Crutchfield vs Other Online Retail (Car audio)

[1sty]

Crutchfield will sell most items at about the same price as any store you can walk into. Such as a Best buy or independent dealer. This is usually a little less then MSRP. This is usually a good bit more then you would pay from a online shipping warehouse that offers no support for there products and has much lesser return and warrenty policies.

Very often you will find some great bargains once an item is discontinued or overstocked by them.
Add to this free shipping, free returns for defective products and free return shipping.
If you just want to return something for the hell of it, it at most cost you $7. That's it.

Although they are not the last place I check, they are usually the first.

 

[dj4monie]

Crutchfield is the most expensive, well known ONLINE retailer. I avoid them, there prices are about 30% more than anybody I have mentioned.

I paid $750 for JVC NX5000 and Sirius JVC Tuner, same thing on Crutchfield is close to $1,000 total including shipping. I paid for mine, local pick up (sameday) from www.sonicelectronix.com which I assume has your woofers for $124 each... If you don't live in California, no sales tax, even less...

In fact any of the P3 RF's 10" subs are $124, including the shallow mounts.

If you want to support Crutchfield, fine they offer good customer service, but that's not to say others don't and they DON'T have the lowest prices and "Sweet Deals" and Crutchfield on the internet don't go together...

 

[1sty]

That is because Crutchfield is actually authorized to sell all of there brands. No other online vendor can claim this.

Sonicelectronics is in no way authorized by RF to sell their products. Or by alpine, JL, kicker, or damn near any of the other brands. They do not buy products from these brands. They buy overrun products form the Asian build house, and buy up overstocked or floor model items from resellers, or buy left over equipment from companies that have gone out of buisness.

This means several things:
1. There is no warranty from Rockford fosgate on any product you buy from companies like sonic.
2. The serial numbers will be filed off the products you receive so that their sources are not shut down by RF.
3. you have no way of knowing if that product was a used item. This happens a lot when chains like CC and tweeter go out of business. They sell the old demo equipment to online retailers packed back up in the original box.
4. Sonic electronics will not pay for a return items shipping even if you recieve the wrong or a damaged item, they will also hit you with a restocking fee. Crutchfield will pay for return shipping and will not charge a fee even if you just change your mind.

Please don't compare a legitimate business that has real warranty and real service to a online only warehouse of questionable goods, poor customer service, and terrible policies.

I for one want that warrenty.
I have changed my mind before, I have recieved damaged goods before, I have recieved the incorrect item before. ANy of these issues with Crutchfield cost me nothing at all. With sonic, woofersect, and the rest this will end up costing you more then if you had just bought from a true reseller.

Last, for a $220 woofer from a legitimate retailer being sold for $170 including shipping that is a great deal when any other legitimate retailer is selling them for $220

 

[daonly1around]

i can walk to crutchfield if i wanted to haha, but yeah, REALLY expensive, so i just buy out of the new but older models area...

 

[judman13]

Yeah I agree 100% with the sum up of Crutchfield over other online companies.

I bought my Pioneer head unit from then, and there was a mix up on the install kit. I called the same day I got the unit. Talked to a very awesome customer service guy he got the correct install kit shipped out that day no extra charge to me at all!!

Then I was in the middle of the install had a question, again called them up. I was able to speak with a tech rep. Got my questions answered in less time than it would have taken me to go online and look.

 

[1sty]

JL had a good write up on this using tweeter as an example:
http://mobile.jlaudio.com/jlaudio_pages.php?page_id=111

Also lets looks at BB ratings for a minute:
http://www.bbb.org/richmond/busines...g/crutchfield-corp-in-charlottesville-va-823/
Crutchfield rated A+

http://www.la.bbb.org/businessreport.aspx?companyid=13198878
Sonixelectronics rated C+

 

[dj4monie]

That is because Crutchfield is actually authorized to sell all of there brands. No other online vendor can claim this.

Sonicelectronics is in no way authorized by RF to sell their products. Or by alpine, JL, kicker, or damn near any of the other brands. They do not buy products from these brands. They buy overrun products form the Asian build house, and buy up overstocked or floor model items from resellers, or buy left over equipment from companies that have gone out of buisness.

This means several things:
1. There is no warranty from Rockford fosgate on any product you buy from companies like sonic.
2. The serial numbers will be filed off the products you receive so that their sources are not shut down by RF.
3. you have no way of knowing if that product was a used item. This happens a lot when chains like CC and tweeter go out of business. They sell the old demo equipment to online retailers packed back up in the original box.
4. Sonic electronics will not pay for a return items shipping even if you recieve the wrong or a damaged item, they will also hit you with a restocking fee. Crutchfield will pay for return shipping and will not charge a fee even if you just change your mind.

Please don't compare a legitimate business that has real warranty and real service to a online only warehouse of questionable goods, poor customer service, and terrible policies.

I for one want that warrenty.
I have changed my mind before, I have recieved damaged goods before, I have recieved the incorrect item before. ANy of these issues with Crutchfield cost me nothing at all. With sonic, woofersect, and the rest this will end up costing you more then if you had just bought from a true reseller.

Last, for a $220 woofer from a legitimate retailer being sold for $170 including shipping that is a great deal when any other legitimate retailer is selling them for $220

Maybe I'm getting old or something, but I'll just say your right, I'm wrong, I suck and I should really shut up. I'll just say I got my JVC NX-5000 from Sonic, picked it up locally, it was a Canadian unit, but I got it before most retailers HAD it (2007).

Never opened, factory sealed, so was my Sirius Tuner.

Both Sonic and Online Car Stereo are local to me and cheaper, even with local sales tax (8.25%)....

 

[1sty]

You may want to keep in mind that Sonic IS an authorized vendor for JVC. However for rockford fosgate which is what I originally posted, they are most certainly not authorized dealers, you will get no warrenty, and will very likely get a scratched off serial number.

Brands like sony, and JVC are more concerned with market share then dealer protection/quality so they will sell to most anyone.

Now even those that don't, you can still get there products from Sonic, they are not likely fakes but they did not come from that manufacturer. So you will not get a warranty at all. If your fine with this, then proceed. Also returns are going to cost you no matter the brand. If your JVC is problematic for example, you must pay to have it shipped to them and to have them ship it back to you. They will not cover that cost. Crutchfield will. Also if you just want to return it, they are going to charge you 15% of its cost, no matter the brand or reason for return.

If your like me and if it can go wrong...it will, then you need that warranty and a dealer that will stand behind their product. I will use the example of what I am dealing with right now. I just picked up a Kicker amp from crutchfield that was on a big sale. Unfortunately it was faulty out of the box. It is actaully back feeding left/right audio back down the opposite RCA making balancing left to right impossible. This one was weird even for me.

Without any question at all, crutchfield issued an RMA that included the return shipping, emailed me a return UPS label and refunded my credit card. This is rare of most dealers. That amp in particular was more expensive at Sonic, however, would they have been so easy or "cheap" for me in the return process?
Not to only pic on sonic, my local dealer would have only given me store credit, they will not do refunds any more at all which is why I will not buy from them again.

Forget right and wrong for a minute, as this is just consumer preference but as moderator and a passionate person of car audio i dont tend to allow half truths to go unchallenged. To me customer service, peace of mind, and factory warranty are worth paying for. A low price does not entice me if I have to forgo the rest. NOr would I call it a deal to do so.

Anyone thinking of buying from such discount retailers just needs to keep the concept of buyer-beware in mind:
https://www.sonicelectronix.com/warranty_policy.php
If your fine with the above and you have looked at weather they are actually authorized to sell the product you want or not, then go ahead and buy from them.