Car stereo blog (long)

[Vincenti]

So I finally break down 2 months later and buy a car stereo for my birthday present. I do the research, I dont know much about car stereos, but I talk to people I listen to a few systems and I decide on what I want. I found a deal on the intarwab and bought it. It takes almost 2 full weeks from the time I order it to when it is delivered and the $70 speaker box isnt wiht it.... I call FedEx, according to them there was only 2 packages, of course the confirmation the internet dealer sent me was only for one of the two packages I received. The box is lost in limbo. I write the company, the guy assures me it was shipped...but then wont return my emails....

Ok so I got hit for $70, I can deal with that later, but I want this stuff installed. My friend that was supposed to install it for me has been moved and is now across town and working some funky hours. I didnt really want him to do it anyway, he offered to do it for free and I didnt want to take advantage of the guy, I mean this could take the better part of a day, and he was nice enough to give me some good advice and let me listen to a few stereos he had hooked up for himself and friends.

So I decide I want to go professional. I talk to a cousin who sells cars and he gives me a name of a reputable guy. I call the guy, he doesnt call back, I call again, he says he is too busy to deal with it at the moment, but he will call me back and schedule me. I wait another 3 days and call back, again he says he will call back to schedule. So I start looking elsewhere. Every place in town says the same thing "Short-handed and overworked, can maybe see you after thanksgiving" (one guy said that he couldnt do it until after the end of the year). So I start ranging out to nearby burgs. I find a place in my old home town and he can see me on Friday which I had off for Vets day, Great! He says $200 and maybe 2 hours. Woohoo Im on my way, see you friday!

I drop the thing off at 10AM now I got no other method of traspo except the car in his garage, btu I didnt feel like sitting in a car stereo store for 2 hours so I go for a walk, get a haircut, buy some new shoes (got a great pair of Wallabys) and come back at noon, since he waid it would be 2 hours on the outside. I get there, my car is in peices and nothing has been installed. He starts giving me some cock and bull story about how I couldnt put 1 set of componants one set of 6x9s and the sub on a 4 channel amp. Again I want to reitterate that I am not real knowledgable on amplifiers and stereo equipment. He wants to sell me another set of componant speakers, which at this point, to replace the 6x9's I already had, says he cant connect the sub unless I do so. I happene to notice at this point that I sis have a componant set in the back in the doors from the factory. I figure I can always come back and get someone else to install the 6x9s if he couldnt and I would get the components to fit in the door which I hadnt previously noticed. So I settle in for what was promised to be the original 2 hours (less I was thinking, they already had my car torn apart) well to make a long story short I fell asleep on the couch in his waiting room and it ended up taking an addition 5 hours before they even have my car back into some semblance of order and when I get into it I notice that nothing is coming out the left side at all. I point this out and they start digging, 45 minutes later they decide it is a bad patch cable (or the dopehead installer never ran it all which is what I think) so they put that in and it is working out of both channels.

At this point it is 6:30PM ad the guys are all in a rush to get out, so I pay the man because of the componant set the bill has been jacked to $600 for the whole package. I am pissed but what the fuck can I do. I grumble a bit about it, he tells me I should have consulted with a pro before buying the equipment. This doesnt go over well, but what the fuck ya gonna do? So I pay the bill (thank God I paid him with a check) and I take my shit, stop by a friends house and watch a movie, and begin the long ride home. While I am on the ride I call my friend that gave me the stereo advice originally and he tells me that was bullshit, I could use the other componants but the 6x9's would have worker as well or better than another set of componants. This again pisses me off and I crank it to see what this thing can do...it is loud, it is clear, the sub is really overpowering the componants, but I turn the sub down to balance it out and it sounds ok. I may not know stereo equipment, but I do know what sounds good and this sounded ok, not great but ok. I start playing with it to see whether it is the speakers I originally bought which are in the rear now, and the ones he sold me which are in the front. I turn the fader to the rear and the fronts are still blaring, I think "Great the idiots put it in backwards" so I crank it over to the front and there is nothing....except that overpowered sub....the fuggin idiots put all four of the interior speakers on one goddamned channel.

At this point I am a good part of the way home, it is 9:30PM and I need to go home to take care of the crap I was supposed to take care of today when I was actually sitting in a goddamned car stereo store...

So when I got home I put a stop payment on the check, and I am gonna call him and tell him I will send him a check for the speakers I didnt want in the first place (because in honesty I probably needed another set for the doors) but I AM NOT paying for any of the install nor am I going to drive 70 miles for him to attempt to fix what should have been done right in first place and took 4 times the amount of time he estimated originally. I am also going to call the BBB and report the bastard. Two can play switch and bait, and I just switched his check into a worthless piece of paper.

[Witty]

am/fm is the wave of the future!

[brinstar]

uhhh get it done at best buy next time

[Vincenti]

Add to the drama:

Today the system worked fine about half the day, then when I stopped the car it wouldnt come back on. The head unit comes on, but I have no indication that the amplifier is even coming on...about 10 minutes later it did. Worked fine for the rest of the trip, then again when I stopped the car it wouldnt come back on, except this time it never did come back on....If that amplifier is blown because of crappy wiring I swear I am gonna sue the bastard...

I got a 2500 mile trip this weekend and now I cant even listen to the freakin radio with my old crappy blown speakers....I am soooo pissed