Could 10 pages of this thread have been avoided if the word "SCAM" had not been in the title, and a LOT of members take resale value into consideration when buying an instrument?
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Sweetwater Scam
- Thread starter corradoc
- Start date
The “Scam” headline bothers me. There is some questionable content in the original post. Mebbe its a good time to get rid of this. No pictures. Seemingly unsubstantiated attack on a reputable retailer.
Haven't read through all of this, but just mentioning that, while I would not doubt that any retailer could make mistakes, I have had 99.99% positive transactions with Sweetwater for 22 years. I've only bought one bass from them, but it was superb, and I am planning to buy another from them in the near future.
I didn't read all 14 pages, Sweetwater has treated me well so I don't want to blow up my spot with them, however I bought a $2900 bass from them and had it almost a month, played it a fair amount and ultimately returned it as I wasn't bonding with it. I was shocked to see it relisted as "new". No mention of someone owing it for almost a month.
Also I recently bought a "demo" pedal. $600 unit.
It was shipped to me in the box the previous customer returned it to SW in, a beat up box smelling like cigarettes. Sweetwater simply put it inside a Sweetwater box and sent it, it had never been opened by them, could have been a brick in the box that was returned to them.
Both troubling experiences that have made me rethink my opinion of them
Also I recently bought a "demo" pedal. $600 unit.
It was shipped to me in the box the previous customer returned it to SW in, a beat up box smelling like cigarettes. Sweetwater simply put it inside a Sweetwater box and sent it, it had never been opened by them, could have been a brick in the box that was returned to them.
Both troubling experiences that have made me rethink my opinion of them
Also, how many of their employees, direct or indirect, are on TB without having registered as a Commercial user? Swaying a whole audience would be very easy if you just flood a thread with positive comments.
Dunno ‘bout that, mister. I’d imagine that if the company were anywhere near messed up for something like that, there would be more unhappy employees than people willing to go online and shill for a company that would do that type of thing.
Hate to say it, but...
This thread sounds like a few of the unhappy minority, making a LOUD case against a company with a HAPPY majority, in hopes of swaying decisions in their favor, while over valuing bad/regretful/entitled decisions.
I could be wrong, but...
Just saying.
[edit] "I looked at the screws, and they appear to be stripped." Not to mention the SLANDER against SW...
Really? "And if you are considering buying a high end bass from them, beware - you may end of paying hundreds of dollars simply for the priveledge of touching the bass for a few minutes.
This thread sounds like a few of the unhappy minority, making a LOUD case against a company with a HAPPY majority, in hopes of swaying decisions in their favor, while over valuing bad/regretful/entitled decisions.
I could be wrong, but...
Just saying.
[edit] "I looked at the screws, and they appear to be stripped." Not to mention the SLANDER against SW...
Really? "And if you are considering buying a high end bass from them, beware - you may end of paying hundreds of dollars simply for the priveledge of touching the bass for a few minutes.
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OP’s demeanor and vibe was suspect from the gate and the entire post should have been accompanied by a trombone slide audio file.
Maybe... the original buyer had it FOR A MONTH, and played some SMOKY bar gigs with it, before realizing that they didn't BOND with it.
No offence, but... I'm old school. Back in the day... We'd borrow each other's cars, as we all BUILT cool stuff. Yeah... bunch of garage rats. You borrowed a car... it came back CLEAN, and with a FULL tank of gas, regardless if you took it away dirty, and on empty.
…you had…cars? We would pretend we had a steering wheel, and go-“Pffffft….Pffffffft, Pfffffft, Pffffffffffft, and wipe the spit off of our faces for the imaginary fifth gear, and go “Mrrrrrrowwwwwwwwww”. Every once in a while if we were feeling squirrely, we would just go “Brrrrrm…….Brrrrrrrrrrrrm……brmmmm”, kinda like a automatic. We washed our faces in dirt, and drank from the hose. We didn’t even have bikes…We just ran real fast.
Seems communication was root of problem;[not Scam] No villains here
Brad not being available and OP intial Contact with Sweetwater being told parts were unavailable and only giving OP choice of Return or wait for parts;
Maybe should have given option of sending back and see if Sweetwater could first confirm problem and solve BEFORE return process. And ship back to customer no charge. which with hindsight could have been done.
But first contact was nothing wrong with Bass and you damaged it so it will cost you $600
Customer had made other purchases, didn't have reputation for multiple returns and may have kept Bass IF Screw problem was solved and could get Bass back if a few days.
As to communication I wanted to purchase a Mesa Subway 1x15 and emailed my 'Sales Engineer' of my intent to BUY Cab from him [but wanted to ask a couple questions and see if I could get a small discount.]
After another email and 3 days he finally contacted me explained he had been off and out of Store last 3 Days
My assumption is that emails to your Sales Engineer don't go to personal Phone or Computer or are not forwarded to him
PS: I bought Cab from him but was told Mesa is on the No Discount list and Computer wouldn't even let him if he wanted to
Reason I waited for him to contact me was being in Sales/management in past I didn't want him to have commision squabble if I placed order with another Salesperson
Brad not being available and OP intial Contact with Sweetwater being told parts were unavailable and only giving OP choice of Return or wait for parts;
Maybe should have given option of sending back and see if Sweetwater could first confirm problem and solve BEFORE return process. And ship back to customer no charge. which with hindsight could have been done.
But first contact was nothing wrong with Bass and you damaged it so it will cost you $600
Customer had made other purchases, didn't have reputation for multiple returns and may have kept Bass IF Screw problem was solved and could get Bass back if a few days.
As to communication I wanted to purchase a Mesa Subway 1x15 and emailed my 'Sales Engineer' of my intent to BUY Cab from him [but wanted to ask a couple questions and see if I could get a small discount.]
After another email and 3 days he finally contacted me explained he had been off and out of Store last 3 Days
My assumption is that emails to your Sales Engineer don't go to personal Phone or Computer or are not forwarded to him
PS: I bought Cab from him but was told Mesa is on the No Discount list and Computer wouldn't even let him if he wanted to
Reason I waited for him to contact me was being in Sales/management in past I didn't want him to have commision squabble if I placed order with another Salesperson
Yeah a few posting here are spinning anything the SW guys say to fit their anti-SW views. It somehow makes sense to then that SW would screw over a customer that buys Sadowskys for no particular reason.
