Audio Video Excellence — Local services in Scottsdale

My experience with Audio Video Excellence began with Devin and was an overall excellent experience with the whole crew living up to the name. I had been shopping around for installation for a new entertainment center when I was in the area and walked in to AV Excellence, not expecting anything more than being told what services they offered and browsing the showroom. After going in was immediately greeted and walked over to Devin who sat down with me to discuss my needs, design ideas, what my primary use for the space would be along with what my preferences were for brands and audio setup. Devin was very friendly, patient and didn’t hard sell anything. He gave me options and referred me to great resources to help determine what would fit my design at different budgets and where my budget would be best spent, which made it easy to move forward. Devin was very communicative throughout the project and lined up everything so that I was getting the best prices for my tv and audio system ahead of my installation.

The installation team called before arriving and were very professional and respectful of the property. I appreciated that they checked with me at the major installation points to ensure it met my design expectations and include consideration for access to the video game consoles and other devices inside the console. The whole install took one afternoon and an hour the next morning to complete and I could not be happier with the result.

Install included Sony 65” LED TV with a full motion wall mount, Sonos audio amp, Sonos Arc sound bar, ceiling mounted rear surround speakers, floating tv console and acoustic...

WARNING: DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY! Read on for details. They are "all hat and no cowboy." Good at selling you expensive equipment, but not knowledgeable about the equipment and how to support you in using it. They have one technician who is capable, but has a hard time translating technical details into language for common people who just want to have an uncomplicated experience with their system. We bought a great Bowers and Wilkins system, which was complicated to use with CD and turntable in addition to TV. B&W provides no user manual, and we should not have to check with the installer each time we want to use the equipment. The Formation soundbar had to be replaced five times during warranty, because AVE did not know that placing it close to the TV would make it overheat and blow out. Now we are beyond warranty and trying to solve a problem with supplemental speakers falling off the connection with soundbar and speakers not being activated with the CD player. AVE would not give us over-the-phone help with this, saying we would need to schedule (and pay for) a service call, that it was too complicated and only they could fix it. The office manager hung up on us while we were discussing the issue and trying to get some help. That was the final straw for us. You have choices about who you use for your AV services; I would not use Audio...

The installation with them went smoothly I was very happy. However, the post-support experience was a different story. I emailed and called them multiple times, but I never received a response. Later, I discovered that the phone number in my Control4 to contact them was incorrect, but the email address I used was correct so that is on them.

After a month of waiting, I finally reached someone via phone and asked for some programming changes. A few days later I noticed that some of my requests had been completed but not the rest. I had to chase them down to thank them for doing while inquiring when I could expect the rest. What's most frustrating about this whole process is all but one of my emails went unanswered and they responded to me as if I was just saying Hello. A few days ago, I finally spoke with an Ethan was friendly and promised to be my liaison. However, my request to have programming done for my Control4 to include my Marantz receiver has not progressed at all and there has been no communication.

I would not have a problem if it took them 30 days to complete the issue, but the lack of communication is appalling. It's been a horrible experience. I happen to own a complimentary business to theirs and unfortunately would not be able to...