[epijay]

Originally Posted by wild child

My views for your complaints are as below.

The observations are my own and not of any competitor. I speak from personal experience damping my last two cars myself in the US. The pictures should speak a thousand words. The material and labor should not amount to this extraordinary amount. I went in there with good faith and am not impressed with the workmanship at all. His workers used a bevel headed screw instead of a flat headed one for an accessory instal. These guys, including Kartik, did not seem to know the difference. I suspect others here who are defending him also dont know the difference. Installing a bunch of expensive audio equipment will result in "fantastic" sound for the average person.

As I said, buyer beware, get an independent evaluation of material costs before you bash me for bring this up. No matter which car, broken parts and dangling wires are unacceptable. The least he could have done was issue an apology and partially refund. Instead he has the temerity to say " live with it"!!!!

[vagster]

I have an upcoming install for my 2023 Octavia at SF. Im just getting my requirements and the quotation sorted out. Karthick is super busy and it is a bit difficult to get the quotation offline (I am 700KM away from Chennai)

Having my dashcam installed on my previous vehicle back in 2015 at their Anna nagar outlet, i am bit confident with the way they work (Professionalism and clarity). Karthick says upfront on 'what can be done and what cannot' on our budget (Setting expectations right).

This seems to be a one-off issue, a bit concerning as well. We love our cars to the most and seeing our car in this state will definitely not feel good. I can understand where OP is coming from.

Originally Posted by epijay

unprofessional job that was done on the inside of the doors, for eg. Minimal use of damping and foam material. See pics.

4. Door damping was not fully done - see pics The last pic shows how the insulation should have been compared to the earlier pic showing scanty insulation on the door frame. The scanty insulation under the bonnet came loose and was found on top of the engine shroud.

Looking at other professional installers' damping. I believe almost all installers perform damping in a similar way on the final layer. You can even see SF's Instagram on their previous installs or other similar installers.

Also, pasting a single sheet of damping material is much more easier than cutting them into pieces and sticking them where it is required.

This is subjective and i leave it to their personal verdict.

I reckon karthick offered to fix them at the next visit. Not everyone will have a good day every time. IMO, This is a new learning for karthick as well. While we cannot control external factors, a single bad day may spoil the reputation.

No matter who the installer is, I prefer watching the work at regular intervals to see how the work is made. (We should be aware of what is going in) At the end of the day, it is our car no one can take better care than us.

I will keep you posted on how the ICE upgrade on my Octavia goes with SF.

[doomsday]

I have had my car done by Karthik and team at Speedfreaks and from personal experience I can definitely say that they go the extra mile to ensure customer satisfaction for even, in my case, was an entry-level audio and soundproofing install.

I was initially not happy with some aspects but Karthik never said no to any concerns, what I feel now was nitpicking from my side, and addressed every concern until I was satisfied.

Therefore I am a bit surprised that OP's concerns were not addressed after they were brought up, yes the distance from the place would have played a role as I can understand - I myself couldn't be bothered with travelling to Chennai every time I had issue.

Karthik asked me to use the car for a few days, make a list of any concerns I had. A month or so later I travelled to Chennai for a day trip and everything was taken care of as promised.

Since then I have recommend Karthik to many, who have ended up doing some super high-end work with them as well - two guys I know well have sent their high-end cars from Mumbai on a flatbed to get the audio and soundproofing done.

I sympathise with the OP's issues but I think if given a chance Karthik would have definitely sorted them out, I think that would have yielded better results than using this forum in this manner. Like someone said, we need to be more responsible while using online platforms as powerful as team-bhp as a billboard for negative publicity because of our one-time personal experience.

Every brand, product and service provider - including likes of Mercedes and Apple, makes mistakes - what makes then great is that they owe up and do everything possible to fix it.

As long as the intent to do right is there, I think we should appreciate the process and the end result.

[wild child]

Originally Posted by epijay

...bash me for bring this up.

Bro...

We are not bashing you up. Sorry if such an image is getting conveyed. We are finding it hard to digest when such serious complaints are laid on a professional installer.

As you say, I might not have the exposure when it comes to high end audio installs and I may not even know the application implications of a bevel vs flat headed screw. But with your vast technical knowledge and past experiences in the US, if you had felt that the quoted amount was exorbitant, you could have might as well walked away in the first place. Why did you proceed with the install at SF?

Also, why did you rush the work when Karthik's request for extra time was genuine? You could have atleast fixed an appointment with him on a later date to come back and finish the job. Both did not happen.

Bro, by taking our time and texting here, all that we are trying to convey is that the allegations made are not matching with Karthik's behaviour nor SF's work ethics that we all know of. None of us have faced such issues and we shall happily be repeat customers at SF.

However, as vagster was mentioning, there are always one offs and life is always a learning curve. The best thing that could have been done here was to shake hands and let SF wave their magic wand. This did not happen either and has ended up in an egoistic tussle.

I am pitching in my views/points since you have brought this matter public. I am trying my best to sound unbiased and am texting in the benefit of both the parties. Please view all our feedback / comments with a open mind so that you solve the issue. There is no point in harping over spilt milk.

If you still feel that Karthik had gone overboard by saying "Live with it", we will then have to work backwards to understand which statement of yours pushed him to say so and henceforth declare who wins this round.

Pump up the music system and move ahead. Please don't think like us "average people."

Cheers bro.

[epijay]

Shoddy work is not a "one off"; it shows a systematic problem. Why was the work not done properly in the first place. There seemed to be a reluctance on their part to my visiting the shop every day to see how the work was progressing. I had discussed lining the roof with dampening material. As it stands, short of my ripping the roof liner out, I can't be sure whether this was done. I went there in good faith, didn't argue about the price, but now I'm dead sure I was ripped off. I even discussed sound checks before and after the installation but " somehow" this didnt happen. Instead he said he'd do the after readings on my car and before readings on any other Kushaq that may come in. You can't call this sound professionalism. This would be comparing apples to oranges and not apples to apples! (paired tests in statistical parlance)This is not about airing grievances in public. This is about consumer feedback in the hope that this sort of thing doesn't happen again.

Originally Posted by wild child

Bro...

We are not bashing you up. Sorry if such an image is getting conveyed. We are finding it hard to digest when such serious complaints are laid on a professional installer.

As you say, I might not have the exposure when it comes to high end audio installs and I may not even know the application implications of a bevel vs flat headed screw. But with your vast technical knowledge and past experiences in the US, if you had felt that the quoted amount was exorbitant, you could have might as well walked away in the first place. Why did you proceed with the install at SF?

Also, why did you rush the work when Karthik's request for extra time was genuine? You could have atleast fixed an appointment with him on a later date to come back and finish the job. Both did not happen.

Bro, by taking our time and texting here, all that we are trying to convey is that the allegations made are not matching with Karthik's behaviour nor SF's work ethics that we all know of. None of us have faced such issues and we shall happily be repeat customers at SF.

However, as vagster was mentioning, there are always one offs and life is always a learning curve. The best thing that could have been done here was to shake hands and let SF wave their magic wand. This did not happen either and has ended up in an egoistic tussle.

I am pitching in my views/points since you have brought this matter public. I am trying my best to sound unbiased and am texting in the benefit of both the parties. Please view all our feedback / comments with a open mind so that you solve the issue. There is no point in harping over spilt milk.

If you still feel that Karthik had gone overboard by saying "Live with it", we will then have to work backwards to understand which statement of yours pushed him to say so and henceforth declare who wins this round.

Pump up the music system and move ahead. Please don't think like us "average people."

Cheers bro.

I guess you don't understand the concept of " good faith". It is because of folks like you who highly recommended Kartik that I went there, driving over 500 kms exclusively to get this done. Broken locks and dangling wires are not IMHO professional work. I'm waiting for him to apologize and make amends. I don't live anywhere near Chennai and to casually tell your high paying customer to come on arbitrary days is just not good customer service. Is he going to pay for my hotel stay and travel expenses to set right his shops' mistakes? Guess nobody here defending him understands the meaning of warrantees or personal responsibility towards a paying customer.

[wild child]

Originally Posted by epijay

There seemed to be a reluctance on their part to my visiting the shop every day to see how the work was progressing.

Again another one off. I was literally at SF 24x7 when they worked on my car for 2 weeks straight. Everybody there was accommodating and patient enough to answer all my questions. Not even once did I experience such reluctance from them.

Such allegations can occur under the following circumstances,
1. The business is not customer centric.
2. The boys are technical weak.

None of the above are applicable to karthik and his boys at SF.

Every business owner goes that extra mile for customer satisfaction and SF is no different.

Sir, I once again urge you to read our posts with an open mind. That will help you diagnose the actual problem and solve it.

[epijay]

Originally Posted by wild child

Again another one off. I was literally at SF 24x7 when they worked on my car for 2 weeks straight. Everybody there was accommodating and patient enough to answer all my questions. Not even once did I experience such reluctance from them.

Such allegations can occur under the following circumstances,
1. The business is not customer centric.
2. The boys are technical weak.

None of the above are applicable to karthik and his boys at SF.

Every business owner goes that extra mile for customer satisfaction and SF is no different.

Sir, I once again urge you to read our posts with an open mind. That will help you diagnose the actual problem and solve it.

Your implication that I am at fault is kinda stretching it, isn't it? Keep admiring the emperor with no clothes if it suits you.

[greenhorn]

Originally Posted by epijay

Keep admiring the emperor with no clothes if it suits you.

Let's keep the bashing to one high end installer at a time please. Let's not drag emperor who has nothing to do with this, into this.
https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/other...or-cochin.html (ICE, Bodykits & Accessories : Emperor (Cochin)) for those who did not get the joke (Another gentleman who has fans and haters in equal measure due to the wide chasm between his technical ability and customer management approach)

I understand this is a somewhat of topic comment, but I can't help make it. If i get infarcted for this, I can only apologize in advance to the mods and to have a bit of mercy on me!

[ninjatalli]

Negative reviews are extremely useful as they provide the litmus test for a business. Reviews with photos and additional context is even more useful. Also, it really helps if both sides of the arguments are heard as there always will be bias in every viewpoint (even the OP's).

User @thirdmainroad's post is extremely useful as it provides more context around this incident and thankfully he's pointing out mistakes at both ends.

Originally Posted by thirdmainroad

I believe the onus on this is mostly with Speedfreaks, instead of continuing the work, they should have stopped it when op said he had no extra time. When they were faced with a serious issue with damage to the workshop, they should have insisted that they cannot deliver on the promised timescale as something beyond their control occurred, and should have offered to return the car with no work being done if they could get no extra time.

However the rest of the posts asking the OP to more or less keep an "open mind", etc. are not useful. Yes, Speed Freaks might be an excellent shop providing one of the best services in Chennai. But any shoddy work even on a 25,000 inr worth of effort, let alone a 2.5 lakhs inr worth effort will not be taken with an "open mind" by any sane user.

Yes, there is going to be bias in the OP's post - he's not happy with the effort and it shows in this thread. Perhaps those who are still trying to defend the shop could actually try to get the owner's point across on why and what happened (from his perspective) to do some damage control.

Originally Posted by wild child

Such allegations can occur under the following circumstances,
1. The business is not customer centric.
2. The boys are technical weak.

No sir, there are a lot more circumstances than those two. A very obvious one, applicable for any and every business is:
3. They did not do a good job.

Shit happens. Apologize. Accept the fault. Try to make amends; no matter how pissed off the customer is. That one always gets kudos; no matter at how bad the screw-up was. Pick any negative review thread (Skoda, Tata, Hyundai, etc.) in this forum; if the business make amends and goes the extra mile, the feedback is always positive at the end. Here's to hoping the business and OP are able to get in sync on this matter and resolve it amicably.

[ike]

Those arguing SF's case, if you have any leverage/rapport with Karthik it'd be in SF's interest to have him apologize to OP for not meeting his expectations. He has driven all the way to Chennai, paid SF what they demanded to carry out work to satisfaction. Building collapse, rushed installation etc doesn't cut it as long as SF don't apologize for them doing a poor job(obvious from the pics). What I understand is that SF haven't taken ownership for their install going wrong and that is what I'd like to see as a starting point if I were the customer rather than being offered to fly in an "expert".

Karthik may be a very good installer(maybe even god's gift to audiophiles) who goes the extra mile to please customers but the acid test is what you do when someone leaves your premises unhappy and how you make it right. I have nothing against SF but my sympathies are with the OP because it could have been any of us at an installer or an FNG or an ASS where we go in good faith only to be hugely disappointed. Bloody hard to have an "open mind" when you have paid 2.5 lacs and the job is not up to scratch.

[dass]

Those siding with SF, can you all get them to share their side of the story for this particular incident in detail, rather than talking about your own experiences with SF?

While most of you have had a good experience with SF, OP had a bad experience. No matter the amount of money involved, I as a paying customer have the right to expect best service.

Let us stick the point in hand, OP having a bad experience and see what SF has to offer to remedy the situation. Those who want to continue with SF, I am sure will do so despite the feedback here.

[Engine_Roars]

If I paid 2,50,000 to you to work on my brand new vehicle and you return the vehicle in this situation, you deserve to be called out. Period.

All those siding with SF and blaming the OP, just because you got a good service and were happy with what ever work was done by SF on your vehicles, does not mean no one else can have a bad experience with SF and even if they do, they should just shut up and live with it.

Did SF inform OP about the lose wires and panel gaps before OP noticed those? NO.
Did SF send someone to rectify those issues to OPs place? NO.
Did he offer a refund/part refund so that OP could get those fixed at his convenience? NO.

Yes, shit happens but the way you clean that shit matters.

[buzzy_boy]

What started as a review has descended into bickering, and 1-upmanship.

The OP has made his point about his experience with SF. The others have tried to defend SF. It is pretty clear at this point that

1. Mr. Karthik has a wide clientele. He must have done something right to have clients who defend the business even if they don't have a commerical interest (as claimed)

2. It's also pretty clear that SF did not do a good job in this case - whatever the mitigating circumstances maybe.

I appeal to all the parties to let it rest. To the OP and SF supporters, further 1-upmanship, without material input, is going to hurt both of your standings in the members' views. It might also lead to this post being taken down as was the case with a thread about a Harrier(or was it a Safari) tuning gone wrong.

[Mathan1130]

Sorry to hear this ..

I personally know karthick for more than 10 + years I have done multiple car audio installation here & he does it perfectly (10 out of 10). It's one of the "The Best" place for audio upgrade in Chennai. Let me check with him & I will DM you bro..

[Yesterdaysnews]

I used to have an account and be active here back in the late 2000s, but I was spending too much time on the forum back then. I still spend a lot of time on TeamBHp, and now have more time to spare, and was thinking of becoming more active again. This thread prompted me to reapply for a membership.

I have been a customer of Speedfreaks and Karthik for many years now. I went to him after being extremely frustrated with an audio installation - It was first a disaster in Madras, I then went to Bangalore, and then I even went to Bombay to try to set it right but it just kept getting more messed up.

I had interests in the cine recording field back then and needed absolute studio quality set up in my car then which was a Mercedes E350.

I didn’t want to say this and thought about it long - but I think this post deserves this - it was the great maestro Mr AR Rehman himself who suggested I go to Speedfreaks when I told him the issues I was facing.

After Mr Karthik worked on my car - we used to prefer doing the final check of a recording in the car rather than in the studio. That car and set up is still talked about and fondly in audiophile and cine circles till date. Mr Karthik’s sound staging and the ability to bring out a neutral and balanced setup is among the best on the global scale

After this, I have had 3 cars worked on by Mr Karthik and I have recommended so many people and have also come across so many people who have gone to Speedfreaks. Right now in South, if someone wants a superb sound system in their cars, it is only Mr Karthik who can deliver.

We also consult with him for studios, mini theatres and home setups.

Mr Kartik is an extremely humble person first and foremost. And his and his teams attention to detail is unparalleled.

I spoke to Mr Karthik after reading this post. He does acknowledge that mistakes were unfortunately made and that he offered to set all of it correct but the OP refused to let Mr Karthik do so.

That sir is not correct. Even if you buy a new car and something is wrong company is not going to refund or give you a new car sir - they will first ask you to bring it to their showroom and give them a chance to set it right.

And so is it with escalating matters - you must first try to get reasonable solution at level one, then go to level two and three.

You posting such a negative review on such a powerful forum against an honest and good business especially after you declined to go back to have mistakes corrected even once is wrong sir.

Just like me, I think many people - if they go to Speedfreaks once, they will never go anywhere else - and just like me and a few others have done, they will all take the time to support this business and clarify.