BESTBUY stereo install screws up my electrical

[diabolique]

Details on how BESTBUY screwed up my stereo install by frying my electrical and then refuses to refund the price of my install

I need help please on how to deal with this

On Thursday I bought an expensive(almost $400)PIONEER DEH-P6900UB (does everything but wipe your butt)headunit to replace my OEM stereo and I paid to get it 'professionally' installed by Bestbuy on the same day.

So after the install is done (early evening) I get into my car and drive away, (When i unlocked my car it made this strange beep noise but i don't think much of it) I then call my friend at the university because I want to show them my new stereo (Bestbuy is only 5 minutes away)I put on my signal light and I notice that EVERY SINGLE ELECTRICAL THING (stereo, clock, dashboard, heat knobs) on the inside of my car is now flashing with the turn signal. I pull into the university and meet my friend in a parking lot and I show him the stereo and my new STROBE LIGHT interior. I try calling BESTBUY serveral times and I can't get through to a person because no one is picking up ther phone. After like 20 minutes I finally get through to someone in car audio and they tell me to come back tommorrow to get it fixed.

My friend has to go but suggests that i take a look at the outside of the car before I go. I am horrified to see that when the drivers signal lights are turned ALL LIGHTS (license plate, side markers, brakes, etc...) on the outside of the Car start flashing like an AMBULUANCE. The only exception are the headlights and the reverse lights. When I turn on the lights (not DRL mode) the drivers side light turn signals are stuck on and flash intermittently with no pattern.

It is now getting dark. So I have 2 choices;
1. Drive home with NO rear LIGHTS whatsoever(only DRL)and NO Signals; or
2. Drive home with lights but inoperable signal lights.

Since I live approximately 30 minutes from the University and I was less then 5 minutes away from BESTBUY I decide the best choice is to drive back to the store to see if they can fix it for me because obviously my car is totally UNSAFE to drive.

Since it is 7:30 at night now the car audio installer is unable to come back. The manager who I am dealing with tells me to leave my car there and come back tommorrow. Unfortunately I can't do this because I only have one car for school and work AND there is no transit were I live so I am essentially stranded without a vehicle. He then suggests that I drive home and come back tommorrow. When I point out the obvious that the car is COMPLETELY UNSAFE to drive he finally and reluctantly tells me to take a cab home and back to pick up the car and BESTBUY will reimburse me the cost of the ride.

There are a few logistical problems with this as I will explain later however I did not really have another choice so I accepted the offer. I told them that I NEEDED the car back tommorrow by 10:30 at the latest because I had an inclass exam worth 20% of my mark at 11 am PLUS I needed may car for WORK that afternoon. The manager said that it was no problem and that the installer was coming in at 8:30 am to work on the car.

8:30 BESTBUY begins to work on my car
9:30 BESTBUY calls me - no progress
10:00 I take a cab to the university to write my test
1:00 I call BESTBUY - no progress - I tell them to call the volkswagen dealership that is just up the street for help and I go to class -
2:00 BESTBUY calls me and tells me the car is fixed
2:30 I get to 'talk' to the car audio manager Aaron.

NOW... this is where it GETS GREAT!!!

Aaron the car audio manager of BESTBUY basically accusses me of having a pre-exisiting electrical malfunction in my car and then buying a new stereo for it so I could blame the stereo installation as the catalyst for the electrical malfunction and have BESTBUY foot the bill.

NICE!?!

He tells me that there are several reasons that the stereo install was not the reason for the car (here they are in no particular order)

1. My Car was involved in an accident because they found windshield glass in my glovebox
2. The front fender on my car was taken off because the torx werent screwed on tightly enough and there is a gap??(further proof of said accident)
3. The signal lights on my car are not OEM and flicker when they 'kicked' my bumper
4. The HID kit

Basically he was saying it was ANYTHING but the STEREO install.
So here is how I responed to his points:

1. My Car was involved in an accident - Right... My car has never been in an accident. The 'windshield glass' that was found in my glovebox is sparkly and plastic and is off the silver sparkly decoration i had in my flowervase up until last week the only reason the decoration wasnt in the glovebox was because I moved it out of there for the IPOD cable install.
2. The front fender on my car was taken off I still have no idea what the hell he was talking about. It seems fine to me. IF it has ever been taken off (to my knowledge it hasn't) it was done by VW service people.
3. The signal lights on my car are not OEM and flicker when they 'kicked' my bumperI love this one. It just so happens that my clear front turn signals are OEM VW Eurospects. I had to restain myself from popping them out in the install bay and showing him all the VW logos and stickers on the part. And what were they doing kicking my bumper anyhow. They were unable to reproduce this so called flicker in my signal lights for me.
4. The HID kitYES the kit that was professionally installed and has been in my car for a year. That suddenly caused a huge electrical issue the very day that my OEM headunit was replaced. OH and lets not forget that my headlights were the only electrical system in my car NOT flashing and functioning normally.

Besides this ill attempt to try and blame anything and everything besides the install he then goes onto tell me that they are washing thier hands of the situation and any repair bills unless I can PROVE that the install caused the electrical problems.

This is where I need help the most.

I have a pre-existing appointment with VW on Tuesday. The appointment is for my 02 sensor in the catalyic convertor (CEL indicated and scan confirmed) and the recall on the brake sensor.

What is extremely interesting to me and VERY CONCERNING is that my CEL has been on solid for a good 3 months. When I got in my car after BESTBUY said my car just started functioning normally on its own I drove home. It took about 5 minutes into my drive for me to look down on my dashboard and notice that the amber CEL was no longer on.

What does this mean? I know that my CEL code is for intermittent failure but the light has been solid for 3 months and now its gone??

Is it possible that BestBuy took my car to the VW dealership down the street and had the codes reset (without my permission) to cover up thier mistake? (I don't know exactly how this works so I am speculating)or did they just disconnect the battery (i have no idea if car computers have a CMOS like regualr computers that store info after a power interruption).

Is there anyway to tell when the codes were last reset?

I'm really mad and insulted that they are calling me a liar. I have probably spent over 10,000 dollars over the last 3 years at that store.

Altough I am relieved that my car is now functioning normally (for now) I am EXTREMELY unhappy that they will not admit thier mistake AND refund the 44.00 dollars I had to pay for the install.

I am writing a letter to BestBuy corporate to ask them to remedy this situation, but before I get to carried away I really need to know whats going on with that absent CEL.

Thanks in advance for your help everyone and remember if you choose to get anything installed at BESTBUY in the future make sure you go through every inch of your electrical system with the installed before hand so you can PROVE that your car is drivable and in perfect working condition before they start.

- D

[wawalker]

The CEL disappearing is probably just a coincidence. The dealer should find it when checking for DTCs. Some CELs are for intermittent problems that if they are good for a certain period of time then the light goes out. Does the CEL still come on when you start the car for a second? I have had CELs come and go before, but the code is still stored. Best Buy definately had some wires crossed in there.

[SilverSportNOLA]

Dealer will probably not want to Daig these problems. They have had numerous VAG repairs due to improperly installed aftermarket head units, and most will not hook up their VAG to a car that doesn't have an OEM Radio. Good Luck.

[diabolique]

I am aware of that issue with the non-OEM decks however I was assured that because the deck employs the factory harness with no wire splicing that there was no danger to the VAG machines.

Plus I read online that VAGs now come with a fuse that is tripped in case there is an issue with scanning so that they don't get fried anymore

Also the CEL light does still 'work' in the intialization phase of the key, so its definately not burnt out.

[Lnzbug]

Did you check in the fuse box that's in the engine bay to make sure no wires were melted?? I too would take this to the top. They did something wrong and they should fix it.

[diabolique]

Checking fuses will have to wait until thursday.

One thing I did notice was that my trip computer had been reset. Could these also be representative of the ECU being wiped or the battery being disconnected?

[Smileybug]

I have a non-OEM headunit that I had put in at Circuit City. Never going there again. They didn't hook it up right, scrached the hell out of my dash in the process of redoing it when I took it back, and backed my car into something when I took it back (Couldn't prove it...but I know that before I took it there the 2nd time, my bumper was fine as I had replaced rear bulbs in it the day before and I'm anal about looking at my car and would have seen the stress marks and dents...saw them within minutes of getting the car home). Now I know to avoid Best Buy as well.

But on the note of the non-OEM unit...no electrical problems whatsoever since I've had it in. No issues at all. Haven't had it at the dealer since then though.

As for the trip counter...I've wiped codes with a vagcom and it never cleared that. But if there is an issue with the battery or it was unplugged then that could do it.

[Toad]

unplugging the battery for a period of time is a way to clear the cel without ascan tool. it also clears the trip odometer and clock.

the blinking dash lights is a realyl really weird thing to do. looks like they crossed some wires hooking up hte dimmer lead of the radio (assuming it has one)

[dunno513]

I love my stock head unit

Sounds like they crossed two feed wires, one of which was the blinkers.. a simple fix.. I'm sure their directions tell them to feed from the "magenta wire with violet stripe" and they fool doing the install is color blind, and the idiot he askes is illiterate... I have always done my own stereo installs... It's really easy and you know it gets done right... I once had a friend wire speakers and they kept cracking at high power... turned out to be a simple cross in two of the wires.. 3 minutes later, worked great..

[CrazyJames]

Any Update on this?
...

Remind me never to go to the BestBuy at Northlands... though that is where I camped out twice to get wii's

[beetlegirlvw]

Hey I was searching for vagcom on www.vwvortex.com and there is a specific wire that many places wire your radio into that is the wrong wire and won't even allow a vagcom to work if you try to read or cear codes it comes up as 8888 code which is not readable. search on vortex and see if you can find the post....your radio is not grounded properly.

[who_me285]

hey that makes perfect sense I have heard of other peopel saying that when a cars lights flash crazy it is usually a grounding problem. I forgot all about that

[HungLo]

Call the Better Business Beareu, and watch them start scrambling! On the reverse, I did get amp and sub install done by them, and they did phenomenal work.

[jjones]

A girl I know had best buy install a cd player on her beetle and it screwed up her electrical so bad the car caught on fire.

[gadgetvise]

Originally Posted by who_me285

hey that makes perfect sense I have heard of other peopel saying that when a cars lights flash crazy it is usually a grounding problem. I forgot all about that

I was going to suggest checking WHERE they decided to ground the radio they installed. Since all the lights flash in unison, the flasher may be providing an alternate ground for your dash. They may have cut the ground wire for the flasher system. I generally like to use my own ground on any metal part.

An example was my 84 Toyota; it uses relays to ground the lights versus american cars where the relay makes connection to the lights from the battery positive.

We bought kitchen appliances from Best Buy and the installers were excellent. (It would have been a house fire if they misconnect a 220vac stove.)

Bon Chance
Good luck

[diabolique]

No word back from Best Buy still.

But my electrical on my car seems to be screwed up now... I have lost a headlight, a brake light and a reverse light. Is this a fuse(s) issue? I looked at them and they don't look melted... Taking the car into the dealership next week (again)