I have probably less direct contact with installers as a customer than
you - beyond the fact that I typically do my own installs anyway (17
years of practice has to be good for something), I haven't taken a car
to a shop in a long time. However, both my kids have several times in
the last few years, and overall were treated well by the businesses.

Beyond that, I do have the inside track on what our 14 or so techs feel
on this subject, and they spend hours on the phone with installers all day.

Only thing that I will agree HAS changed is it now takes just minutes to
get on the internet and complain about a bad retail experience - not
saying some of those aren't legitimate mind you - and instantly
thousands and thousands of people have read that info and possibly
changed their opinion of the profession.

Hell, I just read a thread about a guy that had a bad experience from
taking his car to what I know personally to be one of the best shops in
the area. Everyone has a bad day occasionally, but that's not grounds
for indicting the whole industry.

JD

Mark Zarella wrote:

I'm with Ed on this - I think you are overstating your position and in
the process doing an injustice to many installers around the world that
ARE better at their jobs than you are giving them credit for.



Many? As an "outside observer" looking in from a customer's point of view,
I just don't see the expertise and dedication to putting out quality work
that I saw, say, 5 or 10 years ago. I just don't think these people take
pride in it anymore. Of course there are some that do, and some that are
very good at what they do. I never said there wasn't. But from my own
observations, I think the percentage of good installers is rapidly
dwindling.