Whoops! Keys locked in car, Damsel saved within 40 mins!

[seymansey]

With my first car, an astra i was at a gf's house on new years eve. I got out of the car, and did as bobby's friend did - lifted the door handle pushed down the button and clsoed the door with the keys in the lock.

Instead of calling thr RAC however, i just went to her parents and asked for a screw driver and did the lock in. Bought a new lock set for less than a fiver the next day

 

[IanA2]

Lucky you. I had the same problem. After four hours, and an eta of two more, I remembered I still had AA membership. They arrived within half hour and took twenty mins to get in. My complaint to MB was dealt with in an appalling "so what" attitude. They ended up sending me two bottles of wine that I would not use for cooking. When I pointed this out (I checked, they were £3.50 each, and well overpriced at that!) they sad that they paid A LOT more than £3.50 for them and that it was tough if I didn't like how they had dealt with the whole episode and that they were closing the case.
I then tried to complain to the boss guy, got no reply, and just gave up. Left a sour taste though. Not really the way to treat any customer never mind one that has just bought a forty grand car off you!

 

[AbbieCadabra]

not that i'm taking any pleasure in others distress, but i'm glad i'm not the only one!

Biscuit - glad your story had a happy ending, how does Old Macdonald go again?

Ian - i'm seriously shocked, that's awful. the way they treated the complaint was even worse

DieselMan - you sound like a handy guy to have around (but only when you're not insulting me! )

 

[Dieselman]

DieselMan - you sound like a handy guy to have around (but only when you're not insulting me! )

I can do both together...it's called multi tasking..

 

[stevesey]

Think I've mentioned this one before. Taking recycling to tip in the Vectra, left keys on boot floor, closed boot, crushing plastic bottles and cardboard, which in turn pressed the lock button on the key fob and locked the car (twice to operate the deadlocks).

Wife and son away for the weekend (separately) and son had the spare keys to put his school bags in the car before going off on school trip (used to park near his school then).

Had to walk around to parents to get the spare house keys - then a quiet weekend in with only a push bike for transport.

 

[stevesey]

DieselMan - you sound like a handy guy to have around (but only when you're not insulting me! )

I can do both together...it's called multi tasking..

Good to see you are in touch with you femimine side, Wilma

 

[davidjpowell]

Done the boot thing with my old E. Took Mobilo 5 minutes to get in.

More disturbing was when my partner gave my 18 month old daughter her lexus car keys to entertain herself while unloading the boot. Daughter was in her car seat, and inevitable happened, she pressed lcok button.

Handy 4 year old was sent in through the ski hatch (boot was still open) to retrieve keys!

David

 

[stevesey]

Had similar after sone (then 3) threw up in the car after being asleep for a couple of hours. Stopped at garage, cleaned up him and car (keys in the ignition). Somehow he ended up in front seat with us outside the car and pressed the drivers door button down. Had to get him to turn the ignition on and lower one of the electric windows.

 

[Rory]

at lunch today, for the first time in my 20'ish years of driving, i locked my keys in the boot when i was swapping my bags over (a girl thing! handbag to sports bag as i was off to the gym ).

Was this at the gym? It's a really bad idea to put your handbag in the boot and then walk away from the car - people watch car parks for this.

fortunately, i had got my mobile in my hand but for some reason it wouldn't allow me to dial the Mobilolife no., 'barred from this handset/network' or something?

I think you sometimes have to dial +800...etc?

Worth getting that sorted and programmed in.

 

[AbbieCadabra]

thanks Rory, i'd forgotten about getting the no. sorted. i think when i had the RAC no. in my phone you had to have a * first.

no, i wasn't swapping bags outside the gym. i'd only got my handbag as i'd been somewhere else beforehand, normally i've only got my gym bag with me.

you have to have eyes everywhere & think of every possibility these days! always good to be reminded to be careful though

 

[CiaranMcKeown]

How exactly do these mobilo guys get into the car so quickly? Im not sure i like the sounds of that.

With the leaving the keys in the boot scenario being so common wouldnt it be more sensible to have some sort of way of preventing this? I did it before in my old Ford Focus, afterwords it set my mind going on designing a way to prevent this from happening. Silly thing about the focus was that the boot release button was as close as possilbe to the drivers window so it was just a matter of pushing it with a firm wire of some description.

 

[Deleted member 6183]

Another lockout.

Many years ago I used to have a job repossessing things. I was training a new girl and went to visit some people in the rough end of town one evening.

Did the visit and returned to the car, I thought she had the key, she says no. Looked thru the window and there they were in the ignition.

Now, I didn't get on with this new girl at all and she really seemed to be enjoying herself at tis point.

Back to the house we'd just left and borrowed a wire coathanger, 2 mins later we are on our way and new girl has gone a bit quiet - 1st time I'd repossesed my own car!

 

[IanA2]

How exactly do these mobilo guys get into the car so quickly?

So would I. The AA guy who came to me took at least 20 mins.

 

[davidjpowell]

Probably best not to say on an open forum - suffice to say it was easy when you knew how, but the alarm was not particuarly quiet when my guy went for it!

MB Call Centre seemed to think he might have to break in through rear lights, but guy just laughed at this....

David

 

[recycled]

Another lockout.

Many years ago I used to have a job repossessing things. I was training a new girl and went to visit some people in the rough end of town one evening.

Did the visit and returned to the car, I thought she had the key, she says no. Looked thru the window and there they were in the ignition.

Now, I didn't get on with this new girl at all and she really seemed to be enjoying herself at tis point.

Back to the house we'd just left and borrowed a wire coathanger, 2 mins later we are on our way and new girl has gone a bit quiet - 1st time I'd repossesed my own car!

will that work in an MB?

 

[Deleted member 6183]

will that work in an MB?

I doubt it would on a newer car, I'm talking about late 80's early 90's Ford.

I'm not sure that a coathanger would even slip down between the window glass and the rubber on a newer car.

I seem to remember that it would have been pretty easy to shield the door locks but many manufacturers didn't bother.

 

[AbbieCadabra]

Probably best not to say on an open forum - suffice to say it was easy when you knew how, but the alarm was not particuarly quiet when my guy went for it!

MB Call Centre seemed to think he might have to break in through rear lights, but guy just laughed at this....

David

i agree, pretty easy when you see them in action & the alarm was so loud it was hard to hold a conversation! seeing how quick he was did worry me somewhat , but it's good to know anyone couldn't drive off without the key .

i'm always telling hubby never to leave anything in sight in the car & that demonstration just enforced it.

he also said the thing about the rear light , to which i said i was glad he hadn't done it that way thank you very much!