Mobile Toys — Local services in College Station

I am giving an updated review on Mobile Toys because of Chris Pate. He realized the difficulties I was having and reached out to discuss solutions. Chris has resolved the issues and has exceeded my expectations. With Chris at the helm, I can absolutely recommend Mobile Toys for your car audio and video needs.

Previous review below

Terrible business! Stay clear if you value your time and money. I bought a $350 seat lift for my F-150's back seats during the summer and installed it myself since I live in Oklahoma and there store is located about 6 hours away once I got the box it wasn't complete they forgot to send me the bolts and spent a week trying to get someone to answer the phone since they immediately put you on hold for what I have noticed is usually around 30 to 40 mins then they answer, when I got the bolts from them I noticed they are cheap and would not stay tight with time, so I did not use them. After all this the seat lift doesn't work right your seat belt gets stuck so you can't pull it out, you can’t get the back seats to latch without serious manipulation. Everyone at that store knows me because I called almost every single day from the end of summer all the way up to thanksgiving, I had to see family in Texas on Thanksgiving so I planned a day to drive over and have them fix it. when I got there they spent an hour taking my seats out which was not necessary and reinstalled them only to get the same result and told me that is how its made to work. I immediately told them if they cant fix it they are going to give me my money back so they spent the next 3 hours "fixing it" only to find out they didn't do anything just put a bracket to raise the seat belt up, but here was the catch when they raised it, the metal metal bracket caught on my leather seats and would have ripped a hole in my seat if i had not notice and stopped them. Then they tell me I need a part called Amp Pro for my stereo that is 300 dollars and Ethan said I could return it if don't need it so I bought it thanking I could return it if they were wrong. After all this I drove home from Texas with my mother in the back seat only to find out that the bolts that hold my seats down in the event of a crash weren't tight, I was able to unscrewed all of them with my fingers! at that point I said I'm done! I'm taking this out and returning this because that is not acceptable! When I called them they told me they had to talk to the manager to get the return accepted and that he would call me back which he never did so I called back and asked for Adam (the store manager) who told me he would have too talk to the owner and he told me he would get back with me once this was done, he took my name and number and never called me back, so I called about 3 days later and he acted like I never asked him about it and said he would call him. So, at this point I started calling every day and continued to do so for a month and a half! It got to point where they wouldn't even answer my phone call they would just put me on hold and hang up so i had to call from my friends phones so they would talk to me (funny because I never got put on hold when I called from my friends phone) and finally got an email for the owner so I could email him, after waiting another week for him to reply they tell me sorry we have to decline your return request due to it being past a month from the purchase (even though I have been calling since the end of summer about there poorly made product they sell). I have text messages and screenshots of all the phone calls that I have made to this business. I would not recommend anyone to spend any money at this place because they only care about their money and do not care about you as a customer....

I heard these guys were the best, so gave them a call and scheduled an appointment for a fairly simple install: 1 amp, some front door speakers, and a sub. I drove the 100mi to show up at 8am, and got a little carried away in their show room and ended up deciding on a 3 amp install with 8 channels actively controlled on a DSP. Without hesitation Chris and his crew put in a 15-hr day to complete the install so that I could make it back home that day. Not a single detail was skipped, not a corner was cut. Custom parts were manufactured on CNC machines as I watched, while in parallel other guys were hand fabricating parts in their impressive "wood shop". The only hole drilled in my nearly brand new truck was for an out-of-site sub preout control knob, everything else mounted to factory locations using custom fabricated panels. Even for a trained eye, it's hard to tell this truck isn't stock until you hear it, which was a primary goal of mine: breathtaking sound in a stock looking package.

Once the physical install was complete, Chris set out in his meticulous and OCD (in the best possible way) ways to get it dialed in. He started with baseline measurements from drivers head to each of the 8 speakers, then did some "seat of the pants" tuning of his own which can only be described as watching a master at work. He then had me come play some typical tracks that I'd listen to, then kicked me out of the truck to finish tweaking the tune based on my preferences.

End result? One of the most amazing sounding stereos I've ever heard (and definitely best I've ever owned) while maintaining the stock appearance of the truck. I can sit here and try to get all wax lyrical about how it sounds, but that's better experienced in person. To use one word I would have to go with "PHENOMINAL" but so many other synonyms come to mind as easy choices. I took a gamble making a 100mi drive to visit a shop I'd never been to, but it paid out big. I wouldn't trust anyone else to put their hands on my vehicles when it comes to audio. World class parts, install, fabrication skills, and tuning, these guys...

I have a 2005 Toyota Celica which used to have an automatic antenna that only goes up and down when the engine is switched on and off (in other words, if the engine is on and the radio is off, it still stays up). It snapped two days ago (don't ask why) and when I went to the local dealer and Aggieland Auto they were quoting me at something around $560. This is for an automatic antenna. Aggieland Auto actually referred me to Mobile Toys "to get an antenna from them" but never did I (or I assume, they as well) that these guys can take care of my issues for me. Long story short, I asked Adam (such a helpful and awesome guy) a lot of questions and he was able to answer all of them. I ended up buying a shorty antenna in Napa. Mobile Toys took it from there and removed the automatic antenna mechanism as well as replaced the old antenna with the new one I just got. My Celica looks a lot better now with the shorter antenna! I ended up just spending $160 (taxes included) to have them take care of what they do best. So I practically saved $400! That's a 10 for a student like me! Also, I should mention that I called them for an appointment a mere 4 hours before my schedule and they were able to set me up one. Very efficient, and again I appreciate it, given that for students like me, time is money. 12 out of 10 I would recommend Mobile Toys for those with broken antennae and those who just want to spice up their...