Ripped off?

[H1ck3y82]

I recently had the following installed in my 05 fx4 f159 and am almost sure I got hosed: in Alpine ILX Dash W650 7”inch shallow mount Dash system, 2CX Dash 570 Hz 5 x 7 coacts two-way door speakers, to tweeters which I provided, AJL 400 W four channel amplifier, to 8 inch Rockford Fosgate slim self powered subwoofers, A rear view camera that only works if I manually turn it on and it has a terrible picture, and the Bluetooth on my double den doesn’t work through the microphone...... All of this costed me $2900, The labor alone was over 1000 somethings not right with that please give me some feedback, if you notice on the photos I feel as if I was charged for labor that you know they did twice or something, I was charged for a backseat to be raised that wasn’t raised and I’m just wondering what the normal cost of something like this should be?????

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[Lasherž]

Well, the costs are inflated and the labor is expensive. I can't say for sure that they didn't pay those rates for the gear, but they (aka you) got ripped off if so.

For starters you've got 130 dollar 5x7" speakers being charged as 225. depending which model you actually got, all of which are cheaper than 225. Source here

Then a $300 HU being charged at 400. Source here

The 2 8" self powered subwoofers were quoted at 250 and crutchfield has them at 270. Source Here

The license plate cover was quoted at 60. It's 50. Source Here

The camera was quoted at 150, it's 130. Source Here

There's no mention at all of the JL 400w 4 channel amp?

Misc. charges shouldn't be a thing since they add 3% on labor to cover the cost of wires, etc. and that's only 32.25, not 78.15.

The equipment cost is inflated overall, but with no mention of the amp it seems like maybe it equals out. The labor is the real killer on this one. I don't think it would take me 9 hours and 45 minutes to install all of that stuff. I assume what they did is charged their standard rates assuming a new tear-down for each new part. So for example, once the trim is removed it's not like they're going to put it back on before starting on the camera. The times they're quoting seem like the time it'd take in a standard shop without trim removal. I've never worked in a shop, so maybe the times make more sense to them.

 

[Popwarhomie 5,000+ posts]

Yep.

 

[Squirrel!]

Dude, ya got reamed. What is with the "lift rear seat" BS about?

 

[Lasherž]

Wow just realized what they did to get that 78.15 value. They violated their own policy according to the bottom of the paper. They took the total of both equipment and labor and added 3% instead of just labor. Also yeah 100 dollars an hour is high even for audio pros and he's not a pro if he's taking almost 10 hours to do all of that. I think a reasonable amount for all of that would be closer to 2k.

I took another look at the camera they chose and yeah, it's 640 x 480 which is pretty weak. 800×480 is the resolution of the screen you have. The factory displays are usually 720p and that's why your expectations of clarity are higher.

 

[Louisiana_CRX 5,000+ posts]

Did Will Castros crew install that for you ?

 

[Lasherž]

Did Will Castros crew install that for you ?

Looks like Robert Hickey at the very top.

 

[huberoy123 10+ year member]

I recently had the following installed in my 05 fx4 f159 and am almost sure I got hosed: in Alpine ILX Dash W650 7”inch shallow mount Dash system, 2CX Dash 570 Hz 5 x 7 coacts two-way door speakers, to tweeters which I provided, AJL 400 W four channel amplifier, to 8 inch Rockford Fosgate slim self powered subwoofers, A rear view camera that only works if I manually turn it on and it has a terrible picture, and the Bluetooth on my double den doesn’t work through the microphone...... All of this costed me $2900, The labor alone was over 1000 somethings not right with that please give me some feedback, if you notice on the photos I feel as if I was charged for labor that you know they did twice or something, I was charged for a backseat to be raised that wasn’t raised and I’m just wondering what the normal cost of something like this should be?????View attachment 21767View attachment 21768

It seems a bit high to me. How many estimates did you get?

 

[Slo_Ride 5,000+ posts]

Well you didn't even come close to the right section so you're obviously not to bright.

 

[krisfnbz 10+ year member]

Yikes. Overpaid is an understatement...

 

[2RZ-FE 10+ year member]

Not sure how much the equipment is but expect to pay around MSRP at a shop. Cheap online prices don't apply here. Labor isn't cheap either they don't make Burger King wages. Expect $60/hr minimum. Sometimes you have multiple installers and the shop gets a cut to keep the lights on.

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

The gear prices are normal. Labor is stupid. You could have bought a 1080p or 1440p quad hd rearview camera for that price on Amazon.