Crutchfield Store — Local services in Harrisonburg

Crutchfield has been around for a long time. I bought a stereo from them in the 80s. They had a catalog with extremely knowledgeable extremely well written reviews and explanatory blurbs about all the important characteristics of the stereos of the time, that enabled you to make excellent decisions that you could confirm on the phone with their knowledgeable staff members. This justified their high prices. There must have been a single person there who was the wellspring of all this concentration of good business and audiophile enthusiasm. Now its 40 years later. They still have relatively high prices but their homegrown reviews of products frequently are just puff pieces with no distinguishing information. What they provide in reviews and instructionals is just a shadow of what they used to provide, which at the time might have been the worlds best english language source of digestible information for audio enthusiasts. Now their instructional materials are comparable to what you find elsewhere and probably not the best available. Sometimes even misleading when they write pure puff. Not all of the phone associates are helpful but some really are. I just talked to one who troubleshot my car installation and chased out what was going wrong although it took a long time to figure out what was wrong, and then he sent me a part for free to replace the one their database had erroneously chosen for my car. Some of the others offered solutions that seemed like bad buying decisions. Maybe the wind has fallen out of their sails a little bit and not everybody has noticed yet. Still an important reference source. No longer the be all end all. Their resource that confirms that components fit your car is very useful. Still a valuable institution and they are fortunate that their business model suits this new world of internet shopping. I probably will make my next car audio purchase from crutchfield. At the very least I will almost certainly use them as a resource to determine...

I chose Crutchfield because of their reputation for being the best in the industry. Well, after my car audio installation experience, my opinion of Crutchfield has diminished and trust has been lost. The Harrisonburg store, at the time, didn't have the tweeters in stock a week prior to my installation date. So, I called and spoke with a nice lady in customer service to ask if it would be alright if I bought the tweeters from another dealer and bring them with me for installation. I asked if there was a store policy against installing products not sold by Crutchfield. The answer was "no", and she told me I could buy the speakers elsewhere if their store didn't have them. The day before my scheduled install, I received a courtesy call from my sales rep to make sure we were all set for the next day. He also informed me the store just got their shipment of tweeters in stock from JL Audio. While speaking, I informed the rep I already purchased the tweeters and he said "great, bring them with you". The story ends with Crutchfield not using the tweeters I bought and installing a set from their inventory which forced me to pay additional money after the work was complete. The rep did not call me to inform me of the decision to make the change. When asked why, citing "warranty" as an issue, with no further explanation. To make matters worse, the tweeters they installed from their inventory are making a popping noise with the bass response, which suggests, according to JL Audio, incorrect wiring. Crutchfield offered to check the tweeters, but I have lost trust and confidence in their ability to perform at the standard and level of professionalism placed upon them by so...

0 stars if I could. I am in the market for a car stereo and here's why I would never consider Crutchfield. It has been years ago, but I had an appointment to buy and install a system in my new car at the time. This would have been repeat business for me. Well I show up for my 9 AM appointment, that was made several weeks earlier, I am greeted by a small older man that tells me "we just had 20 some golf cars come in today that we have to take care of first, we won't be able to help you today." Really? You cancel my appointment after I drive 45 minutes because you have a more important customer, I ask?. The small old guy says "well the boss say's we have to take care of this customer first but we can re-schedule you." Um no, I want to talk to this "boss" myself, please. I hear in return "I just talked to him and that's what he said, and he's not available." Ok, I can piss boiling water at this point and it takes everything I have not to smack a smart old man. But instead of getting ugly, I tell him you guys just lost a customer for life, pass it along. So here I am years later in the market for a new stereo and this thought, is what I remember of Crutchfield. You clowns don't deserve my business, and I'm making good on it, you lost a customer for life. I hope those 20 some golf carts were worth it, and I hope this review is read by many, and they understand their business mean nothing to Crutchfield, and they...