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Sweetwater Scam

#121
Iridescentone said:
Well, two sides of the story, anyway. Brad Jones' post is convincing but there's a time gap unaccounted for. It's the point from which the Sweetwater team physically recieved the return, and the point at which the ding is discovered and reported. It's not impossible that a Sweetwater team member caused the ding while handling the returned item, but decides it's best to not accept responsibility for it, then blames the customer.

Brad admits the possibility, if only by inference....."The shipping box had no noticeable damage to it upon return, so we can only assume the customer caused the damage in the short time he possessed the instrument."

Not taking sides nor casting asperions at Brad Jones, he comes across as pretty straightforward. If this type issue occurred in a bank or a casino (and for a whole lot less than $600), it would be resolved in minutes by reviewing the entire episode, recorded on security cameras. Apart from that happening, "assumptions" are all there are.

Anyone recall where this cynical quote came from? ;)

"Assumption is the mother of all f*****s."


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But Sweetwater found that the bridge screws were fine, so the whole reason fro the return appears to be total BS.

This isn't the first time a thread has been started about a deal gone bad that turns out to be something very different than orginally described.
 
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#122
ericplaysbass said:
Gonna play a little bit of devil's advocate out of curiosity, because I still feel like the full picture is missing.

And also because this:
View attachment 5455223

Does not equal $600 to me... a demo discount of 10% maybe, but 10% of $3580 is $358, and this is the first I've heard of a customer paying the cost for damage upon return. Doesn't mean it hasn't always been a thing - just first I've heard about it as a long-time customer/forum lurker.



Would this small of a blemish really be caught by the Guitar Gallery team and/or the customer? It looks to almost blend in with the finish and would only catch in the right light, being a slight indent on an open pore finish with lots of grain.



Good on you for doing this. Definitely want to make sure it's properly and carefully inspected, but now I have to wonder: Did this careful of a re-inspection happen the first time it was sold?



At this point, I would have contacted the customer to see if they still wanted it, because if the only reason for the return in the first place was the defect, maybe they'd want to keep it then after all after confirming it's not defective. Maybe they used the wrong size wrench and got dramatical about it. Should they have if that's the case? No, of course not, and this all obviously depends on the customer's intent throughout the entire ordeal, which can change at the drop of a hat. If it was dubious to start with, that's a whole different thing.
And anyone wondering, "Why would they return it if that's all it was?" how would you feel if you spent over three grand and got less than perfect? I wouldn't have that. But, if it were my mistake and the product wasn't defective after all, I'd probably want it back.



I just... it seems too small to warrant this level of response honestly. Yes it is a professional, high-end instrument that should be flawless. But this small of a flaw... how can you be absolutely sure the customer did it? How can you be sure the customer even noticed it upon receipt? I would not have noticed that unless I was looking for it, which sure, you could argue you should be for this level of instrument. However, I have seen behind the scenes what goes on at Sweetwater through vlogs... I could easily see this happening during handling at any point of this exchange because it is so minor.
As such, even if the customer did in fact do it (why would they do it, anyway?) I can't see penalizing them for this. That just seems... off-brand, uncharacteristic of "the Sweetwater difference".



I understand why you can't just share the reply, but I'd be very curious what they said. Unfortunate timing for you though.



Which brings me to this. You did have recourse: Ignore this post. You were tagged, but not by the OP. You should have remained anonymous. Now you are attached to it and your rep is as well. I imagine your management team will see this and talk to you about it. Is it worth it? Honestly, no, it's not, and I can say that having been in a similar hot seat before.

In summary, I find this "damage" to be too insignificant to warrant such a large penalty, at least disconnected from the situation. Lord knows I've sold to hundreds of bad actors, drama queens, and all sorts of ornery folks who have been dubious in their complaints, but I really don't see how it was the right move to invest in this quagmire over an imprint smaller than a slivered almond.
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1st step on the way to a "RELIC." Looks like a head start as far as improving the "VALUE", here on TB... ;)
 
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#123
gln1955 said:
But Sweetwater found that the bridge screws were fine, so the whole reason fro the return appears to be total BS.

This isn't the first time a thread has been started about a deal gone bad that turns out to be something very different than orginally described.
Click to expand...

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.
 
#125
mdogs said:
This is true, but lie about one thing, you’ve lied about everything…benefit of the doubt is gone.
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I don't know if the OP is lying, or if anyone involved is deliberately lying, but there might be. Not for me to judge.

But there are some loose ends in this saga, or as we say in poker, some "unseen cards" in play.
 
#126
corradoc said:
Not sure if this is the right place to post this, but I wanted to give folks a heads up. I ordered a Sadowsky, 24 fret modern, metroline from Sweetwater a couple of weeks ago. The bass came. I took it out and could niot for the life of me adjust two of the bridge pole pieces. Took a good look and they appeared stripped. This, to me, was not acceptable for a $3500 bass - so I asked to return it.

Got the return label. Took it to UPS - even paid to have the fragile pack it (extra $100).

Then I get an email from Sweetwater that they got the bass, but there is a ding on it, so they are charging me $600 anyway.

I took the bass out for a total of maybe 20 minutes. It sat on my lap the whole time. No way any dings happenned with me. But they're trying to screw me over anyhow for the extra cash.

I've bought a lot of gear from them in the past (including other basses) but will NEVER use them again. 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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I bought a used Black Tobias growler 5 str. a few years ago thru Sweetwater . What They sent me wasn't the bass I paid for , wasn't a growler , wasn't black .
Instead I was sent a tobias Toby pro 5 .
Still a great BASS , but not the right bass
I decided to just keep it , instead of goin thru the bunch of BS they were claiming true , that never happened.
As far as buying from Sweetwater
Never again
 
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#127
My only experience with a support / return situation with SW was positive. A new bass developed a twist within a few months and they took it back and credited it back. They sent the return label and everything. Was painless. Not sure if they have changed their policy but they took care of that one no problem. In the world of hit and miss customer support I give them a A+
 
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#128
I have bought way too much gear from Sweetwater and have returned a few items and have never had anything like that happen . If you requested a return the day you received that bass , I would have to think someone at Sweetwater could have "nicked" it and they are saying it's on you . I would discuss the matter with them and fight the $600.00 charge , will the bass be resold for $600 less ?
 
#129
fretno said:
My only experience with a support / return situation with SW was positive. A new bass developed a twist within a few months and they took it back and credited it back. They sent the return label and everything. Was painless. Not sure if they have changed their policy but they took care of that one no problem. In the world of hit and miss customer support I give them a A+
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That's not a return, that's a warranty. For a business, these are two different transactions.

For the "devils advocates" here: i am sure we are not getting the entire story, but reading between the lines of the two main posts (OP initial posts and Brad's reply) it's pretty clear that the OP does not have the best communication skills to find an agreement satisfactory to all. I'm getting the impression that somebody is trying to bully Sweetwater. As a company, you cannot let that happen.
 
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#134
ericplaysbass said:
At this point, I would have contacted the customer to see if they still wanted it, because if the only reason for the return in the first place was the defect, maybe they'd want to keep it then after all after confirming it's not defective. Maybe they used the wrong size wrench and got dramatical about it. Should they have if that's the case? No, of course not, and this all obviously depends on the customer's intent throughout the entire ordeal, which can change at the drop of a hat. If it was dubious to start with, that's a whole different thing.
And anyone wondering, "Why would they return it if that's all it was?" how would you feel if you spent over three grand and got less than perfect? I wouldn't have that. But, if it were my mistake and the product wasn't defective after all, I'd probably want it back.
Click to expand...

Let’s have a bit of nuance here. We’re not talking about bad fretwork or noisy electronics. Something as easily fixable as a stripped screw isn’t worth throwing the baby out with the bath water.
 
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#135
llmontyll said:
Agree the source of the dent is at issue. Given that ambiguity, the fact that SW reduced the price of the bass by only $358, and they charged the buyer shipping both ways, a $600 damage tax seems egregious.
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It was marked down $600 (roughly) yesterday. I suspect the change may be due to what SW and OP are working out but hasn't been made part of this thread yet.
 
#140
i've made lots of returns to sweetwater and never had an issue, but lately when doing returns to anyone, i take good pics of the bass (or other item) in and out of the shipping box to show there's no damage and that the pic was just taken.

Crackle said:
I have also had issues with Sweetwater. Their so-called "exclusive 55-point inspection" is BS of the highest order. When I pay $1000 for a new bass and it arrives with a) a major gap in the neck pocket and b) one of the pickup screws broken off in the body, it's pretty obvious there was no inspection.

On top of that, Sweetwater was reluctant to issue a return label.
Click to expand...

yeah, the 55 point inspection is fantasy. people sign stuff, but i had a bass with a whole herd of problems the most cursory inspection should have caught. that being said, i don't really expect the inspection and haven't for years. it's just text i pretty much ignore. which means we gotta be careful when going over a new bass not to miss any issues while that bass is still in the return period.

maybe i'm lucky, but i only once had problems with a return - but that was in maybe 2010, and that "sales engineer" no longer works there. since i ended up with ben stokes, everything has been good.
 
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