"I make $2 million a year. I don't need your money, and I don't care about your bad review."…read more
That was essentially the response I received from the owner of Miami Pro Audio in Jacksonville after his shop took my 4Runner at 7:45 AM for a Wolfbox G900 TriPro installation, kept it for nearly nine hours without calling or texting me a single time, and then informed me--only after I left work early and physically showed up at 4:30 PM--that they intended to keep my truck until noon the following day.
This was an installation I had scheduled nearly two weeks earlier, on August 14. I had already paid Miami Pro Audio $310.05 up front for the installation, supplied the Wolfbox and everything necessary for the job, and had been given an initial estimate of approximately three hours. I planned my day around giving them roughly four hours.
Instead, 8 hours and 45 minutes passed without a single status update. No phone call saying they were running behind. No text saying there had been a problem. No request asking whether I could leave my vehicle overnight. Nothing.
I finally left work early and went to the shop myself because I hadn't heard from them. That's when the owner casually told me my truck wouldn't be ready until noon the next day.
I told him that was unacceptable. I told him I had other obligations and could not simply leave my vehicle there overnight without notice. I also told him plainly that this was no way to run a business.
For absolute clarity: I did not curse at him. I did not threaten him. I did not call him names or personally insult him. I spoke firmly and with conviction because I believed--and still believe--that his business was responsible for the situation.
His response was essentially that it was what it was. He shrugged.
So I called my wife, again, to come pick me up. She drove over, got me, and we began the roughly 30-minute drive home. About 15 minutes down the road, my phone rang. It was the owner.
Now, suddenly, he wanted me to come back and get my truck. He told me he was refusing to finish the installation because he didn't like the way I had spoken to him.
When I told him that the failure here was his company's--not mine--he responded by telling me words to the effect of: "I have 900 reviews. I make $2 million a year. I don't need your money." He also made it clear that he didn't care about me leaving a negative review.
So let's put that into perspective. I made an appointment nearly two weeks in advance. I prepaid $310.05. I dropped my vehicle off at 7:45 AM. They had it for 8 hours and 45 minutes without contacting me once. I had to leave work early and physically go to the shop just to learn that they planned to keep my vehicle overnight.
And after I objected to that treatment--without cursing, threatening, or personally insulting anyone--the owner decided that the problem was how I spoke to him.
We turned around and drove back. They then spent approximately another 30 minutes removing the work they had already completed so they could return my truck to me.
To their credit, I received a full refund of my $310.05. However, my 4Runner was returned to me with the interior dirty. There was no apology.
And that's what makes this experience so remarkable to me. The installation taking longer than expected was never the real problem.
Anyone who has ever worked on a vehicle understands that jobs run long. Parts don't cooperate. Another job causes a delay. An installer runs into something unexpected. A three-hour job can become five or six hours. That's life.
But when you're holding somebody else's vehicle, communication isn't optional.
One phone call during those nearly nine hours could have changed the entire situation: "We're running behind. We're sorry. We aren't going to get this finished today. Can you leave the truck overnight, or would you like to reschedule?"
That's it.
Instead, I received zero communication, discovered the overnight delay only because I showed up myself, received no apology, and then had the owner refuse to complete the work because I firmly told him that his company's handling of the situation was unacceptable.
And apparently the justification for being willing to lose a customer was that he has 900 reviews and makes $2 million a year.
I can't speak for anyone else's experience with Miami Pro Audio. I can only tell you exactly what mine was.
And based on that experience, I would never trust Miami Pro Audio with one of my vehicles again.
