I was just going to post that tonight was a sad night for me and americanmusical, and as I was typing away... the penny dropped. Ding! I believe musiciansfriend has come up with a very clever sales idea!
I usually order from AM because they're practically in my backyard, and I get delivery the next day. MF takes about a week. Anyhow, I called AM to have them pricematch and give me the labor day discount offered at MF. They wouldn't (said they couldn't) because they said the item I wanted was on their exclusion list, and they can't match negotiated prices. I checked, and the guy was right, item I wanted was excluded. But guess what? EVERYTHING is on their exclusion list!!!! And they tell you to call or chat, which I did, and had no problem. They dropped my price according to their offer, no questions asked.
I think this is great, for them, but I can't help to feel there's something slightly dishonest or weird about it. Like they're playing the game well, but cheating just a tiny little bit. Maybe akin to stealing basses? (pun intended)
I like having the option to shop other places, and I guess I still can and pay extra for quicker shipping. The other places can also simply honor the specials if they were keen to what's going on.
OK. This isn't all that big a deal, but I hope it serves at least to let you all know to CALL MF if what you want is excluded from their specials. And trust me, it will be.
And ya gotta admit that the exclusions list is a bit funny http://www.musiciansfriend.com/pages/4deals-exclusions .
I usually order from AM because they're practically in my backyard, and I get delivery the next day. MF takes about a week. Anyhow, I called AM to have them pricematch and give me the labor day discount offered at MF. They wouldn't (said they couldn't) because they said the item I wanted was on their exclusion list, and they can't match negotiated prices. I checked, and the guy was right, item I wanted was excluded. But guess what? EVERYTHING is on their exclusion list!!!! And they tell you to call or chat, which I did, and had no problem. They dropped my price according to their offer, no questions asked.
I think this is great, for them, but I can't help to feel there's something slightly dishonest or weird about it. Like they're playing the game well, but cheating just a tiny little bit. Maybe akin to stealing basses? (pun intended)
I like having the option to shop other places, and I guess I still can and pay extra for quicker shipping. The other places can also simply honor the specials if they were keen to what's going on.OK. This isn't all that big a deal, but I hope it serves at least to let you all know to CALL MF if what you want is excluded from their specials. And trust me, it will be.
And ya gotta admit that the exclusions list is a bit funny http://www.musiciansfriend.com/pages/4deals-exclusions .
