bad best buy job

I recently had a Viper 160xvl remote start and Kenwood stereo unit installed by Best Buy.  (Big Mistake).The installer (A) claimed to have much knowledge in the installs well, when I went to pick up my vehicle the hood pin, led,valet, had not been stalled.  He was leaning into my engine compartment confused and couldn't understand why the unit would sometime start the car and sometimes not.  Realizing that he was not going to solve the problem, I dicided to have the unit unistalled and returned it.  The Stereo unit that was installed was loose and vibrated badly when driving, this is a good place to mention that I have install knowledge of these items and have done many myself, just chose to have it done because I didn't have time. (Big costly Mistake).  They were able to secure the stereo alittle better, I'm not totally happy with it, and will fix myself later.  But I lost my $125.00 that I paid to have the Auto start installed, they would not refund it to me despite the fact that the unit was returned only because it was either faulty or the installer did not know @%&%.  It is my opinion that Best Buy installers even though they claim to be electronically qualified are not and do a half as install, don't waste your time or money as I did.  I certainly put Best Buy on my DO NOT CALL LIST and so should you.

i installed at best buy for 4 yrs. i can tell you that my bay was a top 50 bay in the company month in and month out.  every shop has their bad eggs.  i would say that is an awfully bold statement to say that all best buy installers arent capable of doing quality work.  i can certainly tell you that i work with 4 of the best guys in the region and very rarely did we ever have a car return for workmanship issues. we had more referred work than any big box store or custom audio shop in our surrounding area.  hell, other best buy installers from other stores would send customers to my bay if they didnt think they could get the job done right. 

my install supervisor is certified at the MECP Master level.  and the rest of us were MECP first class. 

i recently had best buy do a rs/alarm/keyless on my personal vehicle due to me being lazy and not wanting to sit on my cold garage floor and will be taking it back tomorrow after inspecting the installers work.  for the most part everything is just fine, but there are some areas of concern that i have with a few things and they will be addressed and handled in the proper manner.  call me nit picky if ya want, but knowing the quality of work i would have done for no charge, i would expect the same for the amount of money i paid to have them install it for me. 

as far as the installer not knowing whats goin on with the vehicle, hey it happens.  perhaps if u would have given the fella some time to trouble shoot he would of had everything working properly.  things dont always go smooth with rs/alarms/keyless/etc..  any installer will tell you that.  as far as the deck install, perhaps he didnt use the proper kit.  you didnt list the type of vehicel you have so its hard for us to tell ya if it was a bad install or just a plain simple case of the install kit not always fitting properly. 

im not trying to bust your balls or anything, but perhaps you could have handled things in a different manner instead of be impatient and not allowing the installer the opportunity to figure out where he went wrong with his install.  if u went to another shop and they put on your remote start successfully first try with no issues then great.  but lets remember that people make mistakes everyday, but if we arent given the opportunity to correct our mistakes then we will continue making the same ones consistantly.....

hopefully you get everything installed to your likings and sorry to hear of your bad experience, but dont classify all of us big box store installers as "bad installers" because that simply is not true!! 

Perhaps I did cross the line in suggesting that all Best Buy installers are F'd U.  But I if giving two days of my time to them the professionals.. to fix their incompetent install or for the lack of knowledge.  What can you assume from entering into a shop where they have the music blasting loudly too loud that speaking to them is a task in itself.  On another note these installers appeared very young, and though that in itself is not a bad thing their attitudes really stunk, as if they expected to get something on the side to do a better job.  There are probably good installers working for Best Buy, But my experience I have yet to find ONE.  Before you or anyone else jumps on the dump on me wagon, walk a mile in my shoes with the problems which I faced.  These two installers were to proud or didn't want to look STUPID by calling their support team to attempt to figure out their FU.  I tell you in having installed these myself in the past I DO know what I'm talking about.....and Like YOU being lazy, I decided to have a so called professional do the work for me for $125.00 yes $125.00 can you dig it man.  This wasn't a free job so, do it right and take some pride in your abilities and treat your customers with respect.  Can you dig that too.  So I tell you I really dont give a cat's ass as to anyones comments...for none of you were there, My post  is for those folks that either is planning on an install at Best Buy or have Had installs done and has experienced what I did.  Furhtermore I, did indeed contact their Corporate office in Minesota, they gave me the run around and pretended not to care,  never returned my install $$.  I since then have filed a BBB compliant so as to put consumers on alert with the horrible experience I had with Best BUy and how they did nothing to satisfy a long life customer.  So you back off and have yourself a great .................day.

look dude, im not tryin to bust your balls, i just wanted to get the facts straight.  and YES, i am walking a mile in your shoes as we speak with the best buy here.  i too have taken my car back twice to the same installer to have him do simple repairs only to get my car back worse than it was when i took it in.  however, i will not give up on a company solely because of one bad job.  i will be taking my vehicle to a different best buy location and let those guys take a stab at getting things right.  we all know that these remote starts arent always a walk in the park and that some installers ARE better than others.  the trick is finding the right installer to do the job YOU want....  much like any other service that you would need...   

you make the comment about young kids working there.....  well you were prolly just a young kid too when you got your start....  without giving the younger crowd a chance, this industry would be filled with a bunch of geriatric installers that would take 4x's as long to get anything done.  if your not willing to give people chances, then thats your problem.....  as for me, i am confident that a best buy installer WILL get my Viper 791xv hooked up and functioning properly....

i am a DEI loyal customer and for that i will continue to buy my product from best buy and will continue to allow their installers to do the work that i dont feel like doing myself.  they are an insured shop so i dont give a rats a**  if they mess up my ride because i know i will get it fixed by them.....  some people in this world are just way too uptight......

Silvrefox wrote:

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Wow. Just wow. Listen, if they did keep 125 of your bucks, why not have another BB install it? I'm saying if it happened in our area, we would do what we could to correct it. While it may take up more of your time, you technically wouldn't be out the money then...

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exactly!  u already paid them to install your unit...  instead of eating the 125, take your unit to a different best buy and give them the opportunity to correct the mistakes made by another.  i know ur frustrated with this situation..  im in the same boat at the moment.  but dont give up on a company because one person is struggling to work on your ride.  you cant sit here and tell me that you are/were 100 percent successful first try on every remote start/alarm that you have ever done.  with the complexity of car circuitry now a days, things take a lil more time to figure out and wire around.   patience bro, patience!

I myself was a installer for best buy for 7 years. I have seen my share of great installers and very bad installers. It all depends on the installers that are in place and train the new guys. Best buy did a mad a bad judgement a few years back when they got rid of their Dist Install Sales Trainer and started to combine positions and take focus away from the install bay. During the best years of Best buy's install department's they did things for their install bays that were sucsessful. The team I worked with was sent to New York for a weekend on Best buy, got to go to a basketball game, eat a ruth chris steak house and all this was on Best buy's pocket for our achivements. They stoped doing thisngs like this and stop carrying for the install bays. It is frushstarting to hear (even tho I no longer work for them) that all the hard work of the team I worked with in the past and myself did was for nothing.

As for the issue of not getting your $120.00 bucks back that is total bs and you need to call 1-800-best-buy and talk to them. That money is for a completed install and since they were not able to complete your install properly they have no right to keep your money.

Good Luck.