[C "T" ess]

The other day I had a heart attack while driving. I pushed the medical emergency button on the rear view mirror and I was amazed at how much care and concern they displayed. They had one person with me on the phone the whole time while the other arranged for EMTs. What ever we say about On Star, I am truly grateful for being there when I needed them.

Now for the second part of the story. I didn't know where my car was and while recovering in the hospital, I called on star and asked if they could ping my car and tell me where it was. I was immediately transferred to theft recovery. I explained what happened and that this wasn't a theft I just needed to know where my car was. The rep said for privacy protection they were not allowed to that. I gave them my security code but no go. The rep said he would review my file and get back to me. He called back about 15 minutes later and started quizzing me on all of the facts surrounding my emergency. I asked what he needed all of that for since I simply needed to find my car. He said the best he could do was to report it stolen for me.
I told him if I needed directions they would pinpoint my location immediately and download the instructions to the car. This rep was as stubborn as a mule. He was single minded and showed no desire to help in any way.
Fortunately when I got home from the hospital, the car was in the driveway. I still need to find the remote but fortunately have a second one. I assume if someone returned the car the fob is soon to follow.
Now do I renew or not? I think the positive out weighs the negatives.

 

[popacork]

Glad that things worked-out. A good reason to keep On Star!

 

[like2drive]

C"T"ess, I hope you are feeling better - wish you a speedy recovery. Glad to hear that Onstar was there to help...

 

[gohawks63]

Glad you are better.


I would renew.

 

[somedaycts]

Even if your vehicle was legitimately stolen and you called Onstar to locate / shut it off, they won't do it. They need police authorization to perform the remote shut down, and you'd have to go through the police to report it stolen for them to locate it. I'm sure there are privacy concerns surrounding handing out the location of a vehicle...example, married person requests location of their car, finds out the their husband/wife is having an affair, husband/wife gets pissed and sues Onstar for breach of privacy... In the interest of privacy and no lawsuits, I'm sure that's why they would not divulge.

Regardless, the emergency side did its job. Glad to hear you are doing well and the car was safe and sound. Best wishes for a speedy recovery.

 

[PJL]

I'm not sure what process could be used to allow OnStar to give out the information on actual car location to someone calling in, even if the caller can "properly identify themself." Perhaps they could implement some sort of pre-authorization process on our account that allows us to pre-authorize the release of location information when answering a pre-defined set of questions. But the terms and conditions of accepting allowing the release of the information would probably be lengthy -- and the lawyers would get rich writing them.

 

[CTSCHICK]

I'm not sure what process could be used to allow OnStar to give out the information on actual car location to someone calling in, even if the caller can "properly identify themself." Perhaps they could implement some sort of pre-authorization process on our account that allows us to pre-authorize the release of location information when answering a pre-defined set of questions. But the terms and conditions of accepting allowing the release of the information would probably be lengthy -- and the lawyers would get rich writing them.

Yep I could go for that with the Onstar Ap and the nav showing the location of your phone instead of the actual location of the car
Especially since they do it with the parking reminder.

 

[C "T" ess]

Thanks for the well wishes. I never looked at the location from your points of view. It does make sense. I just wish he would have explained it that way up front. I am going to renew even though on 2010 they messed up on the billing.

 

[snafu]

Glad your doing well!

If you didn't have OnStar, would we be having this discussion?:wisdom:

 

[jeffc83]

Hope you're feeling better!

The renewal is positively worth it. Especially for medical emergencies/accidents/breakdowns/calls/directions

 

[HurstGN]

C "T" ess, I'm glad you're doing better.

Not to be picky, but folks, when you have news to post that involves a serious matter like this....please start off with a first sentence like "Please note that I am OK and everything is alright now" or something like that. I darn near had a heart attack myself reading your first line "The other day I had a heart attack while driving." Us old geezers can't take starting with excitement like that.

 

[reciprocity]

Glad you're okay, C "T" ess! OnStar really is a great service for those kinds of freak, "what if that ever happened" kinds of situations. I'm glad the OnStar people were able to help you out. I hope your recovery is quick and you're back out driving as soon as you're cleared to do so.