I had a bad experience with Carmel AV. Although they are knowledgable, and their installer did a superb job, I had major issues with their billing, customer service, and maintenance pricing.
I bought $1800 of equipment from them, all priced higher than the local electronic stores. But, I wanted their good graces in doing the installation (I did eschew paying their $3000 price for an HD TV that I got through a local retailer for $2300, warranty and all).
When I got the installation bill, it was almost 20% higher than I expected. By my records of the installer?s time (and, it appeared to me, their records as well), my bill should have been around $5000, not the $5800 they billed.
Because they could not document that I owed them more than $5000, they settled for that amount (but only after proposing to ?split the difference?!).
Next complaint: they programmed my universal remote but caused subsequent malfunctions in correcting some errors. Although the remote?s software is available at no charge from the manufacturer, they refused to provide it to me so that I could fix things.
After requesting a list of the fixes and changes I needed, which I provided, they refused to work on a time-and-materials basis but quoted me a fixed price of $2000, a ridiculous amount (clearly less than a day?s programming work was required, billed at their $120/hour). It seemed they were holding me hostage to their having the programming.
After telling them ?thanks but no thanks,? I hired Axiom Home Theater in Monterey (831-645-9900) to do all the checklist work. Their programmer needed only 2.5 hours and got everything working smoothly and cleanly. He even significantly improved the overall functionality of the remote. Total cost: around $300.
In sharing my experience with a reputable local service provider who does ?handyman? work for me, he replied that he had heard that Carmel AV?s owner was known to ?have a heavy thumb.? VERY heavy, IMHO!
Pros: knowledgable
Cons: Overpriced; Expensive follow-up service
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