Am I understanding this right?, WalMart is doing home theater installations through Mastec??
Man, thats a double trouble kind of thing...Leme explain;
I mean, we all know how Mastec has screwed sooo many people (me included) that it would take an idiot to do work for them in the first place (no offense to idiots), and I imagine that anyone that has had any history with them knows it (and DAMN, they probably have charge backs for HTI too,,correct me if I am wrong).
They breaks the backs of Men.
However the REAL problem is WalMart. Think about it. People go to Wallyworld to get a 'deal'. They aren't going to pay $500 for thier top tier HTI installation like even some people did at CC and BB. Even then, BB was running thier installations thru Installs Inc. (no dis-respect at all) and CC'ty was running thier installations directly through companies like I made. BUT, we only got LESS THAN A FREAKIN HALF of what the end user paid at the store to be given to GREAT contractors who-in the end said F#CK THIS I AM WORTH MORE THAN THAT and I agree with them still today. I am glad that I don't run things any more. Heres why,
For instance; In 2006, I was given a task to create a Nationwide Installation Group with Akai Television for 10% of Gross Income, and after 6 months I had every city everywhere covered, I mean even in EVERY state. My toll free # was on every box 32" and above sold at Sams and Cosco. Akai even said "hey, promote upsells!-it enhances the product!" and everybody jumped all over that because it was a profound idea; professional installers at better pay getting a chance to customize anything and everything with all of thier hard earned and "right around the corner" talent if the customer was so inclined. BB and CCty always said ixnay on that, to refer the person BACK to the store to buy an overpriced P.O.S. product OR ELSE! Digitron/RadioShak did the same too back in the day. Just take a look where these companies are now.
I recieved 1,000s of calls asking how to program the damn remote or some stupid whatever, only a couple dozen installations, WITH a couple dozen very happy customers, I called them all. And countless really good people that believed the same idea that I had that virtually justed ended up p'ing in the wind. Hats off to those folks that tried for that. Good intent is great virtue.
My point IS, is that this wont get off the ground for those 2 reasons: wrong market group (like Sams and Cosco) and WAY-WAYYY wrong company. If you really want to promote yourself, try ServiceMagic or the like, or even better find a new trade that doesnt suck-because so many good techs are absorbed and destroyed with thier *ick in thier hand instead of a paycheck from companies like Mastec, but you might live a few more years with the loss of panic for breakfast. Its hard to say when the slowing but always cyclic "in-house" to "contractor" will bend the other way again (that goes for all fields, DirecTv to AT&T). God help you all.
Re: Home Theater Installation Price cuts..
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