Its been 15 days...and counting since i have drove my 1999 gs400 into the nice little car stereo shop. I have been walking to class and work almost every day since. It takes some dedication to walk the long trek to work and school almost every day and evening. I have been very lienant (sp?) with the shop and well my patience has ran out. I called them last monday to see how it was going. They said it would be thursday or friday, so i decide to suck it up and chill. Thursday comes and i call and they say saturday. Saturday comes before i have to work and well, they say they have 3-4 more hours left...and it was 4-5 hours before they close. So yesterday rolls around and they tell me there not finished. I freakin call this morning and they tell me the rear deck lid is rattling and they are working on some flush mounts, and it will be done tomorrow. WTF Should i do. This is horrible. I am sick or walking, and bumming rides and putting people in a situation. These cats told me it would be a 4-5 day job. I want top quality work, and i figure i have given them enough time to finish this project. I mean i have seen houses built quicker than this. this isn't a cheap system either, and thats why i have been patient, to a certain degree. But there comes a point when its time to finish. Very frustrating. I have been thinking of getting my car and not paying them until they can dedicate some time and not di$# me around, damn what should i do...i mean i was furious this morning...almost didn't walk the damn three plus miles to class.....should i just start screamin...damn????

 

What type of work were you having done? Simple stuff or extreme fabrication/show car?

Percy

 

I am having some decent size work being done, but there was minimal fiberglass work. Having monitors and nav and ps2 installed. Custom deck lid being redone, The rear of the trunk is having a wall built for the amps to save on trunk space. Speakers are being mounted up underneath the decklip in a box. Fiberglass was done for the front headunit bezels.

 

Whoa, 3+ miles to walk to class! I used to walk one mile or so everyday to get to class, and I thought that was a lot. Anyway, it sounds like you're gettin yanked around dude. I would like to see your system when you get your car back, please post pics sometime.

 

i told them i am picking it up tomorrow regardless. I mean if it was total fiberglass i could understand, but its going to look good, but should have been done about a week ago imo. I mean i am starting to feel as if i should have spent the extra money the other stores wanted. Least i would be in my car by now, and well not treated as if i bought 250 dollars worth of stuff. A paying customer is a paying customer, but i mean its been over two weeks. Friday i am taking back down there and sitting, until its done. I need to quit being a p$%#y n complain some

 

What can you do really? Be a jerk, yell and scream at them, so they hurry, and possibly rush the end? Nahhhh - don't do it.

If when they are done, and its not perfect, still have patience, and make sure they get it perfect.

If still no resolution, raise a stink on how long it took, how patient you've been, and get some of the costs reduced because of your time without your car.

ie. "You told be X, and its been Y.....I've waited this long, and it still isn't perfect!? "

If you think they are doing a great job, then savor it.

Easy for me to say, I know, since it isn't my car, but the very little experince I've had around a stereo shop, they have stuff pop up all the time, rotating multipler jobs at once. And from what I can tell, the good work usually takes more time.

Another perspective.

 

What Dex said..

Ya, you miss your car and are happily waiting for your new system. You've called them and I'll bet you they have chatted amongst themselves that you have called a few times. I'll bet they know how bad you want your car, think about how many other cars they've done and had a customer call and call and call. It's exciting stuff, don't get me wrong.

Spend more time getting to know some stereo shop guys and see that cars may be there for quite a while. It takes time top take everything out carefully and put it back in. A good shop will take their time to get it right. Also like Dex said, they might get customers who want to pay for something to be put in which may conflict with their schedule on your car.

 

I think id rather have a someone take their time and do it right rather than rush the install.
From what you are saying it sounds like its going to be a nice set-up.

Good luck.



Think about a second car soon

 

First off, DAMMMMMMNNN, a three mile walk to school every day!!! Man i get mad when I have to walk down to my mailbox, I only do that every couple of days.

I think anyone that has ever been into doing large sized modding to their cars has been in your shoes at least once. I have been there probably a dozen times, ecspecially with body shops, they are the worst at forecasting a delivery date. Here is where your dilema comes into play, do you flip out on them and force them to get the job done quickly, or should you be patient and let them do the job correctly the first time. Obviously you want the job to be perfect, so if you flip on them, your taking the risk of pissing them off. If you **** them off, you run the risk of them doing a half a*s job just to get you out of their hair. If you dont say anything, they may take another two weeks to get it done.
Did they give you an estimated delivery date when you dropped it off?
If so, then talk to them with a cool, calm voice about the extra time it is taking them to get it done. Explain to them the fact that you didnt count on being without the car for this long, and that your walking 3 miles a day to school(thats gotta make them feel for you)! You will get alot more accomplished with calm conversation than you will with being irrate, no matter how much of a right you have to be irrate. If they didnt give you an estimate when you dropped off the car, then its kinda on both your and their hands for not coming to some kind of agreement. Just remember, they have your baby in their possesion, dont do anything to compromise your baby!!


Good luck with it, I hope it comes out as you expect it to after all of the waiting time.

 

I would expect the shop to at least rent you a car while they are going past their deadline so you don't have to walk! I do this if I go over on a job and it is the professional thing to do.....It also makes them realize that it is costing money to not have your car done.

Scott@lajollaaudio

 

Yes I agree you should be very mad but yelling and screaming reallyisn't going to help cuz they still have your car! I would ask for some money off and tell them that they will lose a lot of referral business int he long run if they don't help you out. I am a manager at a stereo shop in Ma so I know how you feel but just be patient it is an expensive car with what sounds like an expensive system. Trust me that first bass rop you will forget all about the bad experience. Shouldve came to me

 

Don't rush the job, and don't **** them off.

Invest in a bike, and then see if you can get some of the cost back AFTER installation.

Tim

 

Well i played it cool as usual, and they did me fairly well. I went and picked up my ride yesterday afternoon before having to go to work. I was sitting around and sparked up a conversation with the main manager there and found out he was from around my family's hometown and just some nice basic conversation. I must of been having a horrible morning the other day...but oh well...i wish i had some pics, but i will get those soon enough. The flush mount ps2 looks and works very nice. I had the box the ps2 was mounted in in vinyl to match the inside of the glove compartment. The navigation is unbelievable!!! The voice command is something else also. It has to be the most advance unit out there imo. You can tell it to change destinations, tell it phone numbers you want to find, find shortest, quickest, gas stations, food places which was interesting. It shows chinese, italian, american, all types of resturants around a area. VERY COOL. The dvd/nav was installed in the dash also. Looks nice and clean. Plays vcd's and all other types of dvd based software. The cd player reads the names of the songs if you downloaded them. The headrest monitors are very nice and have a plasma look to them. The pioneer 7" have all the features of wide and cinema and a few other viewing modes. The pioneer switch i have mounted underneath the rear air vents is nice as well. The front monitor can show up on both the back screens or i can have a dvd in one of the and the ps2 on the other. The two monitors i did not have installed yet will be able to run the navigation i do believe. But he said that when nav is running it doesn't have a video out...so i shall see. But the 2 jl w7's i have in my back window ROCK HARD!!! i am going to do some more dynomat DEF! They made a cover for the port holes in the shape of the JL symbol which came out real nice. I think some camper top tape or some dynomat could stop the rattle. It sounds very nice and clean. The unit is hard to figure out and i still have not had much time to play with it yet. The box they made is very clean and nice, The 2 500/1's are on the outsides and the 300/2 is placed in the middle. The box has a hole in the middle so you can see them nice and clean. The sub box is hidden underneath the deck lid where the speakers are. I still can get my spare without any problem and could throw some suitcases in there with ease. I even think a rear strut bar is in my future as well. I have a optimum battery (red top) I got that one due to more crank watts and total higher numbers than any other optimum battery. I have a cap also mounted behind the amp box. The other monitors and dynomat is going to be installed hopefully next week, and i should have pics before hand. Any comments on flickering of my lights? I thought a cap and a nice battery would solve that. any suggestions. And dynomatting the headliner..any suggestions. thanks for your comments and suggestions. bryan

 

Sounds like it was worth the wait. Congrats on your new setup and enjoy it!

-Anthony

 

Wow! Sounds awesome!! PICS, PICS, PICS!