dashcams, data protection and workshops.

Just picked the van up from our local Mercedes dealer after the MOT and noticed they had removed the power lead from the dashcam. I was a bit miffed about this and asked for an explanation. Service manager had turned it off but the mechanic had disconnected the power supply and of course failed to reconnect it. After asking what they had to hide, I was told this is part of their data protection policy, something I thought was probably a lot of bull.

Turns he may be right, it has though totally put mo off using them, I can no longer get the nextbase to power up with the ignition as it did before they unplugged it. Sure it can be sorted by a delving in the handbook but am I being paranoid in saying it has put me off using this garage? My local classic car dealer who service one of our cars never disconnect the dashcam.

Is it just me???

May stem from the classic YouTube  case where 2  mechanics working on a customers car broke some thing behind the dashboard  then spend ages discussing how they were going to lie to the customer to make it look like a fault that must be paid for. Or the mechanic who decided to ' test drive'   the customers high performance car thrashing it around at twice the legal limit while recording his antics on their dashcam unknowing. 
          Wish we had them years ago when my local Vauxhall dealer were fitting a  new tyre to my car. I was told to return in an hour and when I did I was just in time to see the mechanic returning from the motor factors with the boot and back seat filled to the brim with spare parts and 50 miles put on the speedo!

I can see the service managers point re dashcams.
A few years ago the van went in for the MoT and work on the brakes, which entailed two mechanics taking it for a test drive afterwards.
When I got the van home, just out of interest, I decided to look at the camera footage and see where they'd been.
Only a straightforward route around town, but wow, the cab conversation! Sexism, mainly in reference to the garage proprietors very attractive wife! Racism in general, but especially when a coloured driver pulled in front of them at traffic lights. And the language... well I'm no prude, but I was taken aback by it..
I think if I'd played it back to management there would've been trouble..
Al.

First thing my Peugeot dealership do is disconnect the camera. I’m used to it now.

There's been a lot of discussion about this on a car forum I visit, it seems this is very common now.  Data protection is used as a reason along with saying that the workers haven't given their consent to be filmed.  I don't think it's going to change.

Whatever the reasons, valid or not, there is no need whatsoever to start ripping out anything permanently installed which is completely inexcusable -all they need to do, if they have to do anything, is to put a cover over the lens - simple.

There is also the problem that the first time I encountered this fad I failed to notice the power lead had been pulled out when I got the car back.  I had driven for several days before I noticed the power lead was not connected.  If I had been involved in a no fault accident their actions could have cost me a lot of money.  I am not convinced they "need" to disconnect the dashcam but they sure as hell should reconnect it before your car is returned.

hblewett wrote:There's been a lot of discussion about this on a car forum I visit, it seems this is very common now.  Data protection is used as a reason along with saying that the workers haven't given their consent to be filmed.  I don't think it's going to change.

Whatever the reasons, valid or not, there is no need whatsoever to start ripping out anything permanently installed which is completely inexcusable -all they need to do, if they have to do anything, is to put a cover over the lens - simple.

Not that simple, as it wouldn't prevent their conversations being recorded, some of which might be very personal . . . even if they were not discussing how to get away with a cock up!! 

groundhog wrote:I can no longer get the nextbase to power up with the ignition as it did before they unplugged it.

This will depend how old it is, but the inbuilt battery on my dashcam steadily deteriorated until at around 5 years old it would no longer accept a charge, and so refused to power on with the ignition (funnily enough after the van had just been in for a service). I eventually found a suitable replacement battery that would fit but it took a while to arrive (shipped directly from China - I could find no UK stockists).

Hopefully it's something easier than that for you though!