musicians friend...... idiots!

Sweetwater pwns

I signed up for an account at sweetwater just to enter one of their contests, and I got an email the next day from a rep there who told me if I ever need anything (even advice on what I might want) to give him a call or an email. I hadn't even bought anything yet, and they were already friendly with the customer service. They seem like they really have it together there.
 
toobalicious said:
ha, what a joke. ive said it a few times over the years, but keep crawling back to their bargain prices.

called about this:
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Crate-BT410E-Bass-Cab?sku=601144

...He said "$hit, it wouldnt surprise me--- it must mean per speaker, so 100 watts." first of all, he cursed on the phone. no biggie, really, as i talk like i was raised by sailors...
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:D I called Guitsinner once and could hear one sales rep telling another in the background that he regretted "taking that acid last night, dude." :D
 
I have spent thousands of dollars buying from MF I have always had corteous service from them any time I have had issues with anything I have purchased from them and they usually make it right by discounting the item for my trouble.
and BTW that item you are talking about has been discontinued for quite a while now so they probably had no specs sheets to look at.
i agree with the other guys about Sweetwater, I love the fact that even a 5 dollar item ships free and I always get candy and a followup phone call from a sales rep to make sure I am happy with my purchase.
Sweetwater CS is second to none.... period
plus Sweetwater carrys the high end gear that the other mass merchants do not carry.
 
Roguetitan said:
and BTW that item you are talking about has been discontinued for quite a while now so they probably had no specs sheets to look at.
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$hit, it wouldnt surprise me!

youre right though. i have also had very good CS from MF at least a few times. but when it has been bad, it has been *bad*.

just ordered a 4 space rack case from sweetwater. my "normal" guy was on the phone, but since i am not big on the touchy-feely stuff, i used another friendly and non-idiot dude. wouldve just ordered online if i didnt need to ask a couple of questions.

wonder what the sweet fairy will put in this time? i should know sometime tomorrow..........

a
 
Lt. Bob said:
That was AWESOME!! Did you complain?
I did and got a certificate for 20% off my next order up to $5000 plus free shipping.
So I got a list together of everything I was gonna buy in the next couple of years and bought like $4000 worth of stuff and got it for 20% cheaper than their already pretty low prices.
Best thing ever happened.
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HELL YES THAT WAS AWESOME!

I got a $250 LTD guitar to mess around on, and they took forever, so I cancelled the order and bought the same one from a local shop for $200.

Two months later, I get home from school, and there's a huge box on my back porch. I take it inside, crack it open, and it's the exact same guitar that I bought, just in a different color. I called MF about it, told them that I had cancelled the order, yadda yadda yadda. Well, they still billed me for it, but only billed me $100 instead of $250 and the guy said "yeah, we've been a mess lately. Just forget the other $150, thanks for your business," and that was that.

So two guitars for $300? I'm not complaining.
 
i agree

ive been using sweetwater and american musical supply

MF are a bunch of yahooos
 
Musician's FIEND has bungled a number of orders for me over the last few years; usually sending me returned gear sold as new stock. This has happened with electric guitars and basses, and more recently with acoustic instruments. (Sucks to live in a larger metro area that does not have a decent mid-range acoustic store, only high-end or Guitar Satan)

However, MF is willing to work with you as long as you know how to speak to them in the proper manner and request what you need to "make it right" and to "keep me as a customer". Treat them with respect and dignity, realize that it is their job, and that they probably didn't mean to screw with you (or maybe they did!), and they will play ball.

Nowadays, I usually expect to have my first instrument from an order from them (or any other company) require to be returned ...then I have the leverage to get anywhere from 30% - 50% off the cost of the replacement, all with free shipping. No swearing and no attitude are required, just treat them like humans and they are always good to work with. However, this may be changing, as I just got a new Takamine classical guitar from MF (for 50 bucks off street price and free shipping, just by treating them well and being a return customer) and guess what? The guitar arrived in PERFECT "factory" shape, and is now in the shop having the factory setup fixed up to suit my needs!! ...Maybe the worm has turned???

AMS (american musical supply) is OK, but recently they merged with Zzounds and have faltered a bit (price matching is only done over the phone now), but the "EZ Pay" payment option *is* nice. You can always talk them into free 2 day shipping too, as long as the order is large enough.

Sweetwater have been the best to me by far, I must say. They recently gave me $100 off the street price for a Roland HD-1 because of an issue with a guitar I had purchased from them recently. (They paid to have the guitar setup professionally locally, with no cost to me, and the lowest price that I could find anywhere on the guitar - a Martin D16-gt). I like the human touch as well. I keep trying to talk them into doing the ezpay thing like AMS, but that won't be happening any time soon... :(

Sorry for the manifesto, but it all boils down to Karma and how you treat others. Treat them with patience, dignity, and respect, and you'll get it back in return many-fold.

Have fun!

-mr "Zen" moon
 
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Carny1122 said:
You know what? I'm not going to say that they aren't rude, but you can benefit from that, sometimes....for example, my story....

I ordered one Behringer rack tuner for $60 about a year ago from them. I wait 4 days, and this HUGE box comes from them...so I'm like, ah, alright, I'll crack it open. Well, to my surprise, they had not sent me 1 tuner, but 5. I checked the receipt, and I had still only paid the $67.50 or whatever it was for the tuner and shipping.

So I called musicians' friend to explain that instead of sending me a box with one tuner, they had sent me the box that they had recieved directly from Behringer with 5 tuners it, and that I, being a nice guy, wanted to ship the other 4 back. Plain and simple, right?

I got a sales rep on the line, and he (dully) asked how he could help me. I explained the problem, and before I could even say, "and I'm willing to ship them back," he yelled through the phone, "WELL DO YOU THINK THAT I CAN F**KIN' CONTROL WHAT YOU GET?! F**K OFF!" and the phone hung up.

So my 4 guitar-playing buddies got a free tuner =)

And that's a true story, too. No joke. So if you get a bad sales rep, hey, that might be in your favor.
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lol same thing happened to me a long time ago when i was just starting out and had ordered 1 mic stand, nady sp1 mic, and xlr cord pack for $20 and they sent me 3. except the only difference in our stories is i didnt try to return it lol!
 
punkrocker said:
lol same thing happened to me a long time ago when i was just starting out and had ordered 1 mic stand, nady sp1 mic, and xlr cord pack for $20 and they sent me 3. except the only difference in our stories is i didnt try to return it lol!
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so now you have 3 super-shitty mics, stands, and cables.

a good friend got that pack. the stands are cheap but functional. the mic was..... cute.



my sweetwater order came in two days.

i got 2 grape and 1 strawberry laffy taffy, and a couple of granny-style peppermints to let the cats play with.

my "new" bass rig:
STA73746.jpg


gator stuff is just ok, huh? it will work though. MIC of course. at least the GK is USA-made, cuz the dbx surely isnt. i just wish they couldve routed the fan so as NOT to require an empty space on top :confused: :rolleyes: .

a
 
I've been to their warehouse/showroom in KC and it is a joke. The only guitars they have on display for customers to try are returns that had been damaged in shipping.
The salespeople on the floor are as ignorant as are the customer service people on the phone. Actually, if you call on the phone--you aren't even talking to someone who works for Musician's Friend--you are talking to a contracted telephone center such as operated by usa-800 or aegis communications.
E-mailing MF with a question is an exercise in futility--I've never had a response to any question I've submitted to them by e-mail.

In contrast, every question I've sent to Sweetwater, I've had a response back in one business day or less--and that was even before I'd ever purchased anything from them. So even though I've probably contributed a few grand to MF's profits over the last several years, that probably won't be happening again.
 
One problem with M.F. is the shipping times..
I've bought a lot of stuff in the past years from them.
I've had them refund me time after time again for shipping charges,
because "they" are responsible for their contracted shipping carriers.
..and I am talking about even regular ground shipping too..
No matter what shipping type you use.. there is "24 hour"
processing time.. just to get your order ready. no matter
if you choose "2 day" or "overnight" and then after that some sometimes
a "two day" wait before shipping!
I even talked about this last night with a customer service rep.
I ordered a cheap acoustic pickup, yesterday and asked
the customer rep if I placed the order, today "Tuesday" for 2nd day
air delivery would I at least get it by Friday. "No, probably Monday". :p
So I used regular ground shipping again.. we will see how they do.. again..

They do have good prices.. however Zzounds seems to have
cheaper costs in shipping..
One of their subsidiaries ,that you have to watch out for is Music123
I bought 2 guitars and one bass from them with "very" warped neck
and had to return them. after the "main warehouse manager" said that
"that is the way they sell them".
I forced him to have one of the replacements setup and check
before shipping out.. and that made all of the difference..
sometimes you have to force them to do stuff. :)
 
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