Musician's Friend

BEWARE MF SHIPPING PRACTICES!

A product was ordered FOR ME by a family member not aware of my attitude toward MF.

The very expensive item was shipped in its RETAIL carton with NO outer box. The item was very expensive and heavy. The retail box was obviously NOT, I say, NOT intended as a shipping container. The box arrived from the UPS Demolition team, hanging open on my porch! Shipping expensive gear in retail boxes which provide absolutely NO damage protection is a POOR reflection on the shipping department and company leadership. Good God, don't buy anything from MF!

Previous review below::

I have experienced this TWICE! The first time I considered it a mistake, and was ok to continue doing business. I have bought $$$$ of product from MF, but NO MORE...

If you have a problem with MF customer serivce, they have a quite intricate RUN-AROUND tactic that will leave you unbelievable frustrated. They instruct you to continually call someone else and they will not transfer the call. They simply try to wear you out dialing and getting repeated pass offs until you give up.

AVOID buying from MF if you can help it! Go with another online supplier.

I purchased a Mitchell EZB Acoustic-Electric Mini-Bass.
1. Had to wait on backorder, since January 17,2021 to get the color I wanted when I could have went that day to Guitar Center locally and bought the one of a different color.
2. When I was finally notified of it being delivered, I checked the tracking history and stated that it was being shipped back due to a partial address being on the package.
3. So, I had to make a 20 minute trip to the UPS center and with a persistent conversation, the reluctant UPS person found it and pulled it off in what he said "In the nick of time".
4. I get home, unpack it and begin tuning it. I start to play it for a short bit. I place the guitar stand and hear a loud thump. What happened is the second string down, went limp. I tried to tune it, but the string kept unraveling as I turned the key.
5. I chatted (after waiting in the wings for close to a half an hour) with your agents multiple times and did refund me eventually a total of 60 dollars which I had to use to purchase a set of replacement strings (37.00) and pay a local guy music store 15+ dollars to put those on.
6. I take it back home, plug it in and this is happening: the E string is really loud and the D string also, but the two middle ones are very quiet. All are plucked at the same strength.
WOW!
I have spent many, many hours with this ordeal and have even reached out to Mitchell guitars get involved. Nothing there either.

The resolution that was suggested by both Mitchell and MF is ship it back for a replacement. (Which is even MORE of my time!) I do not want to begin this nonsense all of over again, being that the guitar is again on backorder. The quality of this guitar is atrocious! To try to make this playable, the local technician tried to salvage this guitar so I would not have to ship it back. His diagnosis, after trying to balance the pickup or something like that, stated that it was truly defective and needed replaced. (another 15.00). I just can't believe so much can be wrong with a NEW item.
Five months of this ordeal, and still have not been able to play it for any length of time!

A week ago I made a purchase with you, due to an emergency, I bought a guitar and paid overnight, it arrived two days late and in poor condition, without the corresponding cover that was included, two days ago I made another purchase of another guitar with the same shipment over night and I still haven't received the instrument and I haven't been sent the tracking number either, the first two purchases I make with Musicians Friend and I receive this feedback from you, the attention to new clients is very unacceptable.
I tried to communicate by phone and the person who attended me with children screaming behind the phone never tried to provide me with a solution to the bad service of MF, he simply told me to wait or cancel the order... very mediocre and disrespectful and professionalism to professionals who have been working for decades in music, I was not given the opportunity to speak with a Manager or Supervisor who provides any solution or apologizes for the double inconvenience caused to me in my professional work.
I hope they give me some solution ASAP, I will also leave a few reviews on BBB

They messed up my billing info, failed to contact me about an order cancellation, and had poor customer service. I do not recommend.

Ordered a used guitar from their web site and received a $116 promotional credit. When I went to complete the order the site wouldn't let me use my point dollars so I called and was helped by someone in the Philippines. He convinced me to clean out my cart and he would order it. So I did and within a few minutes he came back and said that he could not apply the points to a used item so I told him thanks but that I would order it myself. A couple of hours later I logged back in and reordered the guitar however my $116 promotional discount was gone. When I called back to have it put back on it was like I was in the twilight zone. No one had a clue what I was talking about all they could say is sorry or hang up on me. One person Nate got the manager to give me a $50 credit that I could use and I figured that was better than nothing. So a few hours after I cooled off I went to the guitar center near me that had it and them went back to musicians friend to pay file it and use my credit card. Guess what no credit could be found, so the manager of guitar center put it at the counter until I could get it paid for. I called MF again to find out where my credit was only to be told that they would have Nate call me right back. 30 minutes went by with no call so I called back and was told that it would be just a few more minutes. 30 more minutes went by and Nate called me and after looking for about 10 more minutes he found the credit, however you couldn't use it to order on line rather you had to call and place the order. Well after all this I realized that I really didn't want the guitar anymore as all the joy was gone. So I came home and cut up my musicians friend card and enjoyed every minute of it

I had been watching and tried to purchase a Fodera bass guitar from Musicians Friend. Two weeks ago I received a holiday coupon from musicians friend into my email for 15% off to use towards any purchase $299 or more. I placed the bass guitar in the checkout. I applied the coupon which the website took and gave the discount. I then selected the payment option of the offered 48 mos. Financing. The purchase could not be completed and to call musician's Friend. I called and the person said they could only apply this discount by phone. After approx 30 min. The representative came back and said the website mad a mistake. They could only give 6 mos. Financing with the 15% coupon. Better yet it was learned that the bass was a demo hanging on a display hood out in Las Vegas. I went back to the website for review. The website said it was brand new! (The bass was a $5000 guitar.). I went back to the representative and asked if he could do any better on the price. He replied NO, I walked away from the whole thing. Yesterday I was surfing the web looking at the Fodera's. Sweetwater ia a site I have done business with before that caught my interest. There it was, holiday deals and financing had arrived at Sweetwater! I called and spoke with a representative and not only did he answer all my questions, he gave me the best price on the bass guitar! SOLD!
It is refreshing in todays market/ internet world the human element is still alive at Sweetwater.com. It sad to say that even a 5% discount from Musicians Friend would have completed the deal. They played hard ball with me, held their ground and lost the 5k sale over a few hundred dollars! Great job guys……..

Ordered an item no problem. The next day I get an email meant for another customer saying they couldn't fill his order. Then I get another email FOR ANOTHER customer saying they couldn't fill his order. Then I get another email - seriously- saying that they couldn't fill my order unless I wanted the one they had that was broken. WHAT? I said no BUT they took the money out of my bank account. This is a true story from someone who used to order everything musical from Musicians Friend. I can't see them lasting much longer.

Just don't. I have a terrible experience ordering a Zildjian gong from this place. After 6 weeks of "back order" and a phone call from the (I presume) owner promising it would be sent out soon, I received a cancellation notice the next day. And the next day a correction to the cancellation. And then radio silence. They still placed a "pending" charge for the full amount. TWICE. After repeated calls and a VM to the "owner" I just cancelled it. Two months is way to long for a simple order and the confusion and headaches, not to mention the delay on this 50th bday present is just ridiculous. I gave one star for the attempt at customer service.

This company has really gone downhill over the years. Used to be great prices and great USA based customer service. They outsourced their customer service to India and now you'd be better off talking to a brick wall instead of them. Called for a discount on some studio monitors and they agreed to take 15% off. When she gave me the total, she only took the discount off one of them instead of the pair I wanted to order. When I tried to explain the situation, she had no idea what I was saying. This was after about 45 minutes talking to them. Told them to hold off on the order and I'd call them back later when I had time. They decided to go ahead and ship the order the next day without my permission at the higher price. I called them and told them to correct the price or send me a return shipping label. The guy I spoke to this time told me he'd look into it and call me back. A week goes by and no phone call or price adjustment. Filed a complaint with the BBB and they immediately got back to me and corrected the price. Just ordered a new $1000 guitar at full retail price and they shipped me one from a Guitar Center in Texas that was either a used or demo guitar. Came with a chip in the binding, scratches, and full of blemishes from the factory (should have been stamped B stock). It was a Schecter guitar and they sent it in a Fender Squire box with no paperwork or tools. Set up a return and canceled my credit card with them the same day. I've had a card with them for probably close to 20 years. I'd say 9 out of the last 10 orders with them have been bad experiences. I'm done. They used to be awesome, but they are now bottom of the barrel on how they treat their customers. As a side note, Guitar Center, Musician's Friend, Music & Arts, Woodwind Brasswind, Guitar Center Private Brands and AVDG are all the same company.

I have shopped Musicians Friend for quite a long while. My last two guitar purchases have been through them (a Rogue LX205B 5-String Series III Electric Bass Guitar Metallic Blue & a Rogue RA-090 Dreadnought Acoustic Guitar Black. Yeah, I like me some Rogue Guitars). Both were open-box returns with very few cosmetic issues (i. E. The LX205B had minor scratches at the cord connection and was missing the peal fret marker on the 5th fret. The RA-090 had no discernible issues at all. Both were purchased with significant discounts on some already great but inexpensive guitars.) and played perfectly right out of the box. Out of my entire guitar collection, the Rogue RA-090 is my go-to for acoustic and my Rogue LX205B is second only to my 1979 Peavey T40 (and as a side note, my 1975 Fender Jazz, one f my dearest loves, comes in 3rd. Sorry Leo.).

The biggest issue I've run into is back-orders. I have had two or three that were cancelled that I didn't know about for several months after the cancellation when I checked my order history for updates. Although very annoying, it was nothing I haven't run into with other places. It's a fact of business that you sometimes get caught with a low inventory when an unexpected demand hits. Nothing unusual about it and I did get my merchandise after redoing the order (a Bill Lawrence A245C Acoustic Guitar Sound-hole Pickup Black).
Overall, I love their large selections; their new webpage design is a pain to navigate but I'm getting used to, and I have fewer complaints regarding Musicians Friend than I have on local retailers that I still frequent. Nothing that would make me stop patronizing any of them. I've been happy with every transaction.
***To be fair, one star off for the cancelled back-orders mentioned above. I hope someone finds this novella helpful.

Ordered $1700 keyboard on Dec 8th 2020, it just arrived a few days ago. They kept giving me false reassurance on the shipping date, saying it would ship out on the 10th the ne t month. When the 10th came and went, I'd contact them again just to be told it would ship out the 10th the next month again. This happened mult times. I would have been okay with them just telling me they didn't know when the item would ship out.
Also I understood COVID was causing shipping delays, so I tolerated it. Until it reached 6 months. Then I broke down and, through a chat message conversation (after being promised it would ship the next month AGAIN), told them that if it didn't ship by the end of June - I was going to cancel my order and do business with someone else.
It sure can't be coincidence that I got an email 9 days later saying the keyboard was on its way to me.
The kicker is, I spent $1700 and waited 6 months for a keyboard (wait for it) that doesn't turn on. That's right - it doesn't turn on. And there is what appears to be a chemical stain on the right front exterior side of the keyboard. Also some of chunks of styrofoam inside the box appeared to be broken and missing.
Musicians Friend claims this item is brand new and I am the only one to lay hands on it, but I call BS on that. Now I am having to work through Kawai to get this item to a local service repair technician so it can get fixed.
And unfortunately this fix isn't going to be as simple as just replacing the power cord - because I already took a multimeter and tested the voltage and it works just fine.
It's the damn keyboard.
I will never NEVER purchase from this company again.
Please be wary they will cheat you and sell you used and damaged product, while listing it as brand new.

I ordered a brand new (said in stock) Pioneer PLX 500 turntable after them saying there's one on the way the first order was cancelled without even talking to me because the Guitar Center who claimed they had it ended up deciding they actually DIDINT have one. This situation ended up being a wash rinse repeat situation 5 effing times. 5 orders, 5 cancellation's and then they finally notified me that they shipped it. Mind you I paid for a brand new Pioneer PLX 500 so I got pretty excited. After saving for what seemed like an eternity I finally had the money to buy it. What I received was an out and out offensive item. 1st it wasn't even CLOSE to a new turntable 2nd it was placed and shipped in a box that was big enough to fit 2 Pioneer PLX 500 turntable's in it 3rd it had absolutely ZERO PACKING MATERIAL in it and 4h it arrived in about 50 pieces. This turntable was completely broke, the top shell was shattered and obviously they attempted to (of all things) taped together which obviously didn't work, it was missing all cords, manuals, one leg from the turntable was missing, as well as any and all accessories. I COULD NOT BELIEVE they would even consider mailing something in this condition. As I stated above I ordered and paid the purchase price for a BRAND NEW ITEM. It turned out they shipped me a completely broken and trashed open box display model that was completely unusable. That was the last order they made so a total of I believe 5 orders. DO NOT BUY ANYTHING from that buisness the only result you can expect is anger, frustration, and heart break. Below is photos of what I received.

Ordered a studio monitors with warranty the 27th of September 2020. AFTER IT WAS PUT ON BACKORDER, CUSTOMER SERVICE Said it would arrive on the 11th of October 2020. Oct 11th arrives. I received ANOTHER BACK ORDER NOTICE. CUSTOMER SERVICE SAID. It will arrive the 22nd of October 2020. I received yet another BACKORDER NOTICE. I CALLED CUSTOMER SERVICE AGAIN, they apologized for the delays and blamed it on Covid-19. Your new shipping date should be by the 11th of November. It is now election day and I decided to call Customer service and "Cancel" my order. And explain to them I don't want the product anymore. I was put on hold for 15 min and they told me it has been cancelled wait about 8 days for your money to wire back to my account. Today is November 4 2020 and I received a notification that my package is being shipped. I lose my marbles, I've had enough, so I called customer service yet again and they tell me there's no record of them cancelling my order... I laid down the law and gave them a real good ear rodgering about Customer service. I've been nothing but patient and have been a loyal customer since I found out about Musicians Friend. I've spent thousands of dollars at this company and I refuse to pay them a dime for anything else. My advice... Wait till Guitar Center files for bankruptcy and get your gear when it goes on clearance and Middle fingers up to musicians friend.