Hurley’s Auto Audio

My experience was great. Upgraded radio in my 911… no nonsense, knowledgeable and efficient… price was fair… couldn’t be happier with the results. Took their time to teach me the operation of the unit… I’ll go back again.

I went to Hurley ‘s on a referral from my Lexus dealer to get a bluetooth radio installed. He was very nice and helpful when I went the first time and gave me info to help figure out the system that I wanted. I think he encouraged me to buy some of the cables online. So when I purchased the head unit for $ 100 cheaper than Gary offered and brought it in to get installed, I was surprised that he got an attitude (see other reviews with similar complaints) that I didn’t buy the stereo from him and when I asked him basic questions about the system and the installation he didn’t want to give me any information. He kept going on about how he is at war with Amazon for selling radios cheaper than he can. Because of his terrible attitude, I left, found a place closer to where I lived that was cheaper (DSP Audio in silver spring). Also, it seemed like he didn’t know that I needed a faceplate harness for my car, so I’m kind of scared to think what the job would have looked like in the end.
A message for Gary, you are not at war with the Internet, you are at war with yourself, and you are losing a lot of customers.
Everyone else, save yourself the frustration and go somewhere else.

First, a review of their attitude:
Quoted me approximately $ 815.00 for a five– or six-​hour job to install a brand-​new touch-​screen GPS/​nav system I purchased online. Didn’t seem inclined to provide a written estimate… not sure they would if I had asked.
By the way, take note that Hurley’s very poor website stated (at the time) that they GLADLY install new equipment that you bring them… and that they even made doing so a specialty of theirs.
Despite this, things quickly went south with these guys and they got testy when I took a week or so deciding if I was going to use them. My last telephone conversation with the owner («Gary»?) got heated when I asked him why Hurley’s seemed significantly more expensive than other shops in the area…
…at that point, he actually mocked me for bringing them my own stuff and stated he was tacking on a few hundred dollars from the start, since it was my own, new equipment (funny in light of the website note above). Then he got even more nasty and stated that he’d basically charge me more out of spite — before stating flatly that he simply didn’t want my business at all. In his last breath to me, he even mocked me on the phone for stating I was coming to get my $ 100 deposit back. LOL
Putting aside the known attitude issues here (see other reviews on Yahoo! Local for this.) here’s a review of the poor technical thinking provided by Hurley’s:
Despite claiming to be Audi specialists, the kid I initially talked to at Hurley’s claimed they wouldn’t be able to get my 2008 Audi A4’s steering wheel controls to work with my Pioneer navigation/​radio head unit, other than the volume control. However, with common steering wheel interfaces that I researched up and purchased on my own (e.g., the SWI-​PS and a Soundgate CANPULSE), a Tweeter installer was able to get ALL the controls to work, including mute, presets, volume, tuning, track selection, etc.
Also, contrary to what Hurley’s proposed to do, Tweeter was willing to place my AVIC D3’s Bluetooth microphone in a hidden location in my roof light compartment (with air holes that are DESIGNED for microphones to be placed there when one gets the Audi factory Bluetooth microphone option).
Moreover, Hurley’s seemed unfamiliar with many common options for installing GPS and XM antennas out of sight (e.g, underneath dashboards, etc.), which is often possible and done in high-​end cars… and won’t interfere with the signal reception in many cases. All Hurley’s could offer was a cheap, «stick it on the roof» solution. Tweeter was willing and able to mount my antennas in a hidden location with no impact on performance or signal reception.
The kids who work at Hurley’s might have been able to do a better technical installation than they were proposing (with coaching from me), but I never got that far — their attitude prevented me from doing any business with them or educating them about how to do my install correctly.
Ironically, «Gary» has claimed on another complaint site that I purchased my stuff AFTER talking to them. This is blatantly incorrect. I took their teenage employee out to the car to SHOW him the equipment I had purchased the very first minute I spoke to them.
Secondly, he claims I plied them for information about the install so I could go elsewhere with the details. Also incorrect… and funny… because as I stated above, Hurley’s had no CLUE how to do my install properly, which I learned later when other shops explained the RIGHT and cleaner way to do the job.
For a place that claims to specialize in high-​end auto installs, these guys were comically bad.