Musician's Friend

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.

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've bought bass guitars and some other stuff from these folks. New is what you'd expect. New. Recently I needed a Peavey amp and ordered a used one from Musicians Feiend. It arrived quickly and was packaged well. The amp arrived looks wise as it did in the photos. I was told that the amp had been checked out and was solid. Not so. I plugged it in and there was heavey static and popping sounds. It was impossible to use. I wrote Musicians friend and 48 hrs later I've heard nothing.

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.

I've purchased from them 14 times over the past five years, including three times this year. I've never had anything except excellent customer service from them. For instance, a few months back I ordered a guitar, and when it arrived, it had numerous issues. I prompted called them, got through to a rep right away, and told him the issues. He immediately sent me a call tag, so all I had to do was box it back up, put the tag on, and take it to UPS. I received my money back very quickly as well. They're a pleasure to work with. I will continue buying from them.

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.

I find that the customer service is fair but the products have been sub par and will never purchase again from this company

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.

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

Abel G

Very unhappy with this purchase. It came jammed into a big box with no protection for the neck. The tuner didn't work because the battery was dead. The agent made no effort to solve the situation. He said return the guitar - no apologies for the fact it was so badly packaged, tuner dead, or the fact it came from Guitar Center - not Musicians Friend. I have bought several guitars from them, but this is the last.

Never trust this website or app for accurate information regarding inventory. Twice over the past year I have tried to order the same guitar, that was said to be in stock and ready to ship. Each time I get an email cancellation 5 days later. They have no customer service at all. Rude people that don't care about anything, assuming you can actually talk to a real person. I'm done with MF and Guitar Center. They are going down in flames.

I am a college student in desperate need of musical items at a decent price. Musician's Friend sends out coupons and there was a 20% coupon that I had just seen, however it expired only a day ago. I called the main number and the site's wonderful representative Ashley Foard picked up. I explained to her my situation and she kindly and patiently helped get me my discount. I ordered a keyboard and other accessories to go along with it, constantly asking questions to make sure the products and payment were correct. I successfully ordered my products and she offered to call when they arrive to make sure everything was in good condition. I was very fortunate to have spoken with Ashley and I am very happy with my purchase.

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 lavalier mic from Musicians Friend. Unfortunately 2 days later I tried to return it because it does not work with my Rode wireless go, and I called them but they said my order number does not match what's in their system so they can't help me. Even though the return label info included in the box has their company name, address and telephone number, LPN and scan code. However, I did get a refund for it through Target since they were the ones that referred Musicians Friend. So Im ok now, but the whole experience with talking with the so called customer service rep and her constantly cutting me off is the reason for the review score of three stars.

Don't buy anything from here, if anything happens you're $#*! out of luck. They will straight take your money and not help you.

So never buying from this $#*!ty company again,I ordered a used cymbal and it had a huge crack in it not isted as such and why sell broken instruments along with other gear it should be in a separate section clearly marked damaged goods. I reported this to the better business bureau and they lost a great customer. $#*! you musicians non friend.

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.

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!

Spent $1,100 on a brand new Ibanez S61. Box showed up the guitar was wrapped only in bubble wrap. No factory box no paper work no warranty no nothing. They took a floor model full of blemishes from a guitar center threw it in a box and sent it out. So incredibly unethical and deceiving. Selling used gear at brand new prices and trying to get away with it. I spend a lot of money on guitars and they just lost my business for ever.

They are a poorly managed company. Ignore wrong doings and do not serve customers very well. Especially when they fouled up and owe you money. They seem to be running a "bait n switch" operation when it comes to big ticket items. I. e. Guitar sales. It appears they have business model based upon "for every customer we lose, we get 5 new ones, so why bother with customer complaints." They sold company to Guitar Center which is risky when buying used guitars as sellers on Guitar Center push defective prouducts at high prices which validates the business model suggested.

I have spent thousands of dollars ordering from them because over a decade ago they would always give me the best deal I could find... by far! Now they are affiliated with every other music site so you can't haggle, every site just gives you the same deal a different way. Ex- full price plus a case that costs $20, other site says full price with a warranty that costs $20, other site says they will give you $20 dollars off. More of a choose your poison attitude now rather than trying to get you the best deal so they can be the one to make the sell.

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

I've purchased numerous high end items (guitars, amps, recording studios etc...) in my track orders tab in the app it only showed one amp I bought in 2008 and none others. I called customer service to see if i can check past orders and all he said was huh? I guess you cant. That's strange. Is there anything else I can help you with? I'll just buy from sweetwater or somewhere else from now on.