Bristol Sound — Local services in Santa Ana

I paid about $750 for a low end head unit+backup camera. Come to find out the head unit I paid $299 for is $199 everywhere on the internet. The backup cam used is about $50 online. So in the end I'm basically paying $400 for labor (for a 2 hour job normally) and tax, and almost double for a backup cam. Which if the job was done right, and I was treated great wouldn't be the end of the world. I'll pay for great customer service.

The problems? Nobody informed me that half of my factory speakers simply wouldn't work because I didn't spend $170 on a different module for my vehicle to retain factory speakers. So I thought since it was their mistake maybe they'd at least offer a discounted rate or something else. Nope, full price to fix THEIR mistake. Then to make matters worse I pay the $170 to get all of the speakers working and now my stereo has about half the volume, because now it's working from the amp not the speakers. You'd think they would communicate that beforehand!

So now I'm about $1000 in for a $199 head unit and backup cam. Terrible waste of $. For that price I could have gone most places and gotten an entire sound system set up I'm sure.

The customer service was poor. Getting different stories+prices+time estimates from 3 different people. What was originally going to take 90 minutes ended up being like 3.5 hours. Very poor, not concise communication from the owner and management. The service advisors/owner don't communicate whatsoever with the techs, so the poor techs fix something, and another problem pops up because it wasn't communicated. The tech was very cool, but I could tell he was annoyed with them as well. The owner hovers over all of the workers and customers impatiently but not in a useful way. Try to ask him about the job and he doesn't know what's going on even though he's the one telling the techs what to do.

I talked to two other local shops and they informed me that this situation makes no sense at all, and my factory amp+sub+speakers should 100% be compatible with another head unit with no issues.

I work in sales with a lot of customers, so I know how important customer service is. For this very reason, I cannot in good faith recommend this place. Please trust me, take your business elsewhere. I'm sure the other shops are a lot more competent and will treat you like a valued customer, instead of as an inconvenience. When I brought up the issues instead of offering to help me out the owners suggestion was basically buying all new speakers+sub+amp lol. What a joke.

Update: As I'm leaving the shop and testing my sound volume and quality is about twice as bad. Loud distortion with anything above 30% volume. I am having them remove the module now after the worker lied to the owner and said that he explained this would happen. Completely untrue. If I knew this would happen I wouldn't of spent a dime doing this. Basically I paid $800+ for a backup camera and bluetooth. Horrible...

This has got to be the worst place to ever open up for business. The owner literally screamed at me , cursed at me and told me to F*#% Off. I am not lying, I am not embellishing this is who owns and works at this shop. My issue was in the tires and rims that they referred me to buy that were not the correct size they out source any other type of work that isn’t stereo work to other businesses. I paid them for the tires and rims and was told that I had to actually pick them up at another location so I did, when I got there the other shop showed me the tires/rims and they were the incorrect size so I told them this and they told me I had to go back to Bristol Stereo since I paid there so I go back to Bristol Stereo and am immediately met by the Owner who starts screaming at me that I am an idiot and it’s my fault that I gave Bristol Stereo the wrong information and now I have to pay a restocking fee!! I told him I specifically told them the size and even emailed a picture of the rim/tires showing the size and number I needed to his manager I offered to pull up the email that I sent but refused to listen to me and he just got louder and louder and became pretty frightening at that point so I told him he was insane and I wanted my money back which he refused. I am currently disputing the charge with my card company which prompted a phone call from the psycho owner that I sent to voicemail where he was stupid enough to irately cuss at me and threaten to find me and physically hurt me as well as told me to burn in Hell, I am going to the Sheriffs Department tomorrow night and am going to file a police report for his threats, DO NOT STEP FOOT IN THIS PLACE SERIOUSLY RUN AS FAR AS YOU CAN AWAY FROM THESE PSYCHO PEOPLE !! Also the workers that were there when he was cussing me out in person did absolutely NOTHING which speaks volumes to the quality of the staff at this place. Stay away, I am so thankful I used my card and did not pay this psycho cash or I would have had no way to get my money back, so I would have had no product that fit my car, an additional restocking fee for nothing as the shop made the mistake and no money back, so happy I didn’t pay cash thank god ! I hope people read this review and save themselves the money and...

I actually paid to have a tint job done here. However, I was sent to one of their sister shops on 1014 Harbor. After about 3.5 hours, it was "done". Too late to inspect properly, I waited until the next day. Two windows had scratches in all of the corners of the tint, and two had air caught underneath (even after the 3-4 day drying). Oh, and my brand new truck had a fresh scratch in the clear. I went back to where I paid right when they opened on a Saturday. First one there, no other people. I was then told that they were busy and I would need to make an appointment. "Come back next Saturday at this same time," I was told. Annoyed with crappy tint at this point. Fast forward another week. I was there right when they opened, no other cars. Informed them why I was there, again. Showed them what was wrong, again. After pointing out the scratches, I was actually told,

"Look, you're not a professional, and neither am I."

That's when I knew a really messed up by coming to this place. "We can't fix it today you need to make an appointment." Pissed off at this point, I reminded them that we made an agreement and they reluctantly "remembered". It would take "up to 6 hours" to remove the tint and replace it. Or they could just remove the tint today, which would take two hours, and replace it a week later. Another good one was when I asked for a refund. They laughed in my face and said,

"Come on man, we're not gonna give you your money back."

I realized that if I kept trying, I risked more damage to my truck and who knows how many hours of wasted time. I requested they remove all of the tint and I wouldn't be coming back. Of course it was off in less than half an hour.

If you want quality work and good service, try elsewhere. Preferably nowhere near this area. I'm aware of these two shops and I know they have at least three. I'll be leaving a review for the one where they damaged...