Musicians friend eh…..well there is an oxymoron if ever I came across one! Here is my 2c with regards to the aforementioned store. All I can say is that there customer service is just as bad as ANY of the WORST guitar stores I have ever been to.
I’m very pissed off with them…and now time to share my little story !
Last but one order:
Was "lost" prior to leaving the where house and after contacting customer service, they point blank refused to do any thing about it until after 14 working days. At this point it was considered lost and could be reissued. This included not contacting the where house and finding out what the problem was!
Last order:
I ordered
a Bass Pod Pro, a Focusrite Platinum Voice master pro and a digital converter / patch bay by a company called ST Audio (1600 god dam bucks, not a small order !).
Anyway the stuff got here in record time...cool
I get it home and the bass pod and the Focusrite are tip top. However the STAudio digital patch bay is defective. SO I get on to customer service and say, “hey guys you have sent me a lemon” and they give me a return authorization number and tell me to return it. Upon receipt they will send me out an exchange, no problem.
Well15 buck shipping later (on Sat) I get the unit sent off to Kansas and I get an email (Tues) saying they got it and they are shipping me a new one (a blatant lie). I get the “new" one which is scratched and missing a power supply as well as defective the following Friday. So, I get on the horn and say "hey any chance of sending me a power supply" as at this stage I naively presumed the unit was fully functional. Anyway later on that evening I find a suitable (alternative) power supply, power the beast up and guess what, it is shagged! I, at this point resort to reading the manual and after performing a few more diagnostics ascertain that sure as little apples the unit is shagged, dead as the proverbial Norwegian blue parrot!
So, another 15 bucks shipping (following sat) and another phone call to Musicians friend (That very same Fri) and I have another return authorization number and I have told then not to ship me the power supply as per our last conversation. I now have my doubts about STAudio (AKA Hoontech) and I’m asking Musicians friend to, instead of doing a straight exchange, send me another type of patch bay made by M-audio. And this is where the fun begins.
Last time I shipped the return to Kansas on Sat and it was there Tues with an email confirming they had it. (I also had written in big clear letters on the return slip NOT to do a direct exchange for another STAudio digipatch but to send me a cheaper M-audio model as per the phone call the previous Friday).
Well, Tues, nothing, wed nothing, Thurs, I phone then ...no they have no record of receiving it. Fri, nothing. Mon yes they have got it at their where house but they cant do anything because it is missing a power supply !
I still haven’t lost my temper at this stage, so I carefully explain that the situation and they say they will look into it. The following fri I still haven’t heard a dickey bird so I phone then up to discover they are about to send me another STAudio digipatch which I carefully explain to them is WRONG ! The people at customer service also acknowledge this is wrong, which is good (as I wanted the cheaper M-audio unit they have a written (enclosed in the return and computer filed agreed when I get the return authorization number record of this)!
In the meantime I have discovered that I don’t need the sample rate conversion and a 39 buck video switching box from radioshck will do the job...hoorah. So, give me a refund please and also a refund for the shipping ! OK says an embarrassed voice a week ago Friday before last, it will be in your bank account on Monday or Tuesday.
Fat bloody chance ! I phoned them last Friday to find out where the money was and... No one knew… but it should be deposited next Monday or Tuesday! I wait with bated breath! I then discover, a week later that they have given me an in store credit and didn’t bother to tell me, Oh says I thins is not what we agreed and a very nice assistant offers to refund my shipping as well as sort out the refund
Two weeks, several bouts of shouting down the phone and sever episodes of "complete loss of control on account of extreme incompetence / annoyance" later (and four more phone calls) later the money ($ 399 for the patch bay and no shipping) finally turns up. After having been accused of lying to them about the shipping (which they had previously agreed to pay) Im still 30 bucks out of pocket!
What a bunch of fuckwits ! Not going there EVER again!
Thinking of shopping at Musiciansfriend.com…….. go some where else, they are probably cheaper and will give you less agro when (not if) something goes wrong.
Ah I feel better for that !
