Bay Car & Home Entertainment

Jack is a complete ripoff!!! Did not stick to the price and way over charged. In my lifetime this was the worst business transaction I have ever had. There’s are tons of speaker shops out there that I am sure are more capable than these guys!

Bay Car & Home Entertainment helped me out with putting my front license plate on my car. Even though it wasn’t what they specialize in.
DTP had given me a $ 103 ticket for not having my front license plate on even though it was in my front window. I immediately panicked and rushed to Kragen to get a plate holder. Willie (from Kragen) told me to get some zip ties to secure it in the mean time and have the guys next door help me out. The guys at Bay Car Home & Entertainment help me out and sold me a holder to secure my license plate even better than the zip ties which looked less ghetto ;)
All in all these guys are phenomenal and helped me out. I know the dealership would have charged me an arm and a leg for this service. Thank you for helping me out!

The owner of this shop destroyed my Porsche 911. I took it to bee auto who outsourced it to him, and he had absolutely no idea what he was doing. He treated my car like it was a frat house basement, and left scratches to the plastic and leather. The damage is permanent (thousands of dollars to the drivers seat, leather and plastic pieces) and he only gave $ 200 to fix all of this. The car is still not even close to 100% either, with audio not working, speakers not connected and air bags deactivated. Now I gotta take this guy to court. Stay away from this place at all costs.
FOLLOW UP: I have taken my car around the city to get second opinions, and they all know the owner Jack. They all say he is absolutely horrible. Not one good thing said about him. Also heard a funny story… he has a picture of him and Tim Linceum (Giants pitcher) on his wall. The only reason Tim was there was because he was livid at Jack for destroying his Porsche too.
Follow Up again… apparently Jack never even worked on my car. Seems like someone tried putting the blame on him when he was never even hired. Sorry Jack.

I don’t understand after reading all these reviews that Jack Chu is a crook. He has always been upfront with me on cost and he evens beats all the competitor’s prices. He has always looked out for me whether it is on price or the parts being put in my car. He always recommends a comparable product so I can always compare the 2 before making my decision. Would be going back to have him do a custom enclosure for my sub in the near future.

Jack Chu will jack you of your money!!! I’m surprised this place has been in business for this long.

Muscular Jack is a crook. Installed a previously owned stereo deck in my car and tried to sell to me as new. No instruction manual. No box.

Did some work in our work car at a fair and reasonable price. Will continue working with them.

After reading the negative reviews, and visiting their store, I opted to order online and try to replace my head unit on my own. I’d had a similar Alpine unit previously installed, so I figured it would be a simple switch.
After having some trouble with some configuration issues, I went in and was very disappointed to have waited for 1.5 hours only to have had 10 minutes of work done and my problem not solved, and was charged for a full hour. I raised a stink and was offered an hour credit.
On my second return, I really appreciated that Jack (the rep I worked with) seemed to admit the unfairness of what had gone down and basically finished up the job and then some asking me to pay what I thought was fair. I would have liked a clean and upfront situation right off the bat, but in the interest of patience, I can accept a person making up for their mistakes on the second chance.
My advice, be clear about what you need to have done, be sure to have them write it down, and set the expectations for what you’re wiling to pay. This seems to be a business that respects a customer who won’t get pushed around, but not necessarily gentle on those who will.

Sleazy owner, shady business, wish I had read Unilocal before going there.
After reading all the reviews I’m surprised they are still in business.
NOTE: This business has two entries on Unilocal.Read the other reviews to get the full story! They also obviously pay Unilocal to display the only good review they have at the top of the result.

The owner Jack is a great guy but I would not do any business with him. He purports to be an expert in the field because of his 22 years of experience, but if your knowledgeable in the field you know this is a life-​learning process that few truly understand comprehensively. especially without a good grounding in physics & electricity & mechanics.
Jack also over charges for similar services by local competitors & even after negotiating a price, he routinely does not adhere to the original oral agreement by hidden costs he is not up front about.
All this would be ok with me if the quality of the work was top notch.
The first job I had done at this shop was tints for a vehicle I just purchased. When I inspected the work there were air bubbles & the lines of the tint cut around the glass were not perfectly smooth & appeared frayed when inspected closely. The work was guaranteed but I don’t understand how he lets a car leave his shop without inspecting it, especially since its a small shop. The bubbles were taken care of but the edges are still not perfect.
The next thing I had them do was installing a deck, two amps, component speakers, & build a box for a subwoofer.
The installer did a nice job with making the sub amp flush with the floor of the trunk but then he drilled an alpine pdx amp to the sub box. IMO & many other installers a no-​no; especially with high spl applications. Then he just unscrewed it & slapped on the wall of the back seat & sent me home with a box with holes drilled in it! Another no-​no!
But the number one beef I had was this lack of mid bass up front. I talked to Jack & decided on having 6.5″ mid bass woofers fiberglassed into my front doors. But when I went to audio symphony on van ness Hatch told me the components were installed out of phase & that was why i experiences the lack of mid bass response.
Installing speakers out of phase means the polarity of the speaker wire was reversed. Positive goes with positive!!! Negative goes with negative!!! The most basic of all install work. & he didn’t even troubleshoot it. This is where 22 years of experience does not hold any water. Especially when you hire kids & don’t oversee your work & take advantage of most consumers naivety.
But sadly this is the state of car audio install work in most NorCal locations. If your a novice, average, or casual hobbiest or enthusiast you may find some good work locally in the bay area. But I’ve been to 5 shops so far & yet have to find quality work. Next time I’m sending my car to NY, LA or MIA.

no stars for you!!!
i just found out that the «ultra-​premium» battery they sold me was some kind of cheap, unknown brand. it died after a year and a half. NICE.

Wish I had read the Unilocal reviews before giving that crook Jack my money.
The story: I bought a Bluetooth/​USB deck for my car at Best Buy, their install bay was booked all week so Rob the Best Buy sales rep called BCHE and said the cost was around $ 20 bucks more than Best Buy would charge, (still way under $ 100) and that BCHE does good work and that he sends them lots of business when the install bay is booked.
One of the BCHE employees got to work on it within 15 minutes, and the guys generally seemed pleasant and experienced so I felt reasonably confident about trusting these guys (BIG MISTAKE)
So when it was time to pick the car up near the end of the day I was told that they didn’t have all the parts. This didn’t stop them from taking out my factory radio and disabling the auto rise/​retract antenna. No apologies, in fact the attitude was cavalier, when they told me I was going to have to drive out of the shop with my expensive deck rattling around in the deficit left when my factory radio was removed. They told me to come in the next day and that they would have the part for sure.
Let me mention that Jack charged me $ 150 for the install, which is almost twice what Rob from Best Buy said he was told, I would be charged, but I just wanted it done. The biggest mistake I made was paying upfront.
So the next day Jack said that he didn’t have the part and that he was going to have to order it and that I would have to pay for both parts and labor (the same parts and labor I paid for upfront) Without this part the system was going to sound awful. Jack said his guy could cut some wire and disable something and that this MIGHT fix it without needing the mystery part. He advised against that though and suggested I buy new speakers, and said this would solve the problem (he created)
At this point I threatened to call the police (which I should have done) and I said he could either do the work I paid upfront for, or that he and I were going to have a problem. He then proceeded to show off his Asian Gangster tattoos under the guise of showing off his «$ 12,000» bracelet as he ranted on about more profitable jobs than mine.
Only because my time (spent taking recourse) is not worthless I paid him another $ 50 to finish the job I was told two days prior would be done for less than half of the $ 200 I ended up getting taken for.
I noticed employees being paid in cash (someone should tell the IRS)
Was Rob the Best Buy salesman who called Jack and who told me it would cost around $ 80, given a kickback when Jack got $ 200 out of me? I would hate to think so because Best Buy has treated me fairly in the past.
Can this guy stay in business with first time customers/​suckers like me alone?
It begs the question of how legitimate BCHE is, I sure would like to be the IRS auditor or FBI agent investigating money laundering in the Richmond district.

This shop has two listings to confuse consumers.
I am a retired consumer electronics executive with a major Japanese home and audio manufacturer, and I hate to be taken by an unscruplous dealer that puta a black eye in our industry.
I went to Bay Car to upgrade my car stereo and add to an aux input to use with my new Droid phone. Jack, the owner, who was a friend of a close friend of ours, recommended a head unit for my vehicle. He said that it was very reasonably priced, and he would have it installed that day.
I picked it up late that afternoon, and I discovered that the unit didn’t have an instruction manual nor a remote control that was suppose to come with the unit with no one to demonstrate how the unit works. In addition, he overcharged me for the unit and installation.
I had to spend the next day going on line to download the instruction manual from the manufacturer and an additional two hours setting up the head unit so that I can use it. I went back to his shop today, and he found a instruction manual and remote from an unopened head unit to give me, which leads me to believe that I had gotten an open or returned unit.
As a retired person involved in the consumer industry, I WOULD STONGLY URGE THAT ANYONE INTERESTED IN CAR AUDIO GO SOMEWHERE ELSE, OTHERWISE, YOU MAY BE FLEECED AS i WAS BY THIS SHOP.

I need some help in fitting the front bulb for my headlights and the gentlemen here was so helpful in taking care of it for me. I had gone to Kragens next door and they couldn’t fix it because the task required a couple of tools and recommended that I go next door to ask for help. Thanks for helping out! It’s greatly appreciated.

I would have to agree with the other 1 star feedback as that’s my experience too. His former partner, Earl was a nice honest straight shooter, but I don’t trust Jack. They use a lot of kids to do their work now and some don’t know what they’re doing.
You are better off looking elsewhere for your Audio needs.

If I could give 0 stars i would.
Jack is a total idiot… which is why he calls everyone else «Boss».
I bought a brand new stereo from them and it broke 2 months later. They took it out and sent it back to the manufacturer. When it came back and they re-​installed it, he tried to charge me $ 15 for the shipping fee. I argued with him and eventually he let me go.
Later I realize that they didn’t even install it correctly and I had to go back. Then he said he wouldn’t fix it until I paid the $ 15 shipping cost. I argue with him some more and he tells me I have a bad attitude and that he’s been in the business over 10 years. He gives me the manufacturer’s phone number and tells me to see if they will reimburse me. I take it and storm out. I call the manufacturer and they tell me that they never charge a shipping fee, and that Jack filed the claim incorrectly. I go back and school him on his 10+ years experience and how I just saved him shipping fees in a 5 minute phone call. I ask him to fix my stereo and rather than shutting up and admitting he’s an idiot, he keeps telling me that I have a bad attitude. Who wouldn’t have a bad attitude dealing with these idiots.
STAY AWAY FROM THIS PLACE!!!

The owner Jack is a nice guy, but a little too pushy on the sell. He’s got kids working in the garage, which is fine, but he doesn’t have a solid process in place in case there are issues with the install. I had issues with my install and should have dealt with him directly and only him after the first sign of trouble.
There were a couple issues with the installation of the stereo and the alarm which were frustrating, but at the end of the day, he held to his warranty — sort of. They also did my tint and that has been solid the whole time.

car audio folks always seem to be completely full of shit and my experience with these guys hasn’t changed my opinion.
i wanted a simple install for my bazooka bass tube, it’s a little older so i researched and got the wiring diagrams and instructions from the manufacturer’s website. some of the instructions went contrary to some commonly held assumptions about installs so i pointed this out to them and unsurprisingly i was met with resistance and a smug attitude like i didn’t know what the fuck i was talking about. I told them
«well i don’t want to tell you how to do your job but in my experience it’s best to follow manufacturers recommendations»
sideways glance number 10 and i had only been there 5 minutes.
they told me it would take 2 hours so i took a walk to get lunch.
since they treated my good advice like i had a turd on my chin, i thought it would be best to walk back by for a checky poo mid install to see if they were ignoring directions.
of course they were.
the guy was hooking up 4 wires where there only needed to be 2.
«hey dude, make sure you follow the instructions, there only needs to be 2 wires and they both need to be on + leads or they will be out of phase» i said as patiently as i could.
again he looked at me like i was a moron.
«Ok, come back half an hour.» he said.
I came back in a half an hour and they were finishing up. no bass at all the way they hooked it up. sounded like farts.
«did you make sure to hook them both up to the + leads?»
«yes.»
“cuz that sounds out of phase to me” i said.
«I have heard a lot of out of phase and that’s not out of phase» said the boss, those directions were not good… blah blah blah knows everything blah blah blah… and we close at 6. can you leave it overnight or come back tomorrow?”
«Why» i asked
«We need to hook it up the RIGHT WAY, and it’s gonna take another hour and you’ll need to pay extra labor and parts.»
«But i think if we just follow the instructions and test it by reversing this one wire… i mean it sounds out of phase…» I tried to explain.
and then he gave another short speech deisgned to make me feel like an idiot for recommending he follow instructions. he seemed a little annoyed that i was diagnosing the problem like HOW DARE I.
trying to trust him i agreed to come back.
however, when i got home i got impatient so i dug into do it myself. i took 20 minutes (not an hour) to run new (unnecessary) wires but just for the fuck of it, i decided to make sure it was in fact hooked up according to instructions.
you saw this coming.
OF COURSE IT WASN’T. the polarities were reversed — i switched it and it worked just fucking fine. so i WASTED those 20 minutes running the new wires THE WAY HE WAS GONNA DO IT and would have wasted another couple of hours and money on useless wires. AGG!
but that’s not all, when i was back there i noticed that the wiring he had done was completely sloppy, big tangles of wire zip tied together like a poor robot girls ratty ponytail so i undid it all and put all the wires in a nice little concealing conduit LIKE A PRO WITH ANY AMOUNT OF PRIDE IN HIS WORK WOULD DO.
man i’m getting sick of knowing EVERYTHING ABOUT EVERYTHING
OH YEAH AND HE MADE THE ACC WIRE TOO SHORT SO I CANT EVEN REMOVE MY STEREO NOW!
then when i called jack back to tell him about everything,
he laughed at me.
SWEET!

Beware! these guys will tell you whatever they think you’d like to hear. All in all despite the hard sell/​upsell and that smarmy attitude one often encounters in places that sell hi fi gear, the system I got would’ve been fine. In fact, I didn’t even blink at the install taking several hours longer than I was quoted on a work day. No, the drama began after I left the lot and upon critical listening (which was discouraged on premises cause they were «so backed up» that I realized the left front speaker was blown. Also the radio reception was suffering from engine noise anytime the gas pedal was pressed…(Meaning the ground was done incorrectly)
I let them know and after waiting for a return phone call that never came for almost two weeks from Jason the salesperson… I dropped off the car on a SATURDAY… at which point they assured me that they’d rectify the problem. After killing two hours in the Inner Richmond, I returned to the shop only to be implored to tip the installer for his hard work esp. in light of how busy they were.
The real issue is that they did NOT replace the speaker and explained the radio reception interference away by claiming I «must not have had my antenna up» …Bottom line is these guys Jack and Jason are snake oil salesman… they pretended to fix the problem but did nothing, and to boot insisted I tip the installer (I did not do so the 2^nd time)
I have since dealt with the manufacturer of the speakers (MTX) and the radio (Alpine) and have resolved the situation and in doing so let them know that one of their dealers in San Franciso is sorely lacking in ethics.
DO NOT PATRONIZE THIS BUSINESS.

I like the fact that they hooked my shit up in an hour but dood… the wiring sucked. There is a constant leech in my battery and at times my car just wouldn’t start. It all traces back to faulty stereo wiring and that’s from two other mechanics opinions. They have a so-​so selection. I feel they are a front or something. You walk in and they could really care less that your just standing at the display case. Weird… best to bite the bullet and head to Best Buy and get that warranty.