Walmart Stereo Systems

So you are planning to go to Walmart to purchase a new stereo for your car.  They have everything so why not.  It will be cheaper than at a stereo shop and you won’t have to deal with the pushy salespeople.  The purpose of this post is to caution you against that choice.  Yes, we want you to buy that stereo at Bakersfield Car Audio but our reasons aren’t purely out of greed.  I am making this post because we just finished installing a stereo purchased at Walmart and the customer was upset at how it functioned after they paid us to install it.

First, Walmart carries Dual and Boss.  All garbage.  We have been offered the distributorship for both and turned them down.  Best example, if you look at our photos, you will see a newer corvette.  Young man came in with it and a brand new bluetooth Dual stereo from Walmart.  We (meaning Big Rob), installed it and it literally lasted until he turned right out of our driveway.  The young man came back and bought a Pioneer bluetooth.  Yes, it cost him $20 more but it was louder, the bluetooth actually was clear, and he was actually proud of the stereo.  Since that day, we’ve installed 6 other Dual stereos from Walmart and not one customer was happy with their stereo.  Boss – we did actually carry this brand.  We had a wholesaler sell us 800 stereos and we put them up online to sell.  20% were returned to us.  The navigation didn’t work, screens cut on and off, buttons didn’t work.  Contacted the wholesaler and he offered to take them back (at a hefty restocking fee).  I asked him what he was going to do with them and his response was “find another sucker to buy them”.  We don’t carry Boss anymore or do business with that wholesaler.

Second, that Pioneer you are buying straight from Walmart sounds like a good deal.  Take this stereo, the Pioneer DEH-150MP, Walmart sells for $51.97.  Good deal.  Brand Name, No bells and whistles but decent stereo.  Why is the same stereo at Walmart 1/4lb lighter than the same stereo at our shop?  Pioneer makes “special” stereos for Walmart to save on cost.  Everything looks the same from the outside but once you inspect the internals, and you can see where corners where cut to save a few cents.  Walmart needs that stereo to last 90 days.  If after 90 days, you hit a bump, stereo breaks, you are going back to Walmart to buy a new stereo.  The stereo at our shop retails for $60-$65 (prices fluctuate depending on if Pioneer is running any specials). A stereo shop can’t sell stereos that break at Day 100 and Pioneer knows this so the stereos they sell to stereo shops have better components but cost a little more too.  And some of our stereos are even cheaper than you find at Walmart as some customers who price shop have realized.

Thirdly, and I already touched upon this.  Warranty.  90 days for a car stereo isn’t enough time.  Stereos are going to be defective as soon as you wire it up, or at the 8 month mark (basing this on our returns experience).  Our warranty is 1 year.  Stereo breaks on day 365, we are going to give you a new one.

Lastly, service.  You go into Walmart, read the packaging on the box of the stereo, find the one you like, and out you go.  The problem with this is the description on the box doesn’t tell you all the functions of the stereo.  Our staff installs these stereos, sees what the stereos can really do and not do, and more importantly can recommend the stereo that meets your needs.  Need a stereo to pair to an Iphone, we know which stereos work best with that and which ones don’t hold a good connection.   Customer might say they are going to be installing a subwoofer in a few months.  We know which stereos aren’t going to allow him to do that.  Walmart Employees aren’t trained for these questions.  They can read the box and tell you what the box says.

And last lastly.  When was the last time you saw Walmart sponsor a local soccer team or a high school football team or a pig at the Kern County Fair?  When you buy from us, we don’t just hoard the money and disburse it to our shareholders.  We believe in giving back to our community and sponsoring kids and making the community better.