🐋 July 23 is World Whale and Dolphin Day.
...and yet, a certain Pal has stolen the spotlight recently!
In the words of our players...
FLY! FLY, FAT BIRD!
Thank you to the 200+ hololisteners who joined the Ruffians Offkai to celebrate our favorite twin demon dogs! The energy levels were unBAUlievable... I wonder if #FUWAMOCO could hear our calls from the Shrine?
Keep sharing your photos and videos of the festivities so Fuwawa and Mococo can see the smiles they've worked so hard to protect!
#BAUrendipity #FWMCpix #holoSerendipity
By the way, the "Bill" story is based on a real thing that happened.
When I first bought my viper, I was at a gas station when my battery tripped, and the car's anti-theft reset. The anti-theft on a viper (which doesn't have locking doors) is very aggressive, so it's difficult to bypass.
For 30 minutes, I tried to start the car...unsuccessfully.
I found a post on the forums from 2007 with the phone number of a team viper engineer attached to it. It was a longshot, but I called the number anyway because I was stuck on the side of the road with no other options.
To my shock, he picked up the phone. I apologized for the intrusion and asked if he could direct me to references on how to jump the system without diagnostic tools. His response shocked me
"No better reference than me. I designed the system. I've walked hundreds of owners through this, I'm happy to help"
He proceeded to, while sitting in his recliner watching Jeopardy with his wife, walk me through... step by step... wire by wire... how to splice my wiring to bypass the antitheft and "steal" my own car. He made me swear to secrecy on the method; only share it over the phone or directly in person, and never post it online.
He was able to point out the location of every relevant bolt, panel, wire, and connector accurately without ever even looking at the car.
I had similar experiences while working on my fuel injectors. A viper engineer walked me through the casting process of my intake, explained who did the casting, what materials was used, and how to properly inspect/clean it.
THAT'S what made Team Viper so special.
Every time you post about an issue with your vehicle, Dodge replies to your tweet with this statement, pretending to want to help. I took them up on the offer on my 2025 Charger Daytona EV.
Here's what happens next:
1. You DM them, they respond two days later with a case manager
2. The case manager sends an email, no details provided, wants to schedule a call.
3. You pick up the phone when they call a week after your post, it's a guy in a call center named Gurdeep and he's a "customer support engineer"
4. Gurdeep, or whatever his name is, calls your dealership in broken English, is told to F-off by the service department. He then calls you and tells you there's nothing he can do.
5. Your dealership tells you to take your car somewhere else if you're going to whine to Dodge every time you need something fixed.
Dodge/Stellantis don't actually want to improve customer experience, they just want you to think they do. Luckily, my Charger isn't my only Dodge. I have a Viper as well.
If I have a problem with my Viper, here's how it gets fixed:
1. I post a picture of the problem in the Viper Club
2. Bill, retired from Team Viper, texts me and says "hey, I'm actually the one who designed & built that assembly. Let me show you how to fix it on my viper"
3. Bill sends a video of how to fix it
4. I fix it on my car
5. I send Bill $40 on PayPal as a "thank you". Bill refers me to the retired senior engineers from the Viper program to see about modifications I can make to improve reliability in my Viper past 250,000 miles.