DO NOT ORDER anything from musicians friend or guitar center (same company). I ordered a guitar back in February 2022... I heard absolutely NOTHING from them. No phone call, no email, NOTHING! Apparently, the guitar became back ordered. I got busy and it slipped my mind. April rolls around, still nothing, I contacted them, they say "oh, it's back ordered, but looks like we have a shipment date of next week"... So, next week came and went, then the following week, then the following month. I've contacted them several times and they always say the same thing. I had to escalate as much as I could to get somebody to look into this order... and it was in October (8 months later). I finally was able to get someone to look into it and they were actually honest... first up front person I've dealt with. They told me it is likely not coming into stock anytime soon. So, after a discussion, he cancelled my order. I paid with an e-gift certificate and when he cancelled my order, he gave me an "in-house" credit... which apparently is something I am not able to see on my end. So if I want to use that credit, I am FORCED to deal with their inept customer service representatives. The one I was dealing with tells me I am not able to apply discounts to items on sale. I did not argue but I pointed out my original order was a guitar, on a nicely discounted sale, and I was still able to use a %15 coupon to make it even cheaper... he told me to find another salesman. I was stunned! (not surprised though... that is the type of sales people musicians friend/guitar center uses). They (not all, but most) seem to be arrogant, smug, posh little individuals who think they're all so talented and smart and they're the 'god' of your life and they want to dictate to you what you should buy and play. When I use this credit up I will burn this bridge with extreme prejudice!

In between this abomination of a transaction, I've ordered a Yamaha DGX-670 and a Casio Privia 870 from Kraft Music... and I was impressed with their knowledge and follow ups. Now, they do kind of blow up your email, but I'd rather have too much sales presence than NONE AT ALL (like musicians friend and guitar center). Sweetwater is also a wonderful company to do business with! So, in short. Musicians friend/guitar center = BAD, AWFUL, HORRIBLE, STRESS and HEADACHE INDUCING. Sweetwater and Kraft Music = Pleasant, relaxing, (I haven't had any issues yet with over a dozen orders placed over the years with each of them), sales people aren't rude or smug or arrogant, and they seem to care about customers!

0 STARS if I could! I recently purchased 2 NEW guitars and upon receipt I am not happy with what I was sent.

The first guitar I received (Schecter Guitar Research C-1 Platinum Electric Guitar Satin Transparent Midnight Blue) SKU #H*******2000 is clearly a very used guitar. It is covered with dead skin and hair. (GROSS) Has grime in the switches and compartments. It also has a lot of dings nicks and scratches all over the guitar. It was not shipped in its factory box and only shipped in a Jackson box wrapped in a minimal amount of bubble wrap. It is clearly a very used instrument and NOT NEW. Considering musicians friend has listed an open box for $383 and I paid $509 I asked for either like a price adjustment for the used instrument or I would have to return as I feel I did not get what I paid for.

The second guitar in the order (Ibanez AEWC32FM Thinline Acoustic-Electric Guitar Purple Sunset Fade High Gloss) SKU #J*******8000 Also appears to be not new. Possibly an open box or floor model with very tarnished strings and lots of hairline scratches across the body of the instrument and some dings.

I am really disappointed in the quality of the instruments I have received from musician's friend.

After speaking to customer service they would not discount the price to the used price of the Schecter Guitar ever though they have one for sale as used open box for $383. The rep said her boss wouldn't allow it and only offered 10% off the guitar. I declined and chose to return both guitars as both are clearly NOT NEW and they had an opportunity to provide good customer service from they horrible and gross mistake but chose to lose business and a customer instead.
If you look up complaints for them, this is very common for them to send used instruments or floor models. I plan to post a BBB complaint following this review. Take your business to zzounds.

First it said in stock ready to ship ( lie) ALL ICAN SAY IS THEY HAVE THE WORST CUSTOMER SERVICE EV

Ordered two acoustic guitar cases on sale (with a history of over $1000/year in the past from Musicians Friend... so GOOD customer). Sale said backordered on acoustic gtr cases until like 3 months later (reason for sale price, which is common on items on their website). At first, it was good. They sent me a reminder email saying items still backordered and that they would be sending when in stock. After THREE months, I received the last update on Sept 10,2019... saying items still backordered and that they would send when in stock. On Sept. 17, got an email saying both items had been cancelled. When I called about cancellation, rep said it was MY responsibility to call and keep the items "active" since it had been so long since the order date (again, a common practice for their online sales across MANY items on their website. Remember, the item said it would be three plus months at time of sale... and REASON for the cheaper price. Buy now and save on a new product... kind of deal. So, to summarize, it was MY fault for ordering items and not calling them to keep it active (so that once it got in stock, it would be sent to me), even though Musician Friend monthly emails told me I needed to do nothing to keep it active. SECOND COMPLAINT. If you do order a case (happened on more than two OTHER orders), and that case comes in dented and damaged like my 3-4 cases did over the span of a year and three or so orders. Well, guess what... it's the CONSUMER'S responsibility to pay shipping back for cases that are basically crap when they arrive... so FALSE ADVERTISING on return policy. This policy changed at the beginning of 2019, because previous to this, their policy was to honor the bad cases and send you another on them for sending you a hunk of junk. But, not after Jan. 1,2019... with NO NOTIFICATION OF CHANGE FOR CONSUMER. Ohh yeah, and guess what about a replacement. Once the case or item is received back from you, you don't get the sale price replacement that you PAID FOR INITIALLY. You, then, have to pay whatever the current price is to get that item again.>SO BUYER BEWARE ABOUT ANY MUSICIAN FRIEND SALES>>>>>THEY ARE NOT MUSICIANS' FRIEND. IT SHOULD BE CALLED MUSICIANS' FIEND... STUPID DEAL OF THE DAY OR HOUR (or any sale they have)... is just that... STUPID and from a FIEND. BEWARE!

After dealing with Sweetwater and Musicians friend for years, I can assure u that you should buy NEW gear from musicians friend. Better tech support, honest REPS. Better prices on most gear. They simply have more durable gear. Sweetwater sells refurbished type stuff and returned gear as New. That's a fact.
MF Won't sell you old/"new" gear buried deep in a huge warehouse.
MF actually inspects items, Sweetwater lies about their 55 point evaluation (that's obvious bs, lol)
Sweetwater has great marketing tactics and will easily fool nonprofessional-musicians. They tell you everything u want to hear during the sale. When ur item breaks after 30 days their attitude changes. They work hand in hand with companies, to sell the companies reject items... They look new cuz They make them look new. SCAM. Sweetwater can easily replace thier garbage cuz they exchange it for garbage! They get these items cheap cuz of the sheer amount they buy. They don't buy companies good stuff, they buy up their garbage... Their 2 year warranty is a scam. Their expensive stuff over $900 breaks right after 2 years (conveniently after the warranty expires). While Musicians friend has never sold me an item that has broke, EVER! Not even a demo, or refurbished item, nothing! I've bought thousands of dollars worth of stuff from MF... Even Sweetwaters patch cables are garbage after a short time. They sell companies weaker, older stock, I promise you!.
Sweetwaters garbage let's me down constantly.
I'm done with SW and dealing only with MF, Reverb.com, or ebay/craigslist.
Sweetwater gives a 2 year warranty cuz their stuff breaks, not cuz they care! Every company would do it if there wasnt a catch. Read between the lines, folks... They will knock off $200 on a $1200 item for a reason folks... i can't explain everything that has happened to me at Sweetwater. If interested on what to expect from sweetwater u can reach me at *******@gmail.com. My mom taught me as a kid to never trust strangers that give me candy... sweetwater puts candy in every box, lol... im not falling for their scam any longer.
Pathetic company that relies on foreign sweatshops to sell there merchandise. My last orange ad30 amp i got from Sweetwater sounded like it was built by a malnourished, beaten 10 year old in some dungeon in china after the warranty expired and i played the amp maybe 15 times for a total of 10 hours tops... screw Chinese goods, screw sweetwaters sweatshop crap... Boycott Sweetwater and their communist friends and buy American made from Musicians Friend.
If you are the type that goes to the car dealership to get your windshield wipers changed, or buy your 10 year old a $4000 Taylor guitar, then Sweetwater may be right up your alley. If you want durability in the gear u buy, from people that know gear, trust MUSICIANS FRIEND. You won't be sorry.
Their name says it all, musiciansFRIEND.
Don't believe the positive reviews about Sweetwater. It's ur hard earned money... you have been warned.

The customer service at this company is awful, Ive attempted to order items online thru this company and their "highly trained" verifications team keeps canceling my orders. After speaking with Micheal Baker, hes made it clear that the items I was going to purchase were high fraud items, what defines a high fraud item I dont know, so after several attempts to order two items, they made it clear that they will keep canceling my orders unless I make a purchase via bank wire transfer, Ok so I go to my bank, do a wire transfer for certain items. And Micheal Baker who claims he is the final authority tells/scolds me, that I was wrong for doing a wire transfer for an amount different then the original orders, I asked if it made a difference and he said it did, but would not tell me why. He also said that I would need to keep doing wire transfers if I wanted to make purchases thru either Musicians Friend or Guitar Center.com, which are under the same ownership. I would normally walk away from any company that shows so little respect for its customers, and that insinuates to a customer that they think they are commiting fraud. But I am stuck with a Musicians Friend credit card, which is thru Synchrony Bank, who did identity after identity verification before they activated my account. So I cancel the credit card, it will have negative effects on my credit. Im stuck with a credit card I cant use, and a company that accused/suspected me of commiting fraud for wanting to purchase a 350.00 ipad mini, headphone, instrument interface combo. Why do they offer to sell these items if they are "high fraud" items? I attempted to contact Paul Christianson, who is the director of the Musicians friend/Guitar center call center. No luck there, and it seems that every person I spoke to in this company seems to feel this is a little extreme on the part of the verifications team, even after Ive done as they asked and did the wire transfer. If you plan on making any larger purchase stay away from this company, their verifications team seems intent of cancelling larger orders. Had plans to purchase a Gibson Explorer thru this company but after my dealings with them I ended up ended up giving my money to Sweetwater, awsome customer service. For a corporation like Musicians Friend/Guitar Center, that is struggling financially, it seems they would rather push customers away instead of bringing them in. Makes no sense.

Thanks for the site. Iam really appreciate u for making us happy

November 24,2015 I put in an order for a Sound Percussion Labs Marching Snare Drum with Carrier 13 x 11 in. Black Item #: J*******2002 $169.99 which was on back order. They were expected to receive more on Dec 4 from the manufacturer. On Dec 4, I received an email saying they had not received them yet but would send it out as soon as they received them. On Fri, Dec 11 at 4:24pm I received an email saying my order would not be here by Christmas and I had the option to find another similar item if I needed it by Christmas. I found another item. Sound Percussion Labs High-Tension Marching Snare Drum with Carrier Regular 14 x 12 Black $379.99 which is obviously a little more expensive. I called first thing Monday, Dec 14 to make the switch. The first person I spoke to (forgot to write her name down) said the original item was set to ship out that day but there was no tracking info in the system and at first I was going to go with it. Of course, I was confused because I just got the other email saying I wasn't going to get my original order by Christmas. Ultimately, I decided I wanted this other item that I found instead and called back just a few minutes later the same day to go ahead and make the switch. I spoke with Allen next, who put me on a long hold to straighten everything out. He got everything switched over for me and said there should be no problem getting my order by Christmas. I checked my order status this last Saturday, Dec 19 and saw my new order wasn't even showing up on my acct but my credit card had already been charged on Dec 15. So, I called and spoke with Kiera, who also put me on a long hold. She said my order was on hold pending the exchange return - this was Sat, Dec 19 mind you. They had let my canceled order get all the way to my home town sorting facility before it was returned and weren't going to release my new order until they received it! After telling me she would not guarantee my order could arrive by Christmas, she spoke to a supervisor and they were supposed to go ahead and release my order (since they knew they were going to receive the return soon) and bump up the shipping so I would get it by Wed, Dec 23. I checked my order online Sunday, Dec 20. They had the new order showing up but didn't bump up the shipping. They were shipping it out UPS Ground from Kansas City, MO to arrive here by Wed. Sorry but shipping ground from MO to FL on the same week as THE major holiday for shipping gifts does NOT guarantee my gift arrives by Christmas- THEY DID NOT BUMP UP THE SHIPPING. So, I called again today, Dec 21 and spoke with Crystal, who after putting me on a couple long holds, said, "Maybe it can be a late Christmas present." She said there was absolutely no way to get my order to me by Christmas. I asked her about returning the item if it doesn't arrive in time before I got off the phone. After stewing on it a bit, I called back and spoke with Leon, told him the whole story and that I wanted to speak to a supervisor. He put me on a long hold and came back to say I could definitely speak to a supervisor but he had a solution. He said they were going to do an exchange for the order going out ground and send my order out again today this time 2nd day air, which should get here by Wed, Dec 23 and added $20 in house credit on my acct. Before I got off the phone I made sure their system reflected the shipping change and I will be monitoring it closely. At this point, however, I have no confidence my order will arrive on time. Fingers crossed!

The daily deals are good on this site.

I wish I could give less than one star. These people are complete crooks with no customer service. We spent over $5k buying furniture for our whole home there a year ago. We bought a giant sectional couch that was on sale with a "free" recliner included as well as sofa tables a dinette set a queen bedroom set etc.

Within 8 months the couch recliner handles completely broke off and the springs in TWO of the seats started popping up through the fabric. We had been sold a warranty that the salesman stated covered EVERYTHING and that if we weren't happy with it at any point we could get a pro rated refund on it. So we called the warranty people - they made us fill out tons of forms and send in pictured. THREE WEEKS and several phone calls later, they sent out a tech that we assumed would do the repair. Instead he was here for about 5 minutes to look at the damage and take MORE pics and advise us to wait another 3 weeks for a DECISION on if they would fix it.

We waited - they denied our claim stating that the damage was "normal wear and tear" adn not covered, despite what teh Becks salesman had told us. We asked for our prorated refundon teh remainder of our warranty as we could see at this point that it was a worthless waste of money and a scam - they stated only Becks could refund us.

At this point after reviewing our receipt we had noticed that Becks had fraudulently charged us for our "free" recliner - over $350. We had already called the upwards of 8 times. Sometimes they don't answer and we leave messages that are not returned. Sometimes they say the manager is out with health issues with no ETA to return. Other times they transfer us to someone elses voice mail. Or tell us they will look into it and never get back to us. Once they actually put us through to the sales man who said he would look into it and get back to us - but he never did. When I questioned him about the warranty he said "Oh yes, they cover everythign even wear and tear" and I said no - they just denied our claim saying it was normale wear and tear for springs to poke up through the couch adn the handles to fall off - and then he corrected himself "Oh no... they don't cover wear and tear". We started calling them AGAIN regarding the warranty reimbursement only to now be told they DON'T give a pro rated refudn - the salesman just LIED about everything. Nice.

We filed a complaint with the BBB with ALL of these issues. They did NOT respond to the overcharge of $350. They did NOT respond to their sales person lying to make the sale. The ONLY response they had was stating that according to the warranty company we were rude to their tech and so therefore we didn't get any service. Which isn't true - our denial wasn't for "being rude" nor did any manager contact us regarding the visit etc. It stated we are denied service because the damage is wear and tear.

Becks won't even RESPOND honestly to ANY allegations - or respond at ALL to the allegations of blatant fraud.

These people have no customer service or morals. AVOID LIKE THE PLAGUE.