# Sticky  REVIEW: Sideways Auto Salon, (Austin, Texas)



## rynfarrell (Apr 11, 2011)

*Moderator's Note: I have edited this thread to delete some of the non relevant posts, as well as interactions between me and the OP that were based on my own incorrect assumptions. None of the OP's postings that were kept were modified in anyway shape or form. If you are worried about me biasing towards the retailer by removing damaging information, please PM me and i can email you a copy of the original thread. As mentioned, my goal is to keep the review as short and to the point as possible, so any one visiting can read through a few posts and get the idea; and not to turn it into a long running drama pot  Hence the editing and closing of this thread.*

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I feel badly writting this but I figured I owed it to the community that has helped me so much. If I had come across a thread like this I would of probably done the install myself in the first place and saved $500 and a lot of frustration. I also felt obligated as simplicityinsound was nice enough to create this subforum so that maybe my situation can be avoided in the future.


*Prologue:*

I have installed my own systems since the 90's when I was a punk teenager. I don't claim to be a badass but I know enough to be dangerous. I have always had older cars so didn't mind risking a busted panel or random mistake along the way. 

This time around I had a brand new car and was 30 big ones deep into it so I figured I better let a proffessional handle it. There arent many shops in Austin and the ones there are dont have any reviews to speak of. Good or bad. So I decided to go with the shop that carries the elite companies such as Hybrid Audio and Zapco. 










*My Story:*

I agree to a price of $450 to install an active fronst stage (HAT L6, XT25) running off a HD 600/4 in the stock locations. As well as an MS-8 that will be powering the rear stage stock speakers and processing. I supplied all the cables/wire/components. I was paying simply for the install itself.

I drop the car off after work on friday at 6pm and agree to pick it up Sunday around noon.

Sunday at around 10am I get an email stating that the stock speakers were rivated in and that he needs to make spacers so it will be another $100. Keep in mind I am supposed to pick it up in 2 hours. I agree to the price increase without argument and agree to pick it up later. Picking it up later means taking a $50 cab acrross Austin as my girlfriend had to work and I didnt want to bother my friends. 

Finally at 9pm I get the email saying he is almost ready so i catch my cab. When I get there he still has my panels off and he hasnt even turned on the stereo. 

I wait around for 30 minutes while he finishes up. At this point he calls me over and says he thinks my speaker is blown. I know for a fact it was good when I pulled it out of my Tahoe but it was under warrenty so waasnt to upset. While we are looking at it I notice all the speakers sound "blown". 

By now it is 10pm and I am on the far side of Austin and have to get up early for work so i say **** it and tell him we will finish it up at a later date. On the way home I notice a ton of sound coming through the fire wall but decide to worry about it later. 

Monday morning I wake up around 6am to take a look at it. After a little fidgeting I figure out that the "blown speaker" was because he had the HD set to high input instead of low as it should of been. I also see that the "engine noise' was because he had punched out the clutch grommet and run my 0 gauge through the hole. No grommet or seal just a big ass hole, metal edges, and my power wire. 

The ****ty putty job was added by me:











I try and tune the MS-8 but there is no sound from my driver side tweeter. I bust out the 9 volt and see that the speaker is good but the wire run is not. At this point I decide to take it back as this is the whole reason i payed him. 

When I get back to the shop and he pulls the door panel off we see that the tweeter has pulled out of the molex connecter completely (dont ask me why it was run through the molex connecter in the first place when the tweeter was 6" away. he cuts the wire from the molex and runs it direct to the tweeter. Problem solved. 

He says you are all set and I leave as I had to be somewhere.











On my way home I notice that my driver side door panel is not on properly and my lock switch is dead. When I get home i look at the other panel as well. This one is also put on incorrectly and I can actually see the clips smashed against the door frame through the gap. 











I pull the doors off today and notice there are four boken clips on my front doors. Two others were bent at a 45 degree angle from being smashed against the frame but I was able to salvage those. The door lock didn't work because it was plugged into the rear view mirror connector and that one was just hanging loose. I also remove the molex connecter ******** from my passenger side tweeter. 

I put the panels back on the best I can as I have to order the clips from the dealership. 

To be continued.......


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## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

*Re: Sideways Auto Salon, Austin Texas*

hey Ryn (or is that Ryan?)

Thank you for posting this initial review. Of course, all of us would liked to have seen the first review as a positive one.

I will comment up on your issues as this is a car i am very familary with. Of course, this is based solely on the information you have provided thus far, and not based on any future info and pictures you may provide.

------------------------------

In my professional opinion, I would *NOT *call Sideways Auto Salon a hack shop. Everything that i have seen and read points to a very simple fact:

The installer may have under estimated the complexity of the install and did not schedule enough time and as a result, when he realized this, he got frustrated and had to rush things, resuling in the myriad of issues you have noticed. In addition, I believe the installer does not have yet a lot of experiene with your car and integrating a MS8...because some of the issues you are describing i have personally expereinced and takes some time to figure out.

lets take it one at a time:

1. The most obivous things that i see that he should have known before hand was the fact that the VW speakers were riveted in. Thats about the norm with these newer generation of VWs, and he should have anticipated that.

2. on the flipside, because he may not be familiar with the MK6 VW door, and he did not provide the speakers, he could not have for seen just how hard it is to actually install a beefy speaker in that location. I can tell you from personal experince that many deeper speakers have a terrible time fitting into the door without hitting the window OR touching the frong rille on the door card. its a lot of trial and error, which again, he most likely he could not have known.

3. The "blown" sepeaker issue, i am assuming waht is happening is that you get this weird scratchy noise coming out of your speakers when you go above a certain volume. I have noticed this exact thing on VWs with stock headunits and the ms8 and oddly enough, the 900/5. its not as simple as turning the HD to low input, because when you do that, and do tha autotune, a lot of times you get that noise...what i basically had to do to get rid of it is to iirc do the autotune on high voltage, and then when its done, switch the amp back to low voltage inpout and then play with the gains. he couldnt have possibly known about this, as it took me half a day of trying 20 different things to finally arrive at this conclusion.
*
So from my opinion, you should not fault him for this issue*. 

4. can you be a bit more clear on exactly what was done with the clutch pedal hole. did he take the grommet off and the for some reason enlarged it to a 3 inch hole? or did he simply remove the grommet which covered a large hole and forgot to put it back on? You can easily tell by seeing of the hole looked like it was drilled out (bare metal surfaces, shavings etc etc) the last few VWs I did were manuals, so i cant remember how big this grommet is, but i would bet that the situation is the latter, that he forgot to put the grommet back in place, may have been in a rush and pushed it and lost it, or simply just forgotten it. again, please clarify this for us?

5. the tweeter issue, again, fro my view point, is not a hack job, but a rush job. from that harness it seems he heatdrinked the terminals, something a hacker would NEVER do...it loosk like he was trying to just plug into the molex and not cut the stock wire, making a return to stock much easier; there is nothing wrong with doing this, but in a rush he may have not put it in secure enough or left enough slack. 

6. the vw door clips are kinda retarted, as you may know, they requires to be popped out first before slipping back onto the door card to be pushed into the metal cavity. they are suppose to pop out when you take the door out, but a lot of them dont "pop" and you have to pop them mnually...and truth be told, somteimes breaking them is unavoidable.. for this reason i have a dozen of these sitting in garage at one poiint, and over the years, i have used about half of them on replacement of broken clips. whether what happened to you is due to him not knowing this about vw door clips (less likely) or jsut he was in a rush and didnt want to bother, becuase those clips can be stuborn and dont want to snap back out...trust me on this.

7. the plug going into the wrong plug causeing your switches not to work i can gurantee is a rushed thing. 


so overall, my opinion thus far is this. I think becuase you pissed at all the things not working, you are seeing things a bit worse. I truly believe that given the proper time, you guy could have done an adequate job...i can see right away, the work is a result of an installer who didnt have enough time *(here i stress its not YOUR fault, but instead, he should have given you a longer time estimate*) for example, if you came to me for this and despite the fact that i have done this exact thing many times, i would still ask for FULL THREE days at the very least.

I know this may sound absurd to you, but this is a situation where i would recommend you contact the shop again, tell him about your conerns in a courteous manner, infact, i would email him and send him a direct link to this post. Give him a chance to salvage his reputation by repairing and redoing the work done so far. There are many times i see a hack job and i tell the customer, dont ever go back to try and fix things because he will just hack it up worse...*but this is 100 percent to me, not one of these scenarios.*


go back to him and 

1.have him order a new vw clutch hole grommet piece or at least, make a nice grommet out of abs plastic and sound proofing with silicone or something similar to seal it up right.

2. order new clips from vw and replace brokenones and reset the door

3. work with you to tune the ms8 right, or, this may be something you wanna do on your own through trial and error, like i said, this is very difficult, you can feel free to call me when you do and i can talk you or him through what i did. 

let me know what you think of my response. 

Bing


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## rynfarrell (Apr 11, 2011)

*Re: Random Shop, Austin Texas*

*1. The most obivous things that i see that he should have known before hand was the fact that the VW speakers were riveted in. Thats about the norm with these newer generation of VWs, and he should have anticipated that.*

I agree

*2. on the flipside, because he may not be familiar with the MK6 VW door, and he did not provide the speakers, he could not have for seen just how hard it is to actually install a beefy speaker in that location. I can tell you from personal experince that many deeper speakers have a terrible time fitting into the door without hitting the window OR touching the frong rille on the door card. its a lot of trial and error, which again, he most likely he could not have known.*

He had 2 weeks to research and Im pretty sure his PC had Google =)
Not to mention 52 hours with my car.

*3. The "blown" sepeaker issue, i am assuming waht is happening is that you get this weird scratchy noise coming out of your speakers when you go above a certain volume. I have noticed this exact thing on VWs with stock headunits and the ms8 and oddly enough, the 900/5. its not as simple as turning the HD to low input, because when you do that, and do tha autotune, a lot of times you get that noise...what i basically had to do to get rid of it is to iirc do the autotune on high voltage, and then when its done, switch the amp back to low voltage inpout and then play with the gains. he couldnt have possibly known about this, as it took me half a day of trying 20 different things to finally arrive at this conclusion.*

The blown speakers were the amp clipping because it was set for a 14 volt input and was receiving a 2 volt input. It took me, a novice, 5 minutes to figure it out. (This issue specifically) 

*4. can you be a bit more clear on exactly what was done with the clutch pedal hole. did he take the grommet off and the for some reason enlarged it to a 3 inch hole? or did he simply remove the grommet which covered a large hole and forgot to put it back on? You can easily tell by seeing of the hole looked like it was drilled out (bare metal surfaces, shavings etc etc) the last few VWs I did were manuals, so i cant remember how big this grommet is, but i would bet that the situation is the latter, that he forgot to put the grommet back in place, may have been in a rush and pushed it and lost it, or simply just forgotten it. again, please clarify this for us?*


He punched out the grommet. All he had to do was drill a hole in it. When I asked him about this he said "Its a big ass hole there wasn't much I can do with it." I found out about the molding putty from a fellow member here. 


*5. the tweeter issue, again, fro my view point, is not a hack job, but a rush job. from that harness it seems he heatdrinked the terminals, something a hacker would NEVER do...it loosk like he was trying to just plug into the molex and not cut the stock wire, making a return to stock much easier; there is nothing wrong with doing this, but in a rush he may have not put it in secure enough or left enough slack. *


Fair enough but once again he had my car for 52 hours. 

*6. the vw door clips are kinda retarted, as you may know, they requires to be popped out first before slipping back onto the door card to be pushed into the metal cavity. they are suppose to pop out when you take the door out, but a lot of them dont "pop" and you have to pop them mnually...and truth be told, somteimes breaking them is unavoidable.. for this reason i have a dozen of these sitting in garage at one poiint, and over the years, i have used about half of them on replacement of broken clips. whether what happened to you is due to him not knowing this about vw door clips (less likely) or jsut he was in a rush and didnt want to bother, becuase those clips can be stuborn and dont want to snap back out...trust me on this.*

This would be acceptable if it was my drunk friend installing my system for free. Not be be a dick but shouldnt he be prepared for them to break as a proffessional? 

*7. the plug going into the wrong plug causeing your switches not to work i can gurantee is a rushed thing. *

Agreed and that is basically the point. I have no doubt that the owner knows what he is doing. However he didnt even start the install untill sunday. And obviously did zero research the two weeks leading up to it. It would of been nice to have my car Friday and Saturday. 

The fact is he didnt start working on it untill the last minute and screwed himself. And in turn he did a ****ty rushed job. I haven't even listed half of the issues yet as I havent had a chance to take the photo's. But there wasn't a single aspect of the install that wasnt half assed or "rushed" 

I had no problem paying more if he needed more time. As a matter of fact I would of preffered that. Instead he just rushed through it and did **** work. 

I am not a picky person. As a matter of fact, this is the first negative review I have ever written in my life. 

I am not writting this to trash his business as I think he is a very nice guy. But I think I owe it to people to share my experiance so they have this knowledge before they intrust somebody with there vehicle worth tens of thousands of dollars.

And a final note. I am a network engineer and I understand the service industry very well. If I had done my work with the same carelessness I would be fired without passing go.


P.S. You sound like a good guy and I really appreciate you taking the time to consult me on this issue. But I think when you see the rest of what I have to post you will understand that there were WAY to many "little things"


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## rynfarrell (Apr 11, 2011)

*Re: Random Shop, Austin Texas*

Let me just say that this thread would of never been written if he had been a stand up guy and told me what he rushed or forgot. Instead he tried to pass it off as complete and got burned when i actually took the time to inspect it. Which in turn would of never happened if the damn speakers worked when he delivered it to me.....

On the flip side, if this quality of work is the standard in the car auto industry then I had inflated expectations.


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## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

*Re: Sideways Auto Salon, Austin Texas*

hey. I totally get where you are coming from.

I think we are both in agreement that the biggest issue is time...and if he allotted more time, then things may well be slightly different.

As for allotting time...well, i am sure you know from experience that many fields, especially those related to cars...are sometimes poor at alloting time. How often do you get a car back from a mechanic and or a bodyshop on time? 

it is unfortuantely a double edge sword....you want to get the job so you quote a faster time, or you want to maket he money and get the car done to make it worth it, so you underestimate the time needed, but then it catches up with you when you start.

but my central point is, i have seen my share of hack installs, and i truly and honestly do not believe this to be one of those times...but show us some more pics like how the door speakers are installs, the amp mounted, wiring laid out and maybe that will change 

but my one opinion still stands, i would like to see you contact him again to address the issues and specifically link him to this thread...give him a chance to be a stand up guy now, it hink in these hard times and economy, we all deserve a second chance...espeically from what i am seeing in the pictures. 

Be the bigger man and give it one more shot.

also, Please do not take this as an example of how all the shops operate...try to retain some faith brotha 

keep us updated 

b


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## rynfarrell (Apr 11, 2011)

*Re: Random Shop, Austin Texas*

In the shop's defense the owner is a really nice guy has always responded to my emails and offered to work with me. 

However, the whole reason I payed to have work done that I am capable of doing myself is to have it done correctly the first time. If the owner had talked to me about getting side tracked and doing a rush job I would of worked with him. Instead he slapped it all together and is letting me find all the issues and then offering to help. This is not what I consider proffessional service

I don't HAVE time. I work 60 hour weeks, and have an 8 year old daughter that lives 4 hours away I visit on the weekends. This is the whole reasion I gave him my car for an entire weekend. 

I decided to change the title of this thread. I will wait untill I am finished writting and let the community tell me if I am being unreasonable. If so I do not want to hurt this person's business.

Ok looks like I can only change the header. Can you please change the title of the thread for me? Thanks!


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## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

*Re: Random Shop, Austin Texas*



rynfarrell said:


> In the shop's defense the owner is a really nice guy has always responded to my emails and offered to work with me.
> 
> However, the whole reason I payed to have work done that I am capable of doing myself is to have it done correctly the first time. If the owner had talked to me about getting side tracked and doing a rush job I would of worked with him. Instead he slapped it all together and is letting me find all the issues and then offering to help. This is not what I consider proffessional service
> 
> ...



I think the title is fine, and i am not sure if i can edit it either 

i totally hear everything you are saying, I don't blieve you are being unreasonable, but i think the initial shock of things not working right, then the discovery of what you found, really made you extremely angry...and i think once you have had some more time to chill a bit, you may be a bit less absolute in your interpretation of the events. In other words, you were simply being human. 

again, i stress the importance to give him a shot at remedying this situation, since you said hes alwasy been nice on email with you, ask him to fix it...make time, hell maybe he will even let you borrow a shop car...

let the man show if he is willing to step up, becuase if he does, and this has a happy ending, i can trim this thread before i lock it to reflect the story of turning a bad situation around.

b


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## GLN305 (Nov 2, 2007)

*Re: Sideways Auto Salon, Austin Texas*



simplicityinsound said:


> Until I see more I will hold off on calling the installer over his head...the brief info I got from other installers that knows him is that he is a knoeledgable guy with a lot of experince and in general a good person to work with...
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using Tapatalk 2


The one time I visited there, I saw the owner and two installers. Apparently the owner is a good installer and has built SQ and SPL cars in the past. I cannot speak for the other two.


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## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

i have seen enough stuff to distinquish between true hack jobs that are hopeless, and a rush job that truth be told, a lot of retailers can suffer from, wheni had my real shop, i can tell you that this has happened to me several times...until you own a shop, its hard to grasp, and this is one of the reason why i work out of my garage now on my own time.

but honestly, i think this guy deserves a second chance...just trying to be fair...

remember, i am not out there to bash and destroy shops, i would seriously like to see improvement of a shops image if they are worth it, and again, i feel this one is worth it. 

just a heads up, once this thread has run its course, your comment and my response are going to delete to clean it up for future members to read it as a short and to the point review, be it good or bad. 

I am going to contact the owner and hopefully get him to come on here and respond, to me, a man who will admit his mistakes and acutally fix it, is good in my book, god knows i have had to say "this is straight up my fault sir...i will take care of it" on many occassions back east in the early 2000s...so i am not going to sit on a high chair and talk down on everyone 

if you guys want an example of what i mean by hopeless hack that i would never consider giving a second chance to, read the opening part of this log:

http://www.diymobileaudio.com/forum...pe-demo-car-zapco-i-force-level-products.html

i see this on a monthly basis...


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## rynfarrell (Apr 11, 2011)

*Re: Sideways Auto Salon, Austin Texas*

I appreciate it. And honestly there isn't much else that needs to be done as I spent all weekend working on it. I am actually having regrets writting this thread as I was just trying to vent my frustrations and didn't expect it to get so much attention. 

The bottem line is I was disappointed with the work that was done and wish that it turned out differently. Trust me when I say i understand projects that don't go as planned. but I have found out over the years that honesty and communication is the best way to handle these times. Not slipping it under the rug and hoping the customer won't notice and or care.

It is obvious that David knows his stuff. And the soldering and shrink wrapping was done well. It is also obvious that he didn't have time to finish and rushed through a lot of it and didnt have time to tie up all the loose ends.


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## sidewaysautosalon (Jul 2, 2012)

*Re: Sideways Auto Salon, Austin Texas*

emailed customer directly to straighten this out. thanks for the heads up bing.


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## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

*Re: Sideways Auto Salon, Austin Texas*



sidewaysautosalon said:


> emailed customer directly to straighten this out. thanks for the heads up bing.


Thanks David, i think your response to me and him is very professional, unlike many other instances where i had to fix a true hack job and had to contact the original installer to ask for some specific info only to get a ear phone of swears and arrogant statements.

like i said all along, i kinda get a feeling with the pics shown that you are of a certain level.

now that you are here, if you have any pics of any installs you have done that you are proud of, feel free to go post them up in the gallery section and field some questions 

any other issues, feel free to contact me 

b


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## rynfarrell (Apr 11, 2011)

*Re: Sideways Auto Salon, Austin Texas*

Just wanted to update.

The owner did contact me and he was very proffessional.

That being said his character and customer service were not the issue. 

I have stated from the beginning that he is a good guy and always responded to my questions. 

My problem was the quality of work. I think the email I sent him explains my feelings the best:

_David,

Yes the installer was referring to me. And I apologize for this getting way out of line. I was just venting my frustrations and it received far more attention then I intended and/or wanted. 

Just so you know I think you are a great guy. And I did enjoy working with you. I just got the feeling that the work you did was rushed and therefore not up to standards I would expect from a pro.

For example:

Panels not put on correctly and window/lock controls not plugged in (after bringing it back the second time)
Smashed/broken clips
Hole left in the firewall
RCA’s crossed between processor and amp
Amp set to incorrect input
Airbag Error in ECU
Rear speakers wired to channels 3 and 4 instead of 5 and 6
Tweeters not working/distorting due to being wired through molex
Nothing except the amp secured
Screws mounting speakers to the spacers sticking out and missing spacer completely
Power wire not secured to in line fuse holder and pulling out from every day vibration. 

You get the point.

Fortunately none of these things are irreparable. However I didn’t expect to go over everything that was done and have to fix so many issues. The bottom line is I left your shop feeling like you flat out just didn’t give a ****. I am a super laid back guy and if a few of these issues were present I wouldn’t of even flinched. It just seemed like every time I fixed something I found 2 more things needing to be fixed.

I know that you would be willing to work with me and I appreciate it. However I am very busy and don’t have time to keep driving across town to have additional things worked on. Am I being unreasonable in expecting work that I pay for being completed the first or even second time around?

I appreciate you contacting me regarding this and apologize for it getting blown out of proportion.

Thanks,
Ryan Farrell_

That being said, my intention of this thread was by no means to trash his reputation. I just wanted to share my experience and relieve some frustration in the process. 

Take this info for what it is worth. Some people might feel as I do and think that the work wasn't up to par. Others might think that I am whiney ***** and move on. Either way the information is out there and I feel much better, so I have accomlished my goals. 

My system sounds amazing and I am happy. But if I had known I would have to spend hours fixing what I paid hard earned money to have done I would of brought it elsewhere or done it myself.


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## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

*Re: Sideways Auto Salon, Austin Texas*

Moderator's Conclusion:

First of all thank you Ryan for sharing the info with great detail and thanks for putting a end note on everything.

I think both you and Dave reacted professonally under the cirucmstances and i feel that this one went much better if it had stayed in the other forum and just had everyone chime in and bash him.


My overall thoughts are as follows:

The good:

1. the owner was very nice and courteous to you during the initial meeting process

2. some attention to detail was paid interms of heatshrink wrapping of terminals etc

3. He continued to be professional after the install and after he was made aware of this review


The bad:

1. A myriad of issues throughout the installation that resulted in poor performance. Resuling from a lack of attention to detail likely stemming for underestimating the time needed to perform the installation

2. Did not inform the customer of certain issues such as broken clips and punched out grommet in the fire wall when car was initially delivered

3. issues were not fully addressed when the customer returned 


Overall: 

I believe there is no excuse for the problems encountered by the OP, straight up many of the things should not have occured. But from my experience, i truly believe Sideways Auto Salon to be capable of doing a good job...and believes he deserves a second chance. I see a lot of signs of being rushed versus just a thorough lack of skill. Of course it needs to be mentioned that this is through no fault of the customer and the shop needs to dictate the time they need to spend on it. My hopes is that the shop will learn from this experience and ensure things are done properly the next time. 


Until another review comes along for this establishment, this thread is for now, closed. If anyone have additional questions regarding the customers experience or the shop, please use PM.


Ryan, if this any further development on this matter comes up, such as you finding a chunk of time to have him take care of some small things or if hes offered any free services in exchange for your headache, please PM me and we can include the info if you wish.

thanks guys!

Bing


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## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

*Re: Sideways Auto Salon, (Austin, Texas)*

*Moderator's Addition: I have been keeping tabs with both Ryan and David, and it appears that there have been some additional progress in working to resolve this situation. With both of their permissions, I will post the most recent round of email exchanges between them. Hopefully this will keep everyone updated and perhaps changes the percetion slightly of SAS. *


------------------------------------

*From: rynfarrell 

To: [email protected] auto salon*

Hey David,

I really appreciate the responses. And I got a little taste of what you are describing over the holiday. Apparently the MS-8 was a terrible choice for my install. It turns out that it wasn’t as simple as switching it to low level input. I am still getting distortion around 1K at higher volume and have found out through the grapevine that this is a known issue with the stock VW headunit > MS-8 > HD amps. I am told that I need to either recode the headunit for line level output or do some jicky **** were I have to run the auto tune at high level switch back to low level after and then mess with the gains. What a mess. The worst part is a feel like a total douche for getting upset with you over it. 

Just for ****s and giggles what would it cost to do the setup that you recommended in the email below if I bought everything through you? If I can’t figure this **** out over the weekend I might just scrap the whole thing, sell the equipment and start over. (trade in the L6’s maybe) I figure I owe you a second chance with better equipment for this install. 

Thanks again for the extra effort. It makes me feel a whole lot better about this deals. 
---------------------------------------------------------------



From: [email protected] auto Salon

To: Rynfarrell


Not caring couldn't be further from the truth, and i'd been under the impression that things were good once you sorted through the troubleshooting that was my responsibility. I'll be the first to admit that the car took way longer than i'd expected (probably longer than anyone expected) for being such a simple setup, but it is what it is. My method on installation is to get everything connected and working properly and then to go back and do 'clean up' as it were. You can see how this method can be linked directly to the things that you're unhappy with...you were the one to (handily) work through the kinks but since I wasn't involved the rest of the rough stuff never got smoothed out. I clearly remember during the original install my plan was to have everything connected and playing by the end of saturday and then start putting the car together and cleaning stuff up on sunday....holy **** that timeline got completely obliterated. I think it was something like 9pm on Sunday when things were playing....but not properly. 

So my apologies that you didn't get the 4 star job that we're known for here, you did enough research before coming here to know that we don't have pages and pages of complaints from customers. The truth is that in this business you occasionally get hit with a whammy and theres almost nothing you can do about it other than suck it up, try to make good and then move on. If I had to work on every car 3 or 4 times for a $600 install trust me, I wouldn't be doing this, so your Golf is definitely an aberration. This does have me rethinking my policy on outside equipment again though, I don't penalize or extra charge customers for such things....but guess which cars give me the most surprise hoops to jump through. The high/low level input switch + the ms8 tuning issue is directly attributable to my (relatively) minimal experience with those two items. I'm still shaking my head over JBL only sending out 2.5v on such a top shelf item, but that was my assumption that screwed up that aspect of your install. The L6 drivers are also, honestly, too damn big for your particular car. I love those speakers, so don't get me wrong, but I had to move mountains to get them to fit as 'well' as they do right now. With a few hours of refining that can be improved (just like everything else in the car really) and thats what the whole job boils down to. 

if we could hit reset on the whole project i'd have suggested to use the Zapco DC360, the L6 carbon (specifically designed for european vehicles lacking clearance, natch), the L1pro tweeters and a Cache Cloc.d for signal. Install would have gotten done in the original time specified and would have been much much much cleaner...only tricky part would have been the grommet on the doors for the tweeter wire but that was only about 2 hours of extra time. The end result would have also probably cost you almost the exact same amount of money that you spent....just with better results. I'm not blaming the equipment you brought me, I want to be clear on that, but it was definitely a contributing factor. While we're at contributing factors...if it had been April when we did this job I have a feeling it wouldn't have gone so awry either. That particular Sunday really ate my lunch just from a temperature perspective. 

The firewall thing I did offer a solution on, I ended up using it on my own car and its freaking amazingly effective. Wish i'd thought of it about 5 years ago, I had no idea that much noise was coming through. The fuse holder thing is pretty surprising, however thats the sort of thing that the installer doesn't discover unless he drives the vehicle around for a day or two...which never happens...but sorry about that. Whatever needs doing to fix it i'll be more than happy to handle. More often than not when I do vehicles with 0awg setups I run a circuit breaker under the hood instead of the giant ANL fuseholders...not because the circuit breaker is better than an ANL fuse...but it for damn sure is smaller, and has ring terminal mounts instead of screw terminal pressure mounts (which I dislike in anything larger than speaker wire for obvious reasons). 

So there you have it, I do apologize for you having to spend more time than anticipated getting this handled. Trust me, I dislike working on cars for 'free' (meaning longer than my original quote) way more than you dislike having to take time from your schedule to get it handled. I try very hard to NOT have to do that, its bad business on about 10 different levels. I haven't been doing this for 19 years because i've had my head totally up my ass, even though youre right, your install doesn't automatically lead you to believe that. Just let me know what needs to be done and i'll handle it.


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## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

*Re: Sideways Auto Salon, (Austin, Texas)*

I have reopened this thread for any additional thoughts from peeps, will close it again later on until we see a final udpate on the saga


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## Toys7505 (Jul 1, 2008)

*Re: Sideways Auto Salon, (Austin, Texas)*

nice to see both installer and customer working things out amicably and getting to an end result where both are happy w/ the outcome.

both get reps from me :thumbsup:


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## rynfarrell (Apr 11, 2011)

*Re: Sideways Auto Salon, (Austin, Texas)*

I am only going to write a short update because I am so f'n pissed off right now I can't see straight.

The other day both of my front windows broke. I thought this was odd that they both broke but wasn't to worried because it is a brand new car and they would be covered by warranty.....

I just got back from the dealer. And they weren't covered by warranty. The reason being? The person who installed my speakers cut out the plastic cage in my door behind the speaker holes that just happened to be where the bottom of the window tracks anchor to. So because the windows in a VW are a pully system the force of the window motor ripped the tracks off both my doors due to them only being attached at the top. 

I am now out a days pay and $1000 

This is WAY beyond negligence. 

Needless to say I will be contacting a lawyer in the morning.

DONT BRING YOUR CAR TO SIDEWAYS AUTOSALON


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## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

*Re: Sideways Auto Salon, (Austin, Texas)*

Oh WOW! That sux man...Please take some pictures and keep us updated. I would contact sideways and see about having this fixed on their expensive, thats what their insurance is for.

good luck and keep us posted.

Bing


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## rynfarrell (Apr 11, 2011)

*Re: Sideways Auto Salon, (Austin, Texas)*



simplicityinsound said:


> Oh WOW! That sux man...Please take some pictures and keep us updated. I would contact sideways and see about having this fixed on their expensive, thats what their insurance is for.
> 
> good luck and keep us posted.
> 
> Bing


I'm not sure I can stay civil if I contact them. I think I have been more then resonable throughout this mess. I am done.


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## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

*Re: Sideways Auto Salon, (Austin, Texas)*

i hear you man

i would contact them just to see about having their insurance take care of you and fix it for you. that way, you can hold off on lawyer fees incase that comes through.

i know the part you are talking about, and if its that, then there should be no excuse about them paying for it. 

sorry again bud...

b


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## rynfarrell (Apr 11, 2011)

*Re: Sideways Auto Salon, (Austin, Texas)*

I just plan on having the lawyer write a letter at first. I was speechless when the tech took me to the bay and showed me a new door carrier and what was done to mine. It is ^%$%$$ obvious the tracks are riveted to them.

Why in the holy hell would you not call your customer and say "these speakers are to big for your car." ???????????????????


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## rynfarrell (Apr 11, 2011)

*Re: Sideways Auto Salon, (Austin, Texas)*

I sent the following email to Sideways Auto Salon:

_David,

I just got done bringing my car to the dealership due to both of my front windows being broken. The dealership then showed me how you cut away the door carriage where the window tracks were secured. This modification has caused both of my window regulators to fail. This is not being covered by warranty due to the failure being a direct and obvious result of this modification. I am now out $900 for the repairs due to your negligence. I am requesting that Sideways Auto Salon reimburse me the $900 in a timely manner. I have attached the quote from the dealership. 

Thanks,

Ryan Farrell_


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## Scott Buwalda (Apr 7, 2006)

*Re: Sideways Auto Salon, (Austin, Texas)*

Ryan, we have received your e-mail and responded. Looking forward to hearing from you.


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## req (Aug 4, 2007)

*Re: Sideways Auto Salon, (Austin, Texas)*

wow 0_o

sorry about your gti dude! that sucks hard :'(


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## rynfarrell (Apr 11, 2011)

*Re: Sideways Auto Salon, (Austin, Texas)*

So I just got done reading the email i received from Scott Buwalda. All I can say is that the man knows how to keep his customers happy. I did not expect anything at all from him but he took it upon himself to make this situation right. And he didn't share any fault what-so-ever in my current situation. 

It is a well known fact that Hybrid Audio has outstanding customer service but what Scott is doing for me is WAY beyond the call of duty and he has just acquired himself a life long customer.

Many thanks Scott! You sir, are a good man.


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## ErinH (Feb 14, 2007)

Wow. Man, this has turned in to quite an ordeal. Good luck getting it resolved.


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## handcrafted (Sep 22, 2009)

*Re: Sideways Auto Salon, (Austin, Texas)*

Damn Ryan, I am really sorry to hear you are having this kind of experience at a professional car audio shop. I say that as I sit here at my computer preparing some notes for a seminar I am doing at Knowledgefest this month that will be focused on stepping up your game so that, by comparison, lesser shops simply fall off. I wish I could help ya man.


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## [email protected] (Jun 12, 2008)

*Re: Sideways Auto Salon, (Austin, Texas)*



rynfarrell said:


> So I just got done reading the email i received from Scott Buwalda. All I can say is that the man knows how to keep his customers happy. I did not expect anything at all from him but he took it upon himself to make this situation right. And he didn't share any fault what-so-ever in my current situation.
> 
> It is a well known fact that Hybrid Audio has outstanding customer service but what Scott is doing for me is WAY beyond the call of duty and he has just acquired himself a life long customer.
> 
> Many thanks Scott! You sir, are a good man.


How is Scott tied into all this? Does the shop carry his products?


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## rynfarrell (Apr 11, 2011)

*Re: Sideways Auto Salon, (Austin, Texas)*

Thanks for all the support yall. This is a kickass community.


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## Jboogie (Mar 13, 2007)

*Re: Sideways Auto Salon, (Austin, Texas)*

Any updates?


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## rynfarrell (Apr 11, 2011)

*Re: Sideways Auto Salon, (Austin, Texas)*


```

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Jboogie said:


> Any updates?


The owner eventually payed me back for the labor. And I will install my own from now on =) 

Thanks again for all the support DIYMA


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## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

*Re: Sideways Auto Salon, (Austin, Texas)*



rynfarrell said:


> ```
> 
> ```
> The owner eventually payed me back for the labor. And I will install my own from now on =)
> ...


good to hear you got compensation. But please dont give up on ALL shops  if we find a good one around your area i will be sure to pass it on.

b


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## Jboogie (Mar 13, 2007)

*Re: Sideways Auto Salon, (Austin, Texas)*

David is a good guy. Im glad he made things right for u.


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## rynfarrell (Apr 11, 2011)

*Re: Sideways Auto Salon, (Austin, Texas)*



simplicityinsound said:


> good to hear you got compensation. But please dont give up on ALL shops  if we find a good one around your area i will be sure to pass it on.
> 
> b


I don't blame all shops. And I won't hesitate to recommend yours if it is ever viable. I was more angry at myself then anything else, due to the fact that I was fully capable of doing the work and avoiding this entire **** storm.




Jboogie said:


> David is a good guy. Im glad he made things right for u.


He is a good guy. While I was not happy with the work I received, I have no ill will towards David.


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## snaimpally (Mar 5, 2008)

I wish I could say that this surprises me but I have read several horror stories regarding Sideways Auto Salon that are similar to Ryan's experience. Its unfortunate because I am looking for a good shop in Austin.


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## peleincubus (Nov 25, 2013)

I'm also looking for a good shop in Austin. I have a 2014 370z with a fee questions and work that needs to be done. 

If I don't figure this out soon. I will up grade other parts of the car first rims/exhaust etc. but the sound on a base coupe sport leaves much Much to be desired.


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## dcfis (Sep 9, 2016)

*Re: Random Shop, Austin Texas*



rynfarrell said:


> In the shop's defense the owner is a really nice guy has always responded to my emails and offered to work with me.
> 
> However, the whole reason I payed to have work done that I am capable of doing myself is to have it done correctly the first time. If the owner had talked to me about getting side tracked and doing a rush job I would of worked with him. Instead he slapped it all together and is letting me find all the issues and then offering to help. This is not what I consider proffessional service
> 
> ...



No you are not being unreasonable and unfortunately in this town this is the quality of work we have around here. You know SIS would never send out a car like this especially with the quality of equipment you chose to put in it


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