Stereotomy

Response to the ""Total Lack of Respect' post below. I was the 'clearly non-customer' that the employee was 'shooting the breeze' with. As an actual customer that has also spent 'literally thousands' with this shop (this year) I was shocked by the way this person acted toward the employee. His description of the events, while generally accurate, leaves out an important detail. His response to the quoted price was not 'really, this is probably about a 20 minute job'. His actual response was literally 'What?! That would take me 20 minutes...' The employee responded exactly how I thought he should, saying ""then why don't you do it yourself?"" I don't understand why someone would seek a quote from a company which performs these tasks professionally on a regular basis and knows how much time is required to perform these tasks properly, then question their expertise and tell them you could perform these tasks better/faster/cheaper yourself. If it's so easy, why bother taking it to them in the first place? Stereotomy has performed custom installations in both my show cars and daily drivers. They have been consistently outstanding on price, service, and craftsmanship. I'm sorry the reviewer was turned off by the employee chatting with someone, perhaps he felt the employee should have been trying to hard sell me to buy things I didn't need and then get me out of there. Personally, I consider that relationship building and great customer service. I'm going to keep buying 'overpriced components' and the rest of my car stereo requirements from Stereotomy not because it's convenient based on where I live but because supporting a company that is passionate about its customer's satisfaction is the right thing to do. more

I have spent literally thousands of dollars at this shop. Although their components are overpriced, it is convenient based on where I live. However, I stopped there today (4/23/12) around 12:30 to get some help with a subwoofer enclosure. A couple years ago this shop put some carpet on an enclosure and charged me something like $45. I slightly modified the same enclosure and just needed it to be re-carpeted. I walked in the shop and found the sole employee chatting with clearly a non-customer. They were literally just shooting the breeze. After about 10 minutes the less than helpful employee asked me if he could help me. I explained what I needed and asked the price. He said it would be about $120. I knew this was a simple job that would take probably 10 minutes to complete along with less than $10 in materials. I said ""really, this is probably about a 20 minute job."" Before I could even say another word he jumped in and literally said, ""why don't you do it yourself then."" I was shocked and pissed. Here's a shop that I have supported through the years by overpaying for components just for the convenience. Never again. I walked out of the store and will never return. I am a car audio enthusiast and have used many different shops over the years. I don't have a stock system in a single car that I own. I will definitely be taking my business elsewhere in the future. To the owner of the shop, I'd seriously have a chat with your sales people. I have been in your shop quite a bit and several times have walked away feeling like your employees feel that the customers are a nuisance. more

Great job with my rig, worked quickly and was extremely friendly. The job was done over 30 minutes faster than expected and cost a lot less than competitors. Highly recommended! more

Dan was very great at explaining the different options for my vehicle and really asked me what i was looking to do with my car instead of just selling me the top of the line stuff right there. I found these guys beat cartoys price and the service they offer is twice as good. The installer was even willing to stay after hours to work on my vehicle for me and a great deal was given to me as well. If your looking for a company that is not out to just take your money but truly care about what your trying to accomplish call Stereotomy as i will without a doubt be heading back there for repeat business. more

everyone that is in the shop and in the store are all amazing a full of alot of information. they are very helpful and are always willing to take the time and make you feel like your there number one customer. if there was anyone that I know that ever needed to have something put in there car this is my number one place to send them to. very great job on anything you guys do. more

Almost one month ago, I spent almost no hour working with Dan, the manager, on an alarm and door lock install. He told me he would call back on Monday or Tuesday with a quote. After a week and a half, I call back - he apologizes, says he is having trouble getting a solid price on one (minor) part and, before giving me a quote, says oh sorry someone just walked in, I'll be right back - puts me on hold without even asking if I can hold, and then leaves me on hold for several minutes. I had to run, so I hung up, assuming he will call back shortly. No call. I call back a week later but he is not available, so I left my number. A week later I called yet again, the guy who answered apologized, said that my call note from last week was still there (with the correct phone number) and he would be sure to get the message to Dan. It has been three days since that last call and I have just given up on lame Dan. In almost one month, he has not called me once. What is just amazing is that I get this sort of treatment when they haven't even sold anything to me. I wonder how things work when you have already paid your money, something has gone wrong, and you are trying to get them to sort it out. If they can't even get you a quote in a month, I have to wonder how responsive they will be when you have real problem. And the worst thing is that this is the manager! If the manager treats customers like this, I find it hard to believe this doesn't filter down to all employees. And in case you are wondering - there was no personal friction between Dan and me on the initial visit. I left the store quite happy with how I had been treated and thinking that these are guys I could work with - they really do know their stuff. I also grant that this job required some research on Dan's part, thus I was willing to cut some slack for the first week or two. But one month? And no phone calls at all? No excuse whatsoever. more

My dad and I went to go get a new sound system for my Nissan pick-up. Dan at the front desk was very helpful and also he never tried to push any products on us. The installation is clearly professional and I am more than satisfied with the result. It sounds clear and I finally have great Bass. Overall amazing experience and I will definitely be going in again for an upgrade from my stock speakers. more

First off I am not a consumer I am an employee of the company trying to set the record straight. Stereotomy has been in business for over 20 years and many many customers and employees have come threw the store. As many of you know bad employees can ruin a business and its reputation. The employees in question in all the complaints I see here are no longer with the company. Please do not let the downfalls of a few steer you away from a truly spectacular shop. Our staff has over 40years combined experience and are the best in the business. Moving forward though, I would like to offer anyone with a complaint the opportunity to contact me in hopes we can resolve what ever issues may be outstanding. I promise to help in whatever way I can and I would truly appreciate the opportunity to create an exceptionally satisfying \r experience for you. \r \r Thank You, \r \r Dan Gipe \r \r (425)557-0272? more

Like the others that have written here the sevice is very unprofessional. I had an alarm sold to me in January of 09 for my very clean Lexus with no flaws. The problems that I have had since that installation are as follows 1- sold and mireprsented by Brian at the front desk 2- GPS was screwed up, I had to take it to Lexus to have it fixed (they laughed at the installation). The installer repeatedly said he did nothing to the GPS. Lexus verified he did. 3- was told by one of the installers that the previous installer ""jerry rigged"" wires together. 4- back window will not roll up without being very sensitive. 5- horrible reception from the auto start, they changed the antenae to no avail. I have had two other auto starts from car toys with four times the reception. 6- every time I called I was made to feel like I did something wrong. I was told three times that the owner himself would call me, never happend. 7- car horn goes off sporradically. 8- walked in on the origonal installer and my perfect dash was laying in on the ground with no protection 9- was sent to their sister store in Kent , but problems still exist. After seven trips I have given up. Can you imagine dropping your car off for 4 hours at a time and the problems never fixed. We gave up, I don't want their hands on my car anymore. All I can say is that anyone that has had good luck, just got lucky. If you care about your car you are crazy to shop at Stereotomy. I know two other people that have simialar experiences. Six hundred and fifty dollars later I feel robbed. Cons: Inferior installers, very unprofessional more

These guys are great. Worked with them in the past and have always got great service and low prices. Recently went in to get a new stereo and had another great buying experience. They have my business for life. Pros: Great selection, low prices, and excellent customer service more

Recently I was in the market for a new Stereo and alarm system. As with most consumers these days I shopped around alot. I went to all the big box stores and got quotes for a system and everywhere I went I felt pressured and was treated as if I was just another wallet to the sales people. Then one of my friend turned me onto this small local shop in issaquah. Long story short the service I received at Stereotomy was nothing less than spectacular. From the moment i walked into their show room It was a different feeling than shopping anywhere else. I felt like the guy behind the counter truly wanted to help me get the system I wanted and wasn't just trying to push me to buy a big expensive system. The Price was way below any of there competitors and the System turned out amazing. Make sure you check these guys out. They will give you a great deal and make sure you are truely satisfied with your system not just take your money and run. Thanks guys. Pros: Great Prices, Thurough installs and Amazing Customer Service more

I went in two times to get the alarm that I installed myself checked out and hopefully fixed. I think I was there a total of 3 hours, and was charged $150. They did absolutely nothing from what I can tell. I'm pretty sure they just took my car to the install bay, popped the hood, and let it sit there until I told them I could afford any more of their time. The problems were not fixed and the car has the same issues as when I brought it in. One sign that they didn't do anything is that the shock sensor trigger wire (a very important wire on an alarm) had snapped when I installed it and was sitting there is plain sight unconnected and broken. It was not moved at all by them (neither was any other part of the alarm or wires), and they never even mentioned it to me. So basically I let them just steal from me. Probably the worst experience I've had with a business. I would not recommend doing business with this place if you're not very assertive, and aren't at least a little knowledgeable about electronics. Pros: Have heard some good things. Can play games while you wait Cons: If you let them get away with things, they will more

first off I'm only in high school but i have done a lot to my car and i have delt with sterotomy several time... Brian (front desk) has horrible service and was hard to deal with. I got the right supply's at a low cost but didn't feel all that confident. Just recently I called to see if they could take a look at my stereo. (sub problems). Eric was very polite and flexible to my schedule. It was because of him and his customer service that I made a 500 purchase the next day. I forgot to mention... I called car toys early to see if they could check out my problem and they wanted to charge 55 an hour where at Stereotomy Eric took me out to the parking and told me exactly what was wrong for free... 5 stars if you get Eric! Cons: Dont get Brian, ask for Eric more

Brian specifically, over promises and under delivers. Decent knowledge, terrible service, horrible attitude. They just don?t do the right thing to correct problems. Anytime you have things done to your car there are bound to be issues. In the case of Stereotomy, they're not willing to admit their mistakes, and then they just make it ""your"" problem after the fact. I would like to recommend them, I just can't. I won't. It's true, it's hard to find good installers out there, but these guys aren't worthy either. Go elsewhere! more

So I hear the endless CarToys advertising on every radio station every half hour. There is a reason they can afford it, the charge double for the same work. I went in to the Totem Lake store yesterday and the Issaquah store today and inquired about a Kenwood CD player for my 1997 Honda Accord. the price tag said it was $199.99 w/ free install, by the time I was ready to have it installed it was over $400.00 at the Issaquah store and $425.00 at the Totem Lake store, they spent 5 minutes selling the CD player and 30 minutes selling the extended warranty.\r \r I went to Stereotomy, talked with Dan and Bryan and 1 hour later I had the same CD player installed in my car for $250.00 out the door. They finished my car quickly, everything worked, my car was clean and they showed me how everything worked. I think I need new speakers and I will go to them first. \r \r I plan on changing the radio station everytime I hear a Car Toys add. Guess I will never be able to listen to the radio again. \r \r \r Stereotomy Rocks! Thanks Guys!!!!! Pros: Great Service, GREAT PRICES, Fast, quality installation Cons: N/A more

I have been a long time car toys customer ( i guess all those ads had me brain washed ) I was shopping for an alarm and a couple of friends had recommended Stereotomy. My impression was some little shop in Issaquah could not compete with the likes of Car Toys and Best Buy. Boy was I wrong they had just as much selection the price was $150 less than either of those two and the service was fantastic. When I asked the sales person why he thought they could do a better job then Best Buy or Car Toys his awnsered made a lot of sense. He said that audio and alarms is all they do and they don't advertise so they had to be better at it then the other guys. He also pointed out that most of the employees are over 30 years old and that this is thier career. He said they dont have teens in ties learning their way around the business this is what they do and they have been doing it a long time. Thats the way I felt when I worked with them. They are professionals who really care about what they do! They do not spend millions brainwashing me with a sale that never seems to end but they converted a customer for life by doing one thing and doing the best! Pros: True Professionals Cons: Took to long to hear about them more

I brought my Accord to Stereotomy to have a strereo and speakers installed. The guys there did an amazing job of helping me pick out the right equipment and there prices were resonable, but what really set them apart was their service. I dropped my car off with them for 2 hours and they were done before i came back to pick it up. I would recomend this store to anyone looking for a quality job and profesional service. I was very pleased with the way my system turned out and I will be back for future purchases. more

I've never worked with a worse company. I had a keyless remote installed in my daughter's car. It worked for a few days then both turn lights would start flashing sometimes while she was driving for no reason and the keyless entry stopped working. We asked for our money back but they convienced us to let them try again. They then attempted to install another one and this time it didn't work even a full day. We drove the car home; and the next time we tried to use it, the keyless entry it did not work; then, when I started the car the horn started blasting. Finally, after several starting attempts the horn doesn't start blasting but the keyless entry doesn't work either. We asked again for money back and they refused. I'm now going pay another company to remove it and am going to file a small claims suit against them. Avoid them please. In the end we will have no keyless entry and less money.\r \r 12/21/06 : \r Yesterday I took the car to another company to have the installation reviewed and the system removed. Just as I suspected; the installation was sloppily done. They used T-connection for everything and didn't bother to strip back the insulation on the wires. This made for intermittant connections which was causing the strang behavior I was seeing. I had it removed and I dropped off the part at Stereotomy. The place I took it to ""Great Vibrations"" in Bothell said in their opinion any connections to the ignition harness should be soldered. Hope this helps. Pros: Their sloppy installations are easy to remove from your car later. Cons: Hostile toward their customers; do not stand behind their work more