If having nice people working there is your high water mark for success, this place will only leave you mildly disappointed. Most of the people I encountered seemed friendly enough, as long as you don't have an issue or question that needs resolving.
First off, you will pay a premium for equipment from Cartunes. I bought the Kenwood DDX9903S, their price $1000, Crutchfield price $699. Lets be honest, they are probably buying from Crutchfield (and if they aren't they probably should be).
You might think you get a little extra for the premium. You don't. They will charge you for the installation, their rates seem comparable to other installation shops. I paid $150 for the deck installation (no speakers, nothing really custom [I did have a rear camera installed as well, that was an additional $100]). In their quote, they charge $5 for "miscellaneous". I find this peculiar, because charged separately for the wires, harness, and other equipment. What could possibly be miscellaneous?
Installation day: Expect to lose your vehicle for 9 hours. I dropped my truck off at 9am, at 3pm I called to see how things were going. Their phrase was "just buttoning this up, shouldn't be much longer". I arrived to pick it up at 6pm (no call, I just knew that's when they closed), and they were not yet done. After an additional hour of waiting, they drove my truck around. I asked for any manuals for the new receiver and was told "oh, just go download those online, we don't have anything". This might seem weird for a "new" receiver, but it's the digital age, maybe I'm just old-fashioned.
Let me talk about the job they did. While I sat in their parking lot, I went through most of the settings. Everything was "factory default", which I think is ok. I played with some of the controls and adjusted the settings to what I liked. Audio is a personal preference thing, so default seems appropriate. When I tried to use the back-up camera, it was grainy. I attributed this to it being late in the evening and possibly poor light. I tested CarPlay with my phone, which worked great, and then I plugged my phone into the external HDMI port, no picture was displayed. I did not test the other features, as I did not have any DVDs with me, but everything else sounded and looked good.
When I got home, I watched some youtube videos on how to use the HDMI port. I followed their directions, still no picture, no sound. The next morning, I was looking forward to my Boston commute. I popped in an audio DVD, and to my dismay, nothing played. I changed the setting to CarPlay/Pandora, and that worked, so I drove off. As I was filling up my gas tank, I inspected the rear camera. Surprisingly, they had left the little blue film over the cameras glass (that explains the grainy images). In 9 hours, they didn't have a fraction of a second to remove that film. As I drove off, I saw the light on my dashboard indicating the passenger side airbag was not enabled. Under the alert is my hazard light button, I pressed it, and realized that was never connected either. When they disassembled the dash, they forgot to plug everything back in. I continue my drive and get a phone call from Cartunes. They ask if I found any tools in my truck (or possibly even under it), they had lost a magnetic light and a pair of pliers. This should tell you everything you need to know about their attention to detail, and careful installation. I mention that the dash isn't connected, she asked me to drop by to have it fixed, and when I mentioned the DVD, she told me I needed to depress the parking break fully to watch a DVD. If only there was a manual that I could have read that in.
When I went back to have the airbags and hazards plugged in they were extremely busy, and asked me to drop it off. I didn't have time, but she said "oh, just the dash, I can fix that in the parking lot, you'll need to drop it off to troubleshoot the HDMI issue". She grabbed some tools, removed the dash before realizing she need to drive around to the garage anyway. 45 minutes later I was able to leave, with the hazards functioning properly, and airbag lights off. Just for fun, I decided to plug in the external HDMI cable, and everything came up (except it was all green, as if the wire was loose).
I went back this morning. The Hooksett location closed in the past week, there is a sign pointing me to the Derry location. I drive the additional 20 minutes to Derry, where I saw the man that did my installation. He tried to tell me I didn't plug in the HDMI wire correctly. He tested it, saw the green image, and then said "no problem, I'll get this fixed". 30 minutes later, he tells me the HDMI wire I had was bad, and if I wanted it fixed, to buy a new wire, and he'd only CHARGE me $75 to replace it. Yes, CHARGE me to replace a wire that never worked since installation (that he never tested).
You pay a premium, but they are not careful, not thorough, and their customer service is atrocious. read more