just thought that i'd say that entirely too many people bash circuit city / best buy for their installations.
it's so ridiculous that the first thing that people always mention as "advice" is to not take it to circuit city or best buy because most of them are weak installers and they'll break your car.
1) i install at circuit city
2) i can install better than 90% of the people that have ever posted on this board. just because people know about car audio doesn't mean they can install. i install and do it VERY well and very efficiently.
3) if anyone can honestly say that a circuit city or best buy messed up their car, they are retarded for thinking that it was the end of the world. if we mess up something minor on someone's car, we fix it as soon as is humanly possible and pay for everything and usually refund some of the money they spent on the install. if someone messes up your car, you hassle them until it's fixed.
4) ask any installer, every person in every shop will make mistakes, some of them huge. i work on at LEAST 30 cars a week, my shop works on at least 75 cars in a slow week, stuff is bound to happen. people bring in a 1986 cutlass, the dash is guaranteed to be dry rotted and the grills are almost always going to break when replacing front speakers. it's a fact and we deal with it.
5) where do all of you install at?? there are of course some exceptions.
6) if circuit city was so terrible, why do they have 1500 installation shops across the country?? obviously they are doing something right, because 1500 is a lot of shops.
just thought i would vent. if circuit city is so hated by some of the members of this site, then my advice probably isn't going to be appreciated so maybe this site is no longer worth my already valuable free time. this isn't directed towards anyone that has never said anything.
-UK
Replies (5)
ssallstar598 on 06/1/2005 03:29:25
well the people i believe are bashed are mainly the sales reps of the car audio dept.
PERSONALLY i think you should have a fairly vast knowledge of car audio (im only talking about knowing the difference between RMS and MAX power, ohms law, knowing the difference between a DVC and a SVC)
IF you sell a product then you should know a pretty indepth description about it... not just this RF punch hits REALLY hard...
just my 2 cents
i have nothing against the installers, a good bit know what they are doing - may not get really technical but they know enought to install
swez on 06/1/2005 10:25:02
There in a lot of emerging talent, working the install bays at CC or BB. Great place to learn the basics and experiment with more exotic designs too. A good hands on place to get lots of practice on the basics.
However, there this a good degree of turnover at large chain stores. As a person learns his trade well, they often get the itch for more pay and more complex installs. When they leave, that makes for a talent void in the install team. What's left are often rookies and less than deeply motivated talent. Does this scenario reckon well with your shop experiences?
About the sales staff talent... have dropped into several local CC/BB stores and found only a few sales guys that really knew their product offerings well and can lead a customer to make well informed purchases. Most guys I have talked to, were completely ignorant about how various components fit together and work optimally as a grouping. Lacking specific product knowledge, always makes it harder on the install guys right? They have to make compromises to install good products that are not the best fit available, because that's what the saleman sold them.
There is a solution here... training the sales staff to be competent on the products offered and good communication between the install stall and sales guys. However, this is an ongoing process as many "Big Box" stores have a large turnover in staff. The guys who learn and become skilled at what they do, usually move on to better opportunities. Sure, that's only natural for a motivated person to push the limits of their knowledge base and income potentials too.
UK, since you work at a "Big Box" store, how many guys in the install bays and sales floor are really competent at what they do? How long have they been there and how long do they stay, once they become good at what they do?
Comments,
Swez
uochronos on 06/1/2005 15:40:25
first i would like to say while i have advised people not to get installs or purchase there i have b\never bashed them
as for done damage to my car... they installed well "tryed" to install a remote start in my car and after they tryed they decided it wasnt possible... top say the least they screwed up a bunch of things that took me several days to fix with my dad... btw we installed the remote start are selves.
now my friend went and got an amp installed there the guy ran rcas and power together they also set the amp incredibly wrong it was clipping like mad.
now i also got my wives HU installed there and i know several people who got speakers installed there without problems.
my other issue with them is the lack of knowledge 80% of the employees i have spoken with have no knowledge of the product or any real training in how this stuff works. i have had there guys tell a friend i was with that 1000watts max is more important then the RMS number. i have also been told by them that the box is 90% for looks and really does very little for sound.
now not saying all Best buy and circuit city guys are morons and you certainly are not UK but the fact is they hire alot of people tghat know very little and they dont overly train them... i could say the same thing for half the car audio shops in my town and i tell people localy not to go to those either, i would list them on here when telling people to stay away but the bad shops will be differnt in every city.
so maybe now you understand why it is that i belive it to be a gamble with if your insatll will be done right. its nothing against yopu UK or other good installers there which i have met some but if the person buying doesnt know what a good insatll is and then they get a crappy installed HU or amp back they simply do not know. that is why i dont suggest them to people.
Chronos
PS
also 4 years ago before i became more knowledgable myself they tried to tell me a pioneer DEH-P640 and a DEH-P6400 where identical they carried the p6400 and the place i was going to buy from carried the p640 which is the better one with alot better features and what not... the guy swore they where the same and i bought it got home and as soon as i started reading the manual i realized the features i wanted it didnt have even... i took it back and it took going to the like 3rd in charge of the store to get it returned since i had "opened the package" and may have tried to install it. that would have to be the day i lost all faith at elast in my local best buy. guy spent an hour assuring me it was the same features just not as many cool displays and little things like that,
lessismorespl on 06/1/2005 16:37:37
Personally, I have been a master certified installer for over 8 years, 1st class for 4 years before that. I have been installing since I was 17, lets see, 23 going on 24 years now. I have never worked in a major retail chain, but I do know that most of the shops I worked at required MECP ceritification for the entire staff, including sales. I know most required the sales staff to take the same seminars and manufacturer training as the installers. The install bay manager has worked there for over 10 years, and has been installing for over 14 years and he is also master certified.
In most cases, the sales people do not have a clue about what they are selling other than the basics. That is a major downfall for any car audio place. Would you buy a computer from some-one that could not tell you how many gigs the hard drive was, or what ram was? As for installers, do you know how many vehicles I have worked on personally from the CC in my local area? ABC Warehouse is worse, and I have had my share of BB vehicles also.
Bottom line, the sales staff really is not very helpful, which in car audio is a biggie! In most of the BB's & CC's I have been in, they require one ceritified tech in the install bay, which means, to me, that if you catch him, you will be ok, but what about if you catch one of his apprentises?
I really do not think people bash them that much, I think it is more they do not suggest it as a place to get an install done.
less
ttocs on 06/3/2005 00:58:24
I will make fun of best buy any time I want, nothing you can say about it. After over 2 lousy years in the back of the piss yellow price tags install bay and I will say what ever the heck I want about that pos, you ain't gonna stop me I earned it..............
I have never said anything bad about city, never will. I hold them in a higher regard the best buy as I do the people that work there. In the rare occasion I find myself in best buy I see them doing the exact same stuff that drove me up the wall when I was there. I have not bought from there for over 8 yrs now, and will not for alot longer. The stories I could tell..........
After this many years in the biz and after working in a few different shops I have seen the light and know that every installer is gonna have a bad day, every shop is going to have a bad day. Nobody's perfect but when you are set up for failure, you can only expect one thing.
it's so ridiculous that the first thing that people always mention as "advice" is to not take it to circuit city or best buy because most of them are weak installers and they'll break your car.
1) i install at circuit city
2) i can install better than 90% of the people that have ever posted on this board. just because people know about car audio doesn't mean they can install. i install and do it VERY well and very efficiently.
3) if anyone can honestly say that a circuit city or best buy messed up their car, they are retarded for thinking that it was the end of the world. if we mess up something minor on someone's car, we fix it as soon as is humanly possible and pay for everything and usually refund some of the money they spent on the install. if someone messes up your car, you hassle them until it's fixed.
4) ask any installer, every person in every shop will make mistakes, some of them huge. i work on at LEAST 30 cars a week, my shop works on at least 75 cars in a slow week, stuff is bound to happen. people bring in a 1986 cutlass, the dash is guaranteed to be dry rotted and the grills are almost always going to break when replacing front speakers. it's a fact and we deal with it.
5) where do all of you install at?? there are of course some exceptions.
6) if circuit city was so terrible, why do they have 1500 installation shops across the country?? obviously they are doing something right, because 1500 is a lot of shops.
just thought i would vent. if circuit city is so hated by some of the members of this site, then my advice probably isn't going to be appreciated so maybe this site is no longer worth my already valuable free time. this isn't directed towards anyone that has never said anything.
-UK
Replies (5)
ssallstar598 on 06/1/2005 03:29:25
well the people i believe are bashed are mainly the sales reps of the car audio dept.
PERSONALLY i think you should have a fairly vast knowledge of car audio (im only talking about knowing the difference between RMS and MAX power, ohms law, knowing the difference between a DVC and a SVC)
IF you sell a product then you should know a pretty indepth description about it... not just this RF punch hits REALLY hard...
just my 2 cents
i have nothing against the installers, a good bit know what they are doing - may not get really technical but they know enought to install
swez on 06/1/2005 10:25:02
There in a lot of emerging talent, working the install bays at CC or BB. Great place to learn the basics and experiment with more exotic designs too. A good hands on place to get lots of practice on the basics.
However, there this a good degree of turnover at large chain stores. As a person learns his trade well, they often get the itch for more pay and more complex installs. When they leave, that makes for a talent void in the install team. What's left are often rookies and less than deeply motivated talent. Does this scenario reckon well with your shop experiences?
About the sales staff talent... have dropped into several local CC/BB stores and found only a few sales guys that really knew their product offerings well and can lead a customer to make well informed purchases. Most guys I have talked to, were completely ignorant about how various components fit together and work optimally as a grouping. Lacking specific product knowledge, always makes it harder on the install guys right? They have to make compromises to install good products that are not the best fit available, because that's what the saleman sold them.
There is a solution here... training the sales staff to be competent on the products offered and good communication between the install stall and sales guys. However, this is an ongoing process as many "Big Box" stores have a large turnover in staff. The guys who learn and become skilled at what they do, usually move on to better opportunities. Sure, that's only natural for a motivated person to push the limits of their knowledge base and income potentials too.
UK, since you work at a "Big Box" store, how many guys in the install bays and sales floor are really competent at what they do? How long have they been there and how long do they stay, once they become good at what they do?
Comments,
Swez
uochronos on 06/1/2005 15:40:25
first i would like to say while i have advised people not to get installs or purchase there i have b\never bashed them
as for done damage to my car... they installed well "tryed" to install a remote start in my car and after they tryed they decided it wasnt possible... top say the least they screwed up a bunch of things that took me several days to fix with my dad... btw we installed the remote start are selves.
now my friend went and got an amp installed there the guy ran rcas and power together they also set the amp incredibly wrong it was clipping like mad.
now i also got my wives HU installed there and i know several people who got speakers installed there without problems.
my other issue with them is the lack of knowledge 80% of the employees i have spoken with have no knowledge of the product or any real training in how this stuff works. i have had there guys tell a friend i was with that 1000watts max is more important then the RMS number. i have also been told by them that the box is 90% for looks and really does very little for sound.
now not saying all Best buy and circuit city guys are morons and you certainly are not UK but the fact is they hire alot of people tghat know very little and they dont overly train them... i could say the same thing for half the car audio shops in my town and i tell people localy not to go to those either, i would list them on here when telling people to stay away but the bad shops will be differnt in every city.
so maybe now you understand why it is that i belive it to be a gamble with if your insatll will be done right. its nothing against yopu UK or other good installers there which i have met some but if the person buying doesnt know what a good insatll is and then they get a crappy installed HU or amp back they simply do not know. that is why i dont suggest them to people.
Chronos
PS
also 4 years ago before i became more knowledgable myself they tried to tell me a pioneer DEH-P640 and a DEH-P6400 where identical they carried the p6400 and the place i was going to buy from carried the p640 which is the better one with alot better features and what not... the guy swore they where the same and i bought it got home and as soon as i started reading the manual i realized the features i wanted it didnt have even... i took it back and it took going to the like 3rd in charge of the store to get it returned since i had "opened the package" and may have tried to install it. that would have to be the day i lost all faith at elast in my local best buy. guy spent an hour assuring me it was the same features just not as many cool displays and little things like that,
lessismorespl on 06/1/2005 16:37:37
Personally, I have been a master certified installer for over 8 years, 1st class for 4 years before that. I have been installing since I was 17, lets see, 23 going on 24 years now. I have never worked in a major retail chain, but I do know that most of the shops I worked at required MECP ceritification for the entire staff, including sales. I know most required the sales staff to take the same seminars and manufacturer training as the installers. The install bay manager has worked there for over 10 years, and has been installing for over 14 years and he is also master certified.
In most cases, the sales people do not have a clue about what they are selling other than the basics. That is a major downfall for any car audio place. Would you buy a computer from some-one that could not tell you how many gigs the hard drive was, or what ram was? As for installers, do you know how many vehicles I have worked on personally from the CC in my local area? ABC Warehouse is worse, and I have had my share of BB vehicles also.
Bottom line, the sales staff really is not very helpful, which in car audio is a biggie! In most of the BB's & CC's I have been in, they require one ceritified tech in the install bay, which means, to me, that if you catch him, you will be ok, but what about if you catch one of his apprentises?
I really do not think people bash them that much, I think it is more they do not suggest it as a place to get an install done.
less
ttocs on 06/3/2005 00:58:24
I will make fun of best buy any time I want, nothing you can say about it. After over 2 lousy years in the back of the piss yellow price tags install bay and I will say what ever the heck I want about that pos, you ain't gonna stop me I earned it..............
I have never said anything bad about city, never will. I hold them in a higher regard the best buy as I do the people that work there. In the rare occasion I find myself in best buy I see them doing the exact same stuff that drove me up the wall when I was there. I have not bought from there for over 8 yrs now, and will not for alot longer. The stories I could tell..........
After this many years in the biz and after working in a few different shops I have seen the light and know that every installer is gonna have a bad day, every shop is going to have a bad day. Nobody's perfect but when you are set up for failure, you can only expect one thing.
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