Musician's FriendReviews 310

I ordered a Mesa Boogie v 25 amp after obtaining a Gear Card to make the purchase. The web said, "In stock and ready to ship." The agent said it would be shipped the following day. That never happened! I called to let them know I had not received an shipment email. I was told there was only an open box with a tare in the front mesh. I could cancel the order or maybe they could reduce the price. Neither was acceptable to me. What an untruth to advertise all over the internet about their product being available, but knowing it wasn't. Even encouraging their gear heads to pretend it was available. Very misleading for a store that I trusted and counted as my "Go to" store.

I bought a brand new guitar and received a filthy, factory defective, guitar packed in bubble wrap in a broken box with rusted strings a a severe coat of human grease. The guitar can't even be intonated as the neck pocket was cut too deep. Definitely why it sat on a hook at a local Guitar Center and the guitar couldn't even be tuned correctly. By the time I figured it out my return date had passed because I assumed that they would cover a defective product. Instead I was directed to seek out the manufacturer's local rep. My advice is to check your product out for every defect possible as soon as you receive it and return it if it does not meet the specifications of the instrument that you bought. I have been working on and playing guitars and basses for over6 decades and do have significant experience in these matters.

According to Ben, the supervisor, their return policy is 3 business days from the time they receive the gear for a refund. So far, I have received 2 faulty gears, which I had to return and then sit and wait for days so I might get refunded.
Ben, the customer service supervisor, is nasty, rude, and abrupt, making sure to make you as uncomfortable as possible.
Extremely bad customer service

Don't Buy Discount Products at Musician's friend anymore!
I bought this products recently:

https://reurl.cc/rr2MnO

Sterling Audio Harmony H224 Recording Starter Pack

Before I asked Musician's Friend online human agent, they told me THIS IS BRAND NEW! But I got that is not brand new!
There is misleading information on the Website!
When I opened the boxes of each product, I saw that it was not packaged properly, and all the original packaging plastic bags and protective materials were missing!
Some scratch on the products. TOO BAD!

MF prices are no longer competitive, nor do they make up for anything with knowledge or customer service. I placed an order for backorder in July, and was given estimated arrival times for 2 months out. Each time the ETA came, they pushed it back out another 6-8 weeks. I never received updates, so had to constantly check in with staff, who never had any definitive answers, reasons, for delays, etc. All I could get was a new ETA each time, and wait another period. When they finally guaranteed that I had 1/10 of these products on reserve (from a SUPERVISOR), they claimed my product had indeed arrived to the shop and would be shipped out to me momentarily. Then within a week, I had gear advisors claiming the item was all sold out, without any explanation, then tried to place all the blame on Fender and gave a weak, canned apology. There was no attempt to soften the blow or make up for all the time lost (over 7 months) of waiting and following up with them personally, being dragged along with false hopes and misinformation. They simply said, "Let's get you something else" without offering any sort of discount/deal/coupon or attempt to make the situation better. When I tried to continue working with them to see if they could offer any sort of consolation discount, they simply ignored me.

Sadly enough, you'll get better service and clearer answers from Amazon than a company like this, who's allowed itself to be driven into the ground by careless people who have no regard for integrity or maintaining customers.

I'd give 0 stars if it would have allowed me to.

On their mailing list. Can't get off. Have received 35 (THIRTY FIVE) emails SINCE communicating with customer services more than 3 weeks ago. They keep saying they'll handle it. Still waiting, inbox reminding me a couple times a day how f'd up they are.

I have purchased with Musicians Friend for 19 years and it has really gone downhill. I received a Guild guitar this afternoon which came in a Martin Box from Guitar Center in Rockville, MD. I initially thought it was double boxed, but opened it and saw just bubbled wrapped; my initial thought was, "They sent a floor model." Yep, it had plenty of wear on the pickguard, scratches on the body and fretboard, and finger prints everywhere. I called MF and the rep, who was a nice guy who was as frustrated himself, said this happens way more with MF than you would think. Needless to say, it's going back.

Stay away from this shop, they have dishonest people, customer service is very poor and they lie to you.

Abel G

I attempted a return with Benny over the phone. He was laughably horrible and extremely unprofessional. I was sent the wrong item and when I attempted to start the return process, I was talked down to by Benny. I was told from Benny that I should have gone into another company's music store to verify the item size before ordering through Musicians Friend. Benny also threatened to erase the conversation because he did not like that I kept asking to speak to his supervisor. Benny refused to pass me on to his manager. Benny also said he would have refunded my shipping had I been more agreeable but decided not to because of my tone. Do yourself a favor and NEVER SHOP AT MUSICIANS FRIEND. They are not any kind of friend to musicians. Hopefully they go out of business soon.

Brought a higher end Taylor guitar. I had to get BBB involved to get the promised reward points. They went out of their way to ignore me, disconnecting the live chat, and just being dishonest. I will never do business with Musician's Friend again.

I purchased a new Epiphone Les Paul on Labor Day 9-4-23, from Musicians Friend. What arrived, was a used guitar,in a beat up box, is a used, guitar with no Epiphone box, no wrapping as a new guitar would have, no hang tags, NOT NEW but used crap. I immediately called for and sending this junk back for a refund.Musicians Friend as their sister company, Guitar Center should be reprimanded for this horrible, bait and switch action. Beware.

I ordered a PRS DTG and it was out of stock I was told it would be around December so I canceled the order and was told it would come off my credit card account in a couple of days. It's been a month and it is still showing as pending. I called today and was told they would take it off right now if I made another purchase today. Stay away from this company. I have bought a Gibson SG and
Two PRS from this company and will never again.

Ordered a guitar from Musicians Friend. There was a mix up in the email address and our order was lost. One of their customer service team members found our order. Guitar arrived 3 days after order. Very satisfied with my order and the customer service team.

I have been doing business with musicians friend for several years and I have been well satisfied with their service and the quality of their merchandise.

You'll be lucky if you get your shipment from these guys. Order a $1.5k guitar and was told I would get a free case cause Sweetwater offered it. When the order went through they charged me for the case. I should've learned my lesson there. Classic bait and switch to get me to buy from them. I canceled the order for the case and waited on the guitar. Was told it would be there in three days. It took 7 for the tracking to say shipped and left at my side door. Well, I have no side door and have no guitar. Almost going on week two now with no refunds, no updated information, still no manager call which I asked for a week ago, and no reassurance I'll get my money back. And yes, even if the guitar comes I'm sending it back for a refund because I needed to go out and buy one in person instead with how long they were taking. Going to open a dispute with my credit card company, they should be able to actually help. Lesson learned, buy from Sweetwater.

As mentioned above - they sell damaged and already used musical instruments.
I bought an audio card that came in a used box full of paper. The box with the sound card was wrapped in bubble wrap. The box itself was already open, and there were someone's prints and damage on the card. You cannot exchange for a new one, you can only make a return. But if you make a return, they will charge you shipping fee + something else. I bought this item at Stupid Deal. I thought I won $100. Ha! I broke down hard! To return it back, you need to pay more than half the cost. There is no point in returning.This store is owned by the guitar center. I guess they are in the same situation.
SWEETWATER charge shipping fee too if you will make a return. But I've asked them about damage or used gear. They said we need some proof if you have some damage,if item arrived damaged - we don't charge shipping fee. I don't trust to all of them, but sweet water looks nice, then Musician Enemy

Just got today and set it up, played for an hour and here is my review.
KILLER, AMAZING!
Module is fantastic
To me, all the hardware and pedals are pretty heavy duty like Roland.
Kick tower sticks like glue to carpet.
Velcro already on it.
The feel of the bass is nice.
Rack is so much better the Alesis or other round tube racks.
Oh yeah, it's already assembled!
Pads are super heavy duty, beautiful mesh, see through heads.
Cymbals are maybe the weak part of the set, but they are fine.
Acousticly, this set is pretty quiet.
This is a steal. I'm 62 years old. I'm a pro guitarist and a pretty good drummer so my opinion is legit.
BUY IT!

They never check their online orders and have sold used vintage Squier Stratocasters I've bought and paid for not once but twice in the last three months…I will never even so much as buy strings from them again

It's been several years since I've done business with musicians friend. The reason I stopped is because I had two items I needed to return for standard reasons. Both separate returns in new, unopened box shape. Total was $200. Never saw the money credited to my account. Customer Service said they didn't receive the package, though the USPS stated it was delivered. No recourse (don't get me started on PayPal). Lost $200 to these crooks. I had done business without hassle for several years prior to this incident and no issues, great customer service. I read that they had been sold to another company and that service and overall business model had dropped off significantly after the sale. Makes sense. Use Sweetwater, a local music shop, or other online music companies like Chicago Music Exchange or Sam Ash. DO. NOT. USE. MUSICIANS. FRIEND!