Replacing HU and door speakers

JARblue

First, I go to eBay to buy cheap crap cheap, not to buy quality stereo equipment. There are plenty of other online sites that aren't people selling stuff out of their basement.

Second, major online retailers, such as Crutchfield or Amazon, have better prices and better customer service than any retail shop with very few exceptions. Warranty is generally from the manufacturer anyway, not the retailer, so there's no difference there.

Lastly, any shop that refuses to install equipment you bring in yourself is a shop that I have no interest in doing business with. If they refuse work because you didn't buy your equipment from them, it's most likely because they didn't get their markup on the equipment purchase. Any good shop will not hassle you over this. I've had a shop spend hours on the phone with Crutchfield trying to figure out an install, and it turns out they were missing a part. Crutchfield overnighted the part at no cost to me or the shop. I didn't even have to get involved as the shop just took care of it. That's what a good shop (and good online retailer) should do. The audio shop may not have made a ton of money on my job, but they have made much more from the additional customers I have sent their way because of the stellar service I received.

Just to clarify, I'm not against local spending. In fact, I'm all for local spending. Unfortunately, most electronics are sold in big box stores that aren't truly local. Any real local electronics shop is generally significantly more expensive than the big box stores, which are generally more expensive than online retailers. And it doesn't help that the big box stores only hire idiots that can't answer even basic questions about the products they sell. Crutchfield is far more helpful on the phone than employees in the car audio install bay at Fry's or Best Buy.

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