Every Day Is Different

Aug 9, 2013

Yesterday was the hardest install I’ve done in a long time – and today was the easiest! Every day is different . . .

Yesterday I put a new head unit in a 2010 Ford Taurus, and a cd changer in the trunk. The changer wasn’t hard at all, but the dash was incredible! To get the radio out I had to remove everything from the instrument cluster to the passenger side airbag cover. The trim kit was almost $300!!!

Today I put a new head unit and two pairs of speakers in a 2002 Mazda Protege. The factory radio popped right out. The front door panels were a cinch to remove. And the back speakers were on the deck behind the seat, but it was a piece o’ cake to get it off and back on. Normally a three hour job, finished in under two.

What a difference a day makes!

Follow Up

Aug 4, 2013

This is a follow up to my 7/25 post “Hard to believe . . .”

My client emailed me this morning:

We have really been enjoying our media room since you performed your magic. The sound is just perfect, so easy to hear and understand. And Netflix is enormous fun. We’re watching the entire series of Breaking Bad. (You really should see this if you haven’t.)

Many thanks.

In response I can only say, and this to all my clients: if it makes you happy, it makes me happy.

Avoid the Robot Voice

Aug 2, 2013

A hint for everyone who use Charter for TV, internet, or telephone. When you call their 888 number to discuss a problem, don’t struggle through the seemingly endless computer prompts (e.g., “if you are left handed and have brown eyes, press . . . 4 . . . now”). Just press “0”. Right away! Then the computer voice will ask you the nature of your call, and after you answer (e.g., “technical”, or “billing”), you get to talk to an actual! human! being!

You can use this method for a lot of other automated customer service lines as well. Just keep pressing “0” until the automated system throws its robotic hands in the air and passes you off to a living, breathing person.

Hard To Believe No One Else Figured It Out

Jul 14, 2013

It took ten minutes to determine that the customer couldn’t understand the dialogue because the center channel was malfunctioning on his receiver. It took 30 minutes to convince him that he needed to replace the receiver to solve his problem. It took one week for him to get the receiver I recommended. It took four hours to set it up – along with a blu ray player – get his Netflix streaming, and reprogram his Harmony remote.

It took him a year to call me. Before that, he had had three other techs, all of whom failed to diagnose the problem.

Amazing.

A Real Biter

Jul 5, 2013

Hands and wrists all scratched up after installing a cheap little “Legacy” radio in an old Ford Escort. Din cage was a real biter.

It Must Be Monday

Jul 1, 2013

Caller: I installed an aftermarket stereo in my car and it doesn’t work. I must have a blown fuse or something. Can you help me?

StereoMan: Okay, well, did the factory radio work before you did the install?

Caller: It didn’t have a factory radio. And yeah, the old radio worked, it just didn’t have the features I wanted.

StereoMan: When you wired it up, did all the wire colors match?

Caller: Yeah, but I didn’t solder them, I just twisted them together.

StereoMan: Well that wouldn’t stop it from working. Maybe you do have a blown fuse.

Caller: I checked all the fuses, they’re not blown. Can I drive over and have you check it out?

StereoMan [consults calendar]: I guess I could squeeze you in at 11, is that a good time for you?

Caller: Yeah, great, see you then.

[11:00 comes and goes. Caller does not show up. Then, later in the day . . .]

Caller: Hey, sorry I missed my appointment. Can I come by now?

StereoMan: No, I don’t have any other openings today.

Caller: You can’t just squeeze me in?

StereoMan: No, sorry.

Caller: When can you squeeze me in then?

StereoMan: I could take you on Thursday afternoon.

Caller: Thursday afternoon??! What kind of outfit are you?!!

I’ll tell you what kind of outfit I am. I’m the kind of outfit that works by appointment.

One Of Those Days

Jun 21, 2013

Y’know? One of those . . .

First job was removing a stereo I’d just installed a couple of weeks ago in a Honda Odyssey. The owner just wanted an iPod adapter added to her stock radio, but the adapter didn’t work, and they were leaving the next day for a trip, so I put in a new h.u. and told her to come back in a couple week and I’d get a new adapter and take out the aftermarket h.u. and so she did.

Trouble is, the second adapter didn’t work either. After an hour and a half of fiddling around, I figured it had to be something wrong with her stock radio. So I ended up taking back my h.u., and the adapter, and writing her a refund check.

Second job was another iPod adapter, in a Lexus SUV. Everything worked okay, I just dropped my 10mm socket in the console and couldn’t get it out.

Then I was off to meet my new client who is moving from Biltmore Park to a even more posh development, to move his eqpt to the new place. Today’s assignment was to install a new router and get his computer up and running. Trouble is, the house is so big, the router won’t cover it all. But wait! What if I use his old router as a repeater?

Easier said than done. I fought with that til I ran out of time. I’ll have to go back tomorrow and figure it out. I know, I know, it’s Saturday. My day off, right?

Heh.

Restorative Justice

Jun 13, 2013

StereoMan hates it when people are taken advantage of. So what can a person do? Maybe just a little restorative justice.

Client obviously was not the sharpest crayon in the box, and to compound matters was very dark skinned, clearly of Native descent. He came to me for a “simple” car wiring job that turned out to be ver-r-ry tricky, because his stereo had two serious defects: one, the plug on the wiring harness had a loose hot wire; and two, the amp trigger output from the stereo was intermittent.

Of course I didn’t know that right away, and neither did he. I had to figure it out. Have you ever had this radio hooked up and working? I asked. No, he said, he’d never been able to get it working since he’d had it. I could see why. How long had he had it? He said he got it about a year ago – at Alan’s Pawn. And, how much did he pay for this thing? 150, he said.

Sheesh. It was probably less than 100 new. On the used market, no more than 50. But they probably saw him coming, and knew what they could get. And they did.

Grrr! I hates it when people are taken advantage of! I sold him a new harness pretty much at cost and charged him an hour and a half for two hours of my time. He left with a working stereo and a smile on his face.

I hope he leaves a colorful review for Alan’s Pawn. And maybe a nice review for StereoMan.

Put On Your Zen Hat

May 24, 2013

The caller couldn’t understand why the wiring in his newer car wasn’t as good as the wiring in his older car. “It’s not good or bad,” says I, “It just is.” But he insisted, “I used to could plug this into the accessory power on my older car with no problem. Doesn’t a newer car have better wiring?”

“It’s neither good nor bad. It is what it is. Put on your Zen hat!” I tried to laugh, but this was at the end of a 15 minute conversation in which I essentially had to describe Ohm’s Law to a person who obviously considered algebra to be somewhere out there with particle physics.

I love my customers. Really I do. If it wasn’t Monday morning, laughter would have come easily. I will look back on this and laugh. I will laugh with the customer when he comes next week to get his new stereo installed.

Castle Guy

May 8, 2013

StereoMan had to run a service call to his Castle Guy today – client lives on 400 acres on the East flank of Mt. Mitchell, in a house that literally looks like a castle. There are two ways to get there: either through Burnsville, then up Cane River, or through Barnardsville, and over the mountain at Cane River Gap. The latter is the more scenic route.