ATLANTIC HOME TECHNOLOGIES

Chris, the designer, was a pleasure to deal with...prompt, professional, knowledgeable and courteous. What we needed was fairly simple: Connect a monitor, dish box, DVD player and tape deck to a Denon receiver. The two techs who originally attempted the work were prompt and pleasant. Unfortunately, they ran into trouble with the tape deck and couldn't make it work. Also, when I asked about using the mic the Denon provides to balance the speakers, the tech said he'd rather do it by ear. They said they would be in touch with Chris to get the work finished, and I paid them. After the week had passed with no word from Chris, I stopped by their store in St. Johns, which is operated under the trade name of Five Smooth Stones. This is when the adventure began. It was early afternoon and although a prominent sign in the window said "Open," the door was locked. I waited a few minutes and when no one appeared, I left and returned about an hour later. This time the "Open" door was open. There was a young man and a young lady in the store and the young man waited on me. I felt that he was impatient for me to leave. I explained what had happened and left a detailed message about what remained to be done to complete the installation asking that he pass this along to Chris with a request that Chris give me a call. As I was on my way out, I noticed a universal remote on display and asked about its price. I was told $299. "Installed?" I asked. "Yes," came the answer. I said I'd like one installed when the work was completed. After several days had passed with no word from Chris, I called him and learned that he had gotten no message from the man I had spoken to at the store. Ball dropped again. After hearing my story, Chris apologized and referred me to Paul at Atlantic Technologies. I called and scheduled the first available appointment with Paul 10 days later. At the appointed 8:00 a.m. hour, Paul and a second showed up with...well, an attitude. They were abrupt and rude, but they did get the job done, including making the tape deck work and balancing the speakers (originally installed by Atlantic Home Technologies). The system sounded great. I asked about the remote and was told that it would cost $299 plus $149 for a second part plus I believe a $175 setup charge. While I understood that the guy at their store had asked the questions required to know that I needed a second piece of equipment, when I told Paul that I was given a price of $299 installed, he stared coldly and shrugged his shoulders. At this point, his second arrived back in the room, heard that I wanted a universal remote and said, "That will be $249." So, I got three different prices from three different people. When I asked why, I was told that there are two different kinds of remotes and I needed the $299 kind, plus other part, plus installation charge. After the great beginning with Chris, this was a disappointing close to the work.