Sweetwater

I admit, for the past decade, I have slowly wooed by the amazon machine into purchasing all my music gear on Amazon, and my experience is common to most - I've been burned at least a few times. About a year ago, I discovered how much nicer it is to purchase from Sweetwater. These guys are still offering incredibly competitive prices, and the level of followup and service is absolutely incomparable. For the discerning musician, don't hesitate to purchase with sweetwater -- they are ridiculously cool about returns, exchanges, etc -- you just can't get this kind of peace-of-mind shopping from the chaos of amazon. Viva la Sweetwater - for almost 16 years, I've thought these guys were the best internet distributor of music products, period. In the hustle and bustle of industry, particularly music, this is one company that has proven itself over and over again to place the customer ahead of the bottom line. If they continue like this, they will be one of the few music retailers standing when industry automation really kicks in.

Up until recently I've had no trouble with sweetwater honoring their guarantee. I now have received a brand new fender telecaster that arrived with 2 separate shorts within the electronics. I contacted sweetwater about the problem, they told me to take my time resolving the issue due to 2 deaths in my immediate family 45 days apart. 90 days after notifying them of the original issue, I contact them thinking they will honor what was told to me. I was told I can no longer trade the guitar back for a different one that works properly because too much time has passed. I explained the situation that had happened and what I'd been promised, and again I was told too much time has passed. I've spent thousands with them this past year to now own a new guitar that doesn't work right. I'm now going to be taking it to guitar center to see what they can do for me about getting it fixed or trading it on a new guitar, different kind. I won't be using sweetwater again. If you do, just be careful that anything you're told is put in writing or you will get screwed big time! That'll teach me to spend $2000 on a guitar.

I purchased a snare drum online through their website $900 the website said that they would charge my Sweetwater card $36 a month for 24 months I have done the same with American Musical Supply and have never had a problem as American Musical Supply always charges me per month after waiting all day for them to ship the snare drum I get a call from Sweetwater telling me I'm sorry your card did not go through as the drum is $900 and your sweet card is only $500 limit I told him that it was supposed to be charged $36 a month for 24 months he said no we charge the entire amount on your card very deceptive no where on the site does it say that I will never do business with Sweetwater in my lifetime too many other places that are better

Been with Sweetwater for many years and it's my first choice every time. Great service and support.
Look forward to many more years to come.

There is a major problem with this company. They saddle you with one specific 'sales engineer' that you have to work with. When that sales engineer is the problem you cannot get anyone else to assist you. Every communication goes through that specific person so no one else ever hears your grievance. It's such a headache that I just choose to do business elsewhere. They also have items for sale that they do not have in stock which generally would not be a problem as they are not the only online retailer to do so, however they promise delivery dates that they know they will never make and then keep changing those dates just to get the sale. They should be honest and just give the real delivery date or just let you know they have no idea but it could be a year or more before they have the item available to ship. Lastly, their 55-point inspection is a joke. My last bass I ordered was so horribly set-up that I had to perform a complete set-up just to get it to manufacturer specifications. It also was incredibly dirty.

Sweetwater assigned me a sales person over 5 years ago and he is still the person that responds whenever I send them a question. When I call, their equipment sees my number and routes me directly to him. During regular business hours, the first thing I hear when I call is, "Good morning Brad. Are you calling about the you just ordered?". If I'm calling for advice, "Shawn, I'm thinking about getting an xyz. Would that work well with my tube amp or would an abc work better?" They've always steered me in the right direction. Once when I was interested in buying a guitar brand that they didn't carry, I asked him why. He said he didn't have the answer but that he'd refer my question up. The company not only responded, I got a call from the product manager and an email from the ceo explaining the business rationale, which was a reasonable one. They suggested I buy from one of their competitors, which I did. (Several years later, the business conditions had changed and they finally did carry the brand.) Great company to work with.

COREY PLACED AN ORDER FOR ME AND SAID IT WOULD ARRIVE THE NEXT DAY AND IT DIDN'T! I FELT LIED TO FOR JUST FOR A SALE AND UPON SPEAKING WITH HIM HE JUST WANTED TO REFUND SHIPPING BUT I LOST OUT ON STUDIO TIME AND MONEY BECAUSE OF THIS. SO PLEASE WHEN YOU ORDER MAKE SURE YOU DO IT WEEKS IN ADVANCE OR YOU MAY WIND UP LIKE ME!