DETAILED VERSION:
I never write reviews. These guys had this coming as my only recourse and I owe it to you, the next person considering this business. This began the last week of May, 2011.
I step into “702 Motoring” on East Flamingo. I told Eric (Salesperson) I had a solid ear for music and wanted a loud, clean system installed in my 2008 Land Rover LR3. Simple enough it seems. I told him I had a budget around $3,000 and I thought I should be able to get a great sounding system for that. He agreed! He proceeded to compile a list of all the top of the line Alpine gear for my car. He gave me a price sheet and sent me on my way to think about it. I got home, checked the prices online and saw he was charging me around 30% more than street price for all the gear. I called him and we worked that out. He was a pretty nice guy and helped get the prices down. So far, so good. “Let’s get the install scheduled and get started” I say. “How long will this take” I ask Eric to which he replies “I need a full day. Drop it off in the morning and pick it up the next morning.” Fair enough. This was the beginning of a long, painful hassle that would challenge even the most fair and reasonable of people.
I am a picky person with attention to detail. I was told that there was no aftermarket deck mount (bezel) for my car and that to get a new deck mounted, a bezel would have to be handmade. The installer (Neil… who was later fired over my install) said “I can do it no problem. I have been doing this work for 18 years!” I told Eric that this system needed to be cleanly installed and that it needed to sound precise. I had no interest in bass ripping the trunk off my car. I like bass, but I want good clean bass and a tight overall sound. “No problem” he replies.
It was going to be nothing but a problem. Let me proceed. I hope you stay with me here. It will save you lots of time and hassle.
Their staff agrees the job can be done and they can meet my needs. “Great!” I think. I pay a roughly 50% deposit of the $3,200 job. Around $1,000 of the work was labor and misc install parts. I bring my car in the next day to get started. DAY ONE it’s in the shop. DAY TWO I call to come get it. It’s not done with the reason that “the installer scratched the bezel when he installed it and it needs to be painted again. It will be done tomorrow”. Is it ready on DAY THREE? Nope. On DAY FOUR they say “It’s done! Come take a listen!” I drive down there. I get in the car and they immediately BLAST the system. “How does it sound?” I was in shock. When I dropped the car off, they went through it carefully looking for scratches and such so they would not be responsible for them. They show me the car and it’s covered in dust, cut wires on the carpet, and the bezel they made looks like a junior high silly putty project. The mic for the Bluetooth is just hanging loosely. The whole thing is such a disaster I do now know where to start. The worst part is it sounds terrible. WAY TOO MUCH bass, sharp highs, no mid-bass and it’s a mess. They mounted a bass volume control knob intro my center console in the most difficult place to reach possible, of course without asking me. They said it would be mounted next to the deck. Not so.
I am so overwhelmed by the TERRIBLE work and sound that I cannot even take it all in. I say “let me drive it home, play with it all and see what I think.”
What complicated all this further was that I was supposed to leave the two days before on a road trip to Colorado for a month vacation. Each extra day they make me wait pushes my trip back. I have been quite patient.
In short, it sounded bad, looked bad, buzzed like crazy and was a total mess. The air conditioner did not work any longer and I was super bummed. I called up Eric and told him my feelings. He agrees to try and fix it. I would hope a good audio place would use their own reference music to at least try to dial in the system before they give it to you. That did not happen. They basically throw the stuff in and see what bothers you. Terrible service in that way.
It turns out the owner Paul had fired Neil (installer) for doing such a bad job on my car. Paul confessed “the way he ran your Sirius Satellite wiring was awful. We don’t do that kind of work.” But they do that kind of work. They did it on my car. I did not even know about the bad wiring. I couldn’t see it. They take the car and my list of complaints (which also included road noise when driving over 70mph from a bad job running wires from the engine into the car) and agree to try and fix it.
DAY FIVE the car is with them and a new guy is working on it. DAY SIX I get the car back. The air conditioner is still not working. The new bezel looks terrible, scratched, dinged up, sanding marks and it does not even line up right. I know now that these guys are not capable of delivering what I need. I drive the car to Land Rover and get the A/C fixed. Three hours and $190 later I head back to 702 Motoring. Paul agrees to pay me back for the A/C repair. He almost makes it sound like he is doing me a favor by doing so. I wasted three hours getting it fixed and he is doing me a favor. I explain to him that the rear speakers have intermittent engine noise and the audio cuts in and out. The bezel still *****. The whole thing is still a mess but I have a road trip to leave for and they cannot fix their poor work anyway. If I gave them a month I do not think they could fix it. They are not able to do good work. Period.
Now what to do?
I came to Colorado and went to a few different shops telling the salespeople what happened. I finally was referred to a gentleman named Erik Leonhardt at Highline Audio outside of Boulder, CO. We spoke. He looked and listened to the install and understood what to do. He pulled out all the wiring 702 Motoring did. He built a beautiful new bezel. Dampened the doors with Dynamat. He moved the Bluetooth adapter and secured it well. He tuned and properly eq’d the system. He made sure there we no buzzes. He moved a poorly placed bass know and filled & painted the hole left behind. He adjusted the crossovers and amp settings. In short, he did it right. He did it with pride. How? He simply knew what he was doing. He’s a pro. My system went from bringing me to tears to sounding even beyond what I had hoped for. Same equipment in the car. The only difference was knowing how to install it correctly and how to get it to sound good. If you have the chance to have Erik do your install in Colorado, by all means. I swear by him. At the same time, do yourself a favor, skip 702 Motoring. The hassle to have someone else do it right is immense and quite expensive.
As for Paul, the manager/owner/whatever at 702 Motoring. He warned “I will reply to your online reviews!” Please. Reply. He said “I did not want to take your job in the first place!” I am not sure why that would be? I paid. We all agreed it would sound and look great. Where did I go wrong? As for this being extortion, you be the judge. I just want to help others by avoiding repeating my problem with them. I also think he should not have made any money on my job. I asked for a $500 refund. Half what it cost me to get his work corrected. I only asked for half because some of the $1000 I paid was for sound dampening and it would not be fair to ask him to cover that.
In short, I could care less what dribble Paul has to say in response to this. I stated my case and it’s up to you to make your own decision. My stereo sounds great now and after this is posted, my job is done.
Best wishes to you. To Paul, I hope you see the error in the way you handled this and treat it like a lesson. You had every chance to avoid this but your ego is larger than your honor.