Apportioning budget for an upgrade

Hey guys, sorry for not writing for quite awhile. Hooray for the New Year! Have been really busy planning for 2008, since friends are telling me it is going to be a slow year in general for business. Slow or not, we music lovers will always find some budget and savings stashed under the bed for upgrades on our hi-fi and car audio! It's a way of rewarding ourselves for working hard and not spending on too many vices, right? :)

I met a nice chap from TVCM (Toyota Vios Club Malaysia - http://www.viosclub.com/) yesterday and he was looking to add an amplifier and subwoofer to his existing system installed in XYZ some months ago. After a brief chat with him and understanding what he has running in his sweet ride, we managed to put something together within his $2,000 budget. Unfortunately, he did not know that the $2,000 budget is just enough for the equipment minus the power/ground cables, RCA, speaker cables and workmanship for installation and building a subwoofer enclosure. Quality cables and such can cost another $800-$1,000 but after explaining the significance of the one time investment, he bumped his total spending to $3,000.

The story does not end there! Sadly, after removing the seats and pulling the additional cables for the extra amplifier, we discovered that the existing 4 channel amplifier to drive the front speakers were on thin 8 gauge power cables and very cheap RCA and speaker wires. Most installers will just look away and ignore what has been installed in the existing setup and proceed to install the additional equipment, collect the money and let the customer off. However, as his new advisor, we were compelled to be the bad guy and to tell him it is not going to work or that it will not meet our expectations. Seriously, we are not here to meet a lowered expectation when we know that the equipment can and will do better under proper conditions.

It is not easy being a car audio consultant, having to tell people that they have spent a whole lot of money and that it will not achieve the desired results because basic pre-requisites were not met and very simple installation procedures and techniques were not taken into account. Is this a ploy to get customers to return and change to something more expensive or am I missing something here?