Joined: 23 Mar 2003 Posts: 9032 Location: Hawai`i - Texas
Posted: Mon Feb 27, 2017 6:01 pm Post subject: Musicians Friend - are you kidding?
It's too difficult for me to write in detail - please bear with me.
What the heck is going on with Musicians Friend? I ordered a mpc. from them. It was long out of stock, so they offered an alternative if I wanted, so I went for that. I wrote four emails and made two personal phone calls, all unanswered. Finally made a generic phone call and finally found someone who would cancel my old order and order the trumpet alternative.
Well, it came today. And instead of the original trumpet mouthpiece, instead of the replacement alternative trumpet mouthpiece, I opened the mailing box and opened - a saxophone ligature!!! What the heck. _________________ "If you don't live it, it won't come out of your horn." Bird
Joined: 16 Dec 2007 Posts: 7080 Location: Houston, TX.
Posted: Mon Feb 27, 2017 7:44 pm Post subject:
It's the curse of the huge internet-based music equipment sellers; you have multitudes of "salespeople" with no clue about and not much interest in what they are selling. I've had ridiculously stupid order mistakes made by the current incarnation of Woodwind And Brasswind, fairly sure Musician's Friend (and Guitar Center) are all owned by the same people. I avoid these guys unless one of them happens to have something I need that I can't find anywhere else, and place an order only after insisting that the guy on the phone makes absolutely certain that the item really IS in stock.....and even then there are no guarantees that it is, or you will get the correct item.
It's a shame, but maybe it's a good reason to do business with the comparatively smaller guys like Trent Austin, Torpedo, Thompson Music, etc. People who care about music, their company's reputation and what they sell.
Brad _________________ When asked if he always sounds great:
"I always try, but not always, because the horn is merciless, unpredictable and traitorous." - Arturo Sandoval
Joined: 02 Jan 2002 Posts: 5682 Location: Glen Burnie, Maryland
Posted: Mon Feb 27, 2017 8:41 pm Post subject:
I've never had a problem with Musician's Friend for anything. Then again, I don't order anything trumpet related from them - the stuff I order is all guitar (my son play's guitar) or drum related. I think the people on their staff are probably fairly knowledgeable with that stuff. _________________ Patrick Gleason
- Jupiter 1600i, ACB 3C, Warburton 4SVW/Titmus RT2
- Brasspire Unicorn C
- ACB Doubler
"95% of the average 'weekend warrior's' problems will be solved by an additional 30 minutes of insightful practice." - PLP
Joined: 27 Dec 2001 Posts: 8335 Location: Twin Cities, Minnesota
Posted: Mon Feb 27, 2017 8:58 pm Post subject: Re: Musicians Friend - are you kidding?
kehaulani wrote:
Well, it came today. And instead of the original trumpet mouthpiece, instead of the replacement alternative trumpet mouthpiece, I opened the mailing box and opened - a saxophone ligature!!! What the heck.
I ordered my Besson 709 on clearance from them. I got the trumpet, in a box about the size of the trumpet. No packing, no cushion, just the trumpet in a box.
One of the last times I ordered something from there, I ordered a C trumpet on clearance. I got a box with a few guitar strings, some picks, and a capo. No joke.
I was refunded, but it's completely within the bounds of what one can expect from Musician's Friend. These threads are fairly regular.
Don't order something from them unless you're willing to get completely skunked and end up with nothing for the price you're getting. Frankly, Dillon Music and numerous other places have the same stuff, same price, and actually care about getting your order right.
If you see something that's a steal on clearance, sure, roll the dice. Just be aware you are rolling the dice. You might get what you ordered. Your item might not be as described (dents, B-stock). It might be damaged due to poor or non-existent packaging. You might not even get what you ordered, you might get something completely unrelated. Any, and all of these things are possible ... nay, likely to happen (and have actually happened and been discussed in past threads).
As I said, this has been discussed numerous time here on TH. Frankly, the surprising thing to me is that anyone who frequents this site IS surprised by any shenanigans from Musician's Friend/WWBW/etc. This has to be a topic that comes up at least once a month.
Nevertheless, you have my sympathy.
Brad361 wrote:
It's the curse of the huge internet-based music equipment sellers; you have multitudes of "salespeople" with no clue about and not much interest in what they are selling. I've had ridiculously stupid order mistakes made by the current incarnation of Woodwind And Brasswind, fairly sure Musician's Friend (and Guitar Center) are all owned by the same people. I avoid these guys unless one of them happens to have something I need that I can't find anywhere else, and place an order only after insisting that the guy on the phone makes absolutely certain that the item really IS in stock.....and even then there are no guarantees that it is, or you will get the correct item.
It's a shame, but maybe it's a good reason to do business with the comparatively smaller guys like Trent Austin, Torpedo, Thompson Music, etc. People who care about music, their company's reputation and what they sell.
Brad
What he said.
Here's a plan. Call. Get a refund. Don't reorder from them, just get your refund and get your mouthpiece from Dillon Music, Thompson Music, Kessler Music, Austin Custom Brass, Chuck Levin's Washington Music, Osmun Music, or any other of those places that are mentioned in positive lights on this site. They deserve your business. WWBW/MF/etc does not. _________________ LA Benge 3X Bb Trumpet
Selmer Radial Bb Trumpet
Yamaha 6335S Bb Trumpet
Besson 709 Bb Trumpet
Bach 184L Bb Cornet
Yamaha 731 Bb Flugelhorn
Joined: 23 Mar 2003 Posts: 9032 Location: Hawai`i - Texas
Posted: Tue Feb 28, 2017 1:56 pm Post subject:
Thank you all for the recommendations. You can be assured I will do business in the future with those recommended above and not from Musicians Friend.
To finish in form, I called Customer Service to get my Return Number. I had to cool my heels while I waited for her computer to "warm up and load". What? You're Customer Service and you and your equipment aren't already ready to go?
And after being told that a mailing label with Return Authorization Number on it would be sent me be email, I closed up the box with the written material, also with Return Authorization and shipping code in it, and prepared it for shipping only to discover that the email, when it came, had no mailing label with Return Authorization, so I had to unpack the box, retrieve the info I had enclosed. No great deal but . . . never again! _________________ "If you don't live it, it won't come out of your horn." Bird
Joined: 16 Dec 2007 Posts: 7080 Location: Houston, TX.
Posted: Thu Mar 02, 2017 2:48 pm Post subject:
kehaulani wrote:
Thank you all for the recommendations. You can be assured I will do business in the future with those recommended above and not from Musicians Friend.
To finish in form, I called Customer Service to get my Return Number. I had to cool my heels while I waited for her computer to "warm up and load". What? You're Customer Service and you and your equipment aren't already ready to go?
And after being told that a mailing label with Return Authorization Number on it would be sent me be email, I closed up the box with the written material, also with Return Authorization and shipping code in it, and prepared it for shipping only to discover that the email, when it came, had no mailing label with Return Authorization, so I had to unpack the box, retrieve the info I had enclosed. No great deal but . . . never again!
This definitely makes me sound like a grouchy old man (ok, the "old" part is accurate....sometimes the "grouchy" part is too....), but customer service today in this country is laughable, and certainly not limited to music equipment suppliers.
Just yesterday I received a full case of copy paper and four printer ink cartridges left at my front door....that I never ordered. The address on the box was correct, the name was not. It took two calls to Office Depot to get them to pick it up, both reps INSISTED that I first CREATE AN ACCOUNT and provide my email addres in order to have it picked up. I finally told the second guy that the stuff is on my doorstep, either pick it up or don't, I don't care, I then hung up.
They finally picked it up. That's what I get for being honest, I guess.
Idiocy is the norm in an awful lot of companies today.
Brad _________________ When asked if he always sounds great:
"I always try, but not always, because the horn is merciless, unpredictable and traitorous." - Arturo Sandoval
Joined: 05 Jun 2004 Posts: 10609 Location: The land of GR and Getzen
Posted: Fri Mar 10, 2017 11:40 am Post subject:
Brad361 wrote:
[
Idiocy is the norm in an awful lot of companies today.
Brad
I remember Dad's reaction to what happened to our education system when the DoE was created. He started taking all his sick days he had never used, (almost two year's worth) and took the early retirement option they offered.
To me, it is quite clear that what we are discussing is the result of this change.
Joined: 31 Aug 2004 Posts: 563 Location: Seattle, Washington USA
Posted: Sat Mar 11, 2017 1:20 pm Post subject:
They advertise free shipping, but neglect to tell you if you decide to return something, they ding you for their shipping to you retroactively in addition to you having to cover the cost of returning the item yourself. Never heard of that before!
Joined: 03 Mar 2017 Posts: 22 Location: Springfield
Posted: Sun Mar 12, 2017 2:39 pm Post subject:
I have no personal experience with the company discussed in this thread. But as a rule I try to remember that all companies ... small AND big have individuals working for them. I see small business owners post things sometimes like "when you visit a small business you are paying for a child's braces" etc. Well large company's pay their employees with your dollars and those employees may have a child who needs braces too. Just because a company is large doesnt mean it's evil. It may have more issues but that may just a result of the amount of business being done.
Do people screw up. Yes. Do people provide bad customer service on purpose yes. But that's nothe necessarily beca use a company isn't a "small business" IMHO _________________ Bach Stradivarius 37, Bach Stradivarius 43, Bach Stradivarius NY7, Bach Stradivarius 239, Bach Stradivarius Long Model Cornet 37, Bach 5C, Bach 3C Megatone
Joined: 03 Mar 2017 Posts: 22 Location: Springfield
Posted: Sun Mar 12, 2017 3:39 pm Post subject:
LittleRusty wrote:
Willy,
I think the difference is that in a small company there is a much more direct connection between the cash register and the braces.
Also in a big business there are a lot of employees working at low wages whose attitudes are skewed by the disparity in pay with the executives.
You may be 100% correct. I don't know enough to say you aren't. I just know the guy working customer service for a music retailer's website and the guy fixing instruments out of his garage who both are trying to feed their family or buy braces or whatever both appreciate customer's patronage. (And again, that is those employees for both big and small that are doing their jobs the right way to start with) _________________ Bach Stradivarius 37, Bach Stradivarius 43, Bach Stradivarius NY7, Bach Stradivarius 239, Bach Stradivarius Long Model Cornet 37, Bach 5C, Bach 3C Megatone
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