My BestBuy Experience

[nick.dollimount]

On Friday, I was listening to music in my car without it running, waiting for my friend when I noticed that there was something that sounded a little odd. So I adjusted the deck to go to each speaker individually and found that the front driver-side speaker was scratchy. Yesterday it was nice out so while I was bored at the shop, I took my deck out to check the wires. They were fine. I then took the door panel off to check the speaker wires. As I was putting the electrical tape back onto the second wire, I looked down at the speaker itself and noticed a slice right across the rubber surround. I looked closer to see a gash in the hard plastic right next to it as if it had been done with a screw driver or something like that. So the guy at BestBuy who did the install had done it... After taking the speaker out, I noticed that on top of that, the magnet was too big and my window was actually hitting it when it would roll down. There was a dent scratched into the magnet from the window glass. Lucky the window didn't hit it and shatter.

So I bought a new set of speakers that were more shallow as to not hit the window. Installed the driver-side one, tested good. After installing the passenger-side one, I picked up the old speaker to find that he had done the same to that speaker too! The damage was only half across the rubber surround so it was still "working". I can't believe the guy would do that. And he should have known about the window thing if this is what he does for a living. All just to make the sale. I'm highly unimpressed.

Anyone else have a similar experience?

[silver_echo]

how long have the speakers been in?

[nick.dollimount]

Just a little over a year. I assume the driver-side speaker was originally like the passenger-side one so it wasn't distorted until the tear became larger. Either that or I never noticed it over the sound of the sub woofer.

[silver_echo]

too bad you did not notice it sooner.... if you had, you could have told them, shown them, and made them pay for new ones installed somewhere else...

[nick.dollimount]

I agree completely. I'm not one to every make a stink about things but for a "professional install", this is just unacceptable. I'm tempted to go in to let them know about it regardless if they do anything. Just so they know it happened.

[silver_echo]

find out if the "tech" still works there... if so, make sure that they know... if not, that might be why he was fired/laid off/quit...

[Chris07LB]

Sucks to hear things like that, but "professional install" and "best buy" don't belong in the same sentence.

I've read / listened to too many stories about them doing poor installs, and hack jobs on brand new cars.

I would grab the store manager and maybe he can refund you something.

[nick.dollimount]

Yeah, even one of the drill holes was only half there because he drilled right on the edge of the metal for it. It's pretty bad that my first speaker install to correct his mistake turned out a lot nicer.

[RedRide]

Originally Posted by Chris07LB

Sucks to hear things like that, but "professional install" and "best buy" don't belong in the same sentence.

I've read / listened to too many stories about them doing poor installs, and hack jobs on brand new cars.

I would grab the store manager and maybe he can refund you something.

Sadly, I once knew a sys installer who joked about doing the same thing.

I would never go to a chain store to get a sys installed.
Your best bet is to go to a privately owned sound installer that has plenty of experience and gets great recomendatios.

[nickav21]

I'm really sorry to hear that, but at least around here everyone, EVERYONE knows not to get anything installed at Best Buy. They have a terrible reputation for doing crappy work. It's definitely not the first time I've heard about crap work done by BB. ALWAYS either do it yourself or pay a car audio shop to do it.

[pEAchEzpwnz]

I work at best buy (actually sitting here at work right now). I would definitely go back there. If you payed with a credit card, or have a reward zone card they can look up your reciept in their computers to verify that you did get the installers to work on your car. Even though its been a year maybe you can show the damage to them and also speak with the general manager and try to get them to at least give you store credit or something. But yelling at them is always fun too. I know Best Buy installers do have a bad rep, but it should be getting better. All BBy employees just had to finish a bunch of certification tests so that we know what we are doing along with what we are talking bout.

Ps: I dont recommend working at BBy...unless u buy a lot of electronics stuff because there's an amazing employee discount..hence, the reason i'm still there

[YarisSedan]

I had a simular experience when best by did my front speakers. The speakers wernt installed into the speaker bracket correct. In fact they were not even screwed into the holes designed to screw them to the bracket. But clamped onto th ebracked by screwing them at angles to hold it in place. Resulting in the speaker from falling out of the door pannel and making a horrible rattle. Soon as i took the door panel off to inspect the speaker fell out of place.