I went to Alta Mere in December of 2006. I bought to them a 5 day old 2007 Chevy Silverado. I requested a custom box for new speakers and amp, for my stereo system. Joe, who rudely refers to me as "pimp", removed my back seats to install my custom speaker box. When re-installing the seats he completely cut my seatbelts making them useless. Also he set the back row of seats in the back of the truck and did not mount them. I went to leave on a family trip to find I had no seatbelts, and that my seats were un-safe, as they were not even bolted to the truck. Not only that but they had been duct taped together to give the appearance that they worked. Also my carpet was torn in several places and very messily duct taped back together. I was not made aware of these problems by the store I had to discover them myself. To this day 3/21/08, they have not fixed the seats or the seatbelts. When I brought this to Joes attention he told me he would fix the seatbelts no problem, but that the seats were not going to be able to be remounted. I was shocked, he explained to me this was ok; because if we would be dead from any accident that would affect the seats and the fact that they were just loose in the back. Also, I brought to them a boat with brand new tower speakers. They broke connections on my tower, and damaged my brand new $2000.00 beyond repair. Then they made me cover the cost to replace the speakers with a cheaper set!! Once I discovered the damage to my truck I made an appointment to have the repairs covered under my warranty. They told me to bring my car in Friday morning. I did just that. Friday evening rolls around and I have heard nothing from Alta Mere. I call to check the status of the repairs, I am told they have not been able to get to it, that it would need to wait till the following week, I will need to be there by 5 to pick up my truck. A little upset I ask why they did not get to it, I am cussed out by Joe, and when I ask to speak with the owner, I am also cussed out by him Darryl. I go to pick up my car at 445, and the store has closed for the whole weekend. My car is locked up in their garage, and noone will answer any phone lines. I call the police because I do not know if they have just stolen my car or what is going on. The police are also not able to get a hold of them, and as a result I am forced to leave my company vehicle in their shop all weekend. A report was filed but there were no charges brought to them. I finally get in touch with the store they tell me they are very sorry they will get the seats fixed and the seatbelts no problem. Before I can get into fix the damages my stereo system goes out. They have to now remove the custom box and re-do it. We have to go through 4 boxes before It works properly. By this time my interior is demolished ripped carpet here and there plastic casings broken off bolts, and duct tape holding it all together. I am only returning to them because of the $5000.00 i have invested in their company getting the equipment in the first place. Now over a year later after at least 15 trips to both of the Alta Mere locations, NLR and West Little Rock (5 of which they never got a chance to work on the truck!) my vehicle still does not work right and the damage to the interior is still damaged. I took it to them yet again, for a small adjustment to the amp, and to finally take care of the seats now that we had gotten everything to work properly. They called me after looking over the truck, and told me they would not be fixing the seatbelts or the seats, and that we would need to purchase parts for our navigation that we already had purchased. They said they had no record of the purchase at that they had taken it apart and saw there was no device. This is a complete lie. After proving to them these devices did exist and had been purchased they suddenly remembered and apologized for the mixup. We made an appointment to have the repairs done again, and again we were told to bring it in at a certain time. We did this, that evening we were notified asking if they could keep the truck overnight. We had to say yes. The next evening we call and check on the truck, we are at this time told they will not be working on our truck anymore. They just kept it for almost 48 hours to tell me they were refusing to work on it!! After calling their corporate headquarters, and having them contact Darryl the owner, he called and told us to decide which branch we wanted to bring it to, we couldnt go back and forth. Now he says this but before they TOLD us to go to the different branches because they each were better at different things. Now we are told we are not allowed to use both locations we have to pick one. We pick the West Little Rock branch, Joe is extremely rude and does not work at this location. The West Little Rock branch acknowledges that we have the parts, that at first they were claiming we did not have and would need to purchase. They also confirm what a terrible job was done on the interior of the truck, on the box, and the wiring itself of the whole system. Mike, explains he will have to order a part to finish the repairs, it will be a while for it to get it, so he will get the car ready to be picked up. Then he tells me there is some outstanding bill, for my boat, from a year ago! Almost $2000.00 they now want for some bill I supposedly never paid a year ago! I call Joe at the NLR branch, he is the tech who worked on the boat. He says that yes I owe him money and he wont let me have my truck until I pay him! Now I have not even seen an invoice or ever heard of any bill I had never paid, and now I cant get my work vehicle until its paid? I ask what he is talking about? I tell him I will figure the bill out with him, but I will be needing my vehicle, he then threatens to kick my a**, and tells me he is getting in his car as we spoke to go to the West Little Rock branch and kick my butt, and make sure I didnt get my vehicle. The owner is nowhere to be found. He had given me his cell phone number but would not answer any of my calls. I called the police to the WLR location, they spoke with Mike, Mike Informed them that he and Joe spoke that Joe would not be coming, hes just rude and 'like that' and that he would give us our truck. Also that they would probably not fix the sealbelts, because Joe supposedly told us that he would have to cut them off in order to make everything work. This vehicle was 5 days old when he started that box, not for one second would I agree to have work done that would enable both my seat and my seatbelts! My $50,000.00 new truck has a back seat that is completely useless. I have to take it to Chevrolet to have it repaired to the tune of $2700.00. This company has ruined my new vehicle and forced me to press Terroristic Threatening charges against them. The owner is just as rude as his manager. And other than a phone call the corporate headquarters have been completely ineffective at helping me. I think consumers should be aware of these ripoff artists, I wish someone had told me.
Pdsar13
Little Rock, Arkansas
U.S.A.