Car Toys & Tint Bellevue — Attraction in Bellevue

On just a "regular" day, I found myself with some time to kill while waiting for my oil change to be completed at my favorite local Chevrolet dealership and decided to follow up on a call I'd made about two weeks earlier with my equally local Car Toys which is about 3 blocks right down the street.

When I called, a polite young man named Jeremy answered the phone and then proceeded to answer ALL my questions and concerns about pricing, purchasing and installing a remote starting device for my rig. I didn't really know a thing about these devices, but Jeremy effectively answered every concern I had about completing this procedure so thoroughly and efficiently just over the phone, that I took his suggestion and stopped by his location at 13201 NE 20th Street, Bellevue, WA. directly after my oil change was completed. And I am happy to share with you that man, I am glad I did!

When I arrived within an hour's time, Jeremy was in the back taking care of some other business briefly, so a very polite and quite pleasant young lady named Chalisa, who was also quite professional as well as personable, stepped right up to offer me assistance and information about the scope of work I was interested in. She was on the exact same page with what Jeremy and I had discussed a little while earlier over the phone, which showed me this shop does definitely have inter-personnel communications, which is a HUGE plus right from the get-go for me! It says a lot about a shop, it really does.

Bottom line, the very next day, Jeremy, Chalisa and their installer/technician, Josh had not only come through on what I felt was a super solid value on pricing, but they completed the work two full hours ahead of the time frame I'd requested from them! I realize this doesn't happen on every install, but it did with mine and I was sure happy about it! As I was driving home, I caught myself with literally a big grin on my face thinking about the customer experience I had just had and how happy I was with my purchase!

My gosh, these guys; this TEAM, really blew me away at what an OUTSTANDING LEVEL OF CUSTOMER SERVICE they ALL provided me! Their work, customer service, install and pricing ALL EXCEEDED MY EXPECTATIONS!

What an overall OUTSTANDING customer experience I had with this Crew!

I highly recommend this Car Toys location and hands down, they earned my future business by their actions. They didn't "win" it, they EARNED it!

Huge thanks again to Jeremy, Chalisa and Josh on their efforts! Mac (and a gal named Sam from a different C.T. location) also get an "honorable mention" in my humble opinion too!

Totally satisfied...

Eric, the assistant manager of the store, saved my perception of Car Toys. I have a 2002 Toyota Camry LE and in need of good speakers. I originally went to the store in Lynnwood because I was in the area. I wanted the manager's special on the Alpine speakers (plus I've had them before, good stuff). So they did an inspection and estimate for the cost of labor to do so. Apparently the rear speakers would require more intense labor in order to get them in, so I was preparing to have to shell out a little more. The last time I had this done, I had them install six 4 speakers, 2 tweeters, and an Alpine dock. Oh, and I also had a Hyundai Santa Fe. It cost $500 total. I thought was reasonable. However, I had my friend install the dock system into the Camry, so I expected this to be cheaper. They quoted me an asinine $600 for labor and speakers altogether. I was furious and just walked my way out after vocalizing my disdain.

So I call up the Bellevue branch of Car Toys and hope they could give me a more reasonable price. I arrived there, and met the assistant manager, Eric. He was cordial, and talked to me like me showing up there was appreciated. I told him what I wanted and also shared my unsatisfied service from the Lynnwood store. He apologized for the inconvenience and looked genuinely confused as to how they even got that number in the first place. We talked a bit more about it and he recommended that for the sake of dropping down the price that I mix up the speakers to purchase. So I compromised and decided to get 2 non Alpine speakers to be installed. They did an overall estimate and originally came out with a price of roughly $400. Still a little above my budget range, but still much cheaper than Lynnwood. I told him that as much as much I appreciated all of his help and advice, that I only had a budget of $300. Out the kindness of his heart he put in some discounts on the overall cost and dropped it down to $299. I was amazed at how far this man went out of his way to help me with both a reasonable budget, and excellent customer service. I truly am excited to get my new sound system installed at this store next week. These guys and especially Eric,...

Update! After a few days I went back to the Bellevue location to ask why my back speakers were not working. Max told me they were shot. I asked why he never told me that on the first day, again lacking communication. So I went back again, trip #3, to talk to the manager. Come to find Shelesha was no longer working there. Hmmmmmm! So after a bit The new acting manager, Christian Lopez, had a very nice talk about what happened on the initial day. He said they were short handed that first day and were very busy . After a good conversation he offered to help make the situation right. We agreed on an action, and it was completed in a very timely manner. Thanks to Christian I feel better about my purchase there. tThey even bought me a cold Diet Coke from the new machine. I hope this is a sign of times to come.

Old back story from here on. my initial meeting with Shelysa was great! When I returned the next day, she was not there, but her other half, Max and a couple of other guys were very quick and eager to help me, they knew my bugdget, showed me the equipment, were very eager to make the sale. Mac was good to look at the vehicle and access my needs. They suggested I get coffee across the street. Which I did, returning 1.5 hours later. Max said it would be another 45 minutes. I walked around outside for and hour and went back, still not finished. The waiting room was small and crowded, the drink machine produced a warm Diet Coke, pretty bad conditions for social distancing. After another half hour, I ask the other guy how much loner, he talked to Max,came back with up to1.5 hours longer. Which was now 2,5 hours on the install. This may be normal, but not one of them gave me a time estimate initially or I would have made other arrangements. Needless to say, I was not and am still not happy. It took about 1/2 hour and then I had to ask someone to show me how to work the unit. Luckily Max saved the day and gave me a quick lesson. Now I am questioning the install, hoping it will work . All in all what started out a a good experience went bad. I’m hoping the unit will work as expected. Not...