Need car audio? Here's a hint - DON'T go to Fry's.

GOPisEvil

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Fri Dec-30-05 11:07 PM
Original message

Need car audio? Here's a hint - DON'T go to Fry's.

So, here's the scoop. My car is 12 years old. The speakers (2 of them anyway) have had the cones become brittle over time and through exposure. No problem, I'll replace them. Should be relatively inexpensive. So, I head to Fry's after doing a little online research. I've had good luck with Fry's on other purchases, so I expected no problems. Boy, was I wrong.

Here's the litany:

1. I purchased the speakers on Monday. Fry's had a good deal on Polk Audio speakers. Buy one pair, get the second 1/2-price. Fine. I look at the 4x6 for the front doors and the 6 1/2 for the rear deck. Just like my online research indicated. So, salesman looks up my car in "the book" and tells me that my car takes 6 1/2 speakers in all 4 locations. I question him, but he shows me his little book. His book doesn't go back to 1994, but the 1995 model of my car is identical, and lo and behold, it calls for 6 1/2 inch speakers at all locations. Purchase made. Now, I need installation. No problem, just come back later in the week, drop the car off and they'll get to it. I'd prefer an appointment, but whatever. So, I decide to come in today.

2. The installation guy looks at my car (at about 11:00), does some checking and gives me the bad news. My speakers are amplified at the speaker, not at the stereo. And aftermarket speakers can't be hooked into the existing speaker amps. So this means getting a new head unit as well. Fine. It was something I was hoping to put off, but whatever, let's just do it. Let me get one that I can run my XM off as well as hook a cable for my iPod. So, I tromp off to the store and look over the selections. Salesman (the same helpful fellow as on Monday) helps me pick out a model that appears to fit the bill. So, I buy that, the XM black box thingie and antenna. Oh, it seems the Fry's people didn't assume that many people would have the day off today, so they were woefully understaffed at the checkout. So, I'm done and it's a bit after noon. I drop everything with the installation guy and proceed to start wasting time.

3. At 2:00, after lunch and wandering around, I see my car is FINALLY in the installation bay, but work hasn't started. So, I sit in the waiting room and watch some of the Sun Bowl. Exciting game. I know. I watched it all.

4. Somewhere along about 4:00, the salesman comes back. Remember him? Seems "the book" was wrong. My car DOES take 4/6 speakers for the front doors, and as luck would have it, he's out. So, he tells me that they'll take the display models and give them to me until a new shipment arrives. I agree to this as they agree to rebate some of the installation expense).

5. Work continues at a pace reminiscent of molasses in February. Suddenly, the salesman is back in the installation bay. Oh oh. Seems he "forgot" to sell me the wiring harness and antenna adapter. No problem. He's throwing them in for free. Fine. It's now past 6.

6. Now it's 7, when the installation closes. But no. The installer is hard at work, when the salesman arrives. Oh oh. Seems I can have XM OR the cable hookup for the iPod, but not both. So much for knowing your product assholes. So, I tell them just to hook up the XM and button everything up. It's about 8 when they finish. The radio works. Yay. Sounds good, too.

7. I come home and decide to call XM to switch my service from my Roady to the new car stereo. Hm, the XM preview channel isn't playing. I should at least get that. Turns out the XM sound isn't coming through the stereo. Oh lovely! How wonderful for me.

Guess where I'm going tomorrow? Yep, back down to Fry's.

What an immense pain in the ass.

Some of you will say I should have done the work myself. Let me tell you that wasn't an option after seeing what the installer had to go through. I'd have given up.