- I agree with Normalicy about the clips, a lot of them should be more durable. If you'll notice most of the ones that give out and break are on many gm, ford, and older chrysler. Usually the toyota, nissan and honda make theirs pretty strong. Hyundai, Kia and Daewoo are kind of a toss up, some are great, some suck.
-cfog88 1- I work at Circuit City (Happen to be the "manager" of our car stereo department) and while I'm sorry you ended up with a moron doing your install, you can't "box" us all together like every one of our stores suck. At least CC paid for the repairs, some of the mom and pop stores will fight tooth and nail to argue they didn't cause the damage. 2-Who is the other "big box" (as you call it) store? If you're going to put down Circuit City, maybe you should mention the other place as well.
-cfog88 1- I work at Circuit City (Happen to be the "manager" of our car stereo department) and while I'm sorry you ended up with a moron doing your install, you can't "box" us all together like every one of our stores suck. At least CC paid for the repairs, some of the mom and pop stores will fight tooth and nail to argue they didn't cause the damage. 2-Who is the other "big box" (as you call it) store? If you're going to put down Circuit City, maybe you should mention the other place as well.
Hi ppia600,
I think the other "Big Box" I went was Future Shop in Langford, B.C., close to Victoria, which is basically the same thing as Best Buy and Circuit City (actually, Best Buy now owns Future Shop.)
The Circuit City that I was talking about was in Sunnyvale, California.
Sorry about lumping you in with the rest of them, of course there are exceptions to the rule, it's just that I've never found them! (That same future shop tried to sell me a $50 ipod->RCA adapter which basically was just a 1/4" plug to dual RCA plug, white, of course with gold plated contacts. I told her thanks, but no thanks...)
I think the other "Big Box" I went was Future Shop in Langford, B.C., close to Victoria, which is basically the same thing as Best Buy and Circuit City (actually, Best Buy now owns Future Shop.)
The Circuit City that I was talking about was in Sunnyvale, California.
Sorry about lumping you in with the rest of them, of course there are exceptions to the rule, it's just that I've never found them! (That same future shop tried to sell me a $50 ipod->RCA adapter which basically was just a 1/4" plug to dual RCA plug, white, of course with gold plated contacts. I told her thanks, but no thanks...)
You guys have much better stories than I. About 25 years ago was the last install I did. It was a Toyota Landcruiser diesel. Not sure what went wrong but as soon as the owner turned his lights on - poof- dead stereo. Thankfully it was my boss that suggested I put another one in to see what happened.
Ya you guessed it. 2 dead stereos.
Turns out it was a 24V system but ran at 12V with the lights off (where I had tapped into it)
Keep the stories coming. I feel much better than I did all those years ago.
Ya you guessed it. 2 dead stereos.
Turns out it was a 24V system but ran at 12V with the lights off (where I had tapped into it)
Keep the stories coming. I feel much better than I did all those years ago.
While I can't match some of you guy's stories, I've seen a few in my day.
Probably the worst was a '99 Ford Taurus SHO which had "custom installation work" for being a "show car" that I had to clean up.
That means basically someone had hooked up underbody neon, in-car neon (all of which was by different brands, and lengths) and nitrous oxide with copper tubing to shoot flames when you used the switch to ignite the gas coming out at the rear and windshield wipers.
Apparently the first owner's girlfriend had snipped the exposed neon/lighting wiring all over the car.
I got inside the car and realized the LED "scanner" lights were super-glued to the dash, there were TWO tachometers (along with the factory tachometer) drilled into the dashboard, and a variety of ghetto'ed neon lighting of various colors, brands, & lengths (along with the obligatory AutoZone faux metallic floor mats).
I pulled up the carpet and found the biggest mess I've seen EVER. About 100 wires bundled up and taped together, like a giant ratsnest...they never used a single terminal block or crimp connector!
Boy, that was a nightmare.
Sometimes you're better off saying "No thank you."
Probably the worst was a '99 Ford Taurus SHO which had "custom installation work" for being a "show car" that I had to clean up.
That means basically someone had hooked up underbody neon, in-car neon (all of which was by different brands, and lengths) and nitrous oxide with copper tubing to shoot flames when you used the switch to ignite the gas coming out at the rear and windshield wipers.
Apparently the first owner's girlfriend had snipped the exposed neon/lighting wiring all over the car.
I got inside the car and realized the LED "scanner" lights were super-glued to the dash, there were TWO tachometers (along with the factory tachometer) drilled into the dashboard, and a variety of ghetto'ed neon lighting of various colors, brands, & lengths (along with the obligatory AutoZone faux metallic floor mats).
I pulled up the carpet and found the biggest mess I've seen EVER. About 100 wires bundled up and taped together, like a giant ratsnest...they never used a single terminal block or crimp connector!
Boy, that was a nightmare.
Sometimes you're better off saying "No thank you."
MartyM said:
Sometimes you're better off saying "No thank you."
Haha, yeah those suck. We have cars come in like that every now and then and they're like "Yeah, its all custom (blah,blah,blah) and I just won the crank it up contest (blah,blah,blah) (And we all have to save the laughter until the customer leaves) I really wish we could refuse some cars based on the condition of the previous jobs or having pests or being utterly filthy, but unfortunately most of the time we can't.
ppia600 said:
This is where I see the difference between the "big box store", as cfog88 put it, and the "mom and pop store" as you put it.
One seems to be governed by a book, where expectations are handed down from above.
The other is free to determine what they do based on what makes them comfortable, has more to lose, and their income is more truly performance based.
Of course there is/are good and bad in each example, but the factors above produce a trend that I can easily see in the course of daily life.
The innocent young apprentice at the average "mom and pop store" might have the opportunity to receive training with the "personal touch", with an emphasis on pride of workmanship.
The same apprentice at a "big box store" may have the opportunity to learn the sheltered approach to responsibility, where mistakes have been pre-estimated and covered for.
I personally have had more trouble arguing for my rights, and more regularly as well, with people who have developed the "big box attitude".
I was doing business in Tucson, Az. in the 80's. We had a stand at the Tanque Verde Swap meet. I had a good customer that was retired Navy. Higher rank. He kept coming by each weekend and threating to buy a new stereo for a Chevy Blazer he special ordered. One day he showed up with the New Blazer. He picked out a new stereo and we proceeded to install it. The truck was ordered without a radio package and did not have an antenna. I could not figure out how to mount the antenna even though I had the correct Chevy part. I made many attempts to run the coax cable. I just could not figure it out. I pulled out the glovebox, still could not do it. The older customer said. " Just put that long drill bit on your makita and drill a hole at this angle in the glovebox." I replied "no." "I will not do it." Please take it to the Chevy dealer and I will pay to have it installed" He insisted. I gave in. I started the drill and pushed on the back of the Makita. I felt it break through, but at the same time I hear a yell. "stop!" I pulled the drill out in one motion and saw to my surprise His Brown Eyeball looking right back at me from the other end of the new hole. I drilled right through the sheetmetal! He started pacing around in circles. He said"George, someone with all your knowledge. I cannot believe you drilled right through my NEW Blazer." I told him to go to the dealer and have it fixed and i would pay for it. He left, I never saw him again.
I met the Clarion Rep today. He is the rep for the Western USA. He told a crown of dealers that the worst installation disaster he was involved in. He ID etched a NEW BMW vin number on all parts of the vehicle. Both the major parts and minor parts such as the battery. After finishing the job he realized he used the wrong vin id number.
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