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 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.

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.

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

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 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.

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 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.

I've always shopped at Sweetwater- been happy with the customer service there. For some reason-don't ask why- thought I'd try musicians friend as they had a good price on and "open box" slate ML1. What a mistake. It was "no box" as in used I guess and no documentation including activation code for the software required to make the mic useful. Contacted Musicians "Friend" and got "shrug IdK maybe contact the manufacturer" anyway. Huge hassle to save a few bucks but lesson learned. Seriously-steer way clear of Musicians Friend. $#*! those guys.

They say items ship same day or next. I waited a week for them to finally ship. Every time I contacted customer support they didn't know ANYTHING about what was going on and the best they could do was say "wait and see". When the item finally did ship, I received an open box item with no warning. The order I placed was for a brand NEW synth, not an opened/returned/used one. They refused any sort of credit for getting an open box model. Quite literally the worst service in the music industry. Go to Sweetwater. Hell, go ANYWHERE else. Save yourself the frustrations. Thank me later.

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

After speaking to numerous agents, I was told I have already used my points, which is impossible checking the time frame carefully, another answered we made a mistake and your points were never transfered over.We will reach out to our loyalty team(Oxi Morons)and take care of it. Well guess what, they are still missing in action! These Morons have an IQ of a first grader. They make a great daily double(M/F & Guitar Center) You can not embarass these people. Once again, STAY CLEAR!

Where do I even start?! This company shouldn't be in business based on my experience. The CS reps have horrible communication skills; they'll straight up lie to you to get you off the phone, they are rude and very unhelpful and you'll never fix your original issue the first time you call. They ONLY reason they are still operating is there 48 months no interest credit card Synchrony Bank offers. Believe me, it ain't worth it. Go to ZZOUNDS or Sweetwater.

Terrible experience trying to buy a new Fender Strat and Marshall amp. Long story short, I tried buying a "new and ready to ship" guitar 3 separate times and all 3 were used display models from Guitar Center stores that were damaged and missing parts. The amp was also a used floor model from the store with cosmetic damages.
The sales reps were really nice, apologized and promised each time that the next item would be a new one. They also give you their direct contact info but it's impossible to actually reach them directly (they don't respond to emails, no call backs, etc). I had to charge my credit card for each item since they can't just exchange it and took weeks for each charge to get refunded. There's also no way to speak to anyone in management or complain if something goes wrong.
What a terrible company. Had these bad online experiences with both Guitar Center and Musicians Friend (same company). They just try and unload all their used junk from the Guitar Center stores. Shop somewhere else!

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.

Said that's what they do, to make sure funds are available, sounds fishy to me, Don't trust them after this, hopefully all goes well, said after one goes through the other one falls off as customer support stated. If not I'll dispute it with my bank and have the bank do a force charge back if stuff is not new either, cause that'd count as not goods or product that I Purchased. Musician's Friend is quick to make people not trust them. I'm one of them. Next day they took 2nd charge off, Just got to see if Items are New now...