Re: OT: Warning! Musician's Friend Warning!

[rich <rich@nuvisionsca.com>]

Sorry to hear about your troubles, Mark.  Tough one to beat, 
though...Musician's Friend and Guitar Center get so many incentives 
and great buys from the manufacturers because they buy so damn much, 
that they can drive the smaller stores (with possibly better service) 
out of business.

Very few of the mom/pop stores carry a selection that those 
stores/catalogs do, though.  They just can't carry that much 
inventory.  Which leaves people with taste for gear that's a bit left 
of center no choice sometimes.  Also, often the small shops can't 
even get premium brands because they don't sell enough units!

the best bet i have had is finding someone at the store, or on the 
phone that seems like they have more than just a couple of hampsters 
between their ears, and STICK TO THEM.  make them aware that you will 
only buy from them because they are the ONLY one in the store that 
gives you the service you want.  that usually means you will be 
buying from a manager.  nice side effect, though, is that if you're 
dealing with a manager at a high enough level, they can discount 
beyond what the little chumps can.  If you forge a relationship with 
someone, they are more likely to help you out, too.

best of luck,

rich

ps.  being lied to by a GC salesman?  ...like getting yelled at by 
someone with Tourette's syndrome.



>Hey.
>
>I just had/am having a horrible experience with Musician's Friend. 
>I ordered a
>GR-30 and a GK-2A, as they were blowing out the GR-30s at a great price 
>($399)
>I paid extra to have it shipped next day FedEx.  The order was done on the
>27th.  For some reason they decided not to ship it until the 29th.  I 
>have not
>received anything from them at this point.  They gave me a FedEx tracking
>number, but FedEx claims to have never entered that number into their 
>system.
>Musician's Friend told me they had started a trace with FedEx, but I 
>found out
>yesterday that they never had.  This was confirmed by both FedEx, and a
>customer service manager at Musician's Friend.
>
>I was totally lied to.
>
>Fed up with waiting, I attempted to buy a GR-33 from The Guitar Center,
>Musician's Friend's brick and mortar sister.  Via the phone, I made the
>salesman hunt down both the synth and the pick up and put my name on 
>them.  He
>claimed he could see both units in front of him.  When I arrived, the 
>salesman
>launched into an explanation about how the GK-2 blister pack only looked 
>as if
>it were missing stuff, when in fact it was not.  "Roland just uses the 
>same
>package for a lot of it's products."  Of course, the pick up was 
>missing all of
>the mounting hardware and cables.  You could see where some of the 
>double sided
>tape still clung to the pickup.  I just turned around and walked out.
>
>I was totally lied to.
>
>Last Friday I was told that if the "trace" didn't turn up something by
>yesterday, they would just send me another one, next day, at no extra 
>charge.
>Yesterday I was told that the item was no longer in stock, and the trace 
>might
>take weeks.  They refuse to cancel the order and refund my money.  They 
>refuse
>to sell me a GR-33 at a discount.  After speaking to another FedEx 
>rep today, I
>find that still no trace has been put on this order.
>
>Finally I get an email telling me that they are sending me a GR-30 
>and I should
>receive it tomorrow.  Were they out of stock?  Are they really sending it?
>Good question.  Oh, and get this: They are now out of the GK-2 pick up, 
>so my
>synth will be useless.
>
>So this is my story.  Use the knowledge wisely.  I will never give a dime 
>to
>either Musician's Friend, or The Guitar Center again.
>
>Mark Sottilaro