Ralph’s Radio

I’ve been to Ralph’s Radio twice, once to get a bass installed at in the trunk of my car and the second to get a dashcam hardwired into my car.
Their service is good, they give you a very detailed account of what will be done to your car. Does a walk-​through in and around your car so that you can approve everything that is being done and give you a detailed quote of how much the equipment would cost and an estimate of the labor cost.
I found the hardware options available at the store very limited. In fact, not a lot of the hardware in there are preferable to my standards. I tend to read-​up a lot on auto-​tech before to put down money for it as they tend to be quite a substantial amount. I found it difficult to find hardware that they carry that I would consider ‘high-​end’ or good quality. The two times I opted to get work done their is when I could find the hardware that I want. I would visit it a lot more if only they carried more substantial hardware.

Had a small misunderstanding, the owner reached out, and we sorted it out. Had my stereo removed to send back for warranty repair, and I will def be going back to have the new one installed here. One other thing, my FOB stopped working after the work was done, and the tech opened my FOB up and found a problem inside. He then took my keyless entry FOB to the back, AND FIXED IT FOR FREE. Thanks man!
I noticed they also have LED strips, radar, and pretty much every other gadget to go along with your new stereo.
UPDATE; I went back to have the stereo put back in. They did a bang up job, and Jason spent the time to make sure I understood what was going on, and is going the extra mile helping me with my crazy steering wheel controls. I highly recommend this shop, and the staff. If you aren’t sure about the guys at Best Buy (who would be) then spend a tiny bit extra, and have some real pros do it.
Thanks guys, not knowing much about cars, I’m glad I finally found a shop where it is done right.

Upon my call to Ralph’s Radio and speaking with Jake re car alarm going off incessantly and motor starting on its own (needless to say nuisance to neighbours) Jake fit me in within the hour on Friday afternoon. After assessing situation he had Ken come out to have a look. Ken checked it out and proceeded to do his magic and managed to unlock fob. All done complimentary! Am very grateful and so appreciative to both Ken and Jake!
Jennifer P

I was hoping to get some better info, and as well as Bill valiantly tried, I just heard too many «I don’t know’s»…look, i get that it’s a high-​tech world, and on one hand, I do appreciate honesty in not trying to BS your way out of my questions, but for a $ 1,000 Navigation Bluetooth system, just not something you want to hear, know what I mean? Wanted to know if my Blackberry could be synced, limited # of contacts stored, etc. — «I’m not sure, I don’t know»…this is your job! Very basic…
These guys have been here for decades — same location, so to me, that has to bode well. Especially with Best Buy/​Future Shop also selling car/​audio solutions…
It’s a nice boutique store, and more specialized stuff you won’t fine elsewhere all under one roof: radar sensors, dashboard cameras, remote engine start systems, etc. These are all high-​end, no entry level stuff here.
He did advised to go to Kenwood’s website, check out online reviews,…and certainly willing to wheel and deal, which I personally thought he was showing his cards too early, as I wasn’t in the buying mode yet lol… List price was $ 1099 but said he could bring it down to $ 750…but by the time you add parts and labour, that’s another $ 250, and assuming taxes are on top of that.
One irk about this so-​called touch system, is the INITIAL touch is still needed to answer an incoming call — unless I set this to auto answer, which totally defeats the purpose on 2 fronts:
1) certain clients I don’t want to answer lol
2) police can still issue tickets for ‘using an electronic device’…
But we are allowed to fidget with our radio, a/​c?! And girls put on their makeup not just at red lights, but even when cars are moving?
Go figure!

2 days after writing my review of Ralph’s Radio i was contacted by the manager, Tristan is his actual name. He was apologetic and explained to me that he never meant to come across as defensive. We all have bad days and i am not one to hold a grudge. The fact that Tristan cared enough to reach out to me shows what kind of business Ralph’s Radio is, i will definitely give them another chance.

My remote start wasn’t working after 7 years of great service and I called Ralph’s. They told me to come down any time so they could diagnose the problem and then possibly book a time to come in if necessary.
I went down and approached a guy named Lee Gillman (he gave me his card afterward) and he came out to my van with my fob in hand. He spent at least 20 minutes trying to get it working and at last was successful. I also needed a couple of 40 amp fuses for a separate system and Can. Tire doesn’t sell them that high. He went to the back and found a couple for me and when I asked him what I owe, he didn’t even want to charge me for any of it.
I gave him a 10 spot and told him to have a couple beers on me. I’m all set for the winter now and I would definitely recommend them for their service.

I had an issue with my car alarm and after sending them a detailed e-​mail of my issue. They failed ’cause I left one message and an e-​mail and no one bothered to return my call. I guess I wasn’t that important enough and they must be doing business not to need me. If I have to chase someone for a call back than it was probably for the best that I didn’t use them.

I have dealt with Ralph’s over the years off and on and have never been so frustrated as I was today having to wait over an hour to reinstall my original Alpine stereo because I was unhappy with the Kenwood I purchased from Ralph’s. I had an appointment and arrived at Ralph’s at 12:30 and left at 2:45.
It was very apparent the sales person was miffed when I didn’t purchase the Alpine I wanted because the price he quoted was $ 50 more than it sells for at other stores. He basically took my old Alpine stereo that I gave him in exchange for the installation cost of $ 80 out of their museum collection and told me that regardless of what I do, he didn’t want it anymore. With that, I felt I had no choice but to leave and asked him if he would please reinstall my original Alpine and give me a refund for the Kenwood. He had originally emailed me to say he would gladly refund the stereo when I came in.
To make matters worse, I then had to wait over an hour while my pooches were in the vehicle until the shop installed my original stereo. While I waited, the sales person who was so talkative and friendly before, didn’t as much as say two words to me the whole time I was there waiting. Not the kind of service I expected just because I wasn’t happy with the stereo choice. I would have been more than happy to let him keep my original Alpine for his collection if he had been a little more reasonable with respect to purchasing a different stereo.
After he gave me back my old stereo, he said I would have to pay for installation of a new one and what started out at $ 179 stereo was adding up to approx $ 400. The stereo I returned was $ 120 and the one I wanted was $ 129, but he insisted I had to pay a difference of approx. $ 300 more for the new Alpine.
I find it ironic that when I purchased the Kenwood, he personally took out my old stereo, as well as a Sony Serius system I didn’t want, and he quickly and happily installed the new stereo in less than 30 minutes. Today he said he couldn’t reinstall my old Alpine (even though I had an appointment), but that the shop would have to do the reinstall, which meant waiting for another hour, even though he personally had already taken out the new stereo and it would have taken him minutes to reinstall the old one just as he had done before. Very disappointing experience. I apologized to this particular sales rep and said I was sorry it didn’t work out, but he basically just ignored me making me wish I had never gone to Ralph’s in the first place. At least my old Alpine didn’t require reprogramming because it retained all the original settings.

First bad experience, van sterio install. Sounded terrible, constant issues with power never resolved. I had to get my friends friend to fix it and figure out the problems. Cost me a small fortune in unnecessary repairs and parts (alternator) when the problem was a $ 10 ground cable. Second bad experience, broken key fob for car alarm on my pontiac vibe. Yes, did try hard to find out that they don’t make the brand anymore. Fine. Told me i had to replace the whole system. Quoted me $ 250, then when i asked for the final price it somehow ended up over $ 400. I figured i would check somewhere else. Found Apollo Alarm on Clark, he made a copy of the key fob for $ 50. !!! took 2 minutes. Oh and did an alarm install on my old chevy van for $ 225. In 1.5 hrs. Apollo alarm WIN! Ralph’s, Not so much

There customer service was pretty good, they know their stuff. When i bought my gps unit and speakers they did not up sell me, they got me what I needed. The installition was perfect. I would go back for my other audio upgrades. I highly recommended

UPDATE
So I finally drove into Ralphs and had an ipod integration kit installed in my car. I love the final product but it has more to do with the factory sound system in my car. The cost of installation was considerably more than what I was initially quoted over the phone but I wasn’t too bothered as it fell within my initial expectations. The installer forgot to reinstall a piece of my car so I had to call to inquire and then go pick it up. Not a huge deal but if we’re being picky… Overall, the job was fine so they get an extra couple stars. A-​OK is probably an overstatement but there’s no option to give 2 ½ stars here.
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These guys never get back to you when you call. I have no idea whether they do good work — how would I? I’ll update when I get a call back.

I waited 30 min in the store today, hoping to speak to a marine audio specialist, or just a salesman that knows what he is talking about. None of those happened. Very bad customer service.