franksal

Has anyone bought anything from Crutchfield? Is this a good mail order service? Do they do what they say they do? Today I found on their site the Simsung SIR-TS160 receiver for $500. The Samsung SIR-TS360 due out in mid April for the same price. The 360 does not include the DVI cord. Add the price of the DVI cord drives the price back to $600. Does anyone know the difference between the two units. Reading the descriptions in the Crutchfield ad, they look the same. Is the Samsung a good product? Would I be better off looking for a different unit? Thanks

goober22

As far as there reputation and customer service, it is excellent. I have purchased a few items from them and they have always offered fast shipping and great service. I ordered an item and later did not like it, i returned it and they refunded the full price AND paid for the return shipping.

However, I don't buy very much high dollar stuff from them because I can usually find it cheaper elsewhere. I wanted a JVC receiver. Crutchfield wanted $500 for it with free shipping. I pucked it up frm Vann's (a JVC dealer) for $329 with $12 shipping.

57U

I would classify them as a company that provides good service, but charges a premium for it. For some people this is good value. They carry some things that may be difficult to find elsewhere.

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57U - Toronto, Rogers Cable, SA8300HD, 500GB HDD & Hitachi 61UWX10B HDTV, Yamaha RX-V1 A/V Receiver, Martin Logan Speakers. Photos --> 57U's HT

SA8300HD, 250GB HDD & KDL40W3000 (Upstairs)

Please don't PM me with questions that can (and should) be asked in the forum, thanks. Personal Question? Fire away.

layzieb36

I personally have ordered quite a bit of stuff from crutchfield. Out of about 7 orders in the past two monthes they only messed up one item on one order then had it corrected with 2 days (not bad imo) but hey if your looking for savings on price look else-where if your looking to get a product...and have it delivered when they say it will, and have the tracking codes for it lol (big thing for me) crutchfield is the way to go.

-Chris

Hippie

I too have ordered all kinds of stuff from them in the past...
Never had any problems.. and always fast delievery...

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Seared Steak

Crutchfield has been one of the very few online vendors I have trusted. They have always done all they say. But I agree, this comes at a premium and rarely do they have sales on the things you want. Sure it's MSRP but should we really have to pay for great customer service

kidslice

57U summed it up... I have purchased a lot of things from Crutchfield and I paid the premium so I do not have to deal with the hassle of getting the shaft from some of these less expensive but shaddy sites out there.

You also have to watch out for the shipping charges at some of these sites, thats where they make up their money from offering the product at a cheaper price.

Best bet, call the company first, pretend to have a problem and try to get through to customer service, if you are hold for more than 5-10 minutes, do not shop there unless you like to gamble with the notion of there being zero problems with your purchase.

Good luck...

bobojay

Bought lots of stuff from Crutchfield. Great service, delivery and advice. Prices can be beat though.

We just received a new Samsung TS360 from Directv Friday afternoon. It has the DVI cable with it, along with component and composite. Haven't got it installed yet thogh. We are current Directv customers and paid just $99.00 for the receiver with 3lnb dish install, with a 1yr comittment to their HD package. This is NOT a publicised price. You have to be with them for 2 yrs. before this pkg. is available at this price. Less than 2yrs. it's $199.00. Not sure about a new customer offer though.

Just for info purposes. The receiver we got has a 2/10/2004 manufacture date in Korea. We received it 2/27. I'd say they are air freighting them to Directv to get here that fast. I know this has been a very popular offer for them. I have a friend who's been waiting for 8 wks. for his Dish network 811 HD receiver, and this is a pretty common occurence for their existing customers.

Jen_Kenne

I have bought things from Crutchfield since the 1970s. They are not the place to go to find the absolute cheapest price on an item. However, their customer service approach is excellent and you can reach a human on the telephone - something that has become a rarity today. I also buy from eBay, Amazon, and a few other sites. Many are unreachable by phone.

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