A review of Vanguard Automotive Design in Stony Point, NY

[Blurdy08]

I normally do not post reviews like this, but after sitting on this for a long time I feel like I should share my experience with Vanguard Automotive Design in Stony Point New York so others do not end up in the same situation.

I brought my truck in for what was pitched as a top tier system. The quote was around $35k, and the promise was that it would be something special. The job took much longer than the original timeline quoted, and while that frustrated me, it was nothing compared to what would come. When I finally picked it up, it was a little louder than stock, but the quality was not what I expected for that kind of money. It sounded a little better than the stock premium system, but not by much. I was told to give it time to break in and come back for retunes. I did, two other times. It improved a little, but never to the level that was sold to me. Life got very busy with kids and work, the shop was a long drive, and I accepted that this was how it was going to be. I drove it like that for over a year.

I eventually had a leak through the rear wall/rear window of the truck and the system died. I brought it back. I was told multiple amplifiers, both processors that are part of two of the amplifiers, and the amplifier bridge were all destroyed by water and would have to be replaced, which sucked to hear. What sucked even more to hear; the water damage means its not covered under warranty and the replacement bill was just under $10k. I just paid it and hoped insurance would help.

This is where the real red flags showed up. The first time I ever visited, there had been a full crew. Now the place felt emptied out, with only Chris there. When I picked the truck up after the replacement work, it actually sounded worse than ever before. I was told he was trying to track down the original tune from a tuner that he had used and had not been able to get it, so I would need to bring the truck back again. I later did, left it for a couple of days, and picked it up. It was once again a bit better, but still not even close to right. We sat in the vehicle and he tried to adjust it to my preferences, and it became clear the tuning was not under control and this was not something he excelled in. I told him it was fine, even though I was disappointed. I drove home in silence, called a friend to vent about the situation, and he suggested another local shop take a look. We talked to a few friends in the local car community and we had a suggestion of another local shop that was thankfully closer to me to try, and I gave them a call.

At the second shop, they pulled the rear seat to access the processors so they could program them. Without fully knowing my backstory, they pointed out corrosion on all four amplifiers and the amplifier bridge. That is when it clicked. After paying for replacements, it looked like the same water-affected hardware was still in the truck, and I realized that I had never checked or saw the new hardware that was supposedly installed. I cannot prove it beyond a reasonable doubt, but the condition of the gear raised serious concerns considering I had just paid a lot of money for what was supposed to be brand new amplifiers only a couple of weeks earlier.

I tried the normal channels to verify what had been purchased and got nowhere, including tracking down the US distributor of the processors and amplifiers to see if Vanguard had purchased these models recently, but they were a brick wall and cited confidentiality. I even spoke with local law enforcement and was told there is nothing to do without hard proof. Insurance ended up covering most of the loss, which is the only reason I did not spend any time truly fighting this. It still felt like I had been taken advantage of financially and personally.

I kept quiet for a long time. Recently I met another owner at a local event who described a somewhat similar experience with Chris before he owned Vanguard. That was the last straw. I am posting this so others go in with eyes open. If you are considering an install there, think hard before committing. I certainly regret it.

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[slater]

Would imagine if he truly replaced all those amps, processors etc, they would have been tossed in a corner somewhere for possibly spare parts for something, just in case & not tossed in the trash....
Did you point blank, ask if he had the old water damaged parts?

Hope you addressed the water leak....
What kind of components did you get for the tune of $35k, seems extreme.....
but then again, were talking 4 amps...
No reviews on yelp....
His lame utube channel, comes across as a weirdo to me, all red flags.....
Looks like he struggling....

Sorry you went through this, cant be careful enough while doing your DD....

 

[Jimi77 Premium Member]

$35k!!! What did you get??? Typo???

 

[deez283 10+ year member]

You should post this on diyma . com

 

[deez283 10+ year member]

The owners name is Nick not sure who Chris is..
They would do remote tunes for people all over the country and people praised their shop all the time.

I don't use shops of any kind so I can't comment on their work personally.

 

[Blurdy08]

The owners name is Nick not sure who Chris is..
They would do remote tunes for people all over the country and people praised their shop all the time.

I don't use shops of any kind so I can't comment on their work personally.

Chris was the only person left when i was there last. I had heard about Nick from others, but he left before I had the initial round of work done on the truck.

 

[Blurdy08]

You should post this on diyma . com

This shows as an empty domain

 

[Blurdy08]

$35k!!! What did you get??? Typo???

A lot of dsp, amplifiers, and really good speakers. The factory system has a lot of speakers that they told me needed to be replaced, and that each one needed to be amplified since the bridge replaced the factory amp.

 

[deez283 10+ year member]

Chris was the only person left when i was there last. I had heard about Nick from others, but he left before I had the initial round of work done on the truck.

Well if you really want to warn others of this shop I'd post it in the general discussions area at the diyma forum there is more people into those types of builds over there and likely to use this business.

The Nick guy use to post over there but got banned sometime back.

 

[deez283 10+ year member]

This shows as an empty domain

DIYMobileAudio.com Car Stereo Forum

A forum community dedicated to all mobile audio enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about capacitors, amplifiers, subwoofers, marine and automotive audio, troubleshooting, and more!

www.diymobileaudio.com

 

[Blurdy08]

Would imagine if he truly replaced all those amps, processors etc, they would have been tossed in a corner somewhere for possibly spare parts for something, just in case & not tossed in the trash....
Did you point blank, ask if he had the old water damaged parts?

Hope you addressed the water leak....
What kind of components did you get for the tune of $35k, seems extreme.....
but then again, were talking 4 amps...
No reviews on yelp....
His lame utube channel, comes across as a weirdo to me, all red flags.....
Looks like he struggling....

Sorry you went through this, cant be careful enough while doing your DD....

The water leak was addressed. Your comment on struggling is what I couldn't help but feel the second time around that I was there. The shop had no one else besides us two in the middle of the day.

I did want to approach him on the topic of the water damaged parts and how the new ones were rusted within a couple of weeks, but I wanted to gather more evidence first before approaching him with the claim. Unfortunately, time had passed and insurance paid for most of it and I had moved on as life got really busy with the kids and a whole slew of life changes. I only had the thought of posting this when someone mentioned me to me a similar situation with Chris before he owned Vanguard.

 

[Blurdy08]

DIYMobileAudio.com Car Stereo Forum

A forum community dedicated to all mobile audio enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about capacitors, amplifiers, subwoofers, marine and automotive audio, troubleshooting, and more!

www.diymobileaudio.com

Thank you for the link and suggestion. I joined, but I cannot make posts for some reason.

 

[shredder1 10+ year member]

$35k, and the promise was that it would be something special.

Next time you want to invest 35K I may know a few guys who will produce something special. Whether it is Sq, Daily or Spl.
Your situation sounds like Sq and if you were unhappy with the sound I'd go as far as maybe telling op to learn to tune your own gear. Car Audio, especially Sq pursuits are not something you pay for. Sq is the MOST picky, anally retentive pursuit where literally everyone has a different approach to some nebulous goal of a soundstage /w/ bass that can't be localized.
Sometimes less is more when seeking Sq... signal, amplification and well planned install.