it's so much easier with sweetwater...

[QweziRider]

One time they forgot my candy, and it felt like I was on Santa's Naughty List!

One time I jokingly complained to a friend who was a receptionist there about getting a bag of nothing but peppermints on an order. For the next year I got not only the good stuff I liked, but two bags with each order!

 

[ChrisPbass]

This seems like an Ad for Swater. I have never had any problems with GC or MF.

 

[shwashwa]

i like mail order from guitar center, because if i dont like it for any reason, i can just return it to the local store, no questions asked and no shipping and no hassle from the teenager standing behind the cash register.
this has not been my experience with sweetwater

 

[bmusic]

I try to buy only used these days, but if I need something new—a weird little cable or something, I call Dave Brow at Sweetwater and he hooks me up. Doesn’t bug me with sales calls, seems like a straight shooter when I’m trying to score a deal.

And candy. I had a couple pedal power cables arrive yesterday, and as I prepared to tear open the envelope, I became aware that I was more excited for the candy than the cables. And there were Smarties!!!

 

[EatS1stBassist]

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.

I absolutely agree with this!

 

[logdrum]

I am probably the only one that doesn't like Sweetwater, but then again I do not do much of music gear shopping online or music gear shopping at all.

I needed some drum heads and along with some organic fertilizer, I found them at Walmart for a good price and came on time. My friend is a developer at their e-site and I shop there because of this weird rationale that he won't get fired.

 

[sotua]

Sweetwater has been great for me. Real answers to gear questions. I've never had any problems with their orders, and when I needed to get an old receipt (I needed a proof of purchase to claim a serial number for software included with an amp my wife had given me as gift) they were able to help me very fast. Always the nicest people. The constant spam/calls get annoying after a while, and now that they collect out of state sales tax they've lost some of their edge in pricing vs other online stores, but if you're buying online and they have something at the same price as GC or MF, I think I'd rather buy it from Sweetwater.

 

[Nobis17]

Incredibly, the perks and programs just on-site they have for their employees.

They have to make up living in Fort Wayne to their employees somehow...

 

[sotua]

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

The bigger problem there is your guitar player taking phone calls in the middle of your session.

 

[Nuage420]

Guitarist gets censored like a naughty word??? hahaha, too funny

 

[Jek Porkins]

My sales person is Jared Kalish. Super guy and since he is a bass player he really knows his stuff!

 

[iiipopes]

It's so much easier with Sweetwater...
Until you return something and they charge you an outrageous re-stocking fee, even though you meticulously repack and reseal the box in as-new-as-received condition.

 

[pcake]

I feel like customer service across all industries is getting worse and more apathetic by the day. Except for the shining example of Sweetwater. I really appreciate how they do business—now more than ever—and rarely shop anywhere else.

all the people i know in customer service people get paid minimum wage, have their shifts changed and are forced to take shifts they don't want, and are generally treated poorly to horribly. sweetwater seems to treat their people like human beings rather than low-cost, highly disposable cogs in the machine.

I'm always puzzled when I hear about paying full price at Sweetwater. I always get between 10 and 20%. I just ask my rep what his price is for these things and it's always below the price shown online. For example, my BB434 listed at $499.99 was $429.99. I didn't haggle - just asked my rep what is the best price he can give me on the bass, and that was the number. And these aren't floor models.

wow, i need your rep. i've had 3 sweetwater reps, and none ever offered me discounts.

It's so much easier with Sweetwater...
Until you return something and they charge you an outrageous re-stocking fee, even though you meticulously repack and reseal the box in as-new-as-received condition.

they only charge a restocking fee if you return a product simply because you don't like it, and AMS and MF do the same. i don't know about GC and sam ash because we always walked in our returns. i've returned a few products to sweetwater because of issues with the products, and they've never charged us a penny.

 

[Charlzm]

I have had delayed deliveries with every single FedEx, UPS, USPS and Amazon delivery package since the pandemic began. Most have only been a day delayed. Some, up to a week. Tracking is more of a guesstimate now; I have seen "out for delivery" at 6:00 am, out all day long, then the next morning that turned into a destination scan and it is again out for delivery.

I understand things are nutty right now, but please, don't p*ss on my head and tell me it's raining; fix your tracking, guys.

 

[iiipopes]

They only charge a restocking fee if you return a product simply because you don't like it, and AMS and MF do the same. I don't know about GC and Sam Ash because we always walked in our returns. I've returned a few products to Sweetwater because of issues with the products, and they've never charged us a penny.

That may be, but my restocking fee was EXHORBITANT!!!! Much more than it needed to be. They have lost all but my incidental business for small items if they are the least expensive due to the free shipping. And before anybody tries to chastise me that this is not WalMart, remember that I worked for a business law firm for over ten years before the owner retired, and I can quote the UCC to you. As a business strategy, I don't see them staying in business if they continue to have such exhorbitant restocking fees.

DON'T ORDER ANYTHING FROM SWEETWATER UNLESS YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY SURE IT IS THE PRODUCT YOU DESIRE.

 

[Kipp Harrington]

I am blessed to live a little over an hour from the Sweetwater store. And it is much more than just a store. The sales people are very accommodating and helpful, not to mention polite. Always had a good experience with Sweetwater... including orders/delivery.

 

[QweziRider]

And it is much more than just a store.

Their retail space is pretty darn cool, I think.

 

[Kipp Harrington]

Their retail space is pretty darn cool, I think.

It is! I mean, recording booths, seminars. I haven't toured the place but I hear they have a cafeteria and many other things I never took the opportunity to check out. That's going to change the next time I visit.

 

[Cave Puppy]

I've done a lot of business with Sweetwater over the last 15 or so years and my go to guy is Dave Brow who happens to be a bassplayer too. Always very satisfied with the whole process. That said, I have also had good luck with GC both online and in person. Zzounds is also on my list of suppliers. So no problems with any of them. YMMV

Dave is my guy there, too!

 

[Cave Puppy]

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

Why does your "gui****" have his or her phone on or is even looking at it at jam sessions? Why isn't it in airplane mode? I hate being bothered like that when I play.