Car Audio Direct Earn Coveted Pan-European Trusted Shops® Status
Talk Audio is fully independent editorially but happily maintains close relations with noted online car audio retailers, Car Audio Direct. If they stock an item, we’ll often publish their price. (That said, you will pay a slice more if you are at a bricks-and-mortar shop and paying them to install it for you, as this helps subsidise the fitting as well as paying for their artisanal skills.) There are other righteous internet vendors of ice out there and even some with expertise, yet CAD are a cut above, with personal attention, from real people who are genuine enthusiasts and WILL take the time to discuss the pink wire with end purchasers. They have an unimpeachable record as to after-sales and garner innumerable reviews from happy purchasers.
Now, while there are a slew of little logos attached to e-retailer sites that can mean ‘˜security’ and ‘˜accredited’, with accepted ‘˜known good’ status, these vary in reach and importance. I would love to think that their garnering a record number of OnLine Retailer Of The Year awards from Mobile Electronics News, the only UK trade magazine, would have clout across all of Europe but it doesn’t!
What DOES have real clout, though is the Trusted Shops® scheme, run by the Germans, which serves to offer a pan-European level of internationally recognised excellence in security, customer care and after sales service. It is not easy to get and takes some serious corporate leaping through flaming hoops to get it awarded. Here is an extract from their site: ‘www.caraudiodirect.co.uk has fulfilled over 40 quality criteria in order to obtain the Trusted Shops Trustmark. These criteria are undergoing continuous development by independent consumer protection and data protection specialists. The observance of these criteria is regularly verified by commercial law specialists and IT experts.’
One added bonus of the Trusted Shops® accreditation is free-to-purchaser Buyer Protection, which, if registered at the check out screen of the accredited store, will provide up to £2,500 worth of payment cover against any possible loss of your money in the rare event of non-delivery. (Usually couriers if this reviewer of twenty years standing knows anything!)
Mike Organ of Car Audio Direct said, ‘It has taken some work and effort to get all the requirements of the scheme lined up. It’s been a case more of how we record how we do what we have always done, which is to treat each and every customer as well as we would like to be treated ourselves. We were worried that we were being old fashioned – to actually give a damn about people but this recognition serves to both help reassure new customers and reassure ourselves that the high quality of service and advice we give, has always been worth it.’
So there you go, if you have Christmas shopping to do for the car audio fan in your life, then check them out
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