I had a slimy feeling about Visions for reasons I ...

I had a slimy feeling about Visions for reasons I couldn't specifically recall, but I went in anyway this evening to look at car stereo decks as I've just purchased a used vehicle that does not support iPod or Bluetooth. I explained to the salesperson exactly what I was looking for and he suggested a $139 JVC model. When he went to look something up in the system, I spotted a Kenwood model with identical features for $10 less and asked about it. He could provide no concrete reason, but strongly pushed for the JVC.

I told him that I have steering wheel audio controls in my vehicle and would like a unit that is compatible with those. He informed me I would need an additional $120 module to connect them. I wasn't pleased at the price of the unit essentially doubling, but agreed to take the Kenwood model with the steering wheel control module, figuring $250 (while more than I wanted to spend) wasn't terribly unreasonable.

He took me over to the computer to complete the sale and schedule the installation. I declined the warranty two or three times - the first time he ignored me and carried on listing features. After checking the flyer to see if there were any sales on the item, he told me installation would be free. Much to my surprise, he then told me the total before tax was just above $400. When I asked why, he got extremely irritable going over the line by line cost breakdown with me. It turns out the "free" installation he mentioned only covered the labour of installing the deck itself, but not the additional apparently required parts nor the labour of installing the additional module or the Bluetooth microphone that came with the deck (which in itself was $27.50 to install - more than a little insane).

I told him there was no way I was paying that and started to leave the store. He followed me and tried to convince me to make the purchase by reminding me of their policy to beat a competitor's price by 15% and (once again) telling me about their warranty. I thanked him but said I would not be back as it made no sense to me that "free" installation still almost doubled the cost of the item. Now I know, avoid Visions from here on out.