it's so much easier with sweetwater...

[MCF]

we buy gear from several big box stores regularly - GC, MF, sam ash, AMS and sweetwater, but today when our new focusrite scarlett 2i2 arrived without a hiccup or any slow shipping, it was such a joy. i ordered it saturday, it just arrived at our front door.

of my last two orders from MF, one someone forgot to ship; eight days after they said it had shipped, i called and it hadn't. it did get here, though. the current order they sent via UPS mail innovations - that's where UPS picks it up, takes it to your area and transfers it to the post office. my box sat in kansas city at a UPS facility for about a week, and only just transferred to our local post office, and since USPS often has dismal tracking, who knows when it'll arrive? true, MF did sent our box, but they choose to use UPS mail innovations, which sucked even when it had another name.

and then there's often an over-45 minute wait to get customer service at MF, and i've discovered that often what they tell you is wrong - because each rep you ask the same question will give you a different answer. and then there was the recurring payment issue where their system wouldn't take my payment - no one could fix it. i finally did by removing any old payment methods.

don't get me wrong - if you're not in a rush, MF/GC often has stuff in stock that no one else has, you can get discounts you can't get from sweetwater and that are more reliable than the sam ash discounts, and MF/GC carries brands sweetwater doesn't have. and then there's the MF 8% rewards program.

but while they don't offer discounts, i can always get quick help without a wait from sweetwater by phone or email, if you ask 3 people the same question, you'll get the same answer from all of them and we've never had an issue of any sort with shipping (they use fedex, which has been very good for us), payment, tracking, changing account info or anything else (ignoring our first ever order there when our rep quit, leaving everything a mess - but that was years ago and never repeated). our rep does things like have the warehouse weigh several sealed boxes of the same cheap bass and send the lightest.

i know some people have had issues, but i have issues from the other stores fairly frequently - some rather amusing, but for years, sweetwater's been flawless. part of that is our rep, ben, but part seems to be sweetwater.

Mistakes happen. Sweetwater seems to make fewer of them. And like you, we prefer FedEx over the other alternatives.

 

[KJMO]

Been dealing with Sweetwater for years and I’ve never once had them “push” anything. Once they did mention financing was available if I were interested since it was a really big ticket item I was calling about. But other then mention it was available in passing, that’s all they said about it. I don’t know if that’s what you mean by “pushing.” But if so I’d call that a mischaracterization. If not, how about sharing some specifics, along with the name of the rep you talk to?

It's the frequency with which they make it clear you can finance. It's everywhere, and it's largely what they are known for in my experience. I have no use for financing, and it doesn't entice me to buy things, but I know several musicians who do, and it does. I'm sure it doesn't bother them, but I find it to be a poor substitute for getting things as cheap as possible.

So it's not like they are hot boxing me in a small office, but they're clearly doing what they can to get people on the financing train. And someone must think that's a good strategy since MF has started pushing it too (every e-mail says I can finance something now).

 

[40Hz]

I’ve literally had jam sessions (more than one) interrupted when my gui**** received sales droid calls from Sweetwater.

Did he tell them he didn’t want to be contacted by phone? That’s all you have to do.

Maybe it’s different with your guitar guy’s rep. But mine only calls to follow up on any significant purchases I’ve made. Can hardly blame them since they have a liberal return policy. So if there’s an issue with what you received they’d want to know about it sooner rather than later.

I also don’t consider my rep a “sales droid” as you put it. Mine has been a valuable resource.

 

[LBS-bass]

Rarely have I had either Sweetwater or Amazon mess something up.

 

[jdh3000]

Yea SW is easy to deal with, they take care of you...anything wrong with your order they'll play to ship it back and go ahead and ship you out a replacement. Most places have to wait until they recieve it.

The sales person always calls to tell me it shipped and usually later to make sure all is ok with it.

Got a call today because I had asked to be notified when something was back in stock. Other places send emais.

I haven't experienced any delay in shipping during all of this. They are really on the ball.

 

[40Hz]

I find it to be a poor substitute for getting things as cheap as possible.

If that’s your main criteria for picking a vendor then good luck. I value service, reliability, reasonable pricing, reputation, and a variety of other factors over getting the cheapest price.

FWIW constantly trying to be the cheapest provider isn’t a sustainable business strategy either. All it tends to do is attract the bottom feeders with zero loyalty to your business. As GC is learning the hard way.

someone must think that's a good strategy since MF has started pushing it too (every e-mail says I can finance something now).

I think they also routinely mentioned “free shipping,” and (up until recently) “no sales tax” too. I wonder if that should also be considered cause for annoyance?

 

[Geddy Claypool]

Longtime super happy Sweetwater fan here as well. They've always gotten it right the first time, and their customer service is excellent.

I'm not sure what you mean by "they don't do discounts" though. Often times if you call your sales rep they're willing to knock a few dollars off the purchase right out of the gate.

 

[pcake]

MF used to offer 15-20% off, plus the 8% back in points span which was hard to beat. Now, they don't offer anything off, I've had lot's of problems with them not having things in stock and now they have sales people calling and bugging me. They've clearly changed management/strategy. They also push financing really hard a la sweetwater. I used a gift card there, and I'm done.

i get 15% discounts on every holiday up to one this year. for a while, it was only 10%, but 10% on a $2000 item is still pretty handy.

i've never had a rep at sweetwater push financing on me. and once i asked ben (our rep)not to call, he never did.

For what it's worth, MF is the mail order division of GC.......... in case you didn't know.

Sweetwater is great if they have it.

that's not quite correct, but it's close enough. i've gotten many orders shipped from MF, but if they don't have the item, it ships from GC. GC owns MF, and bain capital owned most of GC but now ares something owns them although bain maintains a lot of stock.

I’ve literally had jam sessions (more than one) interrupted when my gui**** received sales droid calls from Sweetwater.

all anyone has to do is ask their rep not to call. it's that simple.

Rarely have I had either Sweetwater or Amazon mess something up.

i'm guessing you order less from amazon than we do - we've placed over 200 orders with them so far this year... boxes have been lost, items have been broken (or rusty), UPS has taken forever with amazon items for no known reason.

Yea SW is easy to deal with, they take care of you...anything wrong with your order they'll play to ship it back and go ahead and ship you out a replacement. Most places have to wait until they recieve it.

The sales person always calls to tell me it shipped and usually later to make sure all is ok with it.

Got a call today because I had asked to be notified when something was back in stock. Other places send emais.

I haven't experienced any delay in shipping during all of this. They are really on the ball.

AMS shipped me a replacement for a bass with issues before they received it, but they don't always do that. i don't think sweetwater always does it, either.

 

[LBS-bass]

I order from them a fair amount. I have had some messed up orders; I'll never order canned dog food from them again, for example. Some things sit in their warehouse for who knows how long and their pickers aren't trained to do quality control so they'll toss any old thing in a box and ship it out.

Prime has gotten slower lately, but there's a huge strain on shipping with the pandemic and most things I don't need that fast so I don't really mind so much. They aren't perfect by any stretch but for the amount of opportunities I give them to mess things up they don't really do it that often.

 

[pcake]

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I order from them a fair amount. I have had some messed up orders; I'll never order canned dog food from them again, for example. Some things sit in their warehouse for who knows how long and their pickers aren't trained to do quality control so they'll toss any old thing in a box and ship it out.

Prime has gotten slower lately, but there's a huge strain on shipping with the pandemic and most things I don't need that fast so I don't really mind so much. They aren't perfect by any stretch but for the amount of opportunities I give them to mess things up they don't really do it that often.

so you're a pro user, too

some of my prime stuff is getting here on the same same day or next day, but anything coming from a further warehouse can take days, and there have been lost shipments and two more times they said the items were "undeliverable" - we never saw that one until may. but such is life.

 

[KJMO]

If that’s your main criteria for picking a vendor then good luck. I value service, reliability, reasonable pricing, reputation, and a variety of other factors over getting the cheapest price.

FWIW constantly trying to be the cheapest provider isn’t a sustainable business strategy either. All it tends to do is attract the bottom feeders with zero loyalty to your business. As GC is learning the hard way.



I think they also routinely mentioned “free shipping,” and (up until recently) “no sales tax” too. I wonder if that should also be considered cause for annoyance?

I am a bottom feeder. I got my HX Stomp from MF for 509.99, plus about 40 bucks back in points that bought me a set of Elixirs. Check out what it costs at Sweetwater! I got it in 3 days. Ok, so now they are done giving good deals. I'm still free to buy from Sweetwater, or whoever else gives me the best value. I don't know that loyalty really pays off.

I think financing is a bit scammy. Free shipping and no sales tax, no downside at all, so not the same thing. Even if you disagree, none of what they offer for "full price service" appeals to me. In fact it annoys me, so why pay for it.

 

[Eddie LeBlanc]

so you're a pro user, too

some of my prime stuff is getting here on the same same day or next day, but anything coming from a further warehouse can take days, and there have been lost shipments and two more times they said the items were "undeliverable" - we never saw that one until may. but such is life.

I'll second that. Been an Amazon Prime member for many many years. Now a days, I've had a few Prime items just lost for some reason, even with tracking numbers. And some things that took much longer than usual.

So far I just filed for two refunds this week of two separate items that were a no show. It ain't what it used to be.

 

[SunByrne]

I've had nothing but good experiences ordering from Sweetwater. Cannot say that for GC. However, I will say that I'm about 20 minutes from three different GC physical stores, and one of those three has always been great to deal with in person. (The other one is OK but not as good, and the third I've never actually been to.) So if it's something I can get in person, once the pandemic is done, choice #1 will be GC in person. Then Sweetwater. Then ZZounds. Then Amazon. Then maybe the GC conglomerate.

 

[LBS-bass]

so you're a pro user, too

some of my prime stuff is getting here on the same same day or next day, but anything coming from a further warehouse can take days, and there have been lost shipments and two more times they said the items were "undeliverable" - we never saw that one until may. but such is life.

Yep, we have had that a few times. It's generally ok, but of course the one time it totally messes up is when you really, really need something!

 

[Guild B301]

I’ve only had small problems from all of the music companies above.
I would like to mention that I’ve never had a problem with anything I’ve ordered from Full Compass Systems. They have started carrying musical instruments in recent years. I’ve been buying from them since the late 70’s.
Invalid Link Removed
Honorable mention to Victor Litz Music. They’re always great.
I won’t deal with Amazon.

 

[Nuage420]

I've bought a lot from sweet water over the years. I recently won some stuff during their GearFest giveaway. But most of my money has been spent recently at GC. They are finally on board with the personal sales rep. not sure if that's for everyone or because I dropped a few grand over a short time. For now I'll order from SW or GC as they both price match and GC rep informed me that they're are authorized to give deeper discounts than the brick and mortar. I will say SW seems WAY more polished in all aspects though.

 

[elpancho]

You also get some candy with your shipment for the sweet deals. SW only for me.

 

[Bboopbennie]

Tootsie rolls are the best !! Brad at Sweetwater is my ( Musician's Friend ) customer service is amazing !!
Hope they can keep it together and NOT go the way of Music 123? Or is it 321 - Zero~

 

[40Hz]

… it annoys me, so why pay for it.

No reason at all I suppose. None whatsoever.

 

[2112]

... I've had lot's of problems with them not having things in stock and now they have sales people calling and bugging me.

I just placed orders at both SW and MF late last week... because one had items the other didn't and vice-versa. Three pedals, a couple PSU's, a pedalboard, a microphone, and some other garbage I probably shouldn't have boughten. MF got to me first, SW still isn't here yet... and now one item is backordered. And... yup... I forgot until you mentioned it... the SW sales bro once again took my order as an invitation to call me. And as usual I ignored him lol.

I'm fixin to buy some lighting equipment, and I have already noted the same sitch: one has items the other doesn't and vice-versa. It's uncanny how often this happens to me.