Would not recommend. Have an experience from over 2 years ago and a more recent experience. Was not enough room for a full detailed review so this is the basics.
Brought in my Infiniti G35 2 1/2 years ago and spoke with Alex the owner. New front and rear speakers, amp to replace the factory one, auxiliary input, alarm, and door lock actuators to work with the alarm and key fob. Eventually wanted a sub installed and they said to just bring it back in, but it sounded good and was happy for $1100.
Got my subs and separate amp to install myself as I have in the past, as well as my father. We can't
figure out how to incorporate the amp with the wiring work they did, not to mention the gain adjuster box was cheap as hell and would make the speakers crackle with any movement. Ended up just tying in the subs into the aftermarket amp and got more bass but not quite the expectation I had.
More recently a month or two ago, system was starting to sound poor. Call in to see if I could bring it in to have it inspected, Alex said they would take a look. Get a call and the tweeters in the front are out; not very happy because I wasn't expecting to have to return for more speakers. Mike attempts to up-sell me on a whole new, double din touch screen stereo, back up camera, window tint, and throws in some telescope sound equalizer to tune my new system perfectly. $2,500! Tell him I don't need the tint, back up camera, super expensive touch screen, and want the sub amp installed for better quality. Negotiated,
anything over $2,000 was a no go, he matched it. Told him I have the sub amp and he knocked off another $300. Mentioned financing they do '100 Days same as Cash', which was the biggest player in my decision. Confirmed some of the terms with him, specifically that 'I could come in on the 95th day with the full amount in cash and pay it off'. I think about it for a couple hours and Mike calls back. I
agree to the terms and decide to do the back up camera. Mike says they usually charge $300, absurd, but he would do it for $150 (by the way I heard him use this same line on another customer in person next time I went in, might as well just say $1,000 to make it sound even better, because even $150 is a little much after having done it with my father a few weeks later and the camera was $60!). So $1,850 and we set up the financing over the phone. Mike tells me to agree to the terms that are being texted to me, I take a quick glance, and agree. There was a $70 fee for the financing that was never mentioned, so the total was $1,920.
Pick up the car a day or two later, pretty ecstatic. Alex comes out and gives me a short run down, 'tuning' my system in less than a minute (so much for that telescope tuning program that mike said would be done). Go to drive off but the shifter felt like it would slip out of gear, and the gear indicator was incorrect so they take it back and fix it. Over the next day or two I attempt to use the manual mode to up and down shift manually, downshifting doesn't work. I take apart the center console a few days later and notice a small metal piece is missing from the downshift electrode. Search around but no luck. Call up and tell Mike that it was working days before I brought it in, and withing two days after I get the car back it doesn't work. He says they would not take responsibility but would take a look at it. I bring the car back in after the first visit id rescheduled, they claim to have 'gotten rid of' the employee that worked on my car because they don't want that kind of heat or reputation. Another guy takes a look and brings up unrelated issues with my shifter. Mike said he would try and find that electrode to have it replaced, and mentioned that I should go all the way to the junkyards in Otay Mesa to look for it as well, and at most, they would TRY to pay for half the price of the part.
I get the part a week or so later and let Mike know. I decide to repair it myself as I don't want anything else to go wrong. That same phone call I discuss the worst part of this whole experience. The '100 Days same as Cash' financing instead turned out to be a 90 days interest free loan with TWO payments a month of $178, overdrawing my bank account because I didn't have the money to do this in the first place; and if the amount isn't paid off, you will end up paying over $4,000 over 12 months. Mike said that is what 'same as cash' means even though he made it sound otherwise previously. I explained how unhappy I was with the whole experience and asked if they would do anything to compensate me for all the BS. Nothing.
More recently my door lock actuator would not work properly before it stopped working altogether. After inspecting it, not wanting to bring anything back to Audio Shack, the wiring was done poorly, and water had leaked into a wire connector and corroded and broke off the power wires. Paid way too much for a few good things and way too many headaches and too much stress! read more