This company seems like the right choice to start with when buying audio equipment however I found out they are NOT necessarily looking out for the consumer. I purchased a Pioneer Navigation unit through them because they were authorized and were giving away a free backup camera. Turns out the back up camera they give away is given away for a reason. Its a complete piece of junk. I paid to have it installed, which required drilling my vehicle, and only 3 months later it failed to work. I thought no problem, I went with Crutchfield, but I was wrong. They referred me to the manufacturer of the camera and what can you expect from a company that produces such an inferior product but inferior product support. So this "Free" camera, which was a deciding factor in my Crutchfield purchace, ended not being so free. One might say you can blame Crutchfield however once the camera went out I searched for info on what might be wrong and found the camera is a known piece of junk. Following the links for the reviews led me back to numerous reviews on Crutchfields own site, all of which were unhappy owners having the same issue. So Crutchfield is VERY aware of this products poor performance.

I hate to do this to Crutchfield, but I have to give them a bad review. It is not so much their problem than it is the problem of the shipping company they use, but it is still their choice to use Eagle Freight. I received a call from Eagle on Wednesday trying to set up an appointment and we agreed to Friday between 1 and 5. Around six that day I gave Eagle a call and they said there had been a communication error between the trucker and the person I spoke with on the phone. I stayed home from work for five hours Friday for nothing. They told me they would deliver it Saturday (the next day) between 10 and 12 in the morning. I called them around 1pm Saturday and was told that the same error had occurred and that the TV was still in their warehouse. It was finally delivered about 3 hours and at least 4 phone calls later. I would have expected Crutchfield to use a more reliable shipping company with all of their great reviews. I am very disappointed.

I bought a Panasonic TZ1 camera from Crutchfield without realizing that it only had a 90 day labor warr and at 95 days I started having a problem with the flash and shutter not being in sync, I got black or extremly blownout photos with flash. When I check on several digital camera forums on the inernet, I found that many people all over the world was having the same problem, I contacted Chrutchfield (my 1st time to contact Crutchfield except to place an order) to see if they would check with Panasonic to see if they had an inherent problem with the TZ1. Crutchfield's response was: talk to Panasonic, don't talk to us!  
 
Although Crutchfield charges higher prices, they convey extreme CUSTOMER SERVICE (Bill Crutchfield sends a letter out with each order telling me this) and becuse of this I've bought a lot of product from Chrutchfield and told many other people to buy from Crutchfields. Now that I have found that Chrutchfield is just like the other retailers when it comes to customer support after the purchase and will be shopping elsewhere and telling everybody else to do the same!  
 
I just bought a Canon S3 IS (with a 1 Yr labor warr) for $100 less than crutchfield and I'm sure that if I have a problem they will be able to match Chrutchfield's response: don't talk to us talk to Canon! In addition I'm am trashing the TZ1 camera and I am in the process of buying a Canon SD700 IS from somewhere else other than Crutchfields and I'll be saving $80. So good by Crutchfield, I hope you get a lot of customers with all those wonderful catalogs you send out (I've got 20 to 30 in the last year) and your wonderful letters touting your customer service after purchase, but you wont keep them with your high prices and your don't talk to us customer support!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nothing fits - waste of time and money. I know they aren't the cheapest, I paid extra so I wouldn't have to mess around. Best I can say is they gave me an RMA with no hassles.

Bought a deck from them and while the shipping was fast and while the support hotline is nice, the deck was way overpriced compared to the competition. I saw the same deck a week later for $50 less at NewEgg. I almost bought a pair of speakers from Crutchfield and it turns out they're all more expensive than at Sonic Electronix or even eBay. Ridiculous.

This may be the worst experience I've ever had with Crutchfield, an otherwise fantastic company.  
 
I purchased a 15 GB Ipod from Crutchfield's Outlet Store. I paid with credit card and $20 merchant credit online. However, my bank account was withheld the full amount for the Ipod. This $20 merchant credit still has not been recredited to my account. I keep getting passed back and forth between Crutchfield's accounting department and my bank. We'll see if the charge eventually "falls off" as the Crutchfield customer service says it will.  
 
Nevertheless, I received the product in a timely manner, however, when I opened the box, I found the 15GB ipod box, but inside was a 2nd generation 10 GB ipod. Being so reputable a company, including my experiences with them in the past, I doubt that they baited and switched me. More probable is that another customer did when returning an item. However, needless to say, this occurence speaks poorly of Crutchfield's Outlet Store claim that each product is thoroughly tested for functionality prior to being resold. Clearly, the item was not checked properly before the return was processed. This should make consumers a little more wary of their purchases from the used stocks of Crutchfield.com. In their defense, however, the exchange process was painless, and I will be receiving (cross-shipped) a new 15 GB ipod instead. However, I believe Crutchfield should have offered to issue merchant credit to the customer due to such an inconvenience.

After nearly 2 weeks I finally have my order in total. I had heard great things about Crutchfield, so I decided to give them a shot. The sales support team was pleasent enough, and by web standards, much better than I have encountered elsewhere.  
 
However, troubles began when I received my order. Instead of 2 front speakers, I was sent 2 subwoofers. An honest mistake I suppose, but I could have done without having to drag them back to a UPS store. While I will give credit to Crutchfield for sending the new speakers even before I had sent back the subwoofers, expedited shipping would have been appreciated.  
 
Because of Cruthfield's higher prices, what you are usually paying for is their service. I wish my initial experience had been smoother. That being said, I would probably still consider Crutchfield for future purchases on items that are not usually to be found at significantly lower prices, like home theater equipment.

I bought a car receiver from them. The custom install kit that comes with it is very useful. The car-specific wiring harness allows me to install the receiver without cutting any wires in the car. Some soldering is required to connect this harness to the receiver.  
 
I go from a double DIN to a single DIN, and the kit comes with a DIN filler. The filler does not look as high quality as the wiring harness. A little bit of sandpapering is required to make it fit.  
 
I forgot to enter my coupon when I placed the order, but the customer service allowed me to use the coupon afterwards.  

I've purchased products from Crutchfield numerous times over the years, and while not always the cheapest, I felt that the customer service and the free tech help and install accessories and free shipping made up for that.  
I wanted to purchase another stereo component from them. But now all those freebies are gone.  
I just use Crutchfield for reference now and buy cheaper elsewhere.

Great prices, but customer service is lacking. I ordered a stereo for my car, and Crutchfield didn't have the best price, but after taking tax, shipping, harness and mounting kit into account, it was worth purchasing from them. I placed the order and within seconds I received my confirmation. The order shipped in about two days (fairly normal), and I received everything in three more.  
 
Everything shipped as promised, with instructions on how to remove the old stereo and put the new one in. On the final step I put the mounting kit into my car, and it was an extremely tight squeeze. So tight that the bracket basically broke off. I needed a new one and asked Cruthfield via telephone what I should do. The guy I spoke with said I could have Crutchfield ship me a new one, or I could purchase one on my own locally and be reimbursed! I was ecstatic so I headed over to my local big box retailer, asked them what fit, and made the purchase. Everything fit perfectly and I was happy.  
 
I called them a second time to ensure the credit would hit my account, and they confirmed it.  
 
Fast forward two weeks later after I come home from a week away, my credit card statement says nothing about the credit...Ok. So I called Crutchfield today to clear things up and I spoke to a CSR about what should have happened. She said "there aren't any notes on your account, nope, nothin, sorry, can't do anything." Uh..what happened the last time I called? Did they just pull a fast one on me? I wonder because its past the 30 day return policy..  
 
So I ask to speak to a supervisor and after the CSR tries to transfer me THREE times, I finally get to one, and explain the situation. Obviously I was very frustrated. She seemed to be nice and wanted to fix the situation, so she said she would take care of it for me. Not falling for another trap, I grab her name and will be calling my credit card company later this week to find out what happens.  
 
If you don't have any issues with your product, you'll probably be fine, but their customer support is somewhat lacking.

This review was modified by its author, lolwtf, on 10/27/07 6:14 PM.

The only issue I had with Crutchfield was a refund that wasn't issued after the Kenwood receiver was returned with the proper return authorization. They didn't bother to send me an email saying they received the return. I had the tracking number that said it was delivered and when I called the next week to find out why my return wasn't issued, the customer service said they were waiting on a defective amp that I had also shipped back on a different return authorization that was issued some five days after the first for the Kenwood. This isn't how they explained the return process to me, until I called in the following week. I told them that I did my part and returned the Kenwood and they should issue a refund, but they were inflexable. I told them I would pay for the defective amp and they could credit me back when they got it, (they sent me a replacement) but they wouldn't do that either. So now I own a kenwood receiver that is in their ware house and I haven't received any notice that they even received it. (it was unopened) I also shouldn't have to learn all this a week after they haven't issued a refund, and I had to call them. All I want is the refund to the Kenwood they have had for a week! I feel they are taking advantage of me and keeping my refund longer than necessary. Who knows what would have happened if I hadn't called?  
 
The email clearly states the policy which I followed. They should have refunded the Kenwood and if the amp isn't returned they will charge my credit card. I don't appreciate spending over $1500, doing everything I'm supposed to do, and have to deal with them changing their policy at my expense. It was a very unpleasant experience.  
 
(edit: I did receive the refund. So, I'll change this to a satisfied. As they pay for return shipping and everything else was fine. But I will leave my comments.)

This review was modified by its author, John from SC, on 8/24/07 3:28 PM.

I didn't know professionalism, quality, and integrity of this caliber even existed anymore. Crutchfield is probably the best store I have ever had dealings with.  
First: I bought a car radio from Crutchfield for almost $40 less than what it would have cost anywhere else (for only the radio itself), then I got free shipping (3 days), a free dashboard mounting adapter made for MY car, free installation instructions for MY car, a free antenna adapter (necessary for GM cars), and a warning tone adapter (necessary for GM cars) at half price - all these things would have been extra if I had ordered from somewhere else, and probably wouldn't have all been available at one place. I could have easily ended up spending $300 dollars somewhere else, for something that cost me $190 at Crutchfield.  
Second: I had email confirmation of my order being shipped, with UPS tracking number, TWO HOURS after ordering it.  
Third: A day after receiving my order, I received a HANDWRITTEN thank you note from Crutchfield thanking me for my patronage. Who does this anymore?! Apparently Crutchfield does.  
Last: The installation instructions were perfect, the dashboard mounting adapter fit perfect and looks like the stereo was installed at the factory, rather than looking "aftermarket". My installation took two hours, and everything worked perfectly.  
Crutchfield was as close to perfect as any company can be. I'll definitley order any future electronics from them and nobody else.

Higher costs are worth it, read other people's posts. Overseas Military friendly, gets 5 stars in my book!

All I have to say is, Crutchfield is a spectacular dealer to work with. Great prices, excellent selection, best customer service in the industry, (they call to make sure you have the right components to match your vehicle before they ship) and speedy processing. I will be a Crutchfield customer for life.

A good 350 miles from Crooklyn New York makes for a good vendor.Super packing job and great customer service.This is not my first Cruchfield  
purchase.Gone are the old clearance sales:(  
I remember great clearance prices on discontinued items from this vendor,not anymore...they were still charging full price on a discontinued Denon  
tuner while others authorized dealers dropped it  
$160+:(