Audio Express — Attraction in Santa Fe

My experience with audio express was as I expected. I contacted them prior to arriving and discussed a possible installation of new audio equipment I had bought online. I was worried that I would not make it in time, so I asked when they closed. They replied, "6pm." They also told me that the project would take roughly and hour and a half to two hours. Because I got off of work late in the afternoon, I was worried I would have to just go in on the weekend (they are open on the weekends, which is nice) and get it installed. After work, I rushed to their store and made it there a little after 4pm. I noticed they had a couple vehicles in their garage, but still decided to go talk to the (I am assuming manager) about the install. The guy at the desk, (for the life of me I cannot remember his name), had patience in listening to my request and walked with me to my car to see the equipment. To my surprise, he said he would try and get me in, even though they were already very busy and they closed in two hours. I don't know if any of you guys reading this are familiar with any type of vehicle work, but for a manager to squeeze me in without an appointment, amidst a busy late afternoon, is very unexpected, at least to me. He took my keys, I waited a bit, and it wasn't much longer and my car was in the garage. He allowed me to stand by and watch as the workers started in on my car. They prefer you do not stand around in the garage, perhaps just by the doors of the garage, which was fine with me. Something that I could see the average person having problems with, who is unfamiliar with any type of auto repair garage or vehicular maintenance work, is the overall mentality of the workers. Do not come here expecting a man in a suit working on your car. These are young adults who are there to make a paycheck, which to me, is understandable. As far as my project was concerned, they knew what they were doing. I frequently interrupted their work to ask them questions about some of the parts, and they took it in stride and answered my questions politely and as professional as to be expected. The project took two hours, there is a Taco Bell nearby I walked to grab something to eat, and came back and finished watching them work. The workers may use vulgar language, so be warned if you have sensitive ears. However, for the most part, they were silent and hard at work on whatever it was they were doing. It's a typical auto shop, for audio equipment guys. There's no reason to get butt hurt over things like vulgar language, impoliteness, or whatever. Just let them do their job, if it works, it works. If not, tell them to fix it. They stayed past their closing time of 6pm making sure my equipment worked and sounded how I wanted it to sound. I had absolutely no problems with anything and I would definitely recommend this store to anyone who wants an audio system installed. Their equipment may be a little pricey, so I would recommend comparing online prices as well, (they will try to get you to buy from them, That is to be expected!) The installation fees are roughly, $100 to install an amp (assuming this includes wiring it from the battery back, I purchased my own wiring kit for them to use), perhaps another $150 for speakers/necessary supplies (this is all dependent on what you get, they will offer you products during the installation, such as a muffling pad for the speakers)

They installed 2 12' subs, 2 6/9 speakers, an amp (mounted it to my sub box), and a capacitor for me in roughly 2 hours. (It is expected for audio installs to take some time, imagine trying to do it yourself) Everything...

I went in to see how much I could get financed for to have equipment and install. I was approved for a certain amount and told them to not use all the amount which was approved. At the end of everything I learned that the final cost was way over the amount that was approved. They have JL Audio and kicker equipment that I was looking at. They will press you to go with the JL Audio brand because it cost more. They had me go in a few times to get the factory radio to work with the new equipment and couldn't get it to work so I had to get a new stereo. They didn't turn the volume up on one of the amplifiers and gave me subwoofers in the box that were on the floor itself and was not open from a cardboard box so it was probably used because the rubber on the woofer had a little mark on it. I said I wanted a new subwoofer box and they said that's all they had and that I could go to a different location to get it switched. I went to a different location and told them what happened and they told me they couldn't do that. The district manager seems like he cared about my situation but after a while, he stopped caring. Because I wanted to factory radio to work with the equipment, they refused to refund me anything besides the install price and the uninstall price and still charge me for something I wouldn't have. I agreed to keep everything and made a dispute with the finance company telling them everything about this. It seems like the guy at the store didn't want to pay the finance company back of what they paid on my behalf so I can have credit. I should have listened to all the reviews about this before having them do the work on my vehicle. They make you believe what you want to hear but then they take too long to get what they're supposed to get done. The first time I was there and had that new radio put in, if it just right with the faceplate flush with the dashboard. The second time I went back for them to look at putting in parts to make the factory radio work, they didn't put the radio back in the right way so I had Best Buy look at it and they couldn't fix it either. The second time I went back and they claimed they had ordered a part to have the factory radio work with the other equipment and they said they're waiting for the delivery from the delivery service. When I was there the second time hoping they already had the part at the time they told me they would have it, the install guys come back from getting the part from somewhere that look like it didn't come from a delivery service. It seems like they lie to you to try to be friendly to get your service. This is a long review and I'm not sure if I mentioned already about that they don't list their store prices anywhere in the store. Another location I went to so I could exchange the subwoofers, they had prices listed in the store. It seems like this Santa Fe location doesn't have prices in the store so they can try to rip you off and I believe that's what happened with me. I suggest everybody go to Best Buy for your equipment and the install or learn how to do the work yourself and save a lot of money in trouble that I...

I decided to have a car alarm installed in my vehicle, mostly for the remote start. I took my vehicle in to Audio Express in Santa Fe, was quoted a lower price and wound up paying more than I was quoted, a lot more. The price wouldn't have been an issue however the alarm wasn't installed properly and because of that it potentially could have damaged my vehicle. The problem first occurred when the check engine light kept turning on. While I was still at Audio Express, I brought the check engine light to their attention. They plugged a code reader into the vehicle and cleared the error. Next morning I started my vehicle and there was the check engine light on again. I called Audio Express and explained what was happening. They asked me to take the vehicle in to the shop so they could check what was happening. I did, when they couldn't determine the issue, the manager of the shop stated that he talked to his installer and the installer stated the check engine light was already illuminated before he started work, which was a lie. After talking with the manager several times, I asked to have the alarm removed and refunded my money! He said that they would charge me to remove the unit and they would not refund my money because the contract (small print) states "No Refunds". At this point I was fairly upset with the horrible the customer service and installation, and decided to take my vehicle else where to have the alarm installation checked. When the panel under the drivers side was removed all the wiring fell out like spaghetti, I was fortunate enough to witness the verification of the Audio Express install. What they found was several of the alarm wires were connected to the wrong vehicle wires. They stated that because the wiring was misplaced onto a transmission wire it could have severely damaged my transmission. This is because the remote start was affecting the transmission when it was starting the vehicle. I'd seriously reconsider taking your vehicle to Audio Express. Consider the complexity of your vehicles wiring. Troubleshooting a bad install could lead to hundreds of...