I know this really doesn't have anything to do with Corvettes, but heck, these guys really surprised me. And who knows, maybe you need something to store your Corvette keys in.
Yesterday I was pulling my camera out of the vault (been away all weekend, and I store stuff like that in a safe place when away from home) and I got to thinking that I couldn't remember when the last time was that I replaced the batteries in the electronic keypad. You are supposed to replace them every year, and I was sure it was longer than that. Maybe MUCH longer. So I figured I might as well do it now while I was thinking about it, and before they failed and then I might have a problem getting into the vault.
Bad mistake.... If it ain't broke, don't fix it..... :banghead: When will I EVER learn?
So I pulled out the old batteries, and in the process noted that the connectors that the male portion of the 9 volt batteries clicks into were rather loose. So I got the needle nose pliers and tightened them up a bit. Took longer than I thought, and I'm not sure if something timed out or not. I do recall hearing a beep while I was fiddling with the battery connections, but I figured I had just hit a key on the keypad. Anyway, I got the batteries in and tried my code... Nothing. No error beep, nothing. Tried again. Same thing. I tried a different set of batteries. Same thing. Tried the original default code, Nada. Every once in a while I would get the error beep telling me that the code entered was wrong, but more often it was just like the keypad was still waiting for another number or something. Fortunately I had the vault door unlocked and open during all this. I'm not COMPLETELY stupid.
Well, that's just great.... Now, where the hell is my original paperwork? I bought the vault about 20 years ago. I looked around everywhere, thinking maybe there was a master code I could use to reset everything. Anyway, after a LONG time searching for it, I found the paperwork in the last place I would have expected to find it. On TOP of the vault. Which meant to me that there would be no help there, because I certainly wouldn't have left that paperwork there if information like that were in those instructions. So, after all that, the paperwork didn't do me much good.
Getting to be late afternoon now, having frittered away most of the day on this, so I found Fort Knox's phone number and gave them a call to see if they could help me out of this jam. Talked to a girl named Becky and she seemed surprised that the keypad could have evidently corrupted the passcode, so she handed me to someone else by the name of Clint. He had me go over to the vault and call him from there so he could listen to the beeps while I tried some things.
Well, long story short, yep, it was messed up. So I'm thinking, here we go, ANOTHER expense just fixing something I should have just left alone.... But I was surprised when Clint just asked me for my shipping address and said he would send me out a new lock module. Not only that, he was sending it UPS overnight! At no charge, no less. On a vault I bought 20 years ago! Man, talk about long haul customer service! I was speechless, to say the least.
Anyway, the module showed up today, just as promised, and I took the back off of the vault door and replaced it. Works like a champ now, and I'm certainly glad I don't have to have that vault door left open to the world. Oh yeah, Clint even sent me a prepaid label to send the old module back to him. :thumbsup:
Pretty incredible, if you ask me. But no doubt in my mind that if I should EVER need another vault, I certainly would buy a Fort Knox brand, for certain... I can't believe they warrantied the part after that long of a time span.
Yesterday I was pulling my camera out of the vault (been away all weekend, and I store stuff like that in a safe place when away from home) and I got to thinking that I couldn't remember when the last time was that I replaced the batteries in the electronic keypad. You are supposed to replace them every year, and I was sure it was longer than that. Maybe MUCH longer. So I figured I might as well do it now while I was thinking about it, and before they failed and then I might have a problem getting into the vault.
Bad mistake.... If it ain't broke, don't fix it..... :banghead: When will I EVER learn?
So I pulled out the old batteries, and in the process noted that the connectors that the male portion of the 9 volt batteries clicks into were rather loose. So I got the needle nose pliers and tightened them up a bit. Took longer than I thought, and I'm not sure if something timed out or not. I do recall hearing a beep while I was fiddling with the battery connections, but I figured I had just hit a key on the keypad. Anyway, I got the batteries in and tried my code... Nothing. No error beep, nothing. Tried again. Same thing. I tried a different set of batteries. Same thing. Tried the original default code, Nada. Every once in a while I would get the error beep telling me that the code entered was wrong, but more often it was just like the keypad was still waiting for another number or something. Fortunately I had the vault door unlocked and open during all this. I'm not COMPLETELY stupid.
Well, that's just great.... Now, where the hell is my original paperwork? I bought the vault about 20 years ago. I looked around everywhere, thinking maybe there was a master code I could use to reset everything. Anyway, after a LONG time searching for it, I found the paperwork in the last place I would have expected to find it. On TOP of the vault. Which meant to me that there would be no help there, because I certainly wouldn't have left that paperwork there if information like that were in those instructions. So, after all that, the paperwork didn't do me much good.
Getting to be late afternoon now, having frittered away most of the day on this, so I found Fort Knox's phone number and gave them a call to see if they could help me out of this jam. Talked to a girl named Becky and she seemed surprised that the keypad could have evidently corrupted the passcode, so she handed me to someone else by the name of Clint. He had me go over to the vault and call him from there so he could listen to the beeps while I tried some things.
Well, long story short, yep, it was messed up. So I'm thinking, here we go, ANOTHER expense just fixing something I should have just left alone.... But I was surprised when Clint just asked me for my shipping address and said he would send me out a new lock module. Not only that, he was sending it UPS overnight! At no charge, no less. On a vault I bought 20 years ago! Man, talk about long haul customer service! I was speechless, to say the least.
Anyway, the module showed up today, just as promised, and I took the back off of the vault door and replaced it. Works like a champ now, and I'm certainly glad I don't have to have that vault door left open to the world. Oh yeah, Clint even sent me a prepaid label to send the old module back to him. :thumbsup:
Pretty incredible, if you ask me. But no doubt in my mind that if I should EVER need another vault, I certainly would buy a Fort Knox brand, for certain... I can't believe they warrantied the part after that long of a time span.
