misslis

i work at a small shop in reno that my boyfriend owns. and just like everyone else...WE ARE SO TIRED OF HAVING TO FIX OTHER MAJOR SHOPS MISTAKES!
they charge almost 3 times for their product and offer "free" install. what is that crap! and people frown on us cause its $40/hr for installs here......sorry we want to make it look good, dont want to charge you up the bumm, and dont use tons an tons of eletrical tape.

just cause you care about your car doesnt mean they do.

-sorry your installed sucked

Smoses799

okie talked to the assistant manager.

This is what they are going to do for me

1. replace my door sill

2. replace the headunit kit (they broke one of the lower connections.

3. rerun all wire. they offered to run 4 guage to the nine.1 that would be free, id just need to get the 160 fuses.. I mentioned that the manufacturer suggestion was to run 0 guage...they dont carry 0 guage or 160 fuses.... so, he said that he would redo all the wiring with 0 guage to the dist block, then 4 guage into the nine.1 he also will use the old 4 gauge for the nine.2.


so, it will cost me $88 of knuconcepts stuff to fix this problem

however atleast it will be fixed i hope

boxista

I dunno man, you know exactly what CC did wrong, you know what needs to be done, sounds like you need to make the time and DIY so you know it's right. I'm far from competent in these things, but you certainly couldn't do any worse than they did. It ain't rocket science, do your research, use this forum as tool for info, and go for it. My $0.02

Steve

Smoses799

also. yea its going to kill my alt.. .but i already knew that

Smoses799

14 hr shifts 4days a week= no time.

at this point $88 for 0 gauge and the right fuses= system works properly and i can just forget this whole thing ever happened....

However, if i ever run into this guy in a dark alley, i might do something that could cause me to be arrested.

mandos

Actually, those are RMS ratings, sorry, forgot to mention that part.

The game really has changed in the last 4 years. Yes, it was about $1/watt back then, but now, the only reason you're paying that much is you're buying a brand name, or a bunch of pointless extras in the amp. Hell, even the JL 1000/1 is only $750 authorized. RF is selling amps around $.50/watt or so now too. My first system, yeah, those were the days of $1/watt being CHEAP

Didn't mean to sound doubtful on the window glass thing, I've just heard it from too many people to believe anyone saying that unless they can back it up. I heard about that more times in high school than I can count...and I've seen it happen twice, on cars doing somewhere around 155 or so.

As far as the sunroof...that one is actually understandable, since it's not quite as detached from the metal as a windshield, if the roof flexes majorly, it'd snap. It's just windshields/hatch glass that don't shatter too easily.

freeflowing

the effiency rating on that amp is kinda low compared to a couple of top brand name amps

Smoses799

UPDATE:

waiting on knukoncepts wiring to arrive.

Ill be taking my tc to the shop of an acquaintence that i met on the ed forum. The plan is that he will let me know all the fubars that CC did and what should be done to fix them. After cc fixes the system, ill take it back to his shop for tuning things are looking better i guess

sciontc_mich

i'm glad Smoses is getting everything corrected.. but for the people who read this in the future DO NOT TAKE YOUR TC TO BB OR CIRCUIT CITY FOR INSTALLS! If you don't have the cash, save up to take it to a good audio shop.

I have seen here on the ICE section how someone's brother or cousin is a good installer at BB or CC.. Fact is that's not the case 100% of the time! It's safer NOT to go there at all.. Why take the chance with your ride? This story has been repeated many many times here, PLEASE DO NOT TAKE YOUR TC TO BB OR CC !! you'll only be more frustrated..

Sometimes it works out, but the fact is I agree with everything said here about the quality of the installs, small audio shops would've done better. That's all they do is custom work..

eBasik

I do my own installs, saves me a $1000

Harmonic_tC

yes, a majority of the big box stores are the last place to go for installs. But keep in mind that small shops can be just as bad! They need money too and if that day they happen to get a bunch of business after being slow, they will rush through your stuff just like a big box store. The better part of the big box store is that if you go through the rediculosly long process, youll get your money back. I used to work at Besy Buy and my install lead is very experianced and was very strict on training new hires. they would not touch a car by themselves for about a month. I knew what i was doing when i was hired but still learned a lot. i never took shortcuts of any kind. id rather deal with a customer thats ____ed cause im taking too long than one ____ed cause i jacked up his car. Ive never had a damage claim and we did a all high quality installs. Our top managers would drive states away to get thier stuff done by me and one other guy only. Best Buy had cars a few years back in the autoshow, they were brought to us to wire them seperate from the entire vehicles electrical system to run on power inverters.

All in all, your best bet is to talk to the installers and get a feel for the place. its not the store, its the emplyees that make the difference.

I have a website link in my sig, its to display a handful of my installs. I normally didnt have my digital camera with me so i never took many pics. But youll get the idea

Prototype_xB

wow, alot of hardware for poop! Why not just bite the bullet, and buy some 4ga. wire and replace all the 8ga. yourself?

sciontc_mich

i am glad you're a good installer and your care for the customer shows.. but also you were only a couple people out of the whole company picked to wire corporate vehicles for an autoshow.. shows that in the rest of their company they lacked the ability to find someone on equal level.. good for you for being that good, it also backs up our claim that they aren't always the best palce to go to.. since out of all their stores they only found a handful of guys to wire up some show cars.. (not knocking your ability!)

and yes i will agree with you that some small audio places can screw up your car too, not all are created equal.. that is very very true as I have seen that myself. But most of the time the best buys and circuit city places on average aren't that good and that's what we're saying..

The solution to the problem? Learn to install the equipment as a do-it-yourself project! At least that way you could take care in the project, since it's your car! Some people on here dislike crutchfield.. I started out using their ideas and their help, now it's no big deal for me to install an amp, headunit, etc.. But for the beginner I think Crutchfield.com is a great resource to learn and start at...

WeeMan

ahh the good ole days of finding out for yourself....(reflects back) i am glad that so many people care and share the pain of a few peoples unfortunate happenings... i have read a couple of fuming peoples replies to this topic, and also realize that many newbies are gonna be reading this forum also so i am hoping they will find this reply and come to a conclusion themselves...

i have been shopping at all the major places, BB, CC, Fry's electronics (my favorite) etc etc. and i will go back to them (except CC read past post) after i decide what i want to do and purchase the products to install myself. the great thing about those places is that they have "specialists" who can tell you about some of the products, their features, and "what else you might need (yeah right)"

After going to BB a couple of times and speaking with different salesmen, they all pointed me in different directions for which is the best headunit, amps, speakers etc... to my surprise (sarcasm) They didn't know anything besides what was in their car, or what they could read on the boxes. But they did point out what features one did compared to another, and for the most aprt they have a simple return policy in case anything goes wrong.

I am also a fan of Crutchfield (one they ship to Guam) but they also have those step by step installation guides, and information on what each item does for you car audio and performance.

so please make your own decisions what you would rather do, you haven't heard much from the people who LOVE the big name stores. (they are out there).

(not saying that you should have installed yourself smoses799, i understand you are busy etc.)

hahajoey

just to let u know.
i know for a FACT that the circuit
closest to my house hires people who
aren't certified in anything to do car installations
my friend got hired there and he has NO idea
about anything to do with cars or car audio.