Almost everyone here seemed nice. Until I realized when it came to "custom" car stereo installation. I would've been better off going to Best Buy.
I have an older British car. I wanted to install some 6-1/2" speakers on the rear shelf, which originally accommodated some weird 5.35" speaker size. The whole reason I came to SolarCraft was because David (the owner) said they would cut out the holes to the right size, install the speakers, install the amp and rewire the car. And that was it. The price was twice what others had quoted me, but those other places said they couldn't cut the holes for me. Which, in the end, sounded good to me, plus, the ratings on Yelp were great.
So, when I came back to the shop to pick up my car, I realized the bottoms of the speakers were hanging incredibly low into the trunk... But, I was excited to pick up my car, so I thought it must've been because I bought reference quality speakers and I new they had a deeper mounting depth.... Also the Dynamat was clearly showing from under the carpet, and he left the old wiring hanging in the trunk.
Then I saw they threw away the boxes my speakers and amp came in. I don't know about you, but if I bring in 600+ dollars of electronics, in their boxes, to be installed, I expect to have those boxes back, with warranty cards, accessories and instruction manuals... But no, they went in the trash because, "why would we keep them? It's trash." (- Ernesto) So, David went dumpster diving and found only the box the speakers came in... Of which the speaker grilles were missing... Of course. Hybrid Audio sells those grills at almost $20 a pop. Ugh...
I drove off kinda pissed, but happy that I finally had the work done, until the next day... I realized the reason the speakers were sitting so low. THE HOLES WERE NOT CUT AT ALL. They just mounted the speakers under the sheet metal and called it a day. Even though the speakers were partially covered by the sheet metal!! I called furious. Somehow David was completely content with charging me twice as much as other places for doing the job he did do, and also didn't even work to do the rest of the job he agreed to do.
So, he had me come back in... He was nice about it, but was still defending the work. When I arrived, I realized the guy who works in the "custom installation" garage didn't look so happy. When I came back to pick the car up... I just saw the holes were cut, the speakers were sitting higher up, and the carpet was covering the Dynamat... So, still angry that I had to come back, I left finally feeling the job was done.
I look closely now... THE SPEAKERS AREN'T EVEN SITTING FLUSH. THEY'RE FLOATING ABOVE THE SHEET METAL BECAUSE THE HOLES THEY CUT WEREN'T BIG ENOUGH.
The sheet metal looked like it was cut by a teenager. Jagged edges. Metal shavings everywhere under the carpet. And the holes have sharp metal jutting into the speaker frame.
When they screwed in the $300 reference quality speakers (that I want to last a lifetime) they just screwed the speakers in until the sharp metal cut into the chassis of the speaker and gave disgusting cuts all the way around the frame.
I would've been completely fine if they just told me they couldn't do it. I would've bought a 5 1/2" hole saw myself, cut the holes, and used my crappy grinder to soften the edges. But $100 for the hole saw and a lot of time and sweat.... I thought this was going to be worth it. But no...
If you need a custom install stay the heck away from this place. That guy sitting in the custom install area should be fired. Or, at least, don't give him any of your business. You'll just get screwed over like I did. read more