I can give 3 stars because I did ultimately get what I was after and they didn't take my money and…read morerun, however I wouldn't recommend them or use them again based on my experience, and here's why:
After my existing projector burned out some pixels I started shopping for a replacement, landed on an Epson QB1000. Couldn't buy it direct from anywhere, had to go through an authorized dealer, of which bravas was listed under a different name on Epson's site. Called to ask about buying one and picking it up (to install myself) but they didn't want to do that, instead they asked a bunch of questions about what I was looking for and after a week of "researching" they came back with a suggestion to sell me a 90" Tv to replace my 110" protector setup. I rejected that offer because my water shutoff is behind the screen and the hdmi wasn't wired to that wall, etc. Then they spent more time researching, said what I wanted could only be provided if I was willing to double my budget from the original $15k I stated. I asked again about just getting the Epson, and also asked what models they found that offer what I want (4k 120hz, hdr10+, allm, hdmi-cec, laser light source) and they couldn't list any, in fact they came back and said the one I found is the only one that offers all that (so what exactly were they trying to sell me for double my budget??). They required full payment up front before they would order parts, and they chose a 6" extension (I mentioned my ceiling in the basement was ~8' in the initial call) so with the projector and all install parts, it put the bottom of the projector 17" from the 8' ceiling. I asked if there was a shorter option during the install and they ordered a 3" and came back a week later to install the shorter extension.
I paid a total of $9,712 for a $8,000 projector that I picked out myself, which took over 2 months to acquire because of the back and forth in trying to sell me something more expensive that didn't meet my needs.
The additional $1,712 I paid over the cost of the projector came from
- $401 for travel time and labor (including charging me 130 in labor to come back and install the shorter extension, which was a choice they made that didn't make sense for my ceiling height and they let me find out I was being charged labor for the return trip when they sent the invoice)
- $269 for RPAUW (msrp $169)
- $82 for CMA110W (msrp $55.95)
- $24 for CMS006W (msrp $19.20)
- $271.22 3% Credit card fee (I wanted to be sure I could dispute the charge b/c I was concerned I was getting scammed as a result of my interactions with their sales rep, I honestly expected them to delay install until it was too late to dispute and then disappear, thankfully, that didn't happen)
They did eventually get the projector in a bit less than a month after I paid in full for all parts, and install guys were pleasant, however all they did was screw the mount to the ceiling, install the projector on the mount, plug things in and loosely adjust zoom/focus/lens position; all of which I had to go back and finish up after they left because the image was crooked to the screen, so ended up both projecting beyond the edges of the screen, and didn't fully fill the screen (one top and one bottom corner didn't fill to screen edge while the opposite corners went about 1.5" beyond the screen edge)
The projector mount components weren't ever fully tightened (this is true after the initial install and when they came back to install the shorter extension) so the projector would wobble around when anyone walked upstairs. I had to tighten everything myself, including a full 360 degree turn of the projector on the extension arm, and tightening the thumb screws down completely. (Twice) I had to finish leveling the projector to the screen as well, as it was projecting at a slight angle when they left. (Twice)
When the projector first came on the picture was very washed out, so they adjusted color/saturation/gamma settings that I later had to go back and undo, as the image got way too saturated after it had been running for about 15 minutes, and resetting all of that to default provided a nice image. They did not do anything I would expect from professional installers, such as white balance, color adjustment, lcd panel alignment, adjusting lamp brightness, etc.
So now if I want that professional touch, like white and color balancing, after paying Bravas $1,712 to do what I could have done (and wanted to do) by myself, I'll need to find another installer and pay more money, because I paid $1,712 for a level of detail I'd expect from a handyman hired to do the install for $200.
