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Rant Thread - What really grinds your gears?

When my wife had the smashed taillight, she called the insurance company and they told her not to report it and to take it to Gerber Auto Body. She took it to Gerber and it was only like $150 to fix it. The insurance company told my wife something about it not going on her record, which seemed odd.
 
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I have no idea what this will do to our premiums. My wife has never caused an accident and I have one black mark in over fifty years with the same auto insurance.

The car has full coverage so it's not a huge deal to place a claim for repairs. It is a shame the damage occurred and left without acknowledgement. The repair alone will be an inconvenience. My wife won't drive my truck so I'll be forced to be her uber while it's in the shop. I see hours sitting in front of Hobby Lobby in my future. :)
 
AugieTN said:
When my wife had the smashed taillight, she called the insurance company and they told her not to report it and to take it to Gerber Auto Body. She took it to Gerber and it was only like $150 to fix it. The insurance company told my wife something about it not going on her record, which seemed odd.
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Chances are the agent knew the cost to repair was less than the deductible so not placing a claim was in her best interest. Sometimes you stumble upon honest people.
 
Just got word that we received 15 more EZGO RXVs in today. While I'll be off for the winter, that means a new nightmare come spring. In case anyone doesn't know, the EZGO RXV is a golf car manufactured post-2007 and still made today, that's completely drive-by-wire aka needlessly complicated for a freaking golf car. the brakes aren't even brakes, as all braking is done by some chinesium disc mounted to the electric motor, which is the number one failure component next to a $2,000 controller that drives the entire lot. Most of the time the controller is ruined because folks like hunters cut off the 'backup beeper' that sounds in reverse, which causes excessive voltage to one pin of the controller's CPU ruining it where the car won't run. The other problem is the failure mode of 'locking up at speed' which is essentially how it conveys a fault, by setting the motor brake full on, often throwing folks over the windshield or causing it to roll over, or worse, it getting stuck in the middle of the street which was what happened to one unfortunate soul who's RXV died while turning into the RV park next to our business, resulting in it being hit head on by a semi who was in the opposing lane, killing whomever was riding in the back seat of the RXV.

Next to "Bad Boy Buggies" the RXV is another example of modern garbage.

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I took my wife's 2020 Jeep in for a repair estimate. The estimate was just under sixteen hundred dollar.
It will be more if once they take off the wheel well shroud that wraps up over the front fender they find additional damage and then a new replacement fender will be cheaper than repairing the existing. It's an ugly dent / scrape but that's more than I would have guessed.
 
I am not sure if vehicle manufacturers are living in a fantasy world where UBI already exists or not, because I can't imagine many people having a spare $1,600 lying around. I might not like the two I got, being too 'new' for my tastes, but at least they are old enough to be easily repaired myself. The ECM for my 2005 Saturn for example was $25 at a junkyard and easily accessible. I refuse to own a vehicle newer than 2010 at the latest. I'm currently scouring around looking for a 1984 Ford LTD or Mercury Grand Marquis, or '89 Buick LeSabre, anything that's comfortable and old. I'm sick of having 'numb butt' driving the Saturn or any 'modern' vehicle. Cars made today are worse, looking like Star Trek Shuttlecraft cockpits with the many screens in them, which are not my forte. I just want something I can shove an 8-track into and enjoy. Something analogue. Thanks, Obama for ruining that dream with your damned Cash for Clunkers. Because of that program, I never see any vehicle older than 1999 around here.
 
. Most of the time the controller is ruined because folks like hunters cut off the 'backup beeper' that sounds in reverse, which causes excessive voltage to one pin of the controller's CPU ruining it where the car won't run.
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Bummer ! How would one go about terminating that voltage? Ice pick to the beeper seems the same as cutting it off, would attaching a led to the leads be an alternative ?

Sounds like there is money to be made by offering a fix for the beeper noise to those whom wish to disable it.
 
All EZGO had do do was solder a single resistor in that circuit, but instead they had the genius idea of using the beeper as the resistor, and in some lame way of idiot proofing, made it where if you remove it, you are out 2 grand as a reward.

I am sure if manufacturers could make it possible for a car's engine to throw a rod or a lithium pack to go boom on an EV if you remove the seatbelts or airbags they would.

The 'official' method to silence one is to stick foam from an ear plug into the hole and wrap it with tape, this applies to the 2008-2010 models, and for the newer, 'curtis' driven models there's a handheld programmer option to disable it entirely without ruining the controller.

Unfortunately, here in Hooterville, we deal with the kinds of 'mechanics' who's method of 'repairing' a starter generator is hitting it with a hammer until it spins. You can see where I'm going with how they 'silence' a backup buzzer, which worked fine until the RXV existed.

EZGO considers the reverse alarm a safety device, and doesn't advocate for its removal, since it's hard to hear an electric golf car going in reverse until some person, child or animal is screaming after being hit. The only time they would allow for its disable is by someone shelling out the $$$ for the special handheld programmer with 'OEM' level access, which only plant workers are likely going to possess.

from Buggies Gone Wild:

Originally Posted by DVR View Post
a search will pull up some additional instructions. it's easy to do. don't let the safety police deter you. I will tear a tag off a matress too.
the "safety police" have both his and any innocent bystanders near him in mind. Disconnecting a back up alarm can result in fatal accidents due to people not realizing they are in reverse and hitting the gas.... Next thing you know you just ran over a 4 year old. Don't think it can happen? I've witnessed it with my own eyes and had to make the 911 call while performing CPR on the child.

those back up alarms were installed for a reason. The manufacturers were tired of getting named in lawsuits when someone was injured in an accident. Ever been at an event or golf course and suddenly heard a back up buzzer start up behind you? First thing you do is turn and look to see if you are in the driver's path. I hate the things with a passion (especially the ones that "warble"), but I also make sure they are operational when a cart leaves my shop. What the customer does when he gets it home is his business, but at least I can go to sleep at night knowing I did my best to maintain safety.
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when my sister and brother in law forgets to put away the umbrella stand, almost every time I head out, the puppy wants to head out, but I fell down on my left side, luckily had no serious hurt to myself either, I got up instantly and put it on its side by the table they have outdoors... I will much later on get around the house unlock it and put it inside the tool shed...
 
Non phone rant here, ever since my pink eye went away, I have the gunk way up inside my eyelid, made it really hard to shut them the other day, even though I did apply on medication when I did get really sick though, I keep putting in eye drops.. still.. just so caffiene type feelings when you get up all grogy type of eyes feelings..
 
Milo Williamson said:
Non phone rant here, ever since my pink eye went away, I have the gunk way up inside my eyelid, made it really hard to shut them the other day, even though I did apply on medication when I did get really sick though, I keep putting in eye drops.. still.. just so caffiene type feelings when you get up all grogy type of eyes feelings..
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Be real careful with eye drops a bunch have been recalled. Here's the list from the FDA

CDER Alert
 
Been losing the battle with allergies and my eyes for several months now !

Went to my PCP who prescribed ointment and then medicated drops that did not fix it.

Went to an ophthalmologist who did the same with more powerful drugs ...

I feel like my eyes are big bulbs of itching, lids are glued shut every morning, never had this crap when I was young !
 
ozonetrooper said:
Been losing the battle with allergies and my eyes for several months now !

Went to my PCP who prescribed ointment and then medicated drops that did not fix it.

Went to an ophthalmologist who did the same with more powerful drugs ...

I feel like my eyes are big bulbs of itching, lids are glued shut every morning, never had this crap when I was young !
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Ouch man, I feel your pain.. Just need to compress them every spell.
 
Setting up Samsung Pay is still a royal pain in the butt. First, for some asinine reason, you cannot use Pay on more than one smart watch. So to set up a new one, like my new Galaxy Watch 6, it requires you to delete the card from the old watch, and set it up on the new one. That would be well and good if it were that simple, only issue was my Green Dot Visa card for reasons unknown wants to send an SMS to a number I haven't had since a decade ago, and going into the Green Dot app shows the correct number, but apparently Samsung Pay didn't get the memo (and this somehow was no issue with the OG Galaxy Watch?) and I spent the last three hours arguing with incompetent Indian reps at Green Dot who refused to get out of their script (seriously what happened to tech support?) and refused to blame themselves and instead treated me like an idiot who hadn't ever used a PC since Fortran and asked the same lame questions like 'did you turn it off and back on?' over and over again, even though I told them many times I already tried that, as well as removing and reinstalling the Samsung Pay app, updating it, removing my info and re-adding it back, etc.

They then hung up on me after trying to tell me to call Samsung Pay. Samsung Pay's 'support' consists of a feedback form and is about as useful as reporting an error to Microsoft. So now I can't use Samsung Pay anymore. Great. I hope that cash remains legal and a thing into the future, I kept Samsung Pay as a form of future proofing since there is word of everything going digital by 2030, and many stores in town if new enough no longer accept cash anymore, and I dislike the insecurity of card swiping. So it's quite possible if Samsung doesn't get their act together by 2030, I might have no means to buy food.

People laught at me refusing to turn on 2FA on any of my accounts, but I don't want to be locked out of everything due to something like a phone number change or cellular blackouts either. So far, my life doesn't depend on the presence of the Internet. I own physical media, still use analog TVs, and don't use subscriptions. I still carry cash. If I could I'd own a 1970's car. But from what I keep reading about plans after 2030, mainly from the likes of the World Economic Forum that Biden and the like are using their lingo (build back better, Green New Deal, etc) I am greatly concerned. I used to look forward to the future in 2010, I hoped we'd get a more nature-inspired world like the Frutiger Aero trend had us believing in, but instead the future looks more and more like Oblivion or Black Mirror with each year.
 
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I was all into Samsung Pay: but it's more limited compared with Google Wallet. I switched everything over. If I ever decide on a non-Samsung phone, my Samsung Wallet won't follow me... as long as it's an Android phone (and it would be), Google Wallet will.

I actually added the bar code to our city's recreation center to Google Wallet. No longer do I need their little key tag to scan in: I just pop my phone under the scanner. BEEP! The desk people were like, "how did you do that? Apple Pay won't let us add something like that..." Android for the win AGAIN!
 
Unfortunately I don't want to use Google-anything since they kill everything they come out with. At least if Google Home gets axed there's always Bixby and Alexa, both which work with SmartThings. I stopped being all-in on Google the day they axed Play Music and the Nexus brand before it for an iPhone-clone nobody asked for.

I am a fan of Android, once a huge Apple fan, but Android offers me features and customization I don't get with Pixel or Apple devices. I often try hardest to stick with the underdog, aka Samsung, Bixby, Smartthings. They often do things that Google Home, Google Assistant, and Pixel cannot and will never do.

Ask Bixby to open settings. turn on Bluetooth and search for devices, and it does that all hands free. Google Assistant cannot do that. Ask Bixby to turn on water lock mode on your Galaxy Watch 6, while it has Google Asssistant, it has no clue what that is, while Bixby does.

Never know what I'd do if I ever lost the ability to fully-control music via my Buds via Bixby.

In the past, around 2016 or so, you had to depend on MST (which was a Samsung Pay/Galaxy Watch S3 Classic exclusive) because Owensboro, KY was late to the whole NFC thing, and I had to stop using it in specific places like certain gas stations, mom and pop stores because the people running them assumed I was trying to 'hack' the register, and their point got cemented at a Lowe's once, when my attempt to use Samsung Pay at one of their self-checkouts crashed their entire payment system and I got tons of angry looks. For a long time the only places I felt confident using Samsung Pay or any form of NFC payment was at the only two places in town, Meijer and Aldi (limited selection as it was) which were modern enough to accept NFC only. They didn't have the mindset of someone who had watched a few too many Sean Connery-era James Bond movies where he was hacking ATMs with a Seiko Pulsar watch.
 
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