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Final Solutions
We're not going to say that the Solutions audio repair store in Silver Lake drove Elliot Smith to suicide, because 1) we don't know that he actually ever took anything in the shop, 2) readers of this site don't seem to cotton to death-associated levity, and 3) wasn't there some speculation that he was actually murdered? But if somebody else happened to say that it did, we would have to say we understand completely.
If you have taken an item into this place for repair and have a positive story to tell we'd really like to hear it. So far we've only heard people complain about waiting endlessly "for a part to come in" (and by endlessly we mean for up to two years) while enduring rambling monologues from the owner about his successful lawsuit against the state of California (something about reverse polarization) and his theories as to why he and his Chinese brethren can't drive, and some ersatz Zen master musing about ice cream cones, and...
Oh, if you actually do get your "repaired" equipment back in less than a year, dollars to donuts it's not really been repaired and when you take it in again the owner will determine that it is somehow your fault the equipment doesn't work because it was working great when it was checked out of there. If you take it out of there because you're sick of waiting and you want to take it to another repairman, make sure he gives you all the parts.
So, pay your respects to Mr. Smith by visiting the wall he made famous; just don't take anything inside. We'd say you should add to the graffiti by writing "SOLUTIONS SUCKS," but that might just encourage the owner to paint over all of the messages, and not doing that is the only decent thing he's done for us so far.
Photo by cloudasmoke via Flickr
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