"Been a loyal customer of Musician's Friend for a long time now. If i see a product i like that's available in MF, 99% of the time i buy it from them. Always offer affordable prices and the customer service is always pleasant.

I bought this UR28M audio interface from them. I finally got my product in the mail after it was backordered 3 times. I had to wait 2 and half weeks until i got my order in the mail. I setup this UR28M audio interface by Steinberg and enjoyed it for 3 days until it completely stopped working! I unplugged the interface from the outlet and rehooked it the next day. I noticed that the interface's button lit up and picked up some power but then died again within 3 seconds! I wasn't angry about this. This wasn't my problem. I understand there are defective products and the only thing you can do is return and exchange it for a new one or have them fix it.

HERE COMES MY PROBLEM. MUSICIAN'S FRIEND DOES NOT HAVE AN RMA DEPARTMENT!!! This is true because i got a call from them about this. What kind of an online retailer does not have an RMA department?! Especially a known company such as them?! I was stunned to hear about this. If you plan on having a defective product fixed or exchange in Musician's Friend, be prepared to be frustrated and annoyed for a looong looong time!

Anyway, I waited a week before the product arrived back to their warehouse. 2nd week comes, and not an email confirmation that says they've received the product back. I had to call to find out if they already have it. Now, i am on my third week and still, not an email from them saying if they are fixing it or going to exchange it. I HAVE TO CALL everytime i want to know what's going on. THIS IS ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS. It's not their fault that the product is defective of course. It's the manufacturer's fault. However, since i bought the d*mn thing from them they should at least notify me with the whole exchange/fixing process. But, because Musician's Friend claims that they don't have an RMA process. YOU HAVE TO CALL THEM YOURSELF TO FIND OUT WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON! EVERYTIME!

I must've called at least 8 times already within this three weeks of waiting. And every time i call, i get different answers. I was told that they were gonna exchange it once the product arrives in their warehouse (another inconvenience is the lack of inventory.) But now, i was told they ARE STILL TRYING TO FIGURE OUT WHAT'S WRONG WITH IT and might take even more time to wait. This is just unacceptable. Never heard of an exchange process that takes over a month.

ALSO, good to note that Musician's Friend only accepts good reviews on their website!!! When you write an honest bad review of a certain product they reject it. Never thought a retailer i liked could scam their loyal customers.

"

"Great! Bought a used guitar from them. In stock, no problems, shipping was timely and well packed.
UPS tracking info provided, but slow to be entered. Not really a problem, but an oddity."

"I have purchased many, many items from Musician's Friend over the last couple of years and I have had no problems with anything whatsoever. All items were received exactly as ordered. All items were very well packaged for shipping and nothing has come to me damaged. I have no experience with their customer service because I have had no problems. I was surprised to read some of the negative reviews. All I can say is my experience with Musician's Friend has been nothing short of perfect. I plan to buy many more items from them in the future. "

"My first mistake was letting my wife pay $900 for a S. Korean made Schecter guitar.

After 4 months, the guitar stopped working and was confirmed by Schecter that there are electrical problems.

I called Musicians Friend to ask for help with shipping, spoke to a manager. Since the 45 day period had elapsed, they were unwilling to help me in any way shape or form. I guess the customer is always wrong.

"

"Customer service is horrible. Don't expect any help if your order is wrong. YOU are on your own if you order from them."

"I've been buying from Musician's Friend and their associated sites for a number of years. Any time there's been a problem, they have taken care of things to my satisfaction, and done so quickly. So far I've bought four guitars (three electric, one 12-string acoustic), two guitar amplifiers, and a lot of guitar accessories from them."

"My wife bought a guitar from Musician's Friend as a Christmas gift for me. Needles to say I was very pleased...until I noticed a crack on the neck near the headstock. When I called MF they were very helpful in exchanging my guitar for what I thought would be another new guitar of the same model. However, when I received the guitar the other day it was the same model but USED!! I can't believe they sent me a used guitar as a replacement when we paid for a NEW guitar. The used guitar was scratched on the back, the pickup ring was worn down on the corner, and there was a thick layer of dust on parts.
When I called them to send this back, because I thought they made a mistake, they refused to exchange the guitar and said I would just have to send it back as a return.
A little disapointed in this type of treatment. Probably won't be buying any more products from them in the future."

"I bought from them a few months ago and I could not be more pleased ! I live in Australia and I know for a fact purchasing products from online overseas merchants shipping rates can cost an arm. Although they did advertise free international shipping for orders over $500USD that I believe was to be false since it wouldn't apply for my online order, so I rung them up and the sales rep who couldnt't be any the more nicer said that she'd offer a refund for the shipping fee since she couldn't get it to apply on the order over the phone. I told them it was okay and didn't bother too much about it since the trouble was, I couldn't front the money up for the products + shipping fee.
But going on a few days later, I was still insistent and continued to browse for items and when clicking "checkout" it revealed that I was eligible for free international shipping. So I bought a rather large range of items, from a drum kit to guitar strings. And though it came through in multiple shipments I didn't mind ! I knew it was a bargain nevertheless. I worried about the drum kit though, as it was last to ship (as the item had to be backordered) and when shipped the tracking number revealed it was uncompatible with the UPS tracking system. Since reading reviews and seeing people had the same problem, I assume that MF uses their own shipping system to save on the larger items (?) But my kit came very soon after the expected shipping date.
Overall I was absolutely stoked and pleased with their products and service, and on a side note, they obviously deal with so many customers a day, things are bound to go wrong but in saying that's a minority. People are far more compelled to write reviews after a negative experience rather than having a positive encounter. Whatever it is, I will definitely purchase from them again !! :D"

"Ordered a guitar, got a great deal. Ordered it on a holiday weekend and still got it five days later as excepted. I will say the practice of printing UPS mailing slips before delivering the product to shipping location can cause a little concern.(a day or so without tracking) But the product was delivered without issue."

"I am DELIGHTED with the service I received from Musicians Friend - they went above and beyond to make sure I was satisfied! Here's the story...

I ordered an acoustic guitar and accessories to give my niece as a holiday gift. When the shipment arrived, I immediately noticed that the guitar had a 4" split on the back along the side binding. This was obviously damage in shipment, so I called MF immediately. The service rep told me to keep the guitar, AND he would immediately issue me a FULL CREDIT for the cost of the guitar - WOW!

I explained that I now needed another guitar for her, and the service rep made some great suggestions, including getting a guitar size more suited to a 7-year-old, and found me an "as new" Yamaha which he discounted an additional 10% from the already discounted price, AND he upgraded the free shipping to overnight! Plus, he credited me back the cost of 2 of the accessories and allowed me to keep them!!!

I was worried about getting anything in "like new" condition, but the guitar arrived today and is absolutely brand new in every way - no scuffs, dingers, dents, etc, includes all factory accessories and is set up perfectly.

My kudos and thanks to Musician's Friend - I'm very happy with the products and even more happy with the service."

"I have never been so FRUSTRATED purchasing anything online. I ordered a saxophone which arrived in time. It has one year factory warranty and I purchased additional 2 years warranty recommend by Musician’s friend sales rep.
After 8 months one small pin broke which resulted in one of the keys not returning. I called and they said that I need to send the Sax to them for repair. I had to wait more than a week for them to mail me a shipping slip, (which usually you can print of UPS right away). I sent the sax and waited 10 days and then I called. Their repair department told me that they do not have the part and someone will contact me to tell me what they will do, either sending me another sax or give me the money. When, I asked, he said in a few days. I waited a few days again and nothing happened. I called and they told me the same thing. A few days later I called they told me the same. I told them, that I need to know NOW. After waiting and talking to couple of people they told me that they sent me a gift card already and it is on its way and will take 5 to 10 business day until it arrives. I waited another 10 days. I called again to discover all they told me was lies. This person told me that they are starting the process of sending it now and it will take 5 to 10 days from today. I got really angry that they were lying each and every time asking to talk to a manager or supervisor, who was not any much of any help.
I waited 10 more days and called, only to hear that the card is on its way and this time it is going to take 10 to 15 business days. I did not believe what I was hearing. This either is a big JOKE or big SCAM. I was really mad and asked to talk to supervisor who told me she did not know why it was delayed, but she is sure that it is going to take 10-15 days. She also told me that she is going to make sure someone calls me within 24 hours to make sure that happens. The day after a lady called telling me that she does not know why she is calling me but she can send me another gift card if this one does not arrive in 20 days. This is a big joke. If you add the two months that I have already been waiting for this to another 20 days and then send me a card that takes 15 days (Which most likely will not arrive again) what do we have here? I told her that I was tire of all these nonsense and I do not want gift card, I want either the sax back or my money. She simply told me, that is not possible. So, I am investigating to see how I can sue them at this time. Mean while, I am sure the 20 days is also a big lie.
Why wouldn’t they offer me the same option of gift card or credit over the phone, or online. This would have been easier for both me and them. I could use the credit to buy the same sax immediately and case was closed. Why would they send me a shipping slip by mail taking more than a week to arrive? Why playing this game of 5-10-15 days so many times. I even told them that let’s close the case and I use that credit right now and purchase another sax. But they have their own roles she said! Great, who was the genius creating this awkward system?
I warn anyone not to deal with this company. It is obvious, they want your money and once they have that, they do not care anymore.
"

"Ordered a heavily discounted high end guitar and i could not be more happy. I was a little apprehensive after reading the reviews on here but i went ahead anyway and i am glad i did.

Everything went smoothly. Paid by cc and item arrived by free shipping in 3 days. Delivered by UPS although tracking number indicated a different shipper (tracking # didnt work).

Very satisfied and i will order from them again. I think the negative reviews on here would be a much lower percentage if all of the shoppers who have a positive experience posted a review.

"

"A few years ago I ordered a standard Fender strat, and this had to have been my worse experience ordering online ever. First off, at that time I didn't have a debit card so I decided to pay through bank wired transfer, there was the transfer fee to do so but hey what the heck I want this guitar. Little did I know the guy who gave me the order number for MY order happened to have screwed up somewhere. It said my order had been shipped but 3 weeks later, nothing showed up. At first I was forgiving and gave them a call. The person I was talking to said that my order had already been delivered a week ago. GUESS WHAT they didn't even give me a tracking number for my order, so how was I suppose to know? The next thing was one of the most ridiculous things I've ever heard. I was asked for my order number and to verify my address, everything went fine, except for ONE thing. My guitar was shipped to some address in TEXAS. My address says I live in a state thats on the east coast, how does my order wound up to somebody in TEXAS? I then asked them how does this happen, but they proceeded to give me some BS saying that this has never happened before and that my order number is shared with another person. They continued to tell me that I have to wait for that person to ship MY guitar back to the warehouse for them to ship it back to me. Which takes god knows how long, I then asked for a refund, so it took them literally a month to send me back a check. All in all, I didn't get anything from them, and I wasted around 25 bucks doing a wired transfer and wasted around 2-3 months worth of time waiting on nothing but my own money back."

"These guys have always been good to me. I ordered from them twice, and have had no problems. My first order was just a test (couple sets of strings and a strap). I believe they use multiple warehouses, because I got my second order from them in two shipments. The first shipment had a tracking number that UPS didn't scan at the sorting facility, so I was a little worried... but it arrived within the 8 days that M.F. said it would. The other half of the order arrived right away."

"I have never been so FRUSTRATED and DISAPPOINTED from a retailer in my life. I ordered a drum set and only half of it showed up.

I contacted Musician's friend to see if the rest of it would be showing up soon. As soon as I told them that I was missing part of a shipment, THEY HUNG UP ON ME. I thought maybe it was a phone glitch, so I called back and repeated the situation so they'd understand that I had half of my drum set and the other half was missing. AGAIN, SHE HUNG UP ON ME WITHOUT SAYING A WORD.

I then contacted UPS to see if they could start a trace. Since the seller needs to be the one to start a trace, the UPS representative called Musician's Friend on behalf of me to see if they would start it, since I didn't have any luck notifying the seller of this problem due to being hung up on twice. UPS got the ball rolling on that one and said I should keep in contact with the seller as to the status of the trace.

Fast forward 8 days (the longest they said the trace would take) ...still no drums. I called Musician's Friend again to see if they had any updates. I was told that they'd call me back within a half hour and update me on the status. Nobody called. So I call the next day, wait on hold for 20 minutes while they check the status of my package. Apparently it hadn't ever been sent, so they said they'd get it sent out right away.

That was five days ago and I was thinking the package should be showing up soon. I get a call from an unlisted number and they tell me...

THEY SOLD ME SOMETHING THAT DIDN'T EVEN EXIST!!! THE SECOND BOX OF DRUMS WAS NEVER IN THEIR WAREHOUSE TO BEGIN WITH, SO NOW THEY'RE REQUESTING THAT I SEND THE ONE BOX THAT I DO HAVE BACK!

Would I like to exchange it for a different product? Well no, considering the first product I ordered has been a 3 week fiasco. Now I have to wait TWO WEEKS to get a refund.

I am very dissatisfied with the way Musician's Friend does business. The kicker is that they ask you at the end of every conversation where they're being "helpful" if you're satisfied with that phone conversation. Of course the answer is yes until you find out they've been LYING to you. "