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This is the letter I sent to Tweeter. Not sure what will happen, if anything, but this isn't the first time they have done a really crappy job. The pics speak for themselves as well.
Quote:
To whomever it may concern:
I recently had the Tweeter in Nashua, NH install a 4 gauge wiring kit to hook up my amplifier. I not only paid the installation charge, but I paid a surcharge of $25.00 for the routing of the oversized wire. This I understand, but as you can see in the pictures, the wire was not done correctly. I also was charged another $20.00, which was said to be for some connectors and zip ties.
First off, I could buy an entire assortment of connectors and zip ties for $20. Secondly, all the connectors needed to connect the wire to the amplifier are included in the wiring kit. Therefore, this charge is unnecessary and redundant.
Included with this letter are pictures of the “professional” installation of the wire. The pictures show missing screws in two places, wire visible in several places, interior plastic not put back on, and a horrible routing of the main power wire across the strut tower brace under the hood. Why they didn’t route it down the passenger side of the car like they did the last time they wired the car is beyond me. Two of the plastic clips that the rear interior screws thread into were missing, and I found that they had been forced and broke, then fell down to the bottom of the compartment.
I may not be driving a BMW. I may not have $10,000 into my audio system. But I did pay $199.88 for wire and installation, and I got something that I could have done myself, blindfolded. I paid for a professional installation, and I got something that any shadetree mechanic could have done.
I propose that either I get a refund, in full, or these issues are taken care of in a timely fashion.
<img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v245/aaron7/954014ff.jpg" alt="Image hosted by Photobucket.com">
<img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v245/aaron7/55d778aa.jpg" alt="Image hosted by Photobucket.com">
<img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v245/aaron7/1277ec44.jpg" alt="Image hosted by Photobucket.com">
<img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v245/aaron7/c7a4a52a.jpg" alt="Image hosted by Photobucket.com">
<img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v245/aaron7/87b6a163.jpg" alt="Image hosted by Photobucket.com">
Wow man, being an owner myself I can feel your pain just by looking at those pictures. I did all my wiring myself and it came out looking ten times more professional than that. You are absolutely right for expecting a full refund, then perhaps you can do the job yourself - with better results.
wow man i feel for you , that really sucks, i just finished running my sub and amp wire and all that stuff like 2 days ago , it was a pita but i got it done , i used 4 gauage too , and i didnt have any probs with it fitting. Thats just a lazy job on thier part and i hope you get your money back and they fix the problem too . That right there is the reason i do everything that i possibly can on my trans am , i just wish i could do a front end allignment myself. sorry to hear about the misfortune with tweeter.
Originally posted by Saigon_Bob is that blue wire running with the pwer cable the RCA!?!? id be pissed.....
I must laugh... Sorry... That would be the Remote Wire for the amp turn-on.
Tweeter has been known for great work... Must have hired a new guy that didn't know what to do.
I installed wiring for many different places and I am not "cert'd" for it, but I even do a much greater job than that. Did it for 2 1/2 years for an Audio Company in Ga, now I do it for myself and friends.
That is an absolute disgrace and also a safety of the car issue. If that thing was nic'd in the wrong place, you'd be car-less EASILY.
As an ex-pro installer, they are responsible for damaged parts and anything they touched.
You have the option to press charges with their insurance company and make them pay for the plastic plates, screws, and clips, along with a new kit and SUPERVISED installation. I would make them pay for all of it.
With that said, federal law says you can have anyone represent you, if you need legal help getting them to reimburse you and repair their mistakes, I am available. I will help you out for free as I know the laws and would love to see them make this right, its absolutly unacceptable for a company to do such a thing when you paid 70% more than it should have costed you. I have never seen a place charge more than $50-60 for 4ga remote, rca's, isolators, wireties, connectors, ground, installation and testing.
I never let any shop, garage, or anyplace work on my car or even test drive it without me being there.
**Should see my wireless mic and windsheild cam I have installed for reasons of this as well as others.**
So how should I go about this? I haven't fixed any of it, and I don't plan to... even though it looks like ***!
The guy that did this install did my last one on my Buick. They stood the sub box up and the terminal cups grounded out on the metal of the trunk. I went back to say that it was cutting in and out, and he blamed ME for having the gain up too high!!
So, any help you can give would be great, just let me know how to go about it!
I wouldn't just write a letter, I'd go in there and demand to talk to the manager of the store. If that doesn't get anywhere, I would go track down the district manager (because they are a chain...) and demand a refund and the wiring fixed!!!
I was an asst shop manager of a car audio shop, and that install is horrible...!!!
The RCA and the power wire should be run on opposite side of the car... power wire on the passenger side, and the rca's on on the drivers. Secondly, they should have taken the seats out and lifted the carpet up to install that wire... That's sad. I would not settle until I at least had a full refund of what I paid.
I talked with aaron7 last night and gave him a lot of advise on how to handle it.
What makes this so bad is the guy that installed it, did aaron7's buick before with precise installation if I understand right, so its not the guys first day like I initially thought also.
aaron7 stated he will reply in the thread today with the results of his actions with tweeter. Hopefully we will hear a great outcome.
I went in, asked for a manager, and was told that the salesman could help me with whatever I needed. I said, no. I need the manager. He made a phone call and the guy came strolling out a few minutes later.
I took him out to my car, and showed him all the problems. Of course, he can't admit any fault on their part, because that's how they are trained.
We went inside and discussed the problems. He then asked me what I wanted to do. I said that I either wanted a refund or the job to be done, right there and then, right.
He and the salesman tried to get me to take all sorts of deals. To be reimbursed for 1/2 the labor, to pay to have them do it again (his excuse was because this was going beyond the normal amp install, and they would have to go by an hourly basis). I told him that I wanted a full refund, and that was that. He said he couldn't do that. I then offered to have them take all the wires out of the car and then refund me, but he said that was also an additional labor charge.
I stood my ground and wouldn't take any other deal. Finally, he offered to refund ALL the labor and the strange $20 connector charge. I took it. I'm not an ***, and I'm a fair businessman. I did get the wire, and I planned on paying for that.
The reason for the installers shoddy work was said to be because he was affraid to brake the old seat posts and bolts, so he tried to work around them. If that was the truth, then they should have called.
that's why he said that... so the RCA and the power wire ARE running together??? that's some crap there.
So they didn't pay for your broken parts? lame... time for a boycott.
Alpha Audio did the same thing to me, when they installed my kappa plates. They told me the install was easy as pie.
1) they tore off BOTH speaker grilles before learning how to take off the dashboard. -- when I confronted them, they GLUED them back! haha!
2) when I picked up the car... my dashboard was cracked... in HALF! -- they said there was nothing they could do... and the installer came out with "some guy"-- to threaten me... or to scare me, whatever. Said that it was an old car and there was nothing they could do. --- uh buddy, I've taken off my dashboard before, never cracked it... you'd think a pro installer could handle that! -- oh yeah, I got a 'deal' on a tint installation... does $180 sound like a 'DEAL' on a tint installation? Mother's Window Tint offers the same exact tint for $99, no deal required.
*turns out my dashboard cracked from a piss-poor install job, that I didn't learn of for a whole year! I dropped something in the defrost vent (never saw it again )
3) the dashboard cracked because the speakers were not even installed properly! The drivers' side plate was basically bent into the shape of a rainbow, and they just bolted down the dash over all that... without modifying anything.
-- when I came back to confront them, I got the manager to give me a new set of plates... but I still lost out of the $50 install I paid a year ago.
so they damaged my dashboard, and speaker grilles BEYOND REPAIR... as well as the actual speakers themselves... not to mention that all of their equipment is at LEAST 5x more expensive than etronics/iksound.
__________________
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Yah, and the manager that I showed all the problems to said that it was OK to run the power and RCA's together because Monster cable has extra shielding...
I just got an email from the regional manager of Tweeter. I'm going to explain to him everything I have gone through, and he may give me free installation at a different Tweeter!
Installs like that prove that you should never trust anyone with things you could of done your self. How hard is it to run amp wire's not hard at all there is a easy way and a right way they took the easy way.
while we're on the subject... what's the easiest way to remove that plastic panel below the sailpanel... the armrest for the backseat? It has a bunch of little plastic clips that hold it in place.. and to get it off, I always use a screwdriver to bend the edge of the piece, until it can pop up... I was just wondering it there's something easier to do to pull it off?
I have all sorts of little marks and cuts on the plastic from using a screwdriver to pull it off...
i didnt even go that far in my install.. i just used a small socket driver to push the wiring under the plastic part. but yea basically the easiest way to remove( not completely tho) is to pry and muscle it apart
__________________ -Alex
"It's a Chevy... If it ain't smokin, you're walkin." ----------- My Cardomain site
...i have been installing stereo wire kits and the like since i was fifteen. For crying out loud, for $200, they should have hid so much u would barely know the damn thing was there, even when u opened the hood.
The tweeter in Burlington, Mass is pretty good. I had them put my deck in after my wiring harness shorted out and I couldn't figure out what was causing my deck to not work. You can take out the seats, and all the plastics from the back seat going back in like 2 hrs. After being refunded I would see if you can get something for the time and effort you've had to go through to get this taken care of and install the stuff yourself. Hell, you could come to my house and I'll friggin help ya put the stuff in if your really worried about doing it yourself.
that really sucks. everyone knows that when ur installing car audio ur BOUND to break something...but thats just horrible..and a ****ty job running the wire.
Its posts like this that maKe me wanna read more and more to do my own work. its a shame how sometimes the consumer gets screwed. as for me, ill read some more and attempt this...eventually
I was able to do much better installations with a buddy of mine for $0.00. The only thing I charged myself for labor was chinese food I can see perhaps three inches of wire total throughout my car...not bad for an amatuer attempt.
Shoulda gone to Best Buy; they make their guys pass the MECP tests. Running the RCA with the power is ridiculous; no MECP guy would do that. And that wire-tie job in the engine compartment is completely pathetic. They must've done your car right before quitting time or something.
I take it that "Tweeter" didn't fill out a "car condition upon arrival" report, either, and that's why they're blaming everything on the car's age? Pathetic.
And the guy didn't even run wires near any of "the old seat posts and bolts".
Definately talk to the RM. But you know what I'd do first if I were you? Go to a Best Buy, get the car audio supervisor, and ask them (A) if they could fix it, (B) how they would fix it, and (C) how much they'd charge to fix it. See if you can get a written estimate- say you've gotta clear it with your dad/wife/brother/etc. THEN go talk with Tweeter's RM, and use the Best Buy info as Fuel for your argument.
It might wind up being the same $$ that you got refunded from Tweeter- and maybe it's worth it just to go to Best Buy instead.
There's a reason that Tweeter's stock (Nasdaq, TWTR) is $3.50 a share, and Best Buy's stock (NYSE, BBY) is $57 a share.
__________________ -Tom P (Hot rodded 1986 Firebird 2.8l)
Originally posted by TomP Shoulda gone to Best Buy;
They blew up my friends car, literally. They left the doors open all day, drained the battery and so it had to be replaced, then they wired the sub amp wrong to the rear speakers which caused his dash to catch on fire. He screwed up big time by not suing them.
Originally posted by firebirdjosh They blew up my friends car, literally. They left the doors open all day, drained the battery and so it had to be replaced, then they wired the sub amp wrong to the rear speakers which caused his dash to catch on fire. He screwed up big time by not suing them.
Originally posted by Dark Mavis I was able to do much better installations with a buddy of mine for $0.00. The only thing I charged myself for labor was chinese food I can see perhaps three inches of wire total throughout my car...not bad for an amatuer attempt.
I'll agree on the DONT go to best buy either, bunch of idiots, they turned into a holes on their extended warranty a while back, havent bought a single thing from them since, and try not to let friends buy there either, they lost a LOT of business over not swapping out one amp
I agree with the best buy comments! I had bought an amp while I worked there, and got a 3 year replacement plan. Well, when the amp died and I went back; they said to go get anohter. The car audio guy said they don't make this one anymore, so he gave me the closest thing.I got the customer servcice desk and they did all sorts of stuff on the register, and then asked for $80. I made a huge fuss over the fact that I bought a warranty and it wasn't my fault they don't have the model anymore, but they wouldn't budge. Store policy they said. So, I still have the dead amp
Originally posted by aaron7 I agree with the best buy comments! I had bought an amp while I worked there, and got a 3 year replacement plan. Well, when the amp died and I went back; they said to go get anohter. The car audio guy said they don't make this one anymore, so he gave me the closest thing.I got the customer servcice desk and they did all sorts of stuff on the register, and then asked for $80. I made a huge fuss over the fact that I bought a warranty and it wasn't my fault they don't have the model anymore, but they wouldn't budge. Store policy they said. So, I still have the dead amp
I hope they lost as much business from doing that to you as they did me
Originally posted by Dark Mavis hahahah! Its about five tone right now but it'll be in paint about two weeks from now! lol But i'm rockin it while i got it!
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I can see perhaps three inches of wire total throughout my car...not bad for an amatuer attempt. 
