Car Audio Central - Ultimate Car Audio Forum and Community

Yup. People won't buy based on principle anymore. I'll pay the extra cash if it's a company I respect and want to support.

The problems is some people are absolutely obsessed with getting the best deal, even if its only a few dollars.

Where they could buy froma reputable online dealer. We have them listed in our FAQ section for a reason. These are dealers that are SAFE to buy from.

We respect them and they respect us...

heh, know what sucks? my only local dealer just closed.

I think the biggest downside to a retailer is that the perception is similar to a car salesmen, some of them give off a rather sleazy feel, or at least potential customers tend to think that even before they put their foot in the door. Others will give lopsided information in order to sell you a product that profits them more, and that will always exist.

It'll always beat the crap out of somebody burning off serial numbers a product and selling it cheaply enough that a dealer can't compete, though. It isn't just audio, it's everything. Brick and mortar retailers are hurting bad, and I hate to see it because there are so many honest people out there just trying to make a living off of what they're passionate about.

I just don't see how you could know you are scamming the shit out of good people and not feel bad about it. It's such poor business practice...that's not what a business is about. Acaraudio.com was my lesson to buy authorized and support a real business.

i agree and as a car audio sales men my sales are hurt so bad by internet sales of unauthorized dealers...

That's why I support companies that are against purchasing on the internet, at least from unauthorized sites. Some companies must go through the internet because they don't have a large dealer body, Image Dynamics is an example. But the common thing about any of these companies is that they make it very clear who the authorized retailers are and that everyone else isn't. That way you don't have to worry about these kinds of things.

I went online to the acaraudio.com site after my son found some Rockford Fosgate speakers that he wanted for Xmas. I ordered the speakers and an amp on 12/11/05 and paid with my bank card. On 12/12/05 I received a confirmation for my order and on 12/13/05 they took the money from my account. When the order did not arrive by 12/24/05 as promised I sent a message (they do not have a phone number to talk to anyone except sales???) I sent a message to their support link. They responed that my order had been placed on hold on 12/12/05 because they did not have and could not get the speakers that I ordered. They offered to send me some other speakers that were not comparable to the ones that I ordered. I responded that I did not want the other speakers and asked that my order be cancelled and my money refunded. They told me that they did not take money from my account, they only checked availability of funds. Well my bank account says differently. They sent me a verification email telling me that my order had been cancelled on 1/3/06 and again told me that they had not taken payment for the order. Well it is now 1/6/06 and they still have not refunded my money, however they have now acknowledged that they took money from my account, but I am still waiting for the money to get back to my account. What a scam, I guess that they needed an interest free loan from me to get them through the holidays. I will post again when they resolve this problem and let you all know how it was handled..
LAters,,,LAkers...

hey yeah im the guy from the link... acaraudio is such a scam. They remove the serial numbers from amps (probably other items too) so that the amps cannot be traced back to them (its illegal to remove serial #'s) I heard that from JL Audio because that caused something in my amp to burn out, anyways I'm very pissed that they are doing that illegally and getting away with it, but i dunno if theres anything I can do.

if you wanted to you could probably state that ^^ and tell your bank that what they do is illegal and there's no way they would even talk to the manufacturers when they are removing their serial numbers. I dunno it might work. it is true though.

i ordered a speaker from acaraudio and everything was fine thankfully
sorry this happened to you