"I bought an expensive set of violin strings from SharMusic a few months ago and one of the strings just broke even though cheaper sets of strings that we bought elsewhere have lasted much longer. I spoke to a case manager or supervisor there and she was completely indifferent and unhelpful. I asked if she could waive shipping while I pay for a replacement string. She said no emphatically, claiming that they would be out the shipping cost. What kind of company won't give $9 in free shipping to a customer who previously spent $80 at the store and could have been a return customer? She says the string breaking could have been user error, but it's not the first set of strings that we have ever bought. On the other hand, it's the first set that has had a string break in such a short time! Don't buy from a company who won't stand behind their products or even do the bare minimum to retain customers!"

" I bought a Carlos Lamberto violin for my sister not even 1 year ago and the sound post has fallen down and the bow hair completely detached from the bow at the tip. The violin itself isn’t bad, but for $765 dollars I expected for it to at least stay together for another year. I got another from another seller for cheaper, yet it has a sweeter sound with more projection. I highly advise people to avoid buying violins from Shar Music. Buying other things like strings or mutes is ok, but please buy your violin elsewhere such as DZ Strad. I even posted a review on Shar Music about the violin and the bow, but unfortunately it seems like they deleted it because 5 minutes later, I return to the website and it’s gone. I will never be buying violin or bows from here again."

"I ordered a bunch of music and they didn't have it all which was fine, but then they sent me to collections over a book they say they sent me later that had been backorder that I had tried to pay on the phone but they couldn't take my payment because it had to be paid through PayPal but then there also was no invoice in PayPal. I didn't want the item and they couldn't take my payment.. now my credit takes a hit for their very unprofessional business practices."

"I have used shar music for years and always been satisfied, however I will never use them again. In September I ordered 2 Suzuki violin books and a new set of violin strings costing over 100.00 for my daughter. I used expedited shipping as my daughter needed the strings asap. I received order and on the order slip it indicated strings were backordered. I waited 3 weeks and they still didn't arrive. I finally called and was told the order was cancelled...but no one ever contacted me to let me know. I called and they simply apologized and said sorry for the inconvenience. I expressed disappointment that I had not been contacted and they had no explanation. I also asked why it was still on their website again no explanation. Finally I asked why it said backordered and not cancelled on slip again no explanation. I will never use them again. "

"I bought a Carlo Lamberti Model LV 11 full size violin. I was told that this model does not qualify for the consignment program now that I need to sell it, as only the “finer” instruments qualify for that program. I was led to believe at the time of purchase that the advantage of buying from Shar was the resale option.
I paid $400 for this instrument, and I am disappointed that they believe it isn’t of enough quality to bother adding it to even the consignment program, even without seeing it "

"I paid $20 for expedited shipping - the website said the order would arrive on Monday, for a Saturday order. When it didn't arrive and I inquired, they said it would come by Thursday. No apology, no recognition that this was inconvenient. Will not buy anything from them again."

"Like one of the other reviewers, I have used Shar for many years in the past, and have been satisfied. However, I put on one of the strings that they sent me and it broke. It took a few days before my schedule and their customer service schedule matched (It is only 9 - 5, M-F central time); I then learned that I had to return the broken string for credit. I searched through the trash, couldn't find it, so now I am just out the money. When I bought strings from Amazon and complained about one bad set of strings, they sent me another set no questions asked- and did everything through email. The return policies here are ancient. I'll just go back to using Amazon. "

"The cost savings from my one and only transaction with Shar were not even remotely worth the hassle of dealing with their shoddy products and sloppy customer service. First, we received a violin with a shredded E string. Then the case arrived, and the bow latch was broken off. After finally getting these things resolved, the tail piece completely fell off, along with the bridge and the strings. They sent a replacement violin, but my child is still afraid to tune it herself, months later, for fear of it falling apart again.

Finally, Shar's customer service mistakenly credited my account for the cost of one of the cases, then sent me to collections because my credit card was expired when they went to charge it back again.

After much back and forth, they refused to remove the fee for sending it to collections, even though this whole fiasco was due to their own compounding errors.

Never again."

"Shar Products (aka Shar Music) is a large retailer of supplies for string playing musicians, focused on classical. They used to feature only a large print catalog, but now are also on-line. I have dealt with them for a couple of decades, and in the past generally received fast and good service. So that history contributes to this rating.

However my last order has driven me away. I inadvertently ordered the wrong product, they did not have any protection against order problems or followup to product questions, and while they did refund the purchase price, I am out the postage, even though I really don't think it was really my fault. Rather than summarize, you can decide: here is verbatim most of what I sent to customer service a week ago (minor omissions of irrelevant stuff).
"I was disappointed to see that I am out the cost of the shipping, which was almost as much as the cost of the product that I returned. This makes it unlikely that I will take a chance on ordering another [product] from Shar, considering what happened with this order. Specifically: (a) your brand new print catalog (which I used to place the order) was inaccurate, (b) your initial e-mail response did not tell me what you actually shipped, (c) although your catalog showed 3 sizes available, you stocked only one and shipped it without asking the customer even though it was the least popular size, (d) you were unable to process either my comment filed at the same time as the order or my separate e-mail sent shortly after in a timely manner which would have avoided this error, and (e) although the "small" size [Note: I had asked for the "standard" size"] is shown with a single letter on your web site, it turned out that the order receipt that you e-mailed me did NOT include either the size or product ID number so I didn't immediately detect the error. There just isn't enough protection from customer error (or protection for the customer from your error) in your ordering process at this time. . . "
Customer service did not respond to this e-mail. So I removed myself from their mailing list and will fill my music needs elsewhere.
Moral: if you order from them, make sure you know EXACTLY what you want, and if there is an inconsistency between their catalog (even if brand new) and web site, be sure to ask them before you order. Note that their on-line order form turns out to NOT have a space for customer comments or questions pertinent to the order, and they do not read their e-mail in a timely manner."