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Sweetwater Customer Service (Rave)

T

ThinCrappyTone

Guest
Oct 1, 2011
2,830
6,363
#1
Sometimes it's easier to be motivated to write about a bad experience than a good one. So I thought I would make the effort to throw some sunshine on my favorite retailer who never lets me down: Sweetwater.

A few nights ago, I bought a pedal online. Realized pretty quickly that I had chosen the wrong one. Called them up in the evening and got a rep immediately. He was super friendly, as is always the case, and greeted me by name. I'm amazed at how many places don't have this simple technology to match customer name with incoming phone number. But these guys are on top of it.

I said "I bought a pedal, but it's the wrong one. Is it too late to change the order?". He said "Nope not at all, I can see you bought the BlahBlah pedal" (already had my order up on the screen without even asking). "We haven't shipped it yet. What would you like to do?". "Can I change it for the BlahBlahBlah pedal?". "Sure, no problem! You're all set!"

I don't know about you, but compared to most shopping experiences, especially in the music world, that exchange and instant solution nearly brought a tear to my eye. And it took all of about 8 minutes.

What else?

That time I bought a midi capable device and tried to get it to play nice with my friend's midi capable device. SW sold me mine, but they had nothing to do with the other piece of gear, which was pretty old and definitely not something they currently sold. I asked how to make them talk. It took a day, but next afternoon, I got a long email with very detailed instructions for how to make the two items play nice.

Aside from that, every time I have ever ordered something and it said "in stock", it was actually in stock. Go figure.

The only time I ever had a problem (broken tube in transit) they rectified it immediately.

And they're always nice and knowledgeable when I call.

And they stuff candy in the boxes.

/Rave over

That is all

Note: I have nothing to do with Sweetwater. They just take my money.
 
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#4
I ordered a head and two cabinets from them. Me and the sales rep discuss speaker cables. I wanted to make sure I was getting heavy enough AWG cables to handle 500 watts. We also discussed what length I would need to stack the cabs.

When my order arrives, the cables are friggin instrument cables. I'll look at the invoice and that's what the order was written up for. Instrument cables.

Now what would have happened if I had used those and not noticed ? What if it had fried something on the amp or speakers ?

I can hear it now. " We're very sorry but the warranty is voided because you used instrument cables instead of speaker cables "

So anyhow, I wound up having to fight rush-hour traffic on a 30 mile round trip to GC to buy speaker cables.

I let it slide because I figured I'd keep the instrument cables for spares. Didn't even give them a heads up at SW.

Couple of months ago I place another order with them. My sales rep tells me what I want " is in stock and it will ship the next day. If you need anything else give us a call "

He's ready to hang up and I say wait a minute. Do you have my credit card info on file ?

"Yes sir card number ending in #### ? "

I told him that was correct and thanked him and we hung up.

23 hours or so later the next day he calls and tells me that my card didn't go through. I had received a new card with a different expiration date since my last order and that was the problem. So he tells me to hang on, runs the card with the correct info, and tells me we're all set my order would ship that day. I'm okay with that because that's the day it supposed to ship anyway.

This is about 3 in the afternoon. By 8:45 I still have not received the tracking number so I call. My sales rep's not in but the guy that helped me told me that the order did not go out that day.

BS

I canceled the order and called AMS the next day and ordered what I wanted and got it for 71 bucks less than SW's price.

SW ? Never again.

ymmv
 
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#5
It's been addressed many times & there are many threads about it:

Sweetwater, again.

upload_2017-7-14_18-3-50.png
 
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#6
Killed_by_Death said:
It's been addressed many times & there are many threads about it:

Sweetwater, again.

View attachment 1177940
Click to expand...
I guess I'm wondering what you are saying with this response. I don't want to read it wrong, but why do you care if somebody posts another rave about a company they've had great experiences with?

I get if it was another "P vs J" post or similar. Because that has already been covered at length, and it makes sense that that conversations about the same topic should be kept to one thread.

I also get that it would be not useful if it was basically asking the same question that has been asked a thousand times, like "what's the difference between active and passive". Again, best to keep all that in one thread and not start a new one.

But a fresh post like this is useful I think, even if others have posted about their good experiences about the same company before. In a case like this, the sheer number of rave posts is useful data. Just like the sheer number of negative posts about some brands is also useful data. It shows that the company is still doing great work, or in the latter case, that the company hasn't improved things.

Is this bad TB etiquette? I'd say not, but am curious and would really like to know.
 
Last edited:
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#7
ThinCrappyTone said:
I guess I'm wondering what you are saying with this response. I don't want to read it wrong, but why do you care if somebody posts another rave about a company they've had great experiences with?

I get if it was another "P vs J" or "active vs passive" post or similar. Because that has already been covered at length, and it makes sense that that conversations about the same topic should be kept to one thread.

I also get that it would be not useful if it was basically asking the same question that has been asked a thousand times, like "should I go active or passive". Again, best to keep all that in one thread and not start a new one.

But a fresh post like this is useful I think, even if others have posted about their good experiences about the same company before. In a case like this, the sheer number of rave posts is useful data. Just like the sheer number of negative posts about some brands is also useful data. It shows that the company is still doing great work, or in the latter case, that the company hasn't improved things.

Is this bad TB etiquette? I'd say not, but am curious and would really like to know.
Click to expand...
Raining on people's parades bring joy to some people.... Shrug
 
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#10
Can't speak for everyone. But my experience with Sweetwater over the years has been uniformly excellent. Something I tend to mention any time their name comes up.

Old saying in sales: "If they like your service, they'll tell two people. If they don't like your service, they'll tell everyone who will listen."

I'm the opposite. I put the word out on the good people and products quicker and more often than I do on those who aren't.
 
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#12
ThinCrappyTone said:
Sometimes it's easier to be motivated to write about a bad experience than a good one. So I thought I would make the effort to throw some sunshine on my favorite retailer who never lets me down: Sweetwater.

A few nights ago, I bought a pedal online. Realized pretty quickly that I had chosen the wrong one. Called them up in the evening and got a rep immediately. He was super friendly, as is always the case, and greeted me by name. I'm amazed at how many places don't have this simple technology to match customer name with incoming phone number. But these guys are on top of it.

I said "I bought a pedal, but it's the wrong one. Is it too late to change the order?". He said "Nope not at all, I can see you bought the BlahBlah pedal" (already had my order up on the screen without even asking). "We haven't shipped it yet. What would you like to do?". "Can I change it for the BlahBlahBlah pedal?". "Sure, no problem! You're all set!"

I don't know about you, but compared to most shopping experiences, especially in the music world, that exchange and instant solution nearly brought a tear to my eye. And it took all of about 8 minutes.

What else?

That time I bought a midi capable device and tried to get it to play nice with my friend's midi capable device. SW sold me mine, but they had nothing to do with the other piece of gear, which was pretty old and definitely not something they currently sold. I asked how to make them talk. It took a day, but next afternoon, I got a long email with very detailed instructions for how to make the two items play nice.

Aside from that, every time I have ever ordered something and it said "in stock", it was actually in stock. Go figure.

The only time I ever had a problem (broken tube in transit) they rectified it immediately.

And they're always nice and knowledgeable when I call.

And they stuff candy in the boxes.

/Rave over

That is all

Note: I have nothing to do with Sweetwater. They just take my money.
Click to expand...


They have always taken care of me whenever there was a problem. And very quickly too!
:thumbsup:
 
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#14
lowplaces said:
I ordered a head and two cabinets from them. Me and the sales rep discuss speaker cables. I wanted to make sure I was getting heavy enough AWG cables to handle 500 watts. We also discussed what length I would need to stack the cabs.

When my order arrives, the cables are friggin instrument cables. I'll look at the invoice and that's what the order was written up for. Instrument cables.

Now what would have happened if I had used those and not noticed ? What if it had fried something on the amp or speakers ?

I can hear it now. " We're very sorry but the warranty is voided because you used instrument cables instead of speaker cables "

So anyhow, I wound up having to fight rush-hour traffic on a 30 mile round trip to GC to buy speaker cables.

I let it slide because I figured I'd keep the instrument cables for spares. Didn't even give them a heads up at SW.

Couple of months ago I place another order with them. My sales rep tells me what I want " is in stock and it will ship the next day. If you need anything else give us a call "

He's ready to hang up and I say wait a minute. Do you have my credit card info on file ?

"Yes sir card number ending in #### ? "

I told him that was correct and thanked him and we hung up.

23 hours or so later the next day he calls and tells me that my card didn't go through. I had received a new card with a different expiration date since my last order and that was the problem. So he tells me to hang on, runs the card with the correct info, and tells me we're all set my order would ship that day. I'm okay with that because that's the day it supposed to ship anyway.

This is about 3 in the afternoon. By 8:45 I still have not received the tracking number so I call. My sales rep's not in but the guy that helped me told me that the order did not go out that day.

BS

I canceled the order and called AMS the next day and ordered what I wanted and got it for 71 bucks less than SW's price.

SW ? Never again.

ymmv
Click to expand...

You let him use the old CC info and are upset that it got delayed? Sounds like it's more on you than them, but whatever.
 

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