"I placed a pretty large order at American Musical (I've shopped here before) and I was surprised to find out that every item from my $1500+ order was shipped from New Jersey and arrived at my house in 3 days! I had heard that it can take longer from their other warehouse. Needless to say, I was a happy camper because I really needed this gear for my rehearsal space. I see the ratings below are a bit specific. I have only returned 1 or 2 items to AMS but it was very easy. The customer service person took care of everything for me."
"I have purchased many items from American Musical Supply and they have never let me down. The most recent purchase was a gift for my sister and not only did I get a great deal, it arrived exactly on time! I would recommend AMS to anyone looking for musical equipment. They are the best!"
"what a nightmare! they will keep sending you their catalogs even after you repeatedly ask them to stop! i have called at least 3-4 times over the past 2 years & they stilllll send me them, their like a bunch of catalog nazis that want to bombard you with them until you cave in) or i guess, anyways I got 2 in the mail today!!!!!! they keep saying "oh, we've taken you off the list". yea right! til i get 3 by tomorrow morning -
Joke of a company - stay the eff away from them. musicians friend just gained a new customer for life or until they pull the same thing"
"I was given a part number by AMS and told to purchase from Sweetwater. The part they sent did not fit in my Kurzweil PC2x as height was 56% off. Original lcd is 1.7cm part sent is 1.0cm. I asked for their help and 40 days have passed. The parts people know nothing about electronics the stock shelves only. I ended up doing over 40 emails with them and I can't get my money back or return the $3 part I had to pay $85 for. I never do reviews but I am writing this one everywhere. Heads up Kurzweil, When you outsourced your parts department you lost a customer in me. I have had 4 Kurzweils and never again "
"Terrible Company. Won't get what you pay for. I bought a high end guitar that was damaged and inoperable upon recieving the guitar. Sold me something that was clearly used, damaged, returned and resold to me as new.They ddn't send me a tracking number either. They charged my card for things I didn't authorize. The list goes on. Stay Away!"
"Unbelievable bad service. I placed an order on wednesday, then, due to AMS absurd credit verification procedures, after two calendar days verification was not completed and I cancelled my order.
The worst is they book the order´s amount on the credit card as first action, then (don´t) run their absurd credit check (verify name, surname and phone with customer´s bank), and not as last action, when the credit check is positively completed. The amount of the cancelled (or not accepted) order stays blocked on the credit card until the customer´s bank release it.
Never met such a bad service level, neither in the so called 3rd world!
"
"BE VERY CAREFUL especially with high dollar gibson guitar purchases. I purchased several high priced guitars. in one year i spent over $$ 5000, for that i got two very imperfect guitars that i chose to keep and fix myself. to get two that were 'self' fixable, i had to return 3. EVERY single one of them had problems, some so major that the instrument was literally not playable. So, i had to return several and received a hassel each time. They also BANNED me from being able to return, but apparently i can exchange for identical item. I SWEAR TO YOU, they sent me 'b' stock gibsons. Something was VERY wrong with the way they were packaged, definitley used and returned and resold. statistically impossible to have that many problems with separate gibsons.. unless gibson now just sucks as bad as AMS does.
the worst of it is that in returning things i describe as defective, such as the strings literally falling out of the 'nut' they stop short of calling me a liar, but seem to think it's normal to be happy purchasing a $3500 guitar that doesn't work right. very condescending and unprofessional. i'm sorry but when spending that much, it better be right. don't buy anything but trinket items here. "
"I've ordered two big-ticket items from AMS this year, both shipped quickly and in perfect condition. Recommended."
"Bought an Ibanez RG350dx that got to me in a matter on days. Was not satisfied with the guitar cause it was very cheap, had un-finished frets, and didn't stay in tune. Sent guitar back weeks ago and still have not gotten a refund. Also, wrote a negative review on their site for the guitar the day I sent it back (weeks ago keep in mind) and it never posted. Tried to review the guitar again, still won't post. They hide the bad reviews to push products... that is just shady and makes all their gear reviews inaccurate. "
"American Musical Supply denied me because of someone elses dispute with them. I ordered a guitar for my son for xmas this year. They refused to ship it or let me pay it out because they have a dispute over something with a relative of mine at the address i wanted it sent to. I did not ship to my house so my son would not see it. They refused to ship to any other address too. Called me a liar, said it was too late, that they already knew I was associated with someone they had a dispute with. Told me I could be buying it for someone they did not want to have it. Told me to tell my relative to settle their dispute. Said they did not believe me when i told them i did not know what they were talking about. It should not be legal for a company to deny me service because of a dispute with a relative. Especially when i have ordered from them several times in the past and have paid everything on time. I just wanted to order my son a xmas gift!!!!
"
"I was looking for a dual-deck cassette player for my wife to listen to her large tape collection and wanted something better than a cheap boom box type. I did not study this "ION" unit enough before I bought it and did not realize that it's MAIN purpose is to transfer your tapes to your computer. Neither of the decks had an "Auto-Reverse" feature for extended listening. My fault completely. I him-hawed around about keeping it or not [I hate returning anything] and waited far too long to send it according to their rules. I emailed them about my mistake and they still send me a return label instantly with no questions asked. I got my refund right away and was contacted by AMS twice more to make sure everything worked out to my satisfaction. So yes, I am extremely happy with this company. They could have rightfully told me to "pound sand" but took the high road instead. Great folks! Maximum stars.
Mike"
"First, let me say that this site requires an order number to give a review. The order number I submitted is only ONE of many that I have a complaint about!
But I will also say that AMS was good when I first started doing business with them. But if you need to return things, make note that after three returns, they will put you on their NO RETURNS list! Is that ridiculous or what??
I had ordered several items from them including a bass amp and effects pedals and various other things. I have NEVER had such an issue with any other store as I did with AMS. Half of what I received did NOT work or was defective in some way! It's like they are shipping B-Stock items and pawing them off as new!
AMS's customer service has got to be one of the WORST!! They put you in a loop and when you do finally get someone on the phone, they will then transfer you to someone else and MAYBE they will finally take care of the problem. But then again, maybe not. It really depends on who you get on the phone to help you.
I am now banned from ever purchasing there again and believe me when I say this... I have nothing to hide and am NOT making anything up when I say that AMS will rip you off one way or another if you don't keep perfect records. They will deny most anything unless you can prove it.
They pretend to not even acknowledge certain orders and especially RETURNS, like they don't keep records. But you know they have pristine records. they know what's going on.
I would never buy from them again no matter what!
They have tried numerous times to rip me off and right now I have filed two disputes with my bank visa because they refuse to refund for returning defective gear!
If you decide to purchase from this low-life company, then you've got it coming! STAY AWAY!!!
PS: for all the good reviews on here... I wouldn't put it past AMS to have their reps create positive reviews for this site and others.
Remember one thing... most people will not take the time to post positive reviews. Would YOU go out of your way to do so, unless it was an out of the ordinary super experience? Maybe most wouldn't even then. So who's REALLY posting all of these positive reviews?? I have talked with several that will never buy from AMS again! "
"Ordered a Casio digital piano, a stand, and pedal on Friday 1/22. All 3 delivered promptly on Tue 1/26. Very fast! I haven't opened the packaging yet as it is a birthday present for our daughter but so far so good. Top score for price and quick shipment."
"The good; Well i ordered a Jackson JS30KE in snow white from them, and they were the only retailer who actually had one. the order process went through quickly and confirmations arrived in my inbox promptly as well. the guitar arrived in good condition, looked as if someone set it up as well.
The Bad; I put another ship to address in the field and the item still came to me, which is fine considering no harm was done.
I did contact customer service to make sure they still had the guitar in stock, the CSR was polite, however he was not very professional, for instance he answered the phone with a simple hello, instead of announcing the company name or his name. he also accused me of giving him the wrong item number when he looked up the guitar.
Overall; Americanmusical.com is a decent online retailer, they need to polish up the customer service though, til then i will stick with my primary source for my musical gear, and use AMS as a back up."
"These guys SUCK! They'll send you the wrong item to get your money and then never give you a refund when you send it back. Good luck with these jerks!"