A & B TV

Just wanted to say thanks again to Harlan for hooking up my father with the new TV. Also just read the review below and have to question the motives. I've purchased all of my A/V equipment for the past 2 years from Harlan at A&B and have been blown away by their attention to detail and making sure I got exactly what I was looking for at prices better than Amazon or the other generic retailers. They have also helped several of my friends, and as of this weekend, my family too.\r \r Keep up the good work Harlan! Pros: Great store with personalized attention Cons: Do not carry off brands (not a con if you are looking for quality) more

To date, my friends, family and I have purchased 8 Sony Bravia HDTVs from Harlan at A&B TV. Harlan and the staff at A&B are very knowledgeable and will set you up with the TV that fits your needs and price range. Not only has the service been great but A&B regularly beats the prices of Best Buy, Circuit City, etc. They'll even help you calibrate your new TV over the phone. It also feels good to support local Austin businesses. A&B will continue to get my business and that of my family and friends. Pros: Knowledgeable Staff, Great Prices, Local Business more

So I made my first visit to A&B on Anderson this week -- my in-laws had implored me to go, because they have purchased all their TVs there. Needless to say, I thus expected great service.\r Didn't happen.\r It took over five minutes of me standing around, following sales guys around the floor before Harlan decided I might need some help.\r I told him I was looking for an upgrade from our 57"" CRT HDTV, and we didn't want to downsize. Wanted to see a 67"" DLP Samsung. No no, Harlan didn't have any (which is fine), but he also was very condescending about it. And he wanted me to buy a huge, expensive plasma instead. ""No!"", I say. Harlan presses me -- ""why not?"", and then argues with my concerns about cost, size, burn in, power consumption, etc...\r I did a lot of research before I went in there, but Harlan proceeded to treat me like I was brain dead.\r Further, when I really pushed to see if he could order the TV I actually wanted, he rolled his eyes and placed a phone call for a price check. Although he couldn't get the price right then, he offered to get my phone number or email and promptly send me the price quote. How nice!\r EXCEPT, good ol' Harlan didn't bother ever getting back in touch with me.\r So much for Keep Austin Weird -- went online to Amazon, found the exact thing I wanted, in stock, $400 cheaper than Best Buy, $200 cheaper than Fry's -- ordered online, paid no sales tax, got free white glove shipping and installation to the room of my choice in my house within 5 business days. We'll see how that goes, but for now I'm sold on Amazon as opposed to some little store where they argue, condescend, and don't keep their word. more

I wanted to upgrade to Blu-Ray and replace the video projector in my media room. I walked into A&B after having seen their ads for many years. Worked with salesman Brad who was very helpful and knowledgeable. Purchased a Sony Blu-Ray player, an Epson projector and a Universal Control system. Their service person Trevor helped me set all of this up in my home including setting up the controller to handle all of my existing and new components. I was very satisfied with the way that they handled the entire transaction and am enjoying the greatly improved experience of watching Blu-Ray in my media room. Pros: Good selection, knowledgeable sales help, efficient installation more

Best place to get your audio/video entertainment in Central Texas including: Round Rock, Cedar Park and Austin. A&B TV (and Harlan) not only offer fantastic sales support but also post sales and warranty support. Harlan and the great folks at A&B TV treated my family like family and that is worth repeating. They always give us the best deals and support not only in the show room but after when you need the most. I won't do any shopping anywhere including the internet because A&B TV and Harlan take care of us like people used to do a long time ago. They care about their customers interests, budgets, value and products they sell. Best of all, it just seems natural and comes across quite sincerely...great combination. Pros: Wides selection of models, types and prices Cons: Can't think of any more

A&B Television is a true Austin gem. I recently purchased a 42 inch Toshiba HDLP television from A&B. The staff is very knowlegable and wants you to purchase the right product for your home. The installation crew was enthusiastic and really cared about the installation and ensured I understood all of the features. You will never get that level of service from the folks at Jerkus City or Best Buy. Frankly, I wish these guys would get into the appliance business because they are a refreshing group of individuals who want the customer to be satisfied. Pros: Excellent, knowlegable staff who cares about the customer more

I would highly recommend this place if you?re looking for the best deal in town. I did some pricing around town and they had the lowest prices in town!! I went there the first trip really not knowing what I wanted. Asked some questions and got helpful answers, then Brad (sales rep) went out of his way to get me extra info on the Sony Flat screen I was looking at. End up coming back and buying the flat screen. Brad was very helpful, knowledgeable and experienced in what he was talking about. I think honestly and integrity is real important when I give my business to a store, and that?s what I got from this place. Great price and that?s what I like!! Pros: Friendly and experienced. Best prices over all out of all the local stores around town. more

Simple story: Found the A&B circular in the Sunday paper. Saw an LCD TV priced to my liking, and knew the brand would be straight-forward enough for my elderly mother to use. Went to A&B, showed the sales guy the ad, asked if he had them in stock, he said yes, he went and got one, I paid for it and was in and out in less than ten minutes.\r \r You people who have problems with A&B need to assert yourselves. Evidently. Pros: Friendly, you get to talk to the boss and not some kid in a red shirt. Cons: Parking more

\r A typical purchase experience at A&B TV goes as follows:\r \r 1) You walk into the store and wait around for someone to help you (I waited 25 min before anyone spoke to me).\r 2) One of the fine gentlemen will eventually hustle you into the highest margin items in the store (did they try and sell you one of those crummy 'universal remote controls?'\r 3) After making your purchase (if you purchase something on order) you will begin to feel like you have not actually purchased anything at all. No one will call you when the items arrive, and if you call them they will act offended that you are actually trying to pick up the items you have already purchased and paid for.\r 4) After waiting about a month you may receive a partial delivery of approximately 2/3 of the items you ordered. \r 5) After waiting and calling and being hassled for another 2 weeks you will talk to the owner of the store and he will tell you that all of the items in your order have come in. When you go to the store 20 minutes later the owner will have left, all of the sales men will be standing around drinking, and they will tell you that only one of the items A&B owes you has actually come in. At this time you will repeat step # 4 above. \r \r I am somewhere between steps 4 & 5 above - I would caution everyone against purchasing anything from A&B TV. Everyone is your buddy until after you make your purchase - god forbid something you purchase is on 'back order'. \r Pros: Austin Owned And Operated Cons: Miserable Customer Service Expierence after the Purchase more

I have been waiting for longer than 4 months to have adjustments made to my system I found them very easy to deal with as long as I was making large purchases however once there were problems they did not to know me They have insufficent people to service their equipment would not use under any circumstances again Buyer beware Pros: poor after pirchase service more

I am new to town and had been to one of the ""nationally recognizable box stores"" where I used to live for a TV. Well, I moved into a bigger house and wanted a bigger TV. A co-worker suggested I go to A&B TV. Well, I went to the local ******** to look for a TV. I found what I thought I was looking for and bought it and wanted to have it installed above my fireplace. Easy enough, right? Wrong, the installers that were sent out were not very helpful and didn't seem to know what they were doing from the get go. I felt very uneasy about the whole thing. But, we went on with it. I told my co-worker about my experience and they asked me why I didn't go to A&B TV. So, at this point I decided to go check it out. When I was there the gentleman who was helping me, Elmo, asked a lot of questions about the room, how it was to be mounted, what I was going to be using the TV for, etc. Which I never got with the other place. He introduced me to one of their sub-contract installers, Kevin. He had me draw out the room and explained the whole process for installation. They charge by the hour instead of by the job. But, I was assured, in Kevin's words ""we will do it as quickly as possible, but correctly"". That is all I wanted in the first place. I returned the other TV and there jacked up install and bought it from A&B TV. The installation was awesome. No wires. No new holes, that needed repair. I highly recommend that anyone check them out, expecially if you want your home theater or TV installed from highly trained professionals. Way to go A&B TV. Pros: Knowledgable, Experienced, Courteous, Professional Installation more

I went into A&B tv after realizing what idiots circuit city and their ""firedog"" install crew. These guys looked like they where still in high school. They screwed up hanging my TVs then charged me $800 and didn't even use the wires the Circuit City guy said I absolutely needed for HD. A friend took me to A & B tv where I spoke to someone named Brad. He was extremely helpful and knew what he was taking about. The installation was handled by his install person Trevor. He was very friendly and helpful.This guy has had 20 years experience according to his website and fixed my firedog install in 20 minutes. HD looks alot better thru HDMI than on channel 3. I don't know who the other reviewers where talking about at AbTV, but Brad and Trevor really helped me out even though I didn't buy from them, and I will be buying my electronics from them from now on. more

I recently went to Best Buy and bought a top of the line tv. In fact it was supposed to be so top of the line that I could not get it for three weeks because I was told the tv had not even been released. I paid a substantial amount for the tv, and installation. However I was also looking for home theatre equiptment. I explained that I didn't have the available outlets for sufficient power and to meet my aesthetic standards. I was told I needed a third party installer as their installers were not certified and I could void the warranty on both my home and insurance by using them.Three days later I walked in to A & B tv looking for home theater equiptment and had questions obviously about installion. Admitedly I initiated the conversation, but from that point on I realized I had dropped the ball with my Best Buy purchase for about five reasons. First off the tv I had bought had been released, was available for purchase, and was in stock. Secondly it was priced $2000 dollars cheaper (installation included) than my first offer. Third point coming. . . Significantly more knowledge about a greater variety of options. Whereas I was pigeon holed at Best Buy, I had a range of receivers, speakers, and subs from the highest end to the moderate. Fourth on my list of positives was the fact that Kevin the man helping me suggested on numerous occasions the better buy for my money. Not the most expensive unit. A few times I opted for the more expensive piece, but it was bascially a wash because of the money he saved me on the other items. Finally, my tv just got installed and my system is flawless, installed two weeks earlier than the alternative and I still have valid insurance and a warranty were there to be electrical problems. I never blog, in fact I hate bloggers, a large waste of time. But as I was looking for the number to A & B tv online and accidentally went through citysearch and read the only review available I felt compelled and so here we are 2000 characters later! Pros: Extremely Knowledgeable, Better Value, Options Galore more

\r My wife and I went to the store, out of 4 guys not one offered to help us/acknowledge that we were there, We heard one employee bad mouthing a customer who had just called, he was making fun and calling the customer an idiot with his co-worker, a day later I called and asked a TV question and was treated like I was annoying, really rude to me, I finally made my purchase at Best Buy even though it cost a tad more, being treated with respect and having my questions answered was worth the extra cost, I will NEVER give AB TV my business and will tell all interested in a TV not to deal with them.\r more