"Bought a guitar on their daily deal, it arrived with damage received far in advance of shipping. It was a serious problem that would have been noticed many times during display and inspection, but was ignored by the vendor. Musician's Friend would not replace the guitar, only offering to "upgrade" me to a different color at a ridiculous markup (DOUBLE the original cost). Bait and switch using a broken product? Goodbye forever."
"Great customer service. I got hooked up with some great deals, and shipping. They definitely took care of me. I will definitely buy from them again!"
"I gotta say that I'm shocked at all the poor reviews for Musician's Friend. I have been a customer for about 20 years. They have always been one of the lowest (if not THE lowest) prices of anywhere I can find and their customer service has been good. However, I'll admit that I had stopped buying from them several years ago because of a bad purchase experience with them. But in recent years, they have been great.
My most recent purchase was a Fender Mustang III amp I ordered at the end of March. The Mustang III comes with a 2 button foot switch, but they sell a 4 button foot switch separately that gives you a lot more controls/options. MF had a PDF file that you fill out and they would send you a free 4 button foot switch in 6-8 weeks. Only problem was that my printer happened to be out of ink the day I ordered.
After I had my amp and about a week and a half into April, I checked their site to see if I could still download that PDF form for the 4 button foot switch. After my search came up empty, I emailed and asked if they could send me a copy. They replied (in less than 12 hours) that they no longer had a copy of that PDF on file but that I could call their 800 number and give them a reference number and they would send me one. I called them that morning and they took care of me. Shipped it out that afternoon. I received it 2 days later via UPS.
Keep in mind that the amp was $300 (a great bargain, btw) and the 4 button foot switch normally cost $60. They sent it to me at no charge with pretty much no questions. I was impressed. That's great customer service. Musician's Friend will be the first place I look to buy musical equipment from now on. "
"Great customer service. Once again had issue with shipping do to UPS so I called to document my dissatisfaction with their use of UPS and they not only contacted UPS to arrange a more convient pickup so I didn't miss my package (and have to wait an additional two days) but refunded the 2 day shipping fee and insured that future orders from me would use FedEx instead of UPS. Now in these times, this is a company looking out for their customers and wanting repeat buisness which they will DEFINETLY get from me."
"Why do you think that things are on backorder a lot? It's cause they get so much business that its hard to keep things in stock. They have over 40,000 different items and the warehouse is over a 1,000,000 square feet. Some people are really not understanding. Like others have said, people are more likely wright reviews when they are upset, NOT when they are happy. I love musicians's friend! You people don't understand how big they really are."
"Last year I ordered 2 Gibson 57 pups to modify my Epiphone Sheraton. I got a call from my local luthier that one of them had an open circuit. Sent it back (I had gotten it on sale). They refunded my money. Asked for another, and it came, obviously used: dried glue all around the edges, scratched, lots of fingerprint smudges. I paid for a new one. I called them. The girl said they take them out of the packages to test them out and make sure they work (!). I sent it back and got a refund. I ordered the next one from Music123. It was shipped from the same warehouse (note: MF and Music 123 are the same company, as is Guitar Center). I finally got a new one. This whole process took almost 2 months.
The year before that, I asked MF for a copy of a receipt I needed for warranty work on a faulty Korg D3200 I'd bought from them. After three phone calls and three guarentees that it was mailed out, I finally asked them to email a copy, which they finally did after about a week. The hard copies never did come in the mail.
I found out from talking to friends that MF regularly sells returned guitars as new, and regularly lies about it.
This is no way to do business or garner support from your customer base.
Now I am wanting to purchase a new Gibson Les Paul. I went to Guitar Center and noticed nearly everything in the store was scratched, dented, missing knobs, etc.
I would like to find a reputable dealer online, but I am scared to death to give anyone my credit card!
One thing for sure: I will never order from Musicians Friend again. With friends like that, who needs enemies?"
"musiciansfriend.com is rated favorably by Bizrate.com but Bizrate.com I found is very difficult to navigate to get my own review in unlike resellerratings.com. I think bizrate is getting paid to give false ratings to benefit merchants. Any case, musiciansfriend.com's system and methods are very bad from my experience. I ordered two speakers during a 15 % off promo and I noticed that the discount calculation was correct on their website right after the transaction but did not reflect on the amount on the email recieved. I almost didn't call in thinking it would be applied at some point and thank god I did. When I asked about the difference the response was "Oh that. The discount does not apply to back ordered items!". I remember clearly that during the ordering process that it indicated that it was in stock and I mentioned this and said I wanted to cancel my order. The agent placed me on hold saying that she needed to talk to a manager, came back and said the best they can do is 10% off, I said - "please cancel", the agent placed me on hold again to talk to the manager and came back saying "OK. we'll take 15% off". OMG! I probably would have been screwed had I not called. Honest mistake? - No idea! but it seems that you are really rolling the dice with these guys from my experience. I received one speaker after a couple of days and I am on the edge of my seat hoping to receive the 2nd one. This is the last time I'm ordering from this place. I've been reading the reviews and it looks like musiciansfriend.com was very good at one time but from the latest reviews at resellerratings.com and my own experience, something changed that caused this company to head south. This review is not about the particular person I spoke with but more on the entire purchase experience.
Just an update: I wrote this review a week ago when the product ETA was 3-7-2011. Its been pushed back to 3-27-2011. 20 days !!?!?!??!?!?!??!. That's it!!! I'm sending this one speaker back in and cancelling the remaining order."
"I was so skeptical about ordering from Musicians Friend after reading some of these comments..but wow I was amazed! I ordered an electric guitar, amp, and stand on a Sunday night, and all my items were received on Thursday night..just 4 days later! The packaging was very good in my option, there was a small part ripped open on the amp packaging, but no damage at all. They had tracking from Tuesday on, which was also nice. Everything I got is working great and I have no issues. I would definately shop here again and maybe I am the lucky one, but the service was outstanding. I couldn't be more satisfied."
"The lower price thing was sad after all the money I spent with them, and they say we will beat any price, then why when I gave them the prices and website the guy tried to lie to me and say that the site had the item for a different price then I told him I'm on that site right now so then he said I'll match it, and I told him your site says you'll beat it. I told him never mind and I ordered from the other site. I rather not deal with people who can't keep their word."
"I've read pages and pages of negative comments about experiences with Musicians Friend. Perhaps I am one of the lucky ones, but I doubt my luck is a factor. I've played professionally for 40 years, been a customer of Musicians Friend for 20 years, both online and in the store, and NEVER had an unhappy experience. I've spent upwards of $20,000 over the years. At times I've been the "pain-in-the-butt" customer, and returned guitars, amps, miscellaneous items, for a variety of reasons, and Musicians Friend has always honored its policies and refunded or replaced items PROMPTLY. Recently I bought a guitar online..bad idea on my part without road-testing one first. It arrived within 2 days. It was not at all what I had hoped it would be. As a seasoned musician, I should have known better, . I phoned customer service, they instructed me how to return it, and I did so the next day. They received it 2 days later, and after ONE business day, the purchase price was refunded to my bank account. As long as a person follows their return policies, and as long as a person is courteous and LISTENS to customer service reps, there is no reason to expect anything but prompt, courteous service in return from Musicians Friend and Guitar Center. "
"My WORST online expirience - period !
I order this morning particular item, order was accepted, payment was made - after 25 min, i have email to item is out of stock and order was placed to backorder !
I call and refund my money [needs a 3-5 working days thru PayPal] !
Same day @ evening item show up again on web site - this time i CALL to place order to be sure they have item on stock !
LIVE PERSON confirmed to they HAVE item on stock and i place order again ... And again - after 25 min i have AGAIN email to item is out of stock and order is placed to backorder AGAIN ...
I call and ask what is goin on - and LIVE PERSON answer - they dont know ... Cuz there is one item left in warehouse ...
I cancel order AGAIN and refund money AGAIN, and now i have to wait for refund 3-5 working days ...
Im not going to THAT store ever again !!!
UPDATE:
Same evening this item show-up again online! I call asking to place order and ask to CHECK warehouse if thay are SURE item is on stock, and i have confirmation! I explain whats hapen to me same day TWICE, and ask again to be sure i am gonna get item actualy, and i was on hold!
After "talk with SUPERVISOR" i have peson back on phone - THERE IS NO ITEM IN WAREHOUSE ...
Every time i call to place order, item was removed from online store, but - after couple hours is back .. actualy - is in online RIGHT NOW, and thay dont have it on stock!
WHAT THAY ARE DOING ?"
"This was my second order that I received from Musician's Friend. The order was exact and was shipped very quickly. Their selection of products is excellent and they will beat other retailers and gave me 10% of the price difference. I give Musician's Friend a 10 out of 10 rating."
"Ordered a Restocked Presonus Firestudio mobile listed on their site for $189. Great price, right? Yeah, well it would be if they didn't cancel my order because they didn't have it. Maybe you should not list things for sale and let people order them - IF YOU DON'T HAVE THEM! I'm done with MF.com they can stick it."
"Same as Tagko. Ordered the guitar strings. Got my email confirmation pretty much immediately. Got a backorder email the next day (which is fine with me since i was in no serious rush). Then found in my junk mail a few days later that they had canceled my order (in an unusual way at that). I only ordered one item and the cancellation had two items canceled from the same order number (similar items and prices but different item numbers). I inquired about the situation through their website explaining everything very clearly and also making it clear that i still wanted my item and that i did not cancel it. Their response, "I looked up the order that you referenced and it has indeed been canceled." No explanation. Bad business."
"Not a friend of mine! I ordered a guitar the middle of November and discovered (when it didn't arrive) that the order had been cancelled. I called and had to place the order again, having to again request my discount (had a coupon), they again tried to sell me insurance, etc, etc. (The first order was a hasle and took me half a day plus a call back to the credit dept). Today I find an e-mail saying the order had been cancelled AGAIN. I call again, and the person I get finally figures out that all of the things I had ordered (guitar, strap and capo) are unable to ship to Canada so their system automatically cancels the order. Thanks for telling me! Would have been great if someone would have figured that out after the first time it was cancelled (if not at the beginning!!!)! Now it is Dec 1st and I don't have a Christmas present for my husband. If you are Canadian, don't bother shopping with Musician's Friend!"