I've had it with the damn POS Becker quiting out on me.. so I got a Pioneer model DEH-1500 at Best Buy. There wasn't enough time to install it today.. but they said they want an additional $104 to install it including accessories. I think thats too much. What do you guys think.

104 for what? lol. Forget the CC of BB people, TRUST ME on this one! I've had it w/ these clowns! Take it to a place that does a lot of high end cars like me.

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2003 E55 AMG
2007 FJ Cruiser

Either do it yourself or find a shop to sell you a good unit and install it properly, otherwise all we are going to hear about is how messed up your car is! This is a constant complaint of people on this forum circuit city best buy etc...... It is not worth it to have people experimenting on your car.

Scott

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The Mercedes Specialists Since 1986

Snibble
diy is the way to go because the members of this forum can walk you through the installation and we would be glad to help.

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1986 420SEL. 200,000 miles plus.
1991 Cutlass Supreme
1980 VW Vanagon (Old Smokey)

Heh.. thanks guys. My roommate says he's pretty good at installing systems on American cars.. but says he never worked on a Mercedes before. He says if he will look at it tomorrow. If he can't get something, I will show him the forum.

by the way snibble: besides a possible short in the head unit, the repeated blown fuses may also be a shorted wire, possibly one from the antenna you were replacing. double check that you don't have any loose, open, or frayed wires that could be grounding out. You can use a multitester to check this. I think this might also work, but someone please confirm if this is a good test to try: disconnected the head unit harness or whatever the lead wire on the antenna plugs into, use a testlight, touch it to any +12v source thats within reach of the antenna wire, and touch it to the [turn on/extend antenna] lead wire (positive) and wiggle the wire around a little and see if the light comes on at all. If it does, then your wire probably has damaged insulation and is grounding on the car body. You should make sure that this is not a problem otherwise you're new headunit may end up like your stock radio, and it sounds like you've been through enough. Hope this helps, be careful and good luck!

OK... the guy at Best Buy who attempted to hook up my power antenna has to be an idiot

During the day I first went there to get it hooked up, the fuse for the radio was blown, so I decided to come back another time when I get the fuse replaced. I put in one new fuse and it blew like a second later. I put another one in and this time it worked. I turned on the radio and I had radio, finally! I drive to Best Buy. Park the car, hand the guy the keys and go on about the store for an hour. I come back and the guy says he has done nothing because the radio wouldn't start. I felt like he was bull $h!tting me when he told me that the radio wouldn't turn on. I checked the fuse and sure enough it was blown. I decided just to go back home and come back another time because I was getting a short temper.

Today, I look at the antenna wires, and saw what was done. He put caps on the every single wire. He also took the black ground motor wire and hooked it up to the brown wire thats in the car. Doesn't make sence. I thought the black should be screwed on to the car's body like the original antenna motor was.

This whole $53 installation of JUST the power antenna is total BS. ... ITS NOT EVEN HOOKED UP! I will be going to another Best Buy since right now I don't feel like driving for 1 hour one way to get to that same one. I will complain, but don't know who I should complain to. I feel like they have done nothing but make matters more complicated and feel like I should be getting a refund. Considering NOTHING WAS DONE!!!!

What was once a project to fix my power antenna(motor problem) which was a peeve of mine has turned into a somewhat pricey nightmare. I paid $50 on ebay for a new hirschman(sp?) motor antenna.. $53 instalation that never occured.. and now $140 and change for the Pioneer deck. Hmm... oh and on top of that, they wanted an additional $104 for instalation of the CD deck!

My room mate should be back at about 4 today so we can start on installing the pioneer deck. After doing so... I plan on going to Best Buy(not the same one I went to before) and get this whole crap straigtened out.

Any advice?
*deep breath*

well it could go either or, brown is a designated ground color code also, so although it wasn't wired up the exact same way, if that brown wire went to ground, it shouldn't be a problem. but i say stay away from best buy or any install shop for that matter (unless you're going in to chew them out for severe overcharge)... i haven't found one yet that is very trustworthy... unless it's something beyond what anyone with basic electronic knowledge can do, (for example an alarm installation) the best thing to do is learn how it's done, and do it yourself.... you just simply can't trust a stranger to treat your car the way you want it treated.

Also, when you replaced the 2nd or 3rd? fuse on the head unit and it started working for a bit until you brought it to best buy, was your antenna disconnected during that time? and did it start shorting just when the antenna was hooked up? if so, then what i said in the previous post is even more likely.

Update:

My friend and I spent some time figuring out how to get this whole mess situated. We came to a road block where it seemed something was messed up thanks to Best Buy. I bit the bullet and went down to HH Gregg. I had a conversation with the installer and he said he would take a look at it. I told him not to attempt doing anything if he's not sure. He told me that I had a really nice car in great shape that he was afraid to damage something in the car, so he called his boss that works at another store about an hour away. I spoke with him and turns out he is from an upscale town neighboring mine where he said he has done numerous 126 chassis cars. Since I heard him mention that I probably have the stock Becker radio and mentioned the "126" chassis #.. that he has atleast basic knowledge on the car. I eventually arrive to that store where I met the guy. He was a real friendly man and even let me stick around where I can learn how he's getting all this hooked up. During the installation, we encountered a problem. He couldn't get the fader to operate. He spent roughly an hour trying to figure out why there was no sound coming out from the speakers. Then he says that it looks like Best Buy messed up my amp when they tried to install my power antenna!**remember, the last time I went to Best Buy, I took my mom with me and the radio was operating and I parked the car.. gave the keys to the installer and came back an hour later where he had a surprise look on his face saying the radio wouldn't turn on.**

Anyways, the HH Gregg guy told me its best to hook up each speaker separatly in this case. He didn't have much time(closing time) , so he hooked up the front 2 speakers for now. He told me to make an appointment to get the back speakers hooked up as well.

I will be heading back home Friday, so I will go to Best Buy and speak with the manager that they took $53 from me in which they didn't fully install it(all they did is mount it) and that they screwed my amp during the process in which the guy didn't even admit to! I also feel that my time was wasted coming to the store 2 times spending 2 hours the first time and an hour then next time getting NOTHING done! Hopefully something will done, including a refund.

After getting my refund, I will set an appointment to get the rear speakers hooked up.

I paid the HH Gregg guy $60 so far... installation, parts, etc. But I am somewhat happy because I learned something from the experience of hooking it up, had a friendly installer and was honest. He even told me what to do with the Best Buy guys. I guess its the luck of the draw on who you find.

I will probably have another update this week.. hopefully all this will work out. Any advice in regards to the Best Buy idiots is welcomed.

Snibble:

After reading your ordeal with Best Buy all I can say is, "I feel your pain". (Imagine that said in the "heartfelt" voice of our previous president.)

I've been dealing with the yahoos over at Best Buy for almost two months now trying to get my XM radio installed. I'll post the story after the broken unit is fixed and sent back to the store to complete the installation, but for now I'll just say those guys are completely incompetent liars who take no pride in their work!!

Hope your situation gets better sooner than later....

sflori.. the situation is now half over. I took my car to the closest HH Gregg store from an advice of a friend and when I got there, the installer told me he was afraid to mess something up on my car. He said its in great condition and doesn't want to take any chances... so he phones his boss at another HH Gregg store which was an hours away. The guy over there said he has done work on similar/same model car many times and knows what to do. When I got there.. the installer was nice enough to have me hang around him and watch what he was doing. He told me it will be an easy quick hook up of no more than 45 minutes. He hooked it up, and there was not sound. He thought perhaps a speaker is blown, so he tested each speaker and they were fine. He checked the fader if it was hooked up and it was. He then told me it appears that during an installation of the power antenna, some idiot at BestBuy had to shorten my central amp. He advised me that the only choice is to by pass the fader and to rewire each speaker. That part is finally done. I have sound and better sound than before which I am happy about. The installer told me to go to Best Buy to get a refund and also talk about them messing my amp up. So I go there, and the manager was an ass and spent just a minute with me. He said I will get a refund and to go to the customer service line to get my refund. Apparently some guy had a chat with the manager and gave me my refund for the installation that was not complete.

My next step is to write a letter to the main headquarters and see that they do something about the damage they have caused. The installer advised me to do this... and even told me that they are responsible for any damage done to the car.

Good for you!!

I hate to hear stories of the big companies "sticking" it to people because they think they can get away with it. I suppose they figure they've got enough business from other people that it doesn't matter if they pi$$ off a few.

Thing is, people talk to other people and the word gets around. While at Best Buy last time, I watched as a couple got the horrible news that the $120 stereo they had just bought would cost $150 to install! They couldn't believe it, but paid just the same. Obviously, Best Buy can offer units on the cheap because they make the money on the installation. Next time I'll go to a professional.