Alex Audio Video and Computer Service — Local services in New Hope

I normally never bother taking the time to write reviews. However recently my DVD player went out and I looked up the authorized Pioneer centers. Alex Audio and video came up. I was surprised to see that they were still in business. This was an old incident that happened quite a few years ago but the customer service was so terrible that I still get mad when I think about it and I happen to have time to tell the tale. So I took my Pioneer A/V receiver to them because it no longer was putting out any sound. It powered up and appeared to work but I couldn't get any sound from any channel. I lived in Eden Prairie at the time so driving up to New Hope was a bit of a pain, but there were no other options at the time. I drop it off, and they tell me that they will look into it and call me, I'm pretty sure there was a $50 diagnostic fee at that time as well, which I thought was pretty steep. I wasn't given a receipt of ticket or anything that showed they had my receiver when I asked for one. A week or two went by with no call, so i call them back to ask whats going on. They hadn't looked at it yet. Then they call back a few days later, they tell me what was wrong, gave them authorization to order the new part which was around $60-$80. they said they should have the part in a few days and would call me the next week when the work was done. Didnt get a call back, i had to call them again. When the repairs were done I go there to pick up the unit and when I get there the remote is missing. I had just replaced the $100 remote a few months earlier so I was not happy. I asked the guy where it was and he said he didnt know. I explained that I did drop it off with the remote as I was told. I was told they would need the remote and power cord to make sure they could test everything. I pointed out that this is why I asked for a receipt when I dropped it off. He said "what do you want me to do?" Are you kidding me? Go find it maybe??? He said I would have to come back after he had time to talk to his supervisor which wouldnt be in until Monday. So I had to wait another week. So I had to drive back to Eden Prairie empty handed, Then I come back the next weekend, the same older fellow was working. I see my receiver on the shelf with the remote, remote had a little green sticker on it but it appeared to be the same one. But then I notice that the Pioneer logo was busted off the receiver. I pointed out to the guy that it had been broken off. He said he didnt do it, he wasnt the technician that does the repairs. Explained to him that the receiver wasnt like that when it got dropped off and I didnt really care if he personally did it or not. He looked at me again and shrugged his shoulders and said "what do you want me to do?" WOW. Ummm maybe fix the damn thing?! Get on the computer, order a new name plate? Look around for mine and snap it back on? Anything would have been better than his response. This is a certified Pioneer repair shop??? So I have to come back the next weekend. When I get there the receiver and remote are there but they put the wrong name plate on! They found an old used Pioneer that had the more blocky style letters in the logo, and they glued it on. And it was a little crooked. my unit had the newer logo which had the more slanted letters. I was speechless. I explained the problem to the guy and he didn't seem to understand or care about what I was saying. I was so pissed off and tired that i cut my losses, took the receiver and got out of there before blew a gasket. As the saying goes "You cant fix stupid". I was so mad at the time that I wrote Pioneer an email through their generic "contact us" link on their website. I never got a response though.

To be fair I see there are quite a few good reviews listed on here so they must do some good work. I unfortunately was not part that. Maybe they fired that guy, who knows. However I wont be going back to Alex Audio and...

I brought my Denon receiver in on 9/12/2013 for repair to the Bloomington location. I was told it needed to be shipped to the New Hope location as that is where the work would be done and that it would take somewhere between 2-3 weeks. I got a call that it was ready on 9/25/2013, faster than expected. I got home and plugged it in and it had the same issue that I had brought it in for, no sound. They had told me it needed the headphone jack replaced and this was a know issue with many Denon receivers. I brought it right back the same day and asked if it would need to wait its turn in line or if it would get worked on right a way since they did not fix it the first time. I was told it would go to the front of the line. In the middle of October I had still not heard back from them about its status, so I stopped in at the Bloomington location to check. They told me they would have to call to get an update since there was no information in the system on the status. I got a call back later in the day saying it was on the test bench being worked on. I did not get any further updates or calls saying it was ready, so on 11/11/2013 at around 10 AM, I called the New Hope location to check. Dave told me the tech that was working on it was not in yet and he would call me back with an update once the tech came in. I had not gotten the call back by 4:30 PM when I stopped in at the store to check. In the course of 10 minutes, I was told my receiver had been misplaced on the shelf and still had not been worked on, had been worked on and was sitting on the shelf to be shipped back to the Bloomington location, and last that the tech had it on his work bench and was looking at it right then. I told them I wanted my receiver back and my $150 back since it was not fixed after all that time. Dave asked me to give them over night to fix it and test it, if not fixed I would get my money back on 11/12/2013. I got a voicemail in the morning of 11/12/2013 from Dave saying the receiver had been fixed a few days ago and was just waiting for me to pick it up. When I got back to the store at about 4:30 PM on 11/12/2013 to pick it up, Dave was not around to answer any of my questions about the discrepancies in his timeline of the repair. The woman that was working could only show me that they did have it plugged in and it was currently working.

In the end, they seem to have fixed it (it has only been tested now for a few minutes). But I can not recommend them to anyone based on the hassle, losing my receiver on a shelf for over a month, and Dave being rude to me when I am questioning him about the current status of my device when I was...

I'll try to keep this as non editorial as I'm capable of so that this review isn't written off as being belligerent. I brought in my 1980 bang and olufsen console record player as there was a short that was causing it to randomly turn off. I live in St. Paul so this was a bit of a drive. They charged $50 to begin looking at it. A week later, they called and said they didn't have the expertise to repair it, and that they would refund the $50. At this point I wondered why they even took it in, but at least I was going to be refunded my money. When I arrived a few weeks later (it took me a while to get back there from St. Paul), I walked in to see my unit sitting out on a table in their showroom. Something about the top looked eschew so I went and looked at it. The dust cover for the record player, was snapped off. I waited my turn, and patiently asked "so what happened to my record player?" The person behind the counter didn't handle my item so she called the woman who was. She immediately informed the person who was there that she knew for a fact it was brought in that way. I asked to speak directly to her, where she defensively told me that there was no way they broke the item. Frustrated, I left without my item after asking them to investigate further when the repairman who handled the console was back in. They promised to call after further investigation. A number of days later, no call. I called them- was met with hostility from the same woman I spoke with on the phone originally. After applying logic and reason to the situation, she finally asked "so what do you want me to do?!?" I asked her to simply return my unit back to the condition in which I left it. She seemed perplexed as to how to do this (do you not work at an a/v repair place?!?) at this point I was pretty exasperated, so I offered to find the replacement part as she seemed incapable of using the Internet to do so. A 1 minute search later, I found the part for $40 on eBay. I sent her the link. I am giving them 2 stars because they did follow through on purchasing it and installing it. In the end she did begrudgingly admit they broke it...and never did I receive an apology. I don't think all of the staff at Alex are of the same ilk,...