Good Prices, Good Products, So Far So Good
Written: Feb 01 '07
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I’ve received catalogs from Music123 in the past, but I never have ordered anything from them… Music123’s prices have usually been comparable with Musician’s Friend (who I’ve ordered from many times in the past) and I usually order from MF.
Recently, I was browsing the Music123 website for inexpensive electric guitars with a licensed Floyd Rose tremolo system and I ran across a brand I’d never heard of but the price was right.
The guitar was a Strat style guitar with the licensed Floyd Rose tremolo I needed for a project. (More on this guitar later in another review) I decided to give 123 a shot & I ordered the guitar and a few small items.
I placed my order online. The ordering process is pretty straight forward, as are most online checkout pages.
A nice feature 123 has is their wish list, which allows you to save items you may want to buy later so you don’t have to search all over the site when you’re ready to order.
I opted for their FREE shipping, since my order was over $99.00 and I didn’t see any reason to spend an additional $10 to $20 to get the package shipped a day earlier.
Within an hour or so of placing the order, I received my email conformation. A day or so later I received another email with my tracking numbers.
DELIVERY (skip this section if you want)
I entered the tracking numbers into the FedEx tracking system and it shows the packages would arrive on this day (I don’t remember the date, so lets call it the 25th). Each day I’d check the status, but the tracking info changed from the 25th to the 27th for no apparent reason – no holidays or weekends. No big deal… the shipping was FREE. On the 27th, FedEx delivered one box about 2pm and left before I could ask where the large box with my guitar was. I called 123’s customer service to see if they had any idea what happened to the guitar & they said that FedEx delivers up to 8pm and to give them (123) a call if the guitar didn’t arrive on the 27th.
I tracked the packages again & both boxes arrived at the transfer location at the same time & both went out for delivery at the same time, yet I only had one box. I waited & worried the rest of the day until 7:55pm when, sure enough, the FedEx guy drove up with my guitar. Pshew!
This delivery mess wasn’t Music123’s fault, but it was nice to know that when you call customer service that you can speak to a human (at least during their normal business hours).
I’ve tried 123’s online message system for information on items, but so far I haven’t received a reply to my messages & I ended up calling them for the info.
Unfortunately, the service people don’t have a great deal more information, other than the limited description on the website, but in most cases these people are hired as phone operators, not musicians or technicians.
PRODUCTS
I’ve found products (mostly guitar related items) that are really great deals compared to items from other online guitar sites & I plan on purchasing more items in the near future.
They have the usual guitar stock of Fender, Squier, Gibson, Epiphone, Washburn, Ibanez and more.
The 123 website has an area for outlet items that are normally last year’s models, b-stock, scratch & dent items, etc.
This is where I found the guitar I purchased – in the Outlet section.
It was listed as a B-Stock guitar and it was about half the price of the same item new from their site. I knew I was taking a chance on buying a “damaged” item, but the price was right!
When I finally received the guitar, I opened the box & to my surprise I couldn’t see anything major wrong with the guitar. A few little specks in the paint here & there, the frets needed filing on the sides of the neck (I played the guitar for about 10 minutes and my left hand looked like I had wrestled with a cheese grater)
I’ve received NEW guitars that looked worse than this one. (check out my review for the Dean ML XM guitar). I had to file & shape the frets & adjust the Floyd Rose tremolo, but that’s about it. I had planned on using the Floyd Rose on another guitar, but I might just keep this guitar as is and buy another one for parts.
123 have just about anything you could need for guitars, amps, pickups, accessories, effects pedals, sheet music, etc. They also have quite a bit of brass, woodwind, other stringed instruments as well as live sound & drums. Again, I’m mostly looking at guitar related items, so I can’t comment on trumpets, drums, PA’s or similar items.
NAVIGATION
The 123 website is pretty easy to navigate, you have your basic search box in the upper left corner, a basic link bar in the top middle section, OUTLET section in the upper right corner, and along the left side is the category tree.
Categories such as; Guitars, Drums & Percussion, Recording & Live Sound, Amplifiers, Keyboards & Bands & Orchestra. Clicking on a category will expand to sub categories where you can fine tune your results.
I’ve found that some items tend to disappear from day to day, unless you put them into your wish list. A few guitars I looked at Monday were gone on Tuesday, but were back on Thursday.
Items that go out of stock (that you have placed in your shopping cart) will be removed and you get a small message that the item is out of stock & has been removed.
Many items I’ve looked at even have customer reviews & comments. What a person likes about the item, what they don’t like, etc.
For the most part, I’ve seen positive product reviews, but I’ve found items where people really beat down an item because of a defect or quality issue.
POLICIES
123 has a 45-45-100 guarantee. 45 day low price guarantee, 45 day return policy & 100% satisfaction guarantee.
Luckily, I haven’t had to use any of these services, but I believe they’ll even pay for return shipping.
I believe Music123, like many places, have items available through Amazon.com, although I’ve never been a fan of purchasing items from one company though another company’s website. If I find an item on Amazon that is offered by company B, I’ll go directly to company B’s website. I don’t like the hassle of going through Amazon customer service to get to company B’s customer service only to find out that neither company is willing to help.
All in all, my first order arrived in good condition, a couple of days later than the original estimate, but well packed.
If only there were some way to speed up the “item out of stock, expected in 2 to 3 weeks” problem for some items, Music123 would be nearly neck & neck with Musician’s Friend.
I’ll likely order from Music123 again, as soon as the guitar I want is back in stock.
Recommended:
Yes
What product did you purchase or try to purchase? Electric Guitar
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buggman
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Reviews written: 113
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