I have many customers who say our prices are too high but the other 90% of my customers believe our prices are fair. I'm not going to entertain changing our prices because of the few that are unhappy with them. If your system of selling alignments is working for you, then I would stick with it and ignore the small percentage of customer's that do not like it. Scott

If a customer comes in with an already diagnosed issue, we try to hard to get them to see the value in having the diagnoses confirmed. But if they insist, we make sure they understand that they are purchasing parts and labor not a repair. We make no guarantees, and we usually end up making more money since there original diagnoses is incorrect quite often. Scott

I called my insurance company several months ago to get a quote for insurance for a loaner car. I was told that they could not find anyone who would write a policy. My question to those that have loaner cars is this. When you got insurance, did you tell them exactly what the car was being used for? Scott

I left you a message and send a message via your contact form. I have a 1998 S70 here now if you want to see if you can get the Pro to communicate. Scott

Can you help me get in touch with anyone at Autel? Scott

You sound very knowledgeable and like you provide excellent customer service. I appreciate your offer to help, and will keep you in mind if there is something I need in the future as we are moving into other makes and models. We have specialized in Volvo repair for the last 25 years and we have that covered. As I said, we have the VST and VIDA. We do software downloads almost daily. I decided to purchased the Pro after watching this Motor Age video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnXrvlqn-yM of Art Jacobson the president of Autel. He stated that the pro would have dealer level diagnostics for all makes and models. And he touted how great there support for the tool was. Since we were starting to move into servicing other makes and models, it sounded like the Pro would be a good tool to have. When I first got the tool, I wanted to see what it was capable of. That was when I tried it on the 1998 70 series and could not communicate with the ECM. The VST is rather slow and VIDA is not the most user friendly, it crashes a lot, and it can take some time to connect to a vehicle. Especially the first vehicle of the day or after restarting the laptop because you have to log back in to Volvo central system. VIDA is also not the easiest thing to take out into the parking lot to hook up to a car. So in addition to a scanner for other makes and models, I liked the idea of how quickly the Pro would boot up and connect to a Volvo. At this time the only help I could use is getting in touch with Autel. If you think you can help me with that, email me at [email protected] and I'll give you a call. Scott

I am very curious as well. How can you fix a problem that Autel cannot. The issues I listed above are just the tip of the ice berg so to speak. These are just the issues I logged. I only listed the ones above that I could provide the logs for to back up my claims. I stopped logging after those as they were not even addressing them. There were many other issues with the scanner. It continually gives the message "This function is not supported" even though the function is listed on the menu. Sometimes it will even perform the function like resetting a service reminder, but will still give the message that the function is not supported. On one Volvo S80, it would not reset the reminder light through the normal menu. However, if you went into the DIM, you could then reset it. My lead tech is continually asking how can we trust what the tool is telling us or doing. We have the Volvo factory tools. We have the VST. We have VIDA. That is not the point. This tool is a piece of junk, Autel has told us they cannot fix the issues we are having and they said they would take the tool back. If they would actually take the tool back as they have told me they would, I would still respect them as a company. However, that is not the case. They now appear to be trying to avoid doing what they said they would. Scott

I did purchase the tool from a very reputable dealer. I have been working with him for over 25 years. I'm not sure how anyone could help me via TeamViewer with a defect that Autel admits they cannot fix. What can he do when Autel will not even return his or my calls. My problem is not with the dealer, it is with Autel. Autel has been completely unresponsive to all my data logs. They said their engineers could not resolve my issues and that they would allow the distributor to take the tool back. However, the distributor cannot take it back without an RMA number. The dealer, the distributor, and I have all been trying to get this from Autel. They have not responded to any of our calls or emails. Today I thought that I would try to contact the sales department. I was on hold for 15 minutes earlier today before I was disconnected. As I write this, I have been waiting on hold for 13 minutes for the sales department to answer the phone. Before I bought the pro, I had the DS708. It was exchanged twice for defects in the few months I owned it. I bought the pro because my dealer agreed to credit me for the DS708. I just hit 15 minutes on hold and was disconnected. I guess there is a 15 minute time out. I don't know what Autel company you sell products for, but it does not sound like the one I have been dealing with since March of this year. Scott

I'm copying and pasting this from something I previously wrote. Remember, the problems listed are just the ones I logged. And we pretty much stopped using the tool after some of these problems because we could not trust it. For the last several weeks, I have not been able to get in contact with them and they will not return my phone calls or emails. 03/18/2014 The Autel Maxisys Pro could not communicate with a 1998 Volvo S70 ECM 04/25/2014 The Autel Maxisys Pro could not communicate with another Volvo 70 series . In fact to this day it cannot connect to a 70 series Volvo ECM. 04/25/2014 The Autel Maxisys Pro got a function is not supported while trying to reset a oil reminder light on a Volvo S80. This is a very common message "function is not supported". Even thought the options are there. When you try to perform the test or activation, you just get the error "function is not supported". 04/26/2014 The Autel Maxisys Pro received this functionality is not available when trying to reset the transmission adaptives on a Volvo S80 04/30/2014 The Autel Maxisys Pro would not perform the VTC test on an Acura even though it was listed in the functionality. These are just the issues that I actually did a data log on to submit to Autel to correct. These issues are all still listed as open on my scanner. I have exchanged numerous phone calls and emails with Jon-Erik Balagot in technical support about my issues with the Autel Maxisys Pro. On April 28th, he wrote me the following. Good Day, They have notified the issue on this first issue. Regarding about the second issue. Only way to fix is to datalog so our engineer can find out why it failed to reset on the tool but light is off on the vehicle. Regarding about the DLC port. We had some issues with connection. Regarding about full bar or half bar of DLC. I apologize. I did not in touch with you on time. -- Jon-Erik Balagot Clearly admitting some issues on their end. On April 30th he wrote Good Day, I apologize for the late reply. I have no expected time with the Volvo issue. I'm really sorry about this. -- Jon-Erik Balagot Really? No idea when it might be resolved. On May 09, 2014 I received the following Good Day, Sorry for long wait. Update will be out either of end of this month or next month. I am sorry it is taking long. -- Jon-Erik Balagot Again, Really? A month or two before I can communicate with a Volvo ECM. After being patient for 6 months with no solutions and with more problems being experienced every day, on September 1st, 2014 I emailed the following. Jon-Erik, I cannot wait any longer. I have been very patient for months now. I need a scan tool that does what I need it to do now, so we can fix our customer’s cars now. I would like to return it for a full refund so I can buy a scanner that works. Is this something you can help me with? Scott Folley On 09/02/2014 I received the following reply Good Day, I apologize since we had this issue on Volvo and mentioned to you about how issue should be fix. Return of units will be handled by your seller. We do not control that. If you need further assistance, I can mentioned forward this issue to my supervisor. -- Jon-Erik Balagot There were several more phone calls over the last month between Jon-Erik, my tool dealer, and myself. In my last conversation with Jon-Erik, he asked me what I wanted to do. I told him that the Autel Maxisys Pro had too many issue that they have been unable to correct, that I wanted to return it. He said that since I had these issues, and they could not correct them, that I could return the Autel Maxisys Pro. He told me that he would contact the tool dealer to arrange this. This morning my tool dealer called me after a very heated and frustrating conversation with Jon-Eric. He informed me that Jon-Eric is in complete agreement with the fact that there are issues with this product that they cannot correct for me but that they are not willing to take it back as they first stated they would. In fact my tool dealer was so frustrated with their position that he said he is going to return all the Autel products he has on his truck and will no longer sell any of their products. From others around the web. If you go to the YouTube video posted above, you will find the following comments. I call several times and days last week and they never answer the phone. latest Bluetooth is 2.0? Are you kidding me?? And then saying sparred no expense.... AUTEL TECHNICAL SUPPORT IS VERY VERY POOR, AFTER I BOUGHT MY SCANNER I PHONED AUTEL FOR SOME HELP, AUTEL SAID THEY WOULD RING ME STRAIGHT BACK, I AM STILL WAITING, THAT WAS OVER A YEAR AGO, AUTEL PROMISE THE WORLD DELIVER NOTHING,I WOULD NOT EVEN RECOMMEND THERE SCANNER FOR DIY USE FACT!! are you talking about these cheaters.They have launched maxisys pro with J2534 VCI device according to Autel it can flash any car and here in Qatar after buying this thing for $3000 one poor guy found that it don't support any JAPAN made cars. These are pure cheaters.They came to market to cheat people nothing else. Any by directional capabilities.. I bought the autel elite.. It's said it had by directional dint work on a 96 Buick a could not communicate with other modules on the car other as advertised If you are considering the Autel Maxisys Pro. I would highly discourage you from purchasing this scanner also highly recommend staying away from all this companies products.

Thanks for the clarification on your dealer's service. When someone says the dealers don't support them, it usually means they expect something beyond good service from them. What I hear you saying now is you are tired of the very poor service you get from the dealer and I can see why you would not want to deal with them based on that. It sounds like your location creates a real challenge when it comes to purchasing parts. Not sure what can be done about that. Scott

Russ, I'm sure that these companies have some quality parts available. However, a lot of the parts are not. If a shop is buying from these suppliers on a regular basis, then they should not be surprised when it bites them in the butt. It sounds like you sell NAPA's first line products with confidence. However, it looks like you have done this only after determining which parts meet your quality standard and which ones don't. But more importantly, I'll bet you have have a big NAPA sign outside your shop so customers know what they are getting. The part that frustrates me is when people pass these parts off as something they are not. Scott

My first suggestion would be to buy and sell quality parts. I just finished talking to a customer who continually tells me how we are good but expensive. I asked him what was cheaper a steak dinner at his favorite restaurant or McDonald's. His response was McDonald's sucks. Maybe the market you are in won't support selling quality parts. I can certainly understand that. Even we are having a harder time convincing customers of the value in quality parts lately, but I would never sell inferior parts and consider and or represent them as a quality part. Also would not be surprise when the car came back because one of those parts failed. I'm not sure what you mean by the dealer won't support you. The dealer is a business like yours. They sell you parts. What else are you expecting from them? We deal with several dealers every day and for the most part get great service and quality parts. I hope this response does not come off the wrong way, but I have spent 25 years installing quality parts and selling value. It frustrates me when shop owners, coaches, and advisers give advise about how we need to take care of customers and give them a great experience, only to find out they don't even care enough about the customer and their safety to use quality parts. Some of these same people talk about how we have to change the way the public perceives us. That we need to get them to see us for the professionals we are. How is that going to happen when so many shop owners don't even care about the quality of the parts they are using? Scott

I purchased the Autel Maxisys Pro earlier this year and have had nothing but problems with it. They finally agreed to take it back a month or so ago. Since then, they have given my tool dealer and his supplier the run around, now they will not return any of my phone calls or emails. If you are considering purchasing any Autel product, I would highly recommend not buying from them. Scott Folley

I purchased the Autel Maxisys Pro earlier this year and have had nothing but problems with it. They finally agreed to take it back a month or so ago. Since then, they have given my tool dealer and his supplier the run around, now they will not return any of my phone calls or emails. If you are considering purchasing any Autel product, I would highly recommend not buying from them. Scott Folley

Joe, This is going to sound a bit harsh, but I don't know how else to say it. If you are buying parts from places like NAPA, CARQUEST, Advance or O'Reillys, then you have no right to complain about the problems they are causing you. You seem very knowledgeable about this business, so I find it very difficult to believe that you think that you can buy quality parts from these companies on a regular basis. In one of your other posts you wrote: We need to improve our image, hire the best people, adopt a culture of continuous training, speak to all customers as if they are best friends or family, inform them of needed future services, book the next service, sell preventive maintenance and deliver world-class customer service. Most important; Create the customer experience so memorable, so enjoyable, so rewarding that when they leave your shop, they think to themselves…. “That was a great experience, I’m coming back.” I would like to know how you do that when you use parts of questionable quality on a regular basis. We purchase quality parts from reputable suppliers, and I can probably count on one hand how many problems we have this year with the parts we have installed. Scott Folley

There a couple of typos in the search parameters of the first link. repiar and soeftware. Google corrects them without any issue though. And I love it because my SMS site comes up as #3 in the organic search www.smotgoinfo.com

Jakethomasmaine, It seems no one has actually answered the question you asked. I think that is because the focus has shifted to the bigger question, why do you want to create an SMS. You wrote that the shops you want to build it for have limited budgets, so that would lead me to believe that you already have some idea that making money from a SMS is challenging. I have been a shop owner for the last 25 years and my biggest hobby is computers, networking, software development (mostly database application), and web development. I launched a Web Based or SMS in early 2013 https://www.smotgo.com, so I may be able to answer some of your questions. xrac and mmotley both have some pretty good points. But as I said it really gets back to why you want to do this. I'm going to assume that it is not for the money. So far I have spent about $20,000.00 mostly for marketing, and have no real expectation of profiting from it. Although I am in some talks now that may lead to some revenue. If you just want to help these few shops into something more productive for their shops then QuickBooks, there probably is no need to reinvent the wheel as there are quite a few programs out there. Your time might be better used teaching them how to use a program. I think a lot of them are quite dated, and some pretty old technology. Most are still PC based with antiquated licensing methods and difficult installation and set up. I believe the main reason for this is that there is not much money in the SMS market so you will not see huge investments in it. The big companies like AllData, Mitchel, etc. want to sell you there info. The SMS portion is a giveaway and not a lot of resources are put into them as you can see by mmotley's comments. There are some good reasons to reinvent the wheel. Things can always be improved, mine included. Fortunately others thought the wheel could be reinvented, otherwise we might still be riding around on wooden wheels with spokes. My SMS is a Web App. There is no installation and no back ups to worry about. You can go to https://www.smotgo.com create an account and your first invoice in about 5 minutes. It can be accessed from any modern web browser with an internet connection. I've created and emailed invoices from the inside of a vehicle I was working on from my smart phone. I grab a laptop or tablet walk in the back, check my inventory then email my purchase orders before I leave the parts area. As I write this I am sitting on my front lawn with my new dog. I am looking at our schedule for the week and to see if any employees have scheduled time off for the week. In the mornings, I log in to see what is scheduled for the day. I can do this from my smart phone as well. My employees log in so they can see what is on the schedule. Some log in on their days off to see what kind of work we are doing that day. Each employee has a computer and can access the vehicle's history, the customer's info, as well as the inventory info. I can send out email reminders from my smart phone as well as estimates, invoices, or links to the smotgoauto.com companion site where customers can go to see and approve estimates or view any file you have uploaded for their vehicle (dtc printout, images, tsb's, ect.) These are just some of the features off the top of my head that are not available in most SMS programs. So, back to your original question. First, don't discount, but do limit the value of the feedback you get from shop owners. Shop owners, like most people, myself included, quite often think we want something till we get it. Then we realize it was not quite as we imagined and that new toy just sits on the shelf. The best ideas come from observation. Watch how a program is used and find ways to make it better, faster, and easier to use. I watch my service manager all the time. When I see something that frustrates him, I know that is where something can be done better. Here is some advise I was given a little over a year ago by someone who had built an SMS. He told me that his experience showed him that most small shops just wanted to create an invoice as quickly as possible and that I should just throw away a lot of the features I had put in mine. While I don't totally agree with him, his assessment is pretty accurate and you touched on this in your last sentence. As far as all the advanced reporting, I have some fairly basic reporting with the plan to add reports as requested, and have not had any request for anything more advanced. Most people are concerned about their data and they should be. There are certainly some advantages a large company can bring to the table. However, I think being able to move data in and out of a program should be a user's first concern. As we have found out, there is no too big to fail and no one likes it when their data is held hostage. Also, there is no company that can help you if your data is lost or corrupted for some reason. Parts, labor, and part ordering integration is the weakest area of my SMS for a number of reasons, and is probably the most requested feature. email me or post here if you have any more questions. [email protected] Scott

DUFRESNES, If you want to do it yourself, we use Godaddy Website builder and Wordpress. If you just want a basic website with a few pages that you can upload some pictures to I suggest the Godaddy option. If you are looking for something a little more advanced then I would look at Wordpress. My office manger maintains the godaddy site at http://www.4volvoservice.com/ it's still a work in progress. I manage the Wordpress site http://www.ssautosvc.com/ because I like the blog and it's easy to post to. If you have any questions, you can email me directly. [email protected] or [email protected]. Scott

First we do take a few minutes to make sure we did not cause the issue. We have been wrong at times and we always keep and open mind to the fact that we may have caused an issue. It also shows the customer you care and stand behind your work. We want customers to trust us, so we have to be willing to trust what they are telling us. When a customer tells me that an issue started after we serviced their vehicle, I have to believe them unless I know without a doubt that it is not true. However, once I am relatively sure we did not cause the issue, I then treat the issue like any other that come it. I inform the customer of the next step and the cost to diagnose or repair the issue. I know a lot of shops like to tell customers right up front that they must pay for diagnostic time which will then be reimbursed if it is found that the shop caused the issue. I'm sure we've done this before, but I'm sure you can imagine why this might not go over well with the customer. Right or Wrong, at that point with very few facts, both parties believe it's the other's responsibility to correct the issue and the other does not want to take responsibility for it. So they will quickly become as frustrated with you as you are with them. What if the customer insisted you pay for another shop to diagnose the issue and if it was found to be unrelated, then they would reimburse you? Once we inform our customer of the next step, and they don't want to accept our analysis that we did not cause the issue, then here is what I tell them. "I can understand why you might not trust what I am telling you. You can take your vehicle to any licensed automotive repair facility and we will pay any reasonable fees to diagnose and repair the issue, provided the other facility clearly documents on the invoice exactly how the work we performed or the parts we replaced caused this issue." I have never once had to pay on this policy. This has work very well for us over the years as it minimizes arguments with customers, shows you are willing to take responsibility, and they cannot honestly claim that you are dishonest, or that you don't stand behind your work. In fact it gives you more credibility because you are suggesting an independent evaluation. Scott

When I set up my new location 15 years ago, I installed a small shower, and I'm glad I did. It's true it may go months without being used, but it does get a fair amount of use. First, it's nice to have during the work day should you get sprayed with oil, coolant, or some other chemical. The employees mostly use it when they have plans to go out after work. I have an employee who goes to his In-Laws on Thursdays for dinner quite often. It probably saves him about an hour showering at the shop rather then going all the way home to get ready first. Another employee has at times ridden his bike to work, he thinks he sweats a lot and stinks so he showers when he gets in. Several years ago while going through a divorce for various reasons, I was using the shower daily. I also suggest asking your employees what they think. Scott

First, I have found that I am better off without this type of customer. I have fired many customers of the years. They are a financial drain, but more damaging is the psychological drain on everyone in the shop. Customer satisfaction is one of our goals and in order to achieve that goal, you need to have a customer with reasonable expectations. You may want to ask yourself why he keeps calling you for help. In my experiences, people will usually not continue behavior that is not rewarded. Are you answering his questions, giving him the info that he needs? "Feeding the dog" as they say. When customers or other shops call me for "advice", I usually give a few vague or generic answers. Then at the first opportunity, I usually say, I would need to see it, test it, or some variation of this. This way, one of 2 things will happen. You will get some work, or they will go bother someone else. I think this is a very graceful way of dealing with it because you don't come across rude or incompetent. Scott

If you would like a program to try for free check out smotgo.com. It's my creation, I use it to run our shop and have made it available to any shop that wants to use it. It does lack some of the features of the larger commercial packages, but it also has some powerful features that they do not. It is web based so you can access it anywhere you have an internet connection. There is no software to install and you can use it on as many devices as you want. You can email your vendors and customers right from the site. It might not serve all your needs, but it might at least be enough to get you up and running until you find something that does. You can find out more about it at smotgoinfo.com or let me know if you have any questions at [email protected] Scott