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

[Rob Switzer <rswitzer@721.com>]

At 04:44 PM 12/5/00 -0800, Mark Sottilaro wrote:

I'll second this -- I had practically the same experience last year around 
the holidays with Musicians Friend.  I ordered a mixer and two limiters to 
be delivered next day in order to meet a deadline.  They never arrived.  I 
got runaround after runaround, and MF missed not only the initial ship 
date, but the follow-up date they promised when I called up to complain.

When everything finally arrived (days late), they double-shipped the 
limiters, and I had to deal with 2x the anticipated amount on my credit 
card until I was able to straighten the whole thing out and return the 
extra two limiters.

Everything *was* finally resolved, and I *did* get free shipping on 
everything as well as an extra point or two discount.  But the session I 
needed the items for was totally blown, and I wasted a lot of time and 
endured a lot of frustration and irritation in the process.

Although I had previous satisfactory experience with MF, I haven't given 
them a bit of business since this incident.  They're probably OK most of 
the time, but I'd steer clear around the holidays.

rob switzer


>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