An online store that lies about delivery is no one's friend! Update 7/07
Written: Dec 30 '05 (Updated Jul 25 '07)
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I will never do business with them again.
They are moving distribution centers. Apparently the move is not going well. Nothing has shipped for at least a couple of weeks and the customer service people have no word on when shipments will take place.
However, the section on their web site where it says that most orders are shipped the same day has not changed.
What happened is that I ordered a clarinet case through the Musician's Friend store within Amazon.com on July 15. I ordered from them because the case would cost the least after shipping and because the delivery promise was between July 19 and 24.
When I had not heard anything, I called Musicians Friend on July 20 and found the case had not shipped yet and they didn't know when it would. I got something vague "maybe next week".
I followed up with a call on the 22nd and got the same. I told the customer service rep that they had promised Amazon I would get it on the 24th. I also told the rep that the Musician's Friend web site was still promising same day shipment on most orders. The rep said that there was nothing she could do for me.
I then complained to Amazon, who said that Musician's Friend was not meeting their agreement. The Amazon rep said that I had to process the order cancellation through Musician's Friend.,
I called Musician's Friend this evening (July 24). Case is in stock. Has not shipped, do not know when it will ship. I cancelled the order.
I really needed the case on time. Had I known they would not ship, I would have ordered from someone else.
Certainly things like this can happen. As a business professional, I believe that planning begets execution. So, maybe the DC problem could have been prevented. Even if it couldn't, the proper way to handle problems like this is to acknowledge them and contact the customers affected, not continue to take money from customers based on false information or withholding of material information.
That sort of disregard for customers destroys a business's reputation. Musician's Friend has destroyed my trust. I will NEVER do business with them again.
Below is the epinion I did in 2005.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Pros: easy to use site, nice selection, shipped quickly
Cons: I’m not sure their prices are the best
When I am looking for electronic-related musical gear, I have a select group of vendors that I use to compare prices. While The Woodwind and the Brasswind leads the field for my saxophone and clarinet gear, they also handle electronic musical gear. I’ve used ZZounds.com and activemusician.com before successfully. I’ll generally check SamAsh.com, and maybe shopping.com and dealtime.com to compare prices and look at Ebates.com as well to see if rebates are available on what I want to buy.
Earlier this week, December 26, to be exact, I saw an ad for a TASCAM vocal trainer. The features on this CD player center around removing vocal tracks and slowing the CD speed without changing the pitch. The ad I saw had it for $195. I said, well, let’s see if someone has a lower price. Well, among the usual suspects listed above, no one had it for less than $169.99, except for Amazon. Upon surfing to Amazon, I saw that this unit was offered for $79.99 by musiciansfriend as a “store within a store”.
I’ve learned that sometimes the stores themselves offer a lower price from their own store than through Amazon because of Amazon’s fees. It was true in this case, as it was only $69 at musiciansfriend.com.
Next, I did a Google search for coupons and found that I had a 5% discount as an ASCAP member, but the code wasn’t listed anywhere on the ASCAP site. I checked quantities on the musiciansfriend.com site and established my account. However, once “ASCAP” failed to get me a 5% discount, I called and the helpful customer service person took my order and applied the discount.
I then checked Ebates for some reason. I had checked before and didn’t see anything for musiciansfriend.com, but I checked again and there it was: 12% discount.
So, I cancelled the phone order and the same customer service person was very nice about it and I ordered the item from the web site.
The process on the web site was very easy. Establishing my account, which I had done earlier took only a couple of minutes. The site functioned quickly, the search quickly returned the requested item, I selected it and off I went. Checkout was very quick.
Once I paid, they said that orders usually take a day for verification, but I got the shipping notice the same day and the unit came 2 days later. The shipping charge was $7.95; it would have been free if I had ordered $100.
As of July 2007, there no longer is an available rebate from Ebates.com.
Some other comments from surfing though the site:
*They have a modest selection of band instruments and supplies
*Their specialty seems to be electronic instruments like guitars, basses and keyboards
*They also have a decent selection of amps, speakers and mikes under their “live sound” section.
*The site layout is tabbed by section and easy to follow. They do it through use of a specific menu assigned to each tab, whjich appears in the line below the tabs when a particular tab is selected.
*There is a 45-day price match guarantee and a 45 day 100% satisfaction guarantee.
So, I got what I wanted at a SUPER price, with a great ebate as well. My item was shipped and delivered quickly. This was an all-around great experience.
That having been said, the 12% ebate is so high compared to competitors, it makes me wonder how good their prices truly are.
However, I recommend them highly. You should have them compete if you are buying something that they sell.
Thanks for reading. God bless!
You might enjoy reading the following reviews:
Ebates web portal
Sheetmusicplus.com web store
Activemusician.com web store
Chase Perfectcard rebate credit card
My worst gig
What music has helped me learn about myself
My Top Ten Favorite Jazz Albums
Our Favorite Romance Mix
The Soundtrack of my Life
Recommended:
No
What product did you purchase or try to purchase? Gator ABS Clarinet Case
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About the Author
Member: John Temmerman
Location: near Chicago, Illinois
Reviews written: 697
Trusted by: 352 members
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