Kartunes

I contacted Kartunes to install a new headunit and backup camera in my H3 as well as all of the Bluetooth, antenna, and OnStar integration wiring, etc that was required. They quoted me a reasonable price and fit me in that weekend. I was going out of town for the day Saturday so I dropped the truck off Friday. My brilliant plan was to pick it up Sunday afternoon when I returned.
Kartunes completed the install in about 5 hours on Saturday and called and left two voice mails to remind me to pick it up. When I listened to the voice mails at about 6pm, it dawned on me at that time that I had made a dumb mistake assuming that they would be open on a Sunday. I emailed them at about 6pm Saturday and let them know the situation. I asked if I could just come pick up the truck with my spare key and have them charge my card manually. This was fine except that the truck was parked safely in their garage. However, Kartunes offered to have someone come by on Sunday and pull the truck out of the garage so I could pick it up – despite being closed! That was amazing.
When I went to pick up the truck on Sunday it was parked outside waiting for me; however, it would not start. This was not Kartunes fault, but rather an issue with another system I had installed in the vehicle. Nevertheless, I contacted them again and let them know the truck would not start and the owner came by just 15 minutes later to help fix the problem. A few minutes and I was on my way.
The new system works great; backup camera is really helpful. No hickups there either.
These guys REALLY went above and beyond for me in terms of customer service. I could not be more appreciative of their dedication to me as a customer despite these issues not being their fault. I’d recommend them to anyone and I will be back for my audio upgrades.

After reading several poor reviews I was a bit tentative in working with Kartunes, but I was happy that I did.
Summary:
I have a 2007 Mustang hard top V6 with about 90K miles on it. It’s in excellent shape and I’ve been flip/​flopping for about a year as to whether or not I should keep it and turn it into a tuner car or trade it in. Needless to say I went with option 1, and the first step was to have the stereo I’ve always wanted for the car. I initially contacted Kartunes by email and shared my budget and overall wants and needs. The team provided me with three options based on our discussions. I decided to go with a 4 channel Alpine amp, 4 JL audio interior speakers and a 12 inch JL sub.
Positives:
They gave me the sound I wanted without replacing the factory head unit or installing a third party equalizer.
The amp is mounted upside down on the under side of my back dash, so it’s completely out of sight.
The sub is perfectly placed in the front right of the trunk and mounted in place exactly the way I asked.
The cabling is PERFECT and super clean.
The setup can play a wide range of music types and will sound amazing across the board with minimal fidgeting. I have the equalizer settings right where I like them and only have to adjust the bass level 1 – 2 levels based on the song at this point.
I’m a happy customer.
Negatives:
1) After the initial install there was a decent amount of white noise coming from the system while no music was playing, and it was loud enough that it could be heard when the volume was at a «normal» setting. I did have to take my car back to their shop to have it adjusted, and they were able to get rid of the white noise and it sounds perfect now.
2) I exchanged emails with them for a few weeks and they were very helpful, but at no point did anyone include a signature in their email. Still to this day I don’t know the name of anyone who helped me. My personal opinion is that this is more of a «luxury service» that they provide and as a whole I feel like some of these negative reviews could be avoided if the people that were customer-​facing were a little more personable. I’ll come back based on quality of work, but sometimes it helps if your clients know your name and LIKE you.
Overall I’m very happy with my new system and the overall quality of the service provided. Marking down one star for the return visit and client interaction.
Hope this review helps!

I had a horrible experience with Kartunes. I would not recommend them for any type of service. I was offered a settlement of half my money refunded through the Consumer Protection division of Virginia Consumer Affairs but decided I would rather post my experience to warn others of the unethical business practices I experienced when dealing with this company.
On May 28^th 2012 I was sold an Alpine INE-​S920HD stereo/​GPS in-​dash system. I had a perfectly working Bose stereo but was most interested in the in-​dash GPS system. I was told at the time that the Alpine system was not scheduled for release by the manufacturer until late summer of that year. I was quoted a full price of $ 1,050.00 including installation. I gave Kartunes a $ 250.00 deposit. They could not provide a written receipt or estimate as they claimed their system was down so I had them state the model and balance due on one of their business card ($ 800.00). In August of 2012 they contacted me stating the system was not being released as scheduled and they would be back in contact as soon as it became available by the manufacturer. I contacted them throughout 2013 as well as visited the store on several occasions and eventually was told that Alpine was not going to release the model they had sold me. They continued to show me more expensive models that I was not interested in. After my last visit in the fall of 2013 it became evident they were not going to be able to honor our transaction and provide an equivalently priced model with the same features. I repeatedly emailed them commencing in Feb of 2014 and didn’t receive my first response until Feb of 2015 requesting a copy of my invoice (I never received). I sent them the cancelled check and copy of the business card. Finally they responded in March of 2015 stating deposits are non-​refundable per their store policy and they would offer me a one-​time offer for store credit as a courtesy. In the interim I had contacted Alpine corporate and found out the stereo I purchased was on the market back in December of 2012 at the price originally quoted so it was apparent that Kartunes had lied about this fact for two years so I was not interested in a store credit. After contacting the state Kartunes produced invoices never provided to or signed by me in the amount of $ 1,637.86. I believe the sales rep under priced my original sale, realized it later and lied to avoid losing money on the transaction.

They may be good at installs but not customer service. berated by rude staff who is flipped about policy. Post by appointment only on your site clearly and you’ll get more business as the home page suggests something completely different than the contact page. Being open when you’re closed is bad business.
The worker followed me outside thinking I said something rude when I actually said thank you anyway. He did so in a threatening manner as well.

These guys are great people, know their stuff and dependable

The worse experience I had with the company. People are very rude there. They over charge, it was my fault for not looking around before I went there.
Seriously people just take you business elsewhere or learn to do it your self.
DO NOT GO HERE !!!

Have been back twice since this review and also referred a co-​worker.
A while back I was looking for a Bluetooth solution for an 05 Cayenne. After discussing various options with Mike, it became apparent a professionally installed solution was not going to be a reasonable solution due to price. Mike suggested I buy a portable version at Verizon, which I did, and it works adequately. Mike did not try to sell me something he knew I didn’t need, and turned away business to get the right solution for me.
A couple of weeks ago, I had Mike mount a portable XM unit for me in another vehicle. Again, great work without breaking the bank.
My coworker was also pleased with the quality of work he did for her and the price.
This is a place I trust to find the best solution for me and my budget.

I had taken a Sprinter van into them to get a small stereo and also get cameras installed in the rear quarter of the van to check blind spots. After explaining what I wanted the sales person up front said he understood what I was looking for. Dropped off the van for them to start the installation process. Went back to check on the van to see the progress and also to see the camera angle. The sales person told me they had it handled and that no one was allowed in the back.
At the time they had not installed the 2 rear quarter cameras and I just wanted to make sure they got the correct angle I was looking for. Well he assured me that they knew exactly what I was looking for and that there was no need for me to explain to his installer the concerned area was that I was trying to view with the cameras.
About a week for install and go back to pick up the van. Sales person walked me throw the system and when we got to the rear quarter camera views… well not at all what I was looking for as the viewing area and angle was completely wrong. Satellite radio antenna was mounted on dash and not on top of van so when driving north all the radio does is try to acquire a signal. The monitors for the rear quarter cameras where just double sided taped on to corners of dash and constantly falls off when hitting a bump in the road.
Ultimately had to take to another shop to get all this corrected since they were to prideful to own up to their mistakes. Such a shame since they came so highly recommended from a friend that I thought I trusted his judgement on things like this.

Answered all of my questions and scheduled my appointment SUPER quickly via email. Quote was spot on. Very, very happy with my auxiliary input/​ipod interface. Installation was quick and the cord is placed perfectly. Would definitely recommend!

These guys are great! I’ve had sound systems installed by them with 2 different cars I’ve had now. I didn’t feel ripped off as a girl, they’re down to earth & tell you straight up what you need. Fair prices in a reasonable amount of time. My only advice, when they tell you everything you need to make your car sound awesome and you try to skip out on some things (I turned down a new head unit in my old car), listen to them. Now that I have everything I needed, it sounds amazing! Thanks again for another great job. Wheels next!

Buying and installing vehicle audio equipment is like buying furniture. You are always at the mercy of the installer and he can charge whatever he wants. I have dealt with improper installations done by Meyer Emco and Circuti City (out of business) Installers are a shady bunch. I caught one of them using used speaker wire in an installtion on my Jeep Cherokee. So I was pleased when Kartunes installed the JVC head unit in my wife’s Camry. Con: they charged me $ 100 for an hour install and forced me to purchase a new wiring harness. But the job was done right.

If there was a 6^th star and I would have to pay a fee to grant it, I would… This is my second experience at Kartunes and I had no idea they could out do themselves but they did.
I rolled in to the store on a Thursday a bit frantic: I’d just spent 4 hours attempting to install a JVC head unit (my own) into my beater truck before a weekend trip where I’d be driving 12 hours. Turned out my head unit didn’t work so I just wanted them to install a new head unit and figure out my strange electrical problems.
I waited in line while a guy at the shop showed off some Focal speakers to a potential client. If you don’t know, these speakers aren’t cheap. You can drop a grand on a set of Focals. I wasn’t looking to drop nearly that kind of cash…
When it got to be my turn, I found out that the salesguy was actually the owner, Michael. I spoke with Michael and explained my situation. He calmly told me he would be happy to talk to me about head unit choices, but he was booked for the week in terms of installs. I said I really needed to get some kind of sound into my truck otherwise I was going to be in for one hellish roadtrip. And this is where he did something that both blew my mind AND guaranteed that I’d be singing this stores praises for life…
He referred me to a competitor… YOU READ THAT RIGHT! He was more concerned with proper customer service than with making a sale. Sure I didn’t pull up in my sportscar, but that didn’t matter. I was so blown away by this move that I immediately wanted to support his store any way I could. I know what you are thinking, «Well, I mean, they cater to all the exotics in the area, they sell speakers that sell for $ 900+ a pair… You weren’t exactly a high roller so it wasn’t going to break him to send you to the competition.» And I thought this too at first, but read on!!! It gets better!
I ended up buying a really great Alpine Head Unit (which worked fine, JVC Nevermore.) and it was even better than I had hoped. Built in Pandora Controls for iPhone! I told him I was going home and would try to install it myself. If I had any problems, I’d suck it up over the weekend w/​my ipod and some headphones, and come back and book some time in his shop for the install. He kinda laughed, printed out my receipt pulled out his pen and said, «Tell you what. You got email right? Here’s my email. I check it all the time. You have any problems installing this, drop me a line, I’ll be happy to help you if I can.»
Floored. FLOORED! I was waiting for Ashton Kutcher to come out of the back room and tell me I’ve been punk’d.
I know a lot of people, and you can bet I’ll be recommending this place to each and every one of them.
Oh yeah, and they did an amazing custom install in my sports car 4 years ago too.