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Sweetwater Scam

#281
Honestly and this is my opinion but this is why I miss the MOM & POP music stores that I grew up with since I started playing music in grade school.
When I started playing trombone in 5th grade all the way thru 12th grade in high school I went to all the local music stores to buy what ever I needed.
My 12th grade year I took up the electric bass and the local music stores we had also sold electric guitars and basses and amps, it was seriously a no pain in the ass situation, now with online buying sometimes it can be a gamble for sure and yes a few years ago I bought a MXR Stereo Chorus from Sweetwater which came to me with no wrapping on it it and it looked used and I called Sweetwater on it and they told me they only sell brand new products so I just blew it off but cause the chorus was working fine but it was always in the back of my mind in the back of my mind that Sweetwater does turn around and sell returned products as new and then a buddy of mine had bought a Ibanez 6 string bass from Sweetwater and the nut was cut way to low which I thought Sweetwater does a full inspection on instruments before they go out the door but my friend had to send the bass back and Sweetwater sent him another Ibanez 6 string but then my friend noticed that the original bass he bought was back up on Sweetwater's site being resold as brand new so that proved it right there that that is what Sweetwater does on product's returned and I'm sure Musician's Friend does exactly the same thing as well.
God I miss the Mom & Pop music stores!!!!
 
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#282
gwangi said:
Honestly and this is my opinion but this is why I miss the MOM & POP music stores that I grew up with since I started playing music in grade school.
When I started playing trombone in 5th grade all the way thru 12th grade in high school I went to all the local music stores to buy what ever I needed.
My 12th grade year I took up the electric bass and the local music stores we had also sold electric guitars and basses and amps, it was seriously a no pain in the ass situation, now with online buying sometimes it can be a gamble for sure and yes a few years ago I bought a MXR Stereo Chorus from Sweetwater which came to me with no wrapping on it it and it looked used and I called Sweetwater on it and they told me they only sell brand new products so I just blew it off but cause the chorus was working fine but it was always in the back of my mind in the back of my mind that Sweetwater does turn around and sell returned products as new and then a buddy of mine had bought a Ibanez 6 string bass from Sweetwater and the nut was cut way to low which I thought Sweetwater does a full inspection on instruments before they go out the door but my friend had to send the bass back and Sweetwater sent him another Ibanez 6 string but then my friend noticed that the original bass he bought was back up on Sweetwater's site being resold as brand new so that proved it right there that that is what Sweetwater does on product's returned and I'm sure Musician's Friend does exactly the same thing as well.
God I miss the Mom & Pop music stores!!!!
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I miss them too. Though on the flip side, there are still one or two old school Mom & Pop stores near me that I frequent, but they don't have nearly the selection that's available on line. One of the stores had only one 5 string bass. Only one. And it was a Squire.
 
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#283
mapleglo said:
I miss them too. Though on the flip side, there are still one or two old school Mom & Pop stores near me that I frequent, but they don't have nearly the selection that's available on line. One of the stores had only one 5 string bass. Only one. And it was a Squire.
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I've stated this same info before in other posts but in the early 90's we had these 2 KILLER!!!! music stores "First Bass" which only sold bass related gear and "Rockley Music" which sold everything woodwind & brass instruments & electric guitars & bass and there bass department they sold everything like Warwick, Alembic, Zon, Pedulla, Fodera, Ken Smith, Tobias remember Tobias before they were sold to Gibson yes Rockley sold Tobias but in the early 90s to mid 90s I started noticing a decline in what they were selling due to the fact online companies like Sweetwater & Musician's Friend and Guitar Center had popped up as well and totally wiped out "First Bass" & "Rockley Music", I used to go into "First Bass" it was like a kid in a candy store Michael Hawkins "Hawk" he had everything, I remember he had a brand new 5 string Wal that just blew me away. Yep those were the days!!!!
 
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#284
bradjonesbass said:
We have a culture and policy in place that a tech damaging a guitar would face no punishment at all, not even a write-up or verbal warning, if they "told on themselves". We encourage it. Now, getting caught lying about it would be taken very seriously around here and not tolerated at all.
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If that’s the case, and the employee admits to doing damage to a product, how many instances can this happen before the employee is removed from the position and placed in a different position?
 
#285
Rooster009 said:
If that’s the case, and the employee admits to doing damage to a product, how many instances can this happen before the employee is removed from the position and placed in a different position?
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They'd get additional training first, but I have a friend who dropped a high end Taylor 900 series and cracked the back, took it straight to his supervisor and didn't get in any trouble at all. He's been promoted twice since then and is now one of the best techs we have.
 
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#286
gwangi said:
Honestly and this is my opinion but this is why I miss the MOM & POP music stores that I grew up with since I started playing music in grade school.
When I started playing trombone in 5th grade all the way thru 12th grade in high school I went to all the local music stores to buy what ever I needed.
My 12th grade year I took up the electric bass and the local music stores we had also sold electric guitars and basses and amps, it was seriously a no pain in the ass situation, now with online buying sometimes it can be a gamble for sure and yes a few years ago I bought a MXR Stereo Chorus from Sweetwater which came to me with no wrapping on it it and it looked used and I called Sweetwater on it and they told me they only sell brand new products so I just blew it off but cause the chorus was working fine but it was always in the back of my mind in the back of my mind that Sweetwater does turn around and sell returned products as new and then a buddy of mine had bought a Ibanez 6 string bass from Sweetwater and the nut was cut way to low which I thought Sweetwater does a full inspection on instruments before they go out the door but my friend had to send the bass back and Sweetwater sent him another Ibanez 6 string but then my friend noticed that the original bass he bought was back up on Sweetwater's site being resold as brand new so that proved it right there that that is what Sweetwater does on product's returned and I'm sure Musician's Friend does exactly the same thing as well.
God I miss the Mom & Pop music stores!!!!
Click to expand...

Did you folks shop at "mom and pop" stores with generous return policies? I never did.

The main one in my city today will only accept a return on a new item, and then only for 7 days but it must be in "new, untouched" condition. Another one allows 14 days, must return "in original condition", or a 20% restocking fee applies.

In both those cases, the OP would probably have been out of luck or charged substantially more for the damage than SW charged, which was just the difference between a new and a demo item.
 
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#287
JenderBazzFass said:
Did you folks shop at "mom and pop" stores with generous return policies? I never did.

The main one in my city today will only accept a return on a new item, and then only for 7 days but it must be in "new, untouched" condition. Another one allows 14 days, must return "in original condition", or a 20% restocking fee applies.

In both those cases, the OP would probably have been out of luck or charged substantially more for the damage than SW charged, which was just the difference between a new and a demo item.
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I have no idea, I never tried to return anything.

But I also haven't had any shop order me anything like this either, so I've always been able to inspect beforehand and I knew what I was getting.

I did order one bass online, actually, but it was a closeout deal on a discontinued model, so I knew the risks.
 
#288
JKos said:
And nothing could possibly happen to the bass between gallery photos being taken and the bass being shipped? That just doesn’t seem to work as solid evidence.

I’m not saying something fishy isn’t going on.
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What kind of evidence would you prefer?
Rooster009 said:
If that’s the case, and the employee admits to doing damage to a product, how many instances can this happen before the employee is removed from the position and placed in a different position?
Click to expand...

Eventually if an employee proves to be careless then yes of course they would have to be let go. You can't create policies assuming your employees are all careless and dishonest. Finding the right people is important and difficult in any business.

Where I work we build electronics for aerospace and other applications with high reliability requirements. Punishing people for honest mistakes is way too risky. You can't incentivise people hiding stuff. I've worked places that do that and you end up with way more quality issues that way. People perform better and make less mistakes in the first place when they feel their job is secure and aren't working scared of making mistakes.
 
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#289
Templar said:
Yeah I agree, it does look that way.

The "sticking point" however, appears to be the source of the "ding". Without that $600 damage there'd be no point to this thread.
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The OP also failed to mention that Sweetwater verified that there were no issues with the bridge when it was returned, and so also deducted the cost of shipping both ways. I have a feeling the OP's feathers were probably ruffled by that too.
 
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#290
gwangi said:
I've stated this same info before in other posts but in the early 90's we had these 2 KILLER!!!! music stores "First Bass" which only sold bass related gear and "Rockley Music" which sold everything woodwind & brass instruments & electric guitars & bass and there bass department they sold everything like Warwick, Alembic, Zon, Pedulla, Fodera, Ken Smith, Tobias remember Tobias before they were sold to Gibson yes Rockley sold Tobias but in the early 90s to mid 90s I started noticing a decline in what they were selling due to the fact online companies like Sweetwater & Musician's Friend and Guitar Center had popped up as well and totally wiped out "First Bass" & "Rockley Music", I used to go into "First Bass" it was like a kid in a candy store Michael Hawkins "Hawk" he had everything, I remember he had a brand new 5 string Wal that just blew me away. Yep those were the days!!!!
Click to expand...
Both were great stores. I bought 2 Ibanez basses (rb760s) on their "buy here pay here" payment deal at Rockley back in the 80s when I was broke as a joke. First bass was the first high end boutique shop I ever went to.
 
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#291
Back around 2012 or so I bought a limited Fender Antigua P that was clearly used and sold as new.

They DID take it back, no questions asked, and DID point out the "signs of use" on the resale page, so at least they didn't try to screw over the next guy once they got caught.
 
#293
So here's a typical Sweetwater situation that I experienced today. I pre-ordered a Meinl Percussion FX-5 effects pedal a couple of months ago, and it came in last week, so they shipped it out UPS surepost. It arrived today. I just opened the package, and a knob was loose, just rattling around in the package.

effects pedal.jpg


It was allegedly "inspected" by someone with an initial of "N", according to the "Happy New Gear Day" flyer.

HGD.jpg


This person apparently missed the fact that one of the knobs was totally loose, and in fact, is missing the screw to hold it down to the knob. So @bradjonesbass can probably figure out who I am at this point as he is my "sales engineer" - the third one assigned to me I might, add over the years. That's another long story which I won't re-tell here. So what do I do, send it back and wait another few months for another pedal to arrive, ask for a discount, or just suck it up, go to Home Depot, buy a replacement allen screw, and be done with it. Likely the last option. I just hope the pedal works - it's currently charging. Frankly, this is the type of service I've come to expect from on-line retailers. I stopped ordering from Musician's Friend because of this kind of stuff. And I've spent thousands with both MF and Sweetwater over the years. At least with Guitar Center, you can pick up the shipments at the store, and give it right back to them if it's not right.

*sigh*
 
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#294
I bought a limited Ric 4003 with a mirror pickguard. It arrived with a tiny circle impression right in the middle of the pickguard that was too obvious to ignore. All I asked for was a replacement pickguard. They offered me something like $100 instead. They could not get a replacement pickguard. I was gobsmacked at how stupid that was. I returned the bass. I also ordered a guitar with a nice flamed, burst finish. They didn't have any in stock at the time. When it eventually arrived, the top and bottom facings were a terrible mismatch. I looked online and they had received two more of the same and now had photos on the website, and the ones they kept for themselves were the good-looking ones, while they dumped the ugly duckling on me. I returned it too. I thought it was very disrespectful, because it seemed so obvious which of the three was the ugly one.

I won't buy another bass from them.
 
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#295
Jugghaid said:
Both were great stores. I bought 2 Ibanez basses (rb760s) on their "buy here pay here" payment deal at Rockley back in the 80s when I was broke as a joke. First bass was the first high end boutique shop I ever went to.
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I never bought from Rockley in the 80s but in the early 90s they carried all kinds of high end bass gear, 2 of my friends bought Modulus basses there. I bought my first Modulus thru First Bass.
 
#298
basslust said:
I personally don't believe they do a real 55-point inspection based on my two experiences with them. One bass was riddled with heavy fret sprout while the other (a $2,500 Gretsch guitar) had damage on the headstock near the nut. These were both things I discovered within seconds of removing the instruments from their boxes.

Anyway, for your situation, assuming it is exactly as you've described, it looks like they missed the stripped pole pieces, so it's clear that they sent a damaged item in the first place. I think that's great evidence that they didn't check the item for damage before sending it to you. Calmly but firmly tell them this along with the fact that you're giving them one last opportunity to do right by you and refund your money before you to go to your credit card company and do a chargeback.

One question though -- why would you need to pay to have the guitar specially packed for a return? For a guitar return, you're pretty much always just packaging it up like it came using the original packaging. Did you ship it back in a different box or something?
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This 100%. Last few instruments I purchased from them it was clear there was ZERO inspection done......no less 55 point..
 
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