A warning about Musicians Friend

[Caleb]

Hello forum folks, your friendly creature here with a newsflash about Musicians Friend. 

If you order anything from them be aware that they are in the process of moving to a new warehouse and it could be up to a month before you get your item/items.  They don't tell you this until AFTER you've made the purchase, by the way....and even then they might not tell you. When I placed a recent order for a case I didn't get the little message box that was supposed to have popped up informing me about the situation. Honestly, I'm not entirely convinced that there is such a message box.

I can understand the situation with the move, but in my view they've been less than clear about it and I find that a bit unethical and unprofessional.  I really don't know why I expected any better of them though.  My gut told me not to order from them and to take my business to a local shop, but they caught me in an online moment of weakness.

.02

[gobseulmuhri]

Yup - that happened to me.  Placed my order on Jul 25th.  I got my PF2005 today....which is about 3 weeks time.

So, if you're expecting 3-5 day shipping - beware! You might end up waiting 3-5 weeks!

BTW, I LOVE my PF2005...Got such a good deal on it.  I didn't realize how much I would love the all HOG sound. Before, when I was infatuated with the spruce/rosewood combination, I thought I really hated any guitar that was all mahogany.  I gotta say, I was wrong...

But anyway, back to musicians friend (or music 123 for that matter. they're the same company). Don't buy from there until probably September if you want ur items to ship quickly!

[SteveO]

Sorry to hear that!!!
I just placed an order from them on the 1st of August.
They told me straight up because of the move at the warehouse, it could be up to 10 days or so before they would ship.
Then it would be the standard 3 to 5 day shipping

Well I got the Resonator I ordered on the 9th, so I think I was one of the more fortunate ones...

[Caleb]

Maybe it's just the internet buyers that are getting screwed.  Maybe they're being more upfront on the phone sales. 

[Sabatini]

I got an order from them in just over a week.  Must depend on the items ordered, but I was pleased.

I ordered on August 6, their confirmation e-mail warned that they might not ship until the 10th, and I got it on the 13th.

No complaint here.

[jimmyd]

Aside from having a large inventory I find no reason to bother with them. Their prices are never as good as I can get elsewhere  online and locally.

[flatlander]

I've had a couple of issues with them over the years, but they made things right with no problem, so I wouldn't go into a total bashing of them even though I do buisness locally when possible.

[Tony Burns]

They have always been slow , thier a big company and they have lots of online orders - you wont get anything fast ( never would ) unless you call them personnaly and request faster shipping - and they acknowledge this - like if you buy a guitar ( which I wouldnt do ) Ive bought a Case from them - which is a great case by the way and strings. i believe the company that owns MF also owns alot of online music suppliers - I really try to do my major purchases locally ( if possible - to keep the Mom and Pop stores in business )

[johnlg]

I've had a long and positive history with them but I got upset last week..

I work in distribution. I sell packaging machinery and supplies (I'm actually a sales manager). We all have problems and drop the ball from time to time. When the ball gets dropped; tell the truth. Tell the truth and then tell your action plan to handle whatever the truth is. Move on. Prove your value.

I ordered a 16 track digital recorder with a hard drive and CD burner yesterday. $600 and they give you a free condenser mic. Splendid.

I asked about warehouse delays from the MF move. They said......

1. We are in the new warehouse, everything is moved and accounted for, we are in a week to 10 day shipping delay because we had to play catch-up with 6 weeks worth of orders. Your item is in stock and allocated for you. There will be a small shipping delay.

2. I got an "out of stock" automated e-mail this morning - nothing is in stock.

3. I call and politely review point number 1.

4. The customer service rep tells me that many items have not been moved yet and until the items are moved and entered into the new computer inventory system, they will not show as in-stock on his screen. They have not yet moved and recieved everything into the new warehouse and my product could ship on the 16th but he has no way of knowing when the Fostex gear will be moved, recieved and entered into the new inventory program.

I asked..."What if the old warehouse is indeed out of stock"

The customer service rep said that he doubted that the old warehouse was out of stock.

He doubted?? 

I've had great luck with MF.com. I may regret posting this but when someone tells me something with absolute certainty and then the next day the whole story gets changed; I worry.

I would love the free MXL 990 mic because I already have one. I would love to be able to mic the front and back of a speaker with matching mics but this stinks.

Why not admit the chaos up front? There is a fine line between ignorance, misdirection and just plain dishonesty.

I wound up canceling the order and I reordered the recorder from American Musical Supply in New Jersey.  They had one in stock and shipped same day,

[Caleb]

I've had a long and positive history with them but I got upset last week..

I work in distribution. I sell packaging machinery and supplies (I'm actually a sales manager). We all have problems and drop the ball from time to time. When the ball gets dropped; tell the truth. Tell the truth and then tell your action plan to handle whatever the truth is. Move on. Prove your value.

I ordered a 16 track digital recorder with a hard drive and CD burner yesterday. $600 and they give you a free condenser mic. Splendid.

I asked about warehouse delays from the MF move. They said......

1. We are in the new warehouse, everything is moved and accounted for, we are in a week to 10 day shipping delay because we had to play catch-up with 6 weeks worth of orders. Your item is in stock and allocated for you. There will be a small shipping delay.

2. I got an "out of stock" automated e-mail this morning - nothing is in stock.

3. I call and politely review point number 1.

4. The customer service rep tells me that many items have not been moved yet and until the items are moved and entered into the new computer inventory system, they will not show as in-stock on his screen. They have not yet moved and recieved everything into the new warehouse and my product could ship on the 16th but he has no way of knowing when the Fostex gear will be moved, recieved and entered into the new inventory program.

I asked..."What if the old warehouse is indeed out of stock"

The customer service rep said that he doubted that the old warehouse was out of stock.

He doubted?? 

I've had great luck with MF.com. I may regret posting this but when someone tells me something with absolute certainty and then the next day the whole story gets changed; I worry.

I would love the free MXL 990 mic because I already have one. I would love to be able to mic the front and back of a speaker with matching mics but this stinks.

Why not admit the chaos up front? There is a fine line between ignorance, misdirection and just plain dishonesty.

I wound up canceling the order and I reordered the recorder from American Musical Supply in New Jersey.  They had one in stock and shipped same day,

That entire scenario is completely unacceptable.    I think you were right to worry when the guy said "he doubted".  Umm.......have these guys ever heard of an inventory system?  And the nifty idea that what you have onhand, whether it be on a shelf, or in-transit to somewhere else, should be in a computer system so the sales guy can tell THE CUSTOMER if they have it or not?  What a bunch of bozos.  I worked in logistics for years and was involved in several warehouse moves and stockroom transfers.  My guess here is that MF, being the corporate thugs that they are, wanted to get the best deal and the cheapest labor on the move, so they likely hired some slacker moving service that pays their employess minimum wage and the guy overseeing the job a little bit more.  I've seen this firsthand as well.  The bargain movers promise the world for a dime, but cannot deliver on that promise. 

[Pilgrim]

Apparently major problems still exist.  My recent order of two items "in stock" resulted in one item arriving two weeks beyond the 2 to 5 business days, and the other item is still on backorder after several weeks.  I won't be ordering anything else from them anytime soon, if ever.  Also keep in mind that Musician's Friend bought Music123 a little while back.

[Dale_I]

Also keep in mind that Musician's Friend bought Music123 a little while back.

That might explain my last purchase from Music123. What a catastrophe. On the upside, I did end up finding Maverick Music (maverick-music.com) and Bryon over there is beyond spectacular. Several custom orders later and I'm still calling him back. If I had three thumbs, I'd give them to him. But, for now, I'll suffice with a two thumbs up rating.

No affiliations, etc. Just a happy cusomer.

[woody b]

I place an order with them on September 16.  I still haven't recieved it.  "They" claim it was shipped on Sept 21,  but it should be here by now if it was.   They can't provide a tracking number.  In the past everything was shipped the same day.  I won't be getting anything from them in the future.  If I don't recieve my stuff soon I'm going to the credit card company.   

[Novalis]

I have no sympathy for those who get screwed by Guitar Center (aka Musicians Friend) or by any of the other corporate music shops. Sorry to sound harsh, but that's what happens when you patronize a greedy corporation.

For those who don't have local shops with the gear they desire, there are plenty of reputable online shops run by real people who can answer questions about the goods they sell.

[Caleb]

Screw Musician's Friend, 123, Guitar Center, and all the other big companies ran by white collar thugs who aren't one bit interested in customer service, but only care about the next dollar.  I've decided from now on I'm taking my business to good local stores, or smaller operations via the internet.  My last couple of purchases have been with Greg Boyd's via internet and House of Musical Traditions via phone and Lark in the Morning via Ebay.  All three transactions were FLAWLESS, which is just the opposite of the treatment I got with Musician's Fiend.  I'm even to the point to where I can't stand walking into a Guitar Center anymore.  I just tire of it all.  

At what point is enough actually enough for these big comapnies?  When Guitar Center owns every music store in the country, will they be happy then?  It's the same with all these corporate takeovers of our time.  When is enough enough?

[Novalis]

 I'm even to the point to where I can't stand walking into a Guitar Center anymore.  I just tire of it all.  

Ditto. I just feel dirty walking into those shops. About a month ago I needed a set of heavy guage strings. There are only two shops near my home that are open in the evening after I get off of work: Guitar Center and Sam Ash. The Guitar Center was honest when I called them and informed me that they didn't carry any heavy guage sets but did carry single strings in the gauges I needed. I called Sam Ash and a lying moron said that they carried several brands of heavies. I asked "Are you sure, I don't want to drive there if you don't have them". The moron assured me that they were in stock. I ASKED AGAIN: "Could you look on the shelf to make sure that you arent' out of them, I don't want to drive unless you are sure that you have them in the store". The moron said "yeah, I'm looking at them right now, we got GHS and a couple other brands".

I drove to Sam Ash, walked up to the counter and asked for a set of GHS heavies. The moron handed me a set of GHS mediums.
I said: "I asked for a set of heavy gauge".
Moron: "Oh, aren't those heavy enough?"
Me: "No, if I wanted mediums I would have asked for them"
Moron: "Oh, how about these?" and handed me set of D'Addario mediums
Me: "Do you even know the difference between lights, mediums, and heavies?"
Moron: "Yeah, these are the heaviest we got" he replied as he once again handed me a set of mediums.

I learned my lesson and will NEVER, and I mean NEVER EVER, give my business to a chain store. I'll go a few nights without playing, waiting for mail order, before I ever set foot in such a den of filth.

[Dale_I]

I try to make my purchases some someone who knows more than I do about whatever it is I'm buying, if I can. I'm going to (hopefully) someone who makes their living at it, and they should know at least as much as I do. If they take their job seriously, they should know considerably more. This doesn't always happen, but I depend on their familiarity in areas that I may not know about. One of the reasons car dealerships and I have a hard time....

[Peter Cree]

an interesting aside........................I was reading the NY Times want ads just for grins, and found GC, and MF are both looking for a lot of people to fill positions in the companies..............thus a purge has taken place.

[jimmyd]

At the risk of getting too political on this topic I will suggest that these corporate business models are rampant and are very destructive. I saw an interview with John Bogle last night and he gave the best explanation I've heard so far. Seems somewhere along the way we have been conditioned to now think of greed as a virtue and not a vice and that capitolism has no responsibility to act for the good of the consumer.

http://books.google.com/books?id=3vJVbxJ46kUC&dq=John+C+Bogle&prev=http://www.google.com/search%3Fhl%3Den%26q%3DJohn%2BBogle&sa=X&oi=print&ct=result&cd=3

[Caleb]

Seems somewhere along the way we have been conditioned to now think of greed as a virtue and not a vice and that capitolism has no responsibility to act for the good of the consumer.

I'm not sure that greed is seen as virtuous, but it's just the norm. The mindet of corporations seems to not be how to make money and outdo the competition, but to completely and utterly destroy the competition, then turn around the buy the company and make employees of the conquered.  The irony is that in some situations, company A spends tons of money to convince the public that company B's product is inferior; then when company B goes under, company A steps in and buys company B, then having to turn around to re-convince the public that the product is now OK since they now are running things.  What a mess. 

People can blame the Wal*Marts and Targets, et al for all of this, but if the public didn't fund it, it would not be there.  People love the "convenience" and the glamor of going to these kinds of places.  I feel exactly the opposite though.  It bothers me immensely to even go into Wal*Mart or any of the other soulless, lifeless mega-stores. 

The other night my toilet broke and I had to go into Wal*Mart in the middle of the night to get a part.  The situation dictated that it be fixed right away, so off to Wally world.  I got the part, but had to make my way past the friendly night staff of ex-cons stocking the shelves listening the rap music, but hey, on the bright side, the little box where I slid my debit card asked if my check-out lady greeted me....and it even asked me in English.