Crutchfield Audio: A Company That Understands Customer Service

We drive old cars. The newest vehicle in our family fleet is a 2001 Honda Odyssey with manual sliding doors. Our budget is tight, so we tend to keep our cars until they have to be sustained by extraordinary measures (something other than duct tape and wire hangers). As long as the old girl can get us from point A to point B, we’ll hold on to her, even if she’s wheezing and limping a bit. This requires a lot of self-maintenance, but the absence of car payments allows us to throw a heftier chunk of our monthly income at other things—such as a more spacious house, healthier food, educational expenses, cigars, single-malt Scotch, and other necessities.

My son gets around in a 1995 Honda Accord graciously donated by his grandparents. It’s still in good shape, but the factory stereo system lost its appeal some time ago. With a built-in cassette deck, no smartphone hookup, and speakers that do to music what a coffee grinder does to beans, it entered its twilight years when “W” was in his first term. So we decided to embark on a stereo-upgrade journey.

First order of business: Determine a budget. My son would be spending his own money, so he wanted to stay under $400 for a decent system (head unit and four speakers). Next, obtain some advice on how, what, and where to buy. The last time I purchased an after-market car stereo, I was a teenager—long before the invention of the Internet, electricity, tools, or the wheel. I would require some guidance this time around. When starting from scratch on a purchase like this, I usually consult a few “buying guides” on the Internet. Buying guides don’t tell you everything, but they’re great at providing the big picture of the process, as well as the main considerations you need to mull over before shopping. Think of buying guides as the wide end of the shopping funnel. Just be sure you consult a current guide; otherwise, you’ll miss out on the latest products, features, technology, and trends.

To further narrow our options, we started with the professional- vs. self-installation question. Since we wanted a quality name-brand system for the lowest possible price, we decided to self-install. We opted, therefore, to confine our search to online retailers, since we assumed the prices would be better than at brick-and-mortar venues. We were slightly anxious about tearing into the dashboard, yanking out a wad of wires, and reconnecting everything correctly. The last thing we wanted was to switch on the stereo and receive a blast from the heater, especially in summer. We hoped, however, to find some online help with installation as well as with products.

Amazon was our first stop. Our thinking was that even if we didn’t buy from them, the reviews were thorough and plentiful, and we could at least see what was popular. Same with Best Buy’s site, which we also included in our search. It didn’t take long to whittle down our list of options (again, thanks to a limited budget). We avoided touch-screen systems, built-in GPS, and expensive component speakers. We found that for $350 to $375, we could acquire a name-brand head unit with HD radio, CD player, Bluetooth, auxiliary connector, station preset buttons, connectors for an amplifier (if we wanted to add one later), and other useful features, as well as a set of four two-way coaxial speakers.

After several hours of perusing products and reviews, though, it seemed like something was missing. The process felt disjointed, for one thing. We were jumping around a lot, cobbling together a system in no particular order—like shopping at the grocery store without a list.

You’ve done this, right? You scurry off to Wal Mart with an idea of what you need, but then you end up hopping all over the store, backtracking and hitting the same aisles. If, however, you use your handy grocery app, which lists the items you need by aisle, you start your journey at one end of the store and finish at the other—flowing through the task without wasting any effort. Smooth. Seamless. Streamlined. Simple. So far, that wasn’t our experience.

Part of the problem was that we weren’t 100% sure the products we were interested in would fit my son’s vehicle. Some of the information was sketchy regarding which products fit which cars. Additionally, after-market installation—especially on older cars—often requires adapters, harnesses, head unit cages, speaker brackets, and other items for a a flush and functional fit. Did our car need any of these items? Which ones? How many? Where should we look for them? We didn’t know.

That’s when we ran across Crutchfield Audio’s website (www.crutchfield.com). Man, these guys know what they’re doing! Their entire site is ostensibly built around two primary goals: 1) helping customers find the exact products for their specific vehicle and 2) alleviating customers’ angst about self-installation. Navigation is intuitive, components are easy to find, and a knowledgeable and helpful agent is only a chat window away if you need some input. There’s also a Learning Center replete with product demos, installation videos, and downloadable guides.

But here’s the real clincher: That fragmented feeling I described earlier? It disappeared on crutchfield.com. Our shopping experience was smooth and seamless. We began by entering our vehicle make and year into the Outfit My Car wizard, and up popped a page that listed the Accord’s existing factory components, including the size of the head unit (single DIN, double DIN, etc.) and the configuration (location and dimension) of the speakers.

From that page, we were able to jump into the shopping flow for head units, speakers, whatever we wanted to see—and we were only shown  products that were compatible with our vehicle. We were able to view summaries, stats, reviews, photos, and more.  And, again, the chat option was always there if we had questions along the way.

We actually visited crutchfield.com three times before ordering, chatting with a different agent each time. Immediately after each visit, we received a friendly thank-you email from the agent, along with a full transcript of the chat. When I finally placed the order online, I was prompted to select the agent who helped me (I assume, for the purpose of assigning credit for the sale). I simply reviewed the transcripts and selected the agent with whom I had chatted the longest.

As I assembled my online shopping cart, I noticed that some items had been added that I didn’t remember selecting, i.e., a trim kit for the head unit and electrical harnesses for both the head unit and the speakers. These pieces were necessary for installation in my specific vehicle, and they were added automatically. I would have paid around $30 for these if I had shopped for them separately, but Crutchfield included them with the order at no extra charge. Then, when my order confirmation arrived by email, there was an attachment labeled Master Sheet. This contained step-by-step installation instructions—again, for my specific vehicle. We were able to review these before the system arrived.

Once we started installation, if we hit a snag that the Master Sheet didn’t address, we called Crutchfield’s tech support line, which is set up to help the customer unravel installation quandaries. I must have called this line half a dozen times, and I don’t remember waiting for an agent more than a minute at most (which was also the case, by the way, with their Customer Support department). Every person I talked to was articulate, knowledgeable, helpful, and seemingly appreciative of my business.

Nobody, however, is perfect. Mid-installation, we discovered that the pair of oval 6 x 9 speakers we ordered for the rear deck wouldn’t fit (even though the website said they would). I could have made them fit, if I had been willing to engage in a major construction project, which I wasn’t. I called Crutchfield’s tech support line to see if there was an easier customization solution, and there wasn’t. The tech agent and I decided together that the best option was to install the same 6 1/2″ speakers in the rear that we had installed in the front door panels. He immediately put in an order for these (note: this was taken care of by the tech support agent, without his having to transfer me to the customer service department) and emailed me a return authorization and shipping label for the oval speakers. The new speakers arrived in a couple days, and as soon as the returns hit Crutchfield’s dock, they credited my son’s account $50, since the new speakers were less expensive than the ones we originally purchased.

So, the stereo is installed and the tunes are cranking. And thanks to Crutchfield, we felt as though the entire experience—from initial shopping to screwing down the final speaker cover—was all about us. Sure, we could have acquired the same system from another online retailer for $30-$40 less. But the quality of service and the free installation equipment we received more than made up for the difference. No surprise that Crutchfield has been in business for 40 years!

We drive old vehicles. But thanks to Crutchfield, one of them now has a new lease on life. My son would tell you the same thing . . . if I could ever get him out of the car.