One of the worst service/install experiences... ever.

[URHYNS]

I've umm'd and ahh'd about posting this. Was going to post a review to Google and FB but I'm so over drama, whilst still wanting to vent a little I thought here might be OK. I’d like to share my experience with Keilor Park SSV (Street Sound Vision). This is a bit of a long read, so please scroll to the end for a shortened dot-point summary if you want to just get the gist of it. I've changed the names of the employees so as not to get too personal.

This is more of an exercise in getting something off my chest and just sharing the value of checking reviews before entrusting anyone with your prized possessions. 

In mid-November last year I contacted Street Sound Vision to enquire about fitting an alarm system with GPS tracking etc. to my '94 R32 GTR.
 
After speaking with the store manager "Bob", I felt comfortable to go in and discuss the alarm and feature add-ons as well as picking a new head unit to replace my old one. I brought in my car so he could have a look and give me a quote.  We booked in for the 21st of December and I was advised this would be an easy one-day job. 

On the 21st, I dropped off my car in the morning and returned home. Later that afternoon, I received a phone call from Bob explaining that the car was ready, however I will need to go through a process every time I turn off the car if I wanted the Remote Start function to operate. This included some kind of button-press sequence before turning off the car and locking it. I thought this was strange and prodded a little further, explaining that I just want to operate my car normally and don’t want to have to go through a ‘sequence’ every time. He advised that for this, they’d need to re-wire the remote-start function to the neutral switch of the gearbox, which to my understanding was the correct way it should have been done initially. He said they’d need it over-night to finish in the morning. Fine. 

The next day I received a call at around 1pm to come and pick up the car. 
Upon arrival, I was shown the standard features of the alarm; arm, disarm, remote start/stop etc. which all worked perfectly. The new head unit worked and the Bluetooth microphone tucked up over the rear-view mirror neatly, I was satisfied and so went inside to pay the invoice, thank the guys and leave.  When I jumped in my car to leave and put the key into the ignition barrel, the car did not respond. No cranking, nothing. I tried the remote start function and that worked, but the car wouldn’t crank with the key. I got out and called one of the guys (the one that actually did the install) out to have a look and his first words were, “It’s an old barrel and must be broken”, as if it was just a coincidence. Of course, I didn’t appreciate that and he agreed to take it back around to the workshop to take a look. I waited for over an hour in the showroom before asking one of the other guys to go and see what’s going on, he came back saying they’re having a look and will advise shortly.

About half an hour later I was called to the back and they showed me the whole driver side under-dash wiring pulled out, explaining they don’t know what the issue is exactly but they’ve narrowed it down to the ignition barrel harness. Again, blaming the age of the car, brittle wires and possibly even the old turbo-timer. Apparently, we had to source a new harness from somewhere or repair the current one. 
I stated that there was never any issue prior to bringing the car to them, and that they need to sort it out. At this stage I was pretty frustrated and they said they’ll need it another night, that they’d look at it again in the morning and advise what can be done. 

The next day, I received a call at around 2.30pm advising that they know what the issue is, it’s been rectified and I could come over at 5pm to pick it up after they’ve tested it thoroughly. 
I arrived at 5pm, and something didn’t feel right as I approached the counter with 3 or 4 guys standing there. Bob said “Mate, we had a bit of an issue, but it’s all fine, your car is working perfectly now.” I asked what the issue was and he said that they had broken my key, but “not to worry because 'Doogle' had a spare GTR key and we got that re-cut for you.” As I stood there, dumbfounded and trying to stay composed, Bob explained, “I don’t know how it happened, it just broke one time as we inserted it into the barrel." Doogle then chirped in with “yours was a cheap eBay-spec Chinese knockoff anyway”, adding insult to injury. It's not a knock-off by the way. 

After explaining that Bob had fully rewired my ignition harness and it was now all perfect, I put aside my disappointment of my broken original key with the embossed logo (different to the raised lettering of the replacement which was either R33 or possibly fake itself), took his word that the car was fine and decided to just take my car and go home. It was Christmas after all and I couldn’t be bothered fighting over the key. 

I got in my car, put the key in the barrel and immediately noticed it was very tight. Turning the barrel required a lot of effort and my broken key suddenly had an explanation. Bob did mention the new key was “a little tight” and needed some wearing in, but this was ridiculous. I turned the key all the way to the barrel bump-stop and there was a 1-2 second delay before the engine tried to crank and failed. Normally the engine begins to crank before you even get to the end of the barrel. I backed off and tried again. Same thing, it would crank once and stop. So I held the key in that position and went through this sequence a few times until it finally turned on. See below video. 

Then my 4WD light came on indicating a fault/failure (they did splice into the ECU and the 4WD computer is connected to that so they may have damaged that connection). I turned off the car and went back inside and called Bob out who at this stage was speechless and swore black and blue that it had been fully tested. They were dumbfounded as to the 4WD failure and then Doogle once again thought it’d be a good time to try and explain to me that “as it’s an old car, the light might be faulting but as long as the 4wd gauge was moving under acceleration it would be fine,” as if I was some idiot that doesn't understand what I'm driving. It wasn’t working anyway.  The next day was Christmas eve, it was currently 6pm and I couldn’t stay so I said I’m taking the car and will be back after Christmas. 

On the way home, I realised my climate control was also not working. No lights, nothing. Totally dead. When I got home and parked the car, I tested the Remote Start function and that did not work either. I tried the other remote and that didn’t even operate what-so-ever. To try and explain the disappointment would be impossible. The fact that they'd twice tried to pass the car off as "finished"??? Seriously... 

Summary of faults:
1.    My key was broken and called a fake. 
2.    Car would hesitate before attempting to crank multiple times, sometimes unsuccessfully. 
3.    Ignition barrel extremely tight and difficult to turn.
4.    4WD light on and no 4WD operation. 
5.    Remote Start function not working. 
6.    Second remote not working
7.    Climate control dead.
 
On the 04/01/21 – I called and spoke to Bob and calmly aired my frustration. He told me they can’t see me until the 25th of January, which I rejected and said in that case I want a full refund so I can take it somewhere else to get fixed. He then agreed to take it in on Thursday the 7th to asses and advise. I felt stuck between a rock and a hard place as I had already paid them. If I hadn't yet paid, they would never see me again, but I had to try and keep things civil with them so they could fix the car.
On Thursday I took the car and we agreed he’d keep it, look into the issues and try to rectify. Later that day he called me saying it was being worked on and the next day I received a call saying everything except for the 4WD had been rectified. Alarm had been removed and re-fit, turbo timer removed (previously discussed and agreed) as it was interfering with the ignition/remote start voltage. 

Car is good now except for my 4WD still not working. When I bought the car, the Attesa was not patched to the Haltech ECU. This was fixed, but is now mysteriously not working again. Bob said he’d checked the wiring and it all looked fine so wasn’t sure why it wasn’t working. As I had by now lost all faith in SSV, I did not pursue this matter and decided I will take it to someone that is familiar with the Attesa system.   

Whilst I appreciated Bob finally coming through and sorting out some of the issues, the overall experience with SSV was shambolic and, not only do I not recommend them, I strongly urge anyone considering their service to look elsewhere. The stress and worry I felt especially over Christmas and the New Year seems childish in hindsight, but this car does make me feel like a kid again, so I guess it just comes with the territory. I accept blame on my part for not looking into their reviews online before booking the car and taking it in to them.  Since this experience, I've spoken to many people who've had similar or worse experiences with this store, and even their other stores. Very uncharacteristic of me to just trust a ‘big’ name in the industry without doing my own research. Lesson learned, let it be yours too. I'm not taking it any further with them but that's the last time I step foot there, and will be advising everyone I know not to use them if they need any audio/security etc in their pride and joy. 

Thanks for reading and again, sorry for the long burn. Short summary under the pic of my car.

 

 

Short Version:

•    21/12/20 – Drop car off to purchase and fit alarm system and head unit. Was advised later in the arvo that certain procedures need to be completed before ignition-off to activate Remote Start, but a way around was to re-fit to gearbox neutral switch.
•    22/12/20 – “car is ready”: On pick-up, was shown features of the alarm and headunit, all seemed fine, paid and went to leave. Car would not start with key. Waited 2 hours while diagnosing. Blamed age of car. Left the car with them again.
•    23/12/20 – “car is ready”: On arrival: 

1.     My key was broken and called a fake. 
2.     Car would hesitate before attempting to crank multiple times, sometimes unsuccessfully. 
3.     Ignition barrel extremely tight and difficult to turn.
4.     4WD light on and no 4WD operation. 
5.     Remote Start function not working. 
6.     Second remote not working
7.     Climate control dead.

•    Advised they can’t do anything about it until the new year. 
•    04/01/21 – called and spoke to Bob and calmly aired my frustration. He told me they can’t see me until the 25th of January, which I rejected and said in that case I want a full refund so I can take it somewhere else to fix. He then agreed to take it in on Thursday the 7th to asses and advise.
•    07/01/21 – took the car and agreed he’d keep it, look into the issues and try to rectify. Later that day he called me saying it was being worked on.
•    The next day I received a call saying everything except for the 4WD had been rectified. Alarm had been removed and re-fit, turbo timer removed as it was interfering with the ignition/remote start voltage. 
•    Car is good now except for my 4WD now not working. When I bought the car, the Attesa was not patched to the Haltech ECU. This was fixed, but is now mysteriously not working again. Will need an auto-elec. 

 

 

[PranK]

Ergh, I get worked up when I read things like this. Just so many stories from so many different places. Its becomming too common.

Interestingly, I dropped my little old BMW to my normal specialised BMW place today and noticed that there were lots of non-BMW's there today which was totally unusual as it is an almost strictly BMW shop. Went inside and found out that the old owner had sold up in October. I've had so many bad experiences even with my run-of-the-mill E90 that I was actually worried about leaving it with them. I know, the car isn't anything special, but having been burned so many times I still stress about it. As soon as a car has quirks (GTR's or even old BMW's) you need to make sure the right people look at them.

I hope you dont get ripped off man. They better sort this without causing more dramas.

BTW, your R32 is stunning. 

 

[Ty1]

Literally sounds like a nightmare!! 😱😱 what a bunch of incompetent fools!

[niZmO_Man]

Everyone is dodgy until proven otherwise. I try to do as much as I can on the car before I let someone else touch it, as it's a risky venture.

[URHYNS]

18 hours ago, PranK said:

Ergh, I get worked up when I read things like this. Just so many stories from so many different places. Its becomming too common.

.....

I hope you dont get ripped off man. They better sort this without causing more dramas.

BTW, your R32 is stunning. 

 

 

Thanks man, it's sorted enough. They were bamboozled by the $WD issue though so I've just cut my losses with them and booked it in at a mechanic for a better look.

 

2 hours ago, Ty1 said:

Literally sounds like a nightmare!! 😱😱 what a bunch of incompetent fools!

Indeed, it felt like one at the time. Just a domino effect of faults and fails. 

 

1 hour ago, niZmO_Man said:

Everyone is dodgy until proven otherwise. I try to do as much as I can on the car before I let someone else touch it, as it's a risky venture.

I'm normally on that same train mate, hence my disappointment in myself. I've got no background in wiring or electronics though so putting in an alarm with all the extra sensors, remote start and GPS would have been impossible. I know what my logic was at the time, going with a big, well known company over a backyarder auto-elec, but I didn't do my research. SSV is local to me and I've come across them a lot online, made the call and went from there. Got caught up and paid the price. 

[niZmO_Man]

Yeah I know the feeling. I went through the same thing with wheel alignments (nothing compared to your problems).

Thanks for sharing your experience though, hopefully we don't get sued for defamation or some crap so they try to take this down.

[URHYNS]

1 minute ago, niZmO_Man said:

Yeah I know the feeling. I went through the same thing with wheel alignments (nothing compared to your problems).

Thanks for sharing your experience though, hopefully we don't get sued for defamation or some crap so they try to take this down.

The truth does (should 😉) not de-fame.

[Duncan]

Re the 4wd, when the error light is on at the dash, there should also be an error light which flashes a number of times to indicate a code in the computer which is in the boot under the rear parcel shelf.  So, next time the light is on head into the boot to check that and there is a good chance there will be enough information to at least start hunting down that problem...

[URHYNS]

18 minutes ago, Duncan said:

Re the 4wd, when the error light is on at the dash, there should also be an error light which flashes a number of times to indicate a code in the computer which is in the boot under the rear parcel shelf.  So, next time the light is on head into the boot to check that and there is a good chance there will be enough information to at least start hunting down that problem...

Yep all over that mate. First time it happened when I bought the car. 21 flashes TPS fault. Tracked it down and the TPS wire wasn’t patched between the stock harness and the Haltech (patch harness box). So I fixed that and was all good until now. They’ve obviously done something in there but they apparently checked it couldn’t find a problem. 
 

I haven’t checked the ATESSA light again, just giving it to JMA to look at and sort out once and for all. 

[junkie]

Hate taking my cars anywhere, have had more damage done by shops than care to remember. Even my most recent visit to a tyre shop resulted in chips and rattle gun marks on all four wheels. Complained to the manager who was willing to hear me out but left it as I didnt want them pawing at the car anymore or offering shit fixes that would make things even worse.

Panel shops are my biggest pet hate. Orange peel, buffer marks or buffer damage on trim, overspray, sinking filler with under paint scratches, broken clips, loose piece of trim, fisheyes, visible paint edges, poor colour match, list goes on.

Of all the panel work I had ever done, I was only happy twice.

[maddy400r33]

I've learned a lesson here. Try researching, if I think that I can't do it myself, maybe ask here, if others can advise, who knows, it might be doable without experts!  But I would expect a professional to do an expert job. End OFF. and yes, been there before, ties where cut, never, ever again. 

I tend to photograph everything before hand, then go on a rampage if anything isn't exactly how it should be, 

1 word of warning, you may either find what they have done will fail, 2 further problems will result, as part of their ham-fisted efforts. 

[URHYNS]

5 minutes ago, maddy400r33 said:

I've learned a lesson here. Try researching, if I think that I can't do it myself, maybe ask here, if others can advise, who knows, it might be doable without experts!  But I would expect a professional to do an expert job. End OFF. and yes, been there before, ties where cut, never, ever again. 

I tend to photograph everything before hand, then go on a rampage if anything isn't exactly how it should be, 

1 word of warning, you may either find what they have done will fail, 2 further problems will result, as part of their ham-fisted efforts. 

Here’s my main problem. When it was “finished” the first time and I went to pick it up, they showed me the alarm functions, remote start, new head unit etc. all seemed perfect. So I went in and PAID. It wasn’t until I thanked them and went to leave that the car didn’t start with the key and I went back in. That’s when the problems started. If I had not paid to begin with, believe me I would have given them one chance and after that, would have simply taken my car, alarm and money elsewhere. 

[maddy400r33]

Yeh, that's the lesson, try before you buy! In your case, pay. Its a shit way of working, but needs must! 

[URHYNS]

1 minute ago, maddy400r33 said:

Yeh, that's the lesson, try before you buy! In your case, pay. Its a shit way of working, but needs must! 

Of course, but at the time the last thing I thought to try was to turn the car on lol. Everything they installed worked, the car turned on with the remote, it locked/unlocked with the remote, the alarm armed/disarmed. Who would think “I should test my ignition with the key before I pay”? lol