VeeQueue

iTrader: (1)

My car was recently hit by thieves I needed an alarm installed ASAP.
I knew what I was looking for but the shops on the Westside are usually booked up. I asked for a recommendation in the San Gabriel Valley on the .Org in the West Coast forum

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread....hreadid=177879
So I called up the owner on New Year’s Eve before noon and asked how long it would take to install a DEI Responder alarm system. He said by the end of the day. I want an installation started as soon as possible but I don’t need a quick install. I told him I wont be able to arrive until 1PM and he says they can still finish it. Strange since most places asked for 1 full day on the Responder. I told him that’s fine, I just don’t want to leave with a bad job. If you need another day I have another car to drive. I can leave the car even during New Years day so they can start again on the 2nd if they have to. He says its not necessary and they know what they’re doing. So when I brought in my car I talked to him about the add ons, etc and the guy started on the car around 1:20pm.

I left around 7:45pm with the car “finished”. They had a difficult time with the hood and trunk release. I was tired but it didn't look like there were anything exposed so I thought it was well hidden. I was tired so I shook hands and drove off back home to get a good night’s rest. The next morning before I left for gym it was nice and sunny. What a great day it was until I sat in the driver’s seat. I saw PINK WIRES exposed behind the steering column!
Not only that I noticed that the driver’s metal knee bolster was missing!! That is a structural member of the dash. It keeps the driver from sliding underneath the steering wheel during a head-on crash. Then I REALLY looked at the car. I didn’t have to get on my knees on the ground to spot all the dangling wires! The BRAIN was dangling loose! That’s part of a short list of concerns I had. Also he didn’t even cut-to-fit the wires! He bundled them up and stuffed it into the underside of the dash. So I glanced aside and noticed something shiny behind the fuse box door. The installer left the modules and mini piezo siren loosely sitting inside! Of course he didn’t even bother mounting the siren and modules and left the LONG wires tied.
Everything sagged and I can see the freaking sensors! Throughout the day sagged and sagged until the state you see in the pics.

Needless to say I was ****ed. I wanted to have them redo the entire system- BUT if they allowed me to leave like that after letting them know what I want and expect from the install I decided against it. I can absorb the loss but I can’t risk them possibly doing something malicious out of spite. I’ve been to dedicated stereo shops and tint shops with alarm installations before and this is in my opinion the worse one ever. I took my car to other local shops for their opinion/reinstall job and they were shocked when they saw it. Some even asked me if California Tint did my car . At two locations I didn’t even mention the alarm and asked for front speaker recommendations instead and the first thing they noticed was the “botched alarm job”. Two places wouldn’t even touch it; they got a headache just looking at the “mess”.


Not only did they leave everything exposed, they screwed up on the hood lock installation and power trunk release. They broke clips in my trunk trim piece and unnecessarily trimmed the trunklid liner. They left dangling metal wire (the wire the solenoid tugs on).

With the hoodlock the guy mounts the key cylinder lock on the dash panel RIGHT IN FRONT OF MY KNEE. The guy suggested that I move my seat 5 inches for knee clearance. I asked him how am I suppose to press the pedals (duh) Eventually they moved it. BTW at that time I could not see the dangling wires. I must of drove over a wavy patch of road to knocked them loose Also the hood lock itself was installed on the FRONT SIDE of the top radiator support. Common sense will tell you why this is NOT the place to install a hood lock mechanism. I told him to make any modifications to install it on the topside. It took the installer over an hour to give up and reinstall it on the side, since he couldn’t properly line up the striker with the locking mechanism (btw on my free time during the weekend I was able to install it in a safe, secure location in 45 minutes.

You can come to your own conclusions on the quality of the install: I asked for everything to be hidden. The owner says he’ll take care of me. Here are the end-result of being "taken care of" by California tint:

Here are some pics:

http://www.villagephotos.com/pubbrow...elected=136307

Cliff's notes: California Tint did me dirty


Btw, I found a great shop that cleaned everything up. Virtually undetectable. I will post a review later.

brianw

iTrader: (3)

Hmm. I had the opposite experience with them getting tint done on my friend's Sentra SE-R Spec V. They squeezed us into their schedule and had the car done late, but the tint job was very well done.

I just won't get any alarms done there.

T-One

I won't have my alarm installed there either. However, I tinted my windows there and they did a great job.