CKD Audio — Local services in Penn Hills

I dropped my car off on Tuesday, May 13th for a head unit install. They claimed to have experience with Harman Kardon sound systems and said they install my particular unit all the time. I asked if they needed any info or instructions since wiring can vary, but they told me most head units are universal and they’d figure it out.

I was told the car would be done by Friday, May 16th. If they needed to order a harness, it would arrive by then and be done. I received no updates. It felt like I had to chase them just to get any communication. After Friday passed, they pushed it back to Monday, May 19th. I called that day…still not done. Turns out they hadn’t even ordered the harness on time, even though I offered to pay extra for faster shipping.

They then said it would be finished Wednesday, May 21st. I called again and was told to show up at 6:00 PM because they were “wiring it up as we speak.” I drove over an hour from a service call, only to find my car still torn apart. As I sit in there for about 1-2 hours with my mom in the parking lot. They claimed the backup camera was bad. I asked if it had power—“yes, but it’s not triggering.”

They told me to come back Friday since they were closed Thursday. I’m extremely busy. I do mobile mechanic work and have very little time off. I also take my mom to her appointments. I prepaid $321 that Wednesday so I could pick it up after hours on Friday, assuming it would finally be done.

Friday, May 23rd comes. I called at 12:10 PM—they said it was hectic and they’d check soon. Called again at 3:39 PM—same thing. Called at 4:45 PM—told to come at 6:00 PM. I show up, car still apart.

I ended up having to show them which wire to splice for the reverse camera. Turns out the camera never had power in the first place. A tech told me they added Y-splitters because the radio couldn’t control the subwoofer and door speakers separately. This disabled my rear door fader and left me with only left/right balance. I wish they told me this earlier. Had I known, I would’ve used a mono amp for the sub to avoid compromising the rest of the system.

I came in for a professional install. The steering wheel controls didn’t work. I tapped into two wires myself and got them working. They had told me it was impossible—but clearly it wasn’t. I know electrical, and while I’m not deep into car audio, it didn’t take much to figure it out.

They insisted I needed a resistance-decoding harness which “was not available”, even though my head unit has one built in. If they had asked, I could’ve provided the info. Instead, the owner said there was “no way” I’d get certain features working and that the rear sub would never work independently. That was wrong.

I eventually installed a mono amp myself for the sub. It works great and keeps the rest of the speakers functioning properly. This was supposedly “impossible.” They also self-tapper screwed the backup camera into a brand-new trim piece—even though I had explicitly asked for it to go in the factory location, which they agreed to.

I had to wait there with my mom, who has cancer, again for a little over two hours just to bring the car home. This was supposed to be a quick pickup. I needed her so I can get both cars home. It was incredibly frustrating.

I have six vehicles and was planning to bring them more business. My mom also wanted a head unit and remote starter for her truck, but after seeing how things were handled, she changed her mind. The staff were friendly, but the experience was not professional.

I was promised clear communication and quality work. What I got was poor communication, delays, and a messy install. The harness had wires cut too short, soldered poorly, with exposed strands touching. Nothing was capped or wrapped properly. I had to finish and fix the install myself.

This is one of the rare times I’ve gone to a shop instead of doing it myself. I regret it. I gave them the chance to make it right was told to deal with it and they never followed up. While the staff are nice people, I can’t recommend CKD Audio based on...

I dropped my car off Saturday night for an appointment on Sunday at 10 AM. I was told that I was the first car to be worked on that morning. I stopped by at 5 PM to see what was going on with my vehicle. They still had my car apart running wires didn’t get my vehicle back until almost 9 PM. Terrible communication if there was an issue, they should have reached out to me and told me this is taking a little bit longer, not just say nothing Once I picked my car up, I noticed that there was fluid on the ground just chopped it up to that the shop and that was from someone else’s car. I smelled it. It smelled like antifreeze wasn’t sure if it was my car or not, took it home the very next morning I checked, and there was a huge stain in my driveway of antifreeze lifted hood up, and there was antifreeze everywhere. They seem to not care and just dismiss the issue. I would never recommend nor would I ever go back...

I’ll begin by saying that I rarely if ever leave reviews, however my experience with CKD auto warrants one. I called in Friday to ask about getting a sub installed in my new truck. Russ was more than gracious with his time and knowledge and fit me into his schedule for an install the next day. When I arrived I met Chris who you can tell lives and breaths this stuff. He is the one who did my install, and I couldn’t be happier with the final product. The guys were knowledgeable and professional and great at what they do. They even stayed wayyy past closing time to finish the job. I wouldn’t hesitate to send anybody their way, and I will only bring my vehicle to CKD from now on. Russ runs this business the right way and I wish this shop nothing but years of success....