Earmark Plano, never again.

[dbrayton1]

I'm not generally the type to post a negative review, but Chris in particular, from Earmark guaranteed I will build my system on my own or with a different vendor because of his short sighted, and unethical actions on Saturday. I admit I let this happen and shouldn't have. I was with my kid and just let it ride.

Total sleazbag approach. I ended up paying $130 to swap a head unit. He started at $80 over the phone because "I didn't buy it from them". Understood. I went there with the boat and the installer confirmed in person with me in the boat that it's a basic swap. We go back in and Chris disappeared for a minute and then came back with a new story. Now it's $120. It's Saturday and I'm now invested in time, so OK.

I go to lunch. He calls and says its done. I go back and he informs me the cost went up, without my approval, because the installer decided to add some ABS. We split the difference and I split for good. Never again. Very disappointed.

I really wanted to work with a local shop. Especially given they seem active on this forum. Maybe overpaying would be worth it if the level of service was high. Or if he knew what he was talking about. Neither. Just a pushy, fast talking, imbecile.


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[EarmarkMarine]

I'm not generally the type to post a negative review, but Chris in particular, from Earmark guaranteed I will build my system on my own or with a different vendor because of his short sighted, and unethical actions on Saturday. I admit I let this happen and shouldn't have. I was with my kid and just let it ride.

Total sleazbag approach. I ended up paying $130 to swap a head unit. He started at $80 over the phone because "I didn't buy it from them". Understood. I went there with the boat and the installer confirmed in person with me in the boat that it's a basic swap. We go back in and Chris disappeared for a minute and then came back with a new story. Now it's $120. It's Saturday and I'm now invested in time, so OK.

I go to lunch. He calls and says its done. I go back and he informs me the cost went up, without my approval, because the installer decided to add some ABS. We split the difference and I split for good. Never again. Very disappointed.

I really wanted to work with a local shop. Especially given they seem active on this forum. Maybe overpaying would be worth it if the level of service was high. Or if he knew what he was talking about. Neither. Just a pushy, fast talking, imbecile.


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David,

First let me apologize for the less than perfect experience that you had when visiting the Plano store. I have spoken with the employees involved in your radio installation and discussed ways that we could have made your experience better, particularly through better communication about the cost of the work performed.

You called the Plano store on Saturday, spoke with Chris,and asked for a price to install a radio into your boat that you purchased on Amazon. Chris advised you that Earmark typically only services and installs what we sell, and that we stay so busy working on Earmark customer vehicles and boats and our experienced technicians are such a limited resource that we generally don't have the capacity to take in work where the equipment was not purchased from Earmark. However, you insisted that this was a quick job and Chris wanted to take care of it if we could. As you said, you live about a mile from the store, so Chris asked you to bring the boat to the store for an estimate. When you pressed Chris for a price over the phone he said that our labor rate is $80 per hour, and based on your description of the job (swapping a radio) that it shouldn’t take more than an hour, but we would know better after we saw the boat and equipment.

When you arrived, Chris and one of our technicians went out to the boat with you to inspect the job. At this time Chris noticed that your existing radio (the one you were replacing) was a 1.5 DIN face and the JVC that you bought on Amazon was a 1 DIN radio. Chris advised you that we would probably need a trim panel to facilitate mounting a 1 DIN radio where a 1.5 DIN radio was. You told Chris that you would not need a trim ring, and that you used to be an installer and knew that the job would be a simple swap. We proceeded with the installation of your new radio based on not needing a trim panel.

After our technician removed your old 1.5 DIN radio it was discovered that the mounting holes left by the 1.5 DIN radio would not be covered up by the new 1 DIN radio that you brought us, and that a trim panel would be needed if we were going to make this radio look nice in the boat. Chris called you and advised that we would need to fabricate a trim panel for the radio, and that the installation would take a little longer and the installation price would increase from $80 to $120. You approved this. When you came in to pick up the boat the invoice included an additional $10 for parts that Chris failed to discuss with you on the phone. Chris means well and just wants to do the right thing for the job, but in this case it appears that he dropped the ball in not mentioning the $10 pats and we could have done better in communicating about the price.

The price of the installation was typical for this job. To fabricate a custom trim panel required making a MDF template of your old radio for both the outer perimeter and the interior single DIN hole, then fabricating the ABS trim panel. There is MDF for the template, ABS for the trim panel, and disposables such as 2-sided tape for the router table, sandpaper, dye, etc that is used for the fabrication of this trim panel, and we feel that 30 minutes of labor and $10 in parts is more than reasonable for this procedure. Again, I apologize if the communication was less than perfecta bout the cost of the ABS material.

Please let me know if there is anything that I can do to make you completely satisfied.

Odin
Earmark Plano

[xlair]

Always two sides to a story!

[eff1fitty]

Always two sides to a story!

Well said!

[dbrayton1]

Good attempt to dig out, but lots of liberal spin to your version of events. You do have a business to run. Chris never called. It was a clarion 1.8 din front with a single din opening. I can start posting pics if you really want to go there. The install took less than one hour. Can't dispute those facts. More important is my impression, regardless of what you to believe the facts to be. Your guy comes across as a shady character and really doesn't seem to know much about audio systems ironically. I didn't just work at The Car Stereo Store stocking shelves in college. I've built competition level systems in the past, so please don't assume I'm just some random irate, and I'll informed customer. I'm a dude with lots of money to spend and no time to do it myself anymore. I wanted to be treated like a prospective long term customer. I was treated like some random dude that just wants his head unit installed and didn't buy it from us, so f him.

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[UofM21]

I will say I bought elsewhere due to never being able to get a hold of anyone at earmark..... I am not sure I would think of this as a big deal though. I would have just said we agreed to $120, so that is what you will get unless you would like to call the owner etc. But over $10 bucks.....I am not sure I would not use them over that. I just made 10 bucks while typing this message.

[nyryan2001]

3yrs ago I tried to give Earmark some business.... On building a custom sub box. Was quoted $1800 lol.

Later i also went into the Plano storeroom browse for some stuff I needed... and some arrogant mid-50s clown tried selling me an 8" Bazooka tube for my boat.

i quickly concluded between those two interactions I was not the type of customer Earmark is looking for.

good thing for you is, in Dallas you have 5-6 reputable shops to choose from.

[David Analog]

Did Earmark Plano make the adapter plate or did they not? No one seems to be disputing that they did.
Was there an agreement of $120 based on making the additional adapter plate? Both parties agree that there was.
So the issue is basically over $10.
Call the owner and ask for the $10 back. He already admitted that it wasn't quoted in advance and I'm sure he'll gladly refund it.

[Nordicron]

No david the issue is feeling like he was taken advantage of and not just $10. Calls on the phone says about $80. Show up and installer says yeah $80 should do it. Then all the sudden this chris guys says no it's $120. Then they do the work which apparently still only took an hr and the bill is all the sudden $140? Seems like they were trying to stick it to him knowing that he took the effort to haul boat down and was somewhat committed to getting it done at that point and could squeeze a few more dollars out.


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[RacingSims]

Good attempt to dig out, but lots of liberal spin to your version of events. You do have a business to run. Chris never called. It was a clarion 1.8 din front with a single din opening. I can start posting pics if you really want to go there. The install took less than one hour. Can't dispute those facts. More important is my impression, regardless of what you to believe the facts to be. Your guy comes across as a shady character and really doesn't seem to know much about audio systems ironically. I didn't just work at The Car Stereo Store stocking shelves in college. I've built competition level systems in the past, so please don't assume I'm just some random irate, and I'll informed customer. I'm a dude with lots of money to spend and no time to do it myself anymore. I wanted to be treated like a prospective long term customer. I was treated like some random dude that just wants his head unit installed and didn't buy it from us, so f him.

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I will say I bought elsewhere due to never being able to get a hold of anyone at earmark..... I am not sure I would think of this as a big deal though. I would have just said we agreed to $120, so that is what you will get unless you would like to call the owner etc. But over $10 bucks.....I am not sure I would not use them over that. I just made 10 bucks while typing this message.

I need a new Job!

[jchamlin]

No david the issue is feeling like he was taken advantage of and not just $10. Calls on the phone says about $80. Show up and installer says yeah $80 should do it. Then all the sudden this chris guys says no it's $120. Then they do the work which apparently still only took an hr and the bill is all the sudden $140? Seems like they were trying to stick it to him knowing that he took the effort to haul boat down and was somewhat committed to getting it done at that point and could squeeze a few more dollars out.


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I've got to believe these guys didn't sit around thinking of ways to screw the OP out of a few bucks - or I'm just naive. His expectations were not managed properly and he had a bad experience. Happens all the time.

[Kporsch]

Good attempt to dig out, but lots of liberal spin to your version of events. You do have a business to run. Chris never called. It was a clarion 1.8 din front with a single din opening. I can start posting pics if you really want to go there. The install took less than one hour. Can't dispute those facts. More important is my impression, regardless of what you to believe the facts to be. Your guy comes across as a shady character and really doesn't seem to know much about audio systems ironically. I didn't just work at The Car Stereo Store stocking shelves in college. I've built competition level systems in the past, so please don't assume I'm just some random irate, and I'll informed customer. I'm a dude with lots of money to spend and no time to do it myself anymore. I wanted to be treated like a prospective long term customer. I was treated like some random dude that just wants his head unit installed and didn't buy it from us, so f him.

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If you used to install competition systems why in the world would you tow your boat to have a head unit installed? A competent installer should be able to swap head units in about the same amount of time it takes to hook the trailer up.

[jbach]

If you used to install competition systems why in the world would you tow your boat to have a head unit installed? A competent installer should be able to swap head units in about the same amount of time it takes to hook the trailer up.

yeap. i'm certainly not a competent stereo installer, it took me about an hour to swap HUs. and that was soldering and heat shrinking all of the connections.

[jonsquatch]

I need a new Job!

Either that or learn to type slower.... ;-)

If you used to install competition systems why in the world would you tow your boat to have a head unit installed? A competent installer should be able to swap head units in about the same amount of time it takes to hook the trailer up.

I was thinking the same thing and none of my installs have been competion quality, I know the OP said he was close by but I doubt it was worth the trouble of bringing it in if you have the skill to do it yourself. It probably took longer and was certainly more stressful than it needed to be and I hate the idea of leaving my boat anywhere out of my control for any length of time.

[ski4evr]

Holy Crap! all this negative BS for under $200 good grief!