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I know we all joke about our Sweetwater engineers…

ours is ben stokes. he has helped me by having basses that weren't weighed weighed, then letting me know the lightest and getting that sent to me. he helped us out in a variety of ways, and while he's not the guy who's going to get you discounts, he's been great in many ways including accepting a couple returns without requiring us to pay shipping.
 
Never bought anything from Sweetwater. I go through my local shop.

what’s special about sweetwater’s sales process?

It's probably the best online shopping experience in that you can pick exactly which bass you're getting in most cases. They also are more likely to get the hard to obtain items faster -- for example, when it was hard to find Mesa Boogie in inventory at local shops, Sweetwater was able to keep getting inventory.

They also occasionally get some special versions of instruments.
 
My problem is, they have always given me anxiety to the point that I just have to avoid 'em. Not logical, not their fault per se. I've probably missed out on both good business relationships and possible friendships as a result.

Musician's Friend has started having an equivalent, very nice, person calling me on occasion, but she's also been a source of moments of acute anxiety. Hell, the Snap Fitness I got an emailed monthly membership quote from stressed me out when they started calling and texting me about going in for a tour. Had to text them back to stop and let me decide in my own timeframe when I'd take another step.

That business model clearly works, but it is hard on me and folks with similar anxieties.
 
what’s special about sweetwater’s sales process?

They will call you for the rest of your life to ask how things are going with the set of strings you purchased 10 years ago. It’s beyond helpful and certainly annoying for my level of shopping with them. I could see that level of contact being more desirable if you regularly buy gear.
 
Mine is Alden Debee (dB? I've always wondered...). He's been really great for me, always checking up afterward to see how the things I bought are working out. He also helped me with a Build to Order G&L and got that going very expediently. I like Alden, and I like Sweetwater, it's great for me as I don't have a great music store to drop in and noodle on various instruments like I did in the past. Demoing something is kind of a pain, if you don't like it you have to send it back. They cover the return shipping, though. I had to return one bass. There wasn't anything wrong with it, I just didn't like how it felt in my hands. They took it back with no questions asked. All in all, my experiences with them have been good and I'd recommend them.
 
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ours is ben stokes. he has helped me by having basses that weren't weighed weighed, then letting me know the lightest and getting that sent to me. he helped us out in a variety of ways, and while he's not the guy who's going to get you discounts, he's been great in many ways including accepting a couple returns without requiring us to pay shipping.

Ben is a good dude!
 
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