Musician's Friend :( Sweetwater :)

[Terrik]

I recently purchased 2 x basses.. and misc other GAS...

basically Musician's Friend urinated all over the order.. and when i called "customer service".. I got anything but....

so, after 7 years, and thousands of dollars spent at Musician's "Friend"... that was my last purchase...

meanwhile..

Sweetwater was the polar opposite, friendly, polite, knowledgable, and all over it like white on rice... their website isn't as user friendly as MF, but the staff is 100 times more helpful

just FYI...

from one bass player to others

[lefty007]

+1. Sweetwater rules.

I bought a computer interface a few months ago and they actually called me around 3 months after the purchase, just to make everything was okay with my purchase and that I was enjoying my equipment . . . wicked.

[fenderhutz]

There is a guitar player I grew up with in WV that works there named Dave H.

Good guy.

[Jo6Pak]

Sweetwater and SameDayMusic are my 'go to' online retailers...

[K_Shizzle]

I ordered a strap from musicians friend a month ago. I just got another email from them claiming it will be another 30 days

[Chipsonfire]

zZounds.com has a smaller selection of equipment, but a lot of free shipping deals and a great return policy. And when I had a problem, the staff was more than willing to make it right. I will be going to them for all my business unless I can't find it there

[bassjus]

I use sweetwater for everything I can.

[jmain]

Joel over at Sweetwater has been very helpful.

[KPJ]

Sweetwater and American Musical Supply are my online retailers of choice. Sweetwater has obviously decided to make their niche excellent customer support, both pre and post sale.

[Visirale]

I work for the same company that owns MF. If you saw our computer systems and knew how spread out the inventory is... and how much stuff it says is there but really isn't... you might understand a little better.

[SuperDuck]

Sweetwater is the bee's knees and has a better catalog, too.

[Thor]

My horror story:

Last year I ordered a PA that was on slae, an Alesis 6x
for 199. Great deal.

I threw in a few odds and ends that were on sale. I asked
if the unit was in stock, and was told it was.

The next Tuesday a small bow arrived. A couple of XLR
cords and 2 mikes. No PA.

So I call.

'Sorry, its out of stock.'

'You told me it was in stock, so when can I get it.'

'Sorry, its been discontinued by the manufacturer.'

So, I found one on the internet and talked the guy into
matching the MF price with in 10 bucks. He was gonna
take it back from Alesis as he had stock but wasn't offered
the sale ( not really legal to promote that way btw.)

Lately, I noticed the unit was in the catalogs again.

So I got screwed there, for sure. No excuse for a mail order
merchant to have such poor service.

[iplaybassguitar]

Originally Posted by Visirale

I work for the same company that owns MF. If you saw our computer systems and knew how spread out the inventory is... and how much stuff it says is there but really isn't... you might understand a little better.

sounds like the company needs to get in better control of its inventory, not like the people need to be more understanding of their inadequate system.

[Hawaii Islander]

I bought my Fender 4x10 Pro Sl cab from MF a few years ago. I live in Hawaii (in the middle of the Pacific Ocean), they shipped UPS GROUND! UPS had to send it back to the MF wharehouse so they could change the shipping method to 2nd Day Air. It arrived with a dented grill. At least they honored their price matching. They dropped the price a week after I bought it.

Did anyone else see the additional charge for heavy/oversized items at MF? I was looking at bass amp heads on their website (non of the all-tube heads, Ampeg, Fender, or Marshall can be shipped to Hawaii), some of the amps with the surcharge of $69.00 were smaller and weighed less than those without the surcharge! Even if I liked shopping at MF, I can't afford to do business with them.

Rant over! Mahalo!

SameDayMusic, zZounds, and AmericanMusicalSupply have the same inventory for the most part. I've used them all, and like their service. Easy payment (zero interest) is a good thing about AmericanMusicalSupply. zZounds has the best shipping rates to Hawaii.

I talked to people at Sweetwater and Sam Ash, The people at both stores were very helpful.

Music123 and Musiciansfriend are the most difficult to work with and are generally slower, although Music123 personnel were generally helpful and polite.

[Tomis17]

I just love MF's silver, gold, and platinum protection coverages. I especially love it when they ask me if I would like to get their gold coverage on my mic cable for an additional $59.99.

Oh I am not fond of Sweetwater either. ALL their gear are marked up 10% above everyone else. Their excuse is because of their "excellent service". So my question is "Should I have to pay premium prices on your items because giving me services I should be getting anyway?" HELL NO!!!

[superbassman2000]

I like American Musical Supply because they can break up the payments--my guitar player just got a vox AC30 head and 412 cab and instead of charging him for all of it, they broke it up into monthly 250 dollar payments...sure I could get a credit card, but it is so much easier to do it that way!

[Danimal00]

Originally Posted by Tomis17

I just love MF's silver, gold, and platinum protection coverages. I especially love it when they ask me if I would like to get their gold coverage on my mic cable for an additional $59.99.

Oh I am not fond of Sweetwater either. ALL their gear are marked up 10% above everyone else. Their excuse is because of their "excellent service". So my question is "Should I have to pay premium prices on your items because giving me services I should be getting anyway?" HELL NO!!!

Hi Tomis17,

I don't want to get into a lengthy discussion about pricing here, but I do want to correct mis-information. On most items in the music equipment retail industry, there is a minimum advertised price that a manufacturer allows. That is why you see everything at the same price from MF, AMS, Zzounds, Music123, ect. They may be a few pennies off, such as 199.99, 199.97, or 199.95, but that is hardly 10% of a markup from what other dealers advertise at.

I could spend the time to link the same products webpage from each retailer to illustrate my point, but I don't think that it is necessary.

It sounds like you may have a bad experience with Sweetwater. If that is the case, I am sorry. Please PM me so we can talk about what happened. I'll do what I can to make it right for you. I take care of my customers.

Thanks,
Dan

[KPJ]

Originally Posted by Tomis17

Oh I am not fond of Sweetwater either. ALL their gear are marked up 10% above everyone else. Their excuse is because of their "excellent service". So my question is "Should I have to pay premium prices on your items because giving me services I should be getting anyway?" HELL NO!!!

There are plenty of people who will gladly pay a premium for service. That being said, I don't see where there is a 10% mark up on Sweetwater's products. Every retailer pretty much advertises everything at the same price. If anything, Sweetwater is cheaper than the other retailers because they offer free shipping on almost everything with no minimum order.

[keyboardguy]

I've worked with Sweetwater for many years and have a close repationship with my Salesperson. He will email, call, or mail a postcard EVERY time I buy from them. Their customer service is the BEST.

They ALWAYS will match any legit price that the other stores are asking.

+1 for Sweetwater.

Mike

PS go to their site and sign up for the weekly email; some very good tech tips and other info .....

[tplyons]

Originally Posted by jmain

Joel over at Sweetwater has been very helpful.

Yep, he's my guy too.