miss_IS300

This is posted straight from my Yelp review nearly 3 months ago.

NEVER will I recommend someone to Custom Car Alarms. I came here to have my Eclipse installed. Simple double-din install with back-up camera and bluetooth installation. I have never encountered such a sloppy installer when it comes to car audio.

List of my headaches:

Air con is totally out
All power outlets are out
Fresh air ventilation blows hot engine air
Antenna installed on my BLACK dash with a GRAY felt pad looking thing (looks absolutely ridiculous)

These are the problems that I am just now encountering. Who knows what other ones will surface as time goes on. I am waiting to see what these guys will do to correct this problem. I live in southern California and they are saying that the only way that they will fix this problem is if I bring my car back up. Do they not realize how FAR southern California is and BUSY people are??

In addition to this bull****, they totally tried to up-sell me on some speakers that I apparently did not need. Initially we were quoted $2xx for the install which then jumped to $3xx. The install ended up closer to $500 by the time they were through with a basic routine double din install. The briefing on how to use the system was brief to say the least. This place is a total rip off with their rookie installers.

I have seen installers at Best Buy do a better job.

After this mishap Custom Car Alarms sorta stepped up and offered to send me to Torrance to have everything fixed and billed to them. Torrance is an hour away from me without traffic and way over an hour IN traffic (91E/W traffic...) Why I couldn't go to someone closer to me and have me bill them? No clue. Anyway, I thought my headache was over by this time when All Points Automotive in Torrance cleaned their hack job up.

Now nearly THREE months later I'm coming across even more issues. If any of you guys are familiar with installers down here, I went to Tommy @ Music Box to have my iPod interface adapter installed. Tommy goes to take apart my dash and finds that EVERYTHING behind the unit is missing. In addition to this the "upgraded" speakers that I was sold basically sound worse than stock. Please remember that I live in SoCal but the majority of my car parts are still in NorCal. This is now going to be the third time that I'm going to have to someone fix their mistakes and this is getting to be a huge hassle for me now. Once I get all my parts down from NorCal I'm going to have Tommy completely reinstall everything and fix whatever he sees wrong with the install.

AVOID! AVOID! AVOID!

wolverine

iTrader: (9)

wow what a bunch of hacks. that really sucks.

SeOuLiS250

iTrader: (5)

hm..I wonder if that's the shop that I went couple weeks ago
I will double check

kickin8

iTrader: (1)

yikes...that sucks....

Baoser

Wow, sorry to hear about all the issues Anna. =(

Hopefully you get everything installed properly this time.

loitranman

Wow sorry to hear. Thanks for the heads up though.

phrozen

iTrader: (2)

i feel for you and i hear this all the time with custom shops... and dont bash bestbuy, i work there and do top notch work, and just for future reference...

We charge less, have the most certified installer ratio per store of any shop, lifetime warranty on labor, if anything breaks it will be taken care of.

and if you are in norcal anytime plz come see me, i will fix any issues that i can and redo work free of charge as long as im not booked. i run the install bay in sf btw, alot of members here can vouch for me and my work

wasnt tryign to be an *** btw i just hate it when i see comments like that, i know ur upset but i just got a bit offended cuz it gives me a bad name

TAMR_GUS98

That sucks ***!

SBMGS4

Sorry to hear that. That truly sucks. I drive by that place almost daily.

miss_IS300

Not trying to offend anyone but I myself know people at Best Buy and the employees themselves have told me to stay away. Same with the now closed Circuit City. I'm sure there are quality installers there and my statement was a generalization. You would think that a shop that does this stuff EXCLUSIVELY would do better work than a nationwide chain. I'm the type of person that does NOT believe that you do good work until I see it myself. Like I said, not trying to offend anyone, just personal experience. It's unnerving when the guy trying to sell you the stuff knows nothing about it. Thanks for the offer and I understand the sentiment.

Thanks for the kind words guys just do me a favor and stay away at all costs.

Supraristo

iTrader: (12)

Custom Car Alarms has ALWAYS sucked! And there was even a time where they would even rip off the stuff they installed.

miss_IS300

Yikes how do you rip off stuff that you installed??

flipside909

Yeah, I didn't think it was right of them to upsell you on some generic brand ade in China rear speakers. Not only do they sound weak, the shop lied to you by saying they couldn't use the factory speakers or amps. If anything the OEM Lexus Speakers/Amps are definitely > than what they have in there now. Sorry you had to go through this. I am annoyed for you as they steered you to buy stuff you didn't need.

It's all about going to trusted reputable shops who really know what they're doing. Sadly the good shops are hard to find nowadays.

sleeper408

iTrader: (6)

I think he means that after they have installed the new equipment, they then go to your residence and steal it back from your car. They have your residential info. from the work order or invoice you fill out. I have heard about a few places doing this in the past.

I hope everything turns out well for you!

blk250

iTrader: (3)

man...are they doing that?...this is scary...