NGD and Musician's Friend order lols

[phillybhatesme]

TLDR at the bottom

12/26 - I placed an order for a Schecter and a case. I was told that the guitar was not in stock and they'd be expecting some in the beginning of January. I told them that I was fine with waiting for them to ship me a brand new one. I got shipping notification for the case later in the day, apparently I had to specifically ask them to send the guitar in the case...wow lol. My bad.



12/27 - Receive an email from Guitar Center that the guitar I ordered was a floor model and has scratches and hanger wear. I decline and call Musician's Friend - they told me that they will re-source the guitar from their warehouse instead of a store. I told them that I had been ok with waiting for a new guitar and that I had already told the Musician's Friend representative the previous day.



12/29 - Case arrives - thank god. I really needed this case for the guitar I don't own yet.

Beginning of January comes, no update on order.
Middle of January, nada.
I'd open my bank account every day and sometimes there'd be a pending charge from Musician's Friend and I'd get excited. Maybe I'll get a shipping notice soon, maybe the guitar will show up! Nah, the pending charge would disappear and I'd still be guitar-less.
Bleeding into February, I'm contemplating cancelling the order; there are some great trades on the market for some of my stuff, but alas, I decide to wait it out. I don't mind waiting, they haven't charged me, I realize backorders happen, I have other guitars here, I got a great deal on the guitar, waiting isn't the end of the world because at the end of the day, I'll have exactly what I want, and after all, I HAD THE CASE ALREADY lol.

2/21 - I get an email that my order was cancelled...lolwut



2/21 - So I call Musician's Friend, they apologize, explain that they have 2 of these guitars in the warehouse and are confused as to why I was never sent one - hey, me too. I placed an order for one. After going back and forth twice, I get them to match the price I got back in December - this wasn't a difficult step to achieve, the rep just didn't see the discounts initially, and then missed an additional one - idk, I got the guitar at a pretty good deal.

2/22 - Shipping notification for 2/21 order

2/24 - Guitar should be here, BUT...here's where I have an actual issue: I checked my bank account today expecting to see the Musician's Friend purchase - it's there. However, there are TWO. There is one from 2/21 and one from 2/14 (this never showed up as pending and didn't show up until today; I check my banks daily). So I call these guys again and ask what's up.

I was told a bunch of weird stuff on the phone from two reps today. I'm sure they're just trying to make sense of whatever they see on their screens, but I'll let you know what they told me:

• I ordered two guitars on my original purchase.
• The one that was "cancelled" on 2/21 was the Guitar Center guitar which I declined on 12/27.
  • When I called on 2/21, this was missed?
• UPS has two guitars in their possession being delivered to me:
  • One today (2/21 order)
  • One apparently tomorrow, but they told me that this one has been in UPS's possession for a while and has been delayed possibly due to bad weather out West. I should have asked for the tracking number on this.
• Wait...
  • Their rep has made a note to UPS to get the delayed guitar out West returned to Musician's Friend.
  • I'm out 1265.12
  • Manager is going to call me later.
  • If UPS sees the rep's note, they might be able to get the guitar sent back to them. If UPS doesn't see the note, I might have a second guitar sent to me, in which case I have to send it back to them in order to get refunded.

TLDR: Placed order for guitar at Musician's Friend. Through miscommunication and errors, I was charged twice and am waiting for them to mitigate.

Update in post #8
Another update in post #15
NGD post #17

 

[glpg80]

I just returned an unopened stealth 100W amp still in the box to sweetwater and exchanged it for a boatload or recording gear, plus they threw in free XLR mogami cables and I had all of this completed in about a week.

And musiciansfriend can’t even fulfill a single guitar order and charged your account twice.

Yeah I’ll stick with sweetwater. Holy hell.

I hope you can return the 2nd one and get compensation for the interest they’re earning keeping your money against your will. Holy incompetence on their end.

 

[rsm]

Not as bad, but I may be having future issues. Ordered a guitar calling the sales engineer; she said they have none in their warehouse but GC has them. I said no thanks, can we place the order on backorder. She said sure; I asked what's the ETA on these to their warehouse; she said showing March something or other. The next day I get the notification it shipped. I called her and asked if it shipped from MF's warehouse or a GC store; she said MF Warehouse.

It arrived today. Letting it acclimate, will see if I got a new-in-the-box or a GC floor model. edit: just confirmed it shipped from the MF warehouse based on the shipping label.

This happened before with my Eventide H9. Ordered New from MF; got a demo/floor model which was opened and gently used. Called MF, they called the GC store who confirmed it was opened; and I got a partial refund. The H9 bag was opened and resealed, and the adaptor was used, but the H9 looked fine. Saved some extra money.

If order something advertised as new, I expect new-in-the-box / unopened, unless they do inspection/setup. I may buy a floormodel, but I expect a discount and a factual statement / photos indicating the actual condition.

 

[phillybhatesme]

Yeah exactly. This is the first time I've done business with MF and the only reason I called them is because they had a B-stock of the same guitar with some visible chipping in the finish on a few parts of the body that was reflected in the price. I called to see what the wait time was for a new one, if any, if I could get a better price on a new one, and really just to be talked into buying the new one lol.

FWIW, the guitar that's being delivered to me today is from MF's Kansas City location (N 4005 NORFLEET RD KANSAS CITY, MO 64161-9231) and should be new-in-box.

Good luck @rsm - hope it's a brand-spankin-new G.

Great experiences with Sweetwater @glpg80 on my end as well. I've never had to return anything to them, but I've placed several orders - too bad the candy is mostly fuckin trash. I eat the tootsie rolls and throw the rest away lol.

 

[Bardagh]

When I ordered my JP2C from them I was told it may anywhere from a couple to six months before they would have one for me. I went ahead with it because I had a lot of rewards and I was worried the prices would go up later (and boy did they).

I think I got a shipment notification less than a week later

 

[rsm]

Hope you get your guitar orders sorted out and the refunds @phillybhatesme


MF is getting better; got my H9 awhile ago, but haven't forgotten.

It's better because I started calling the same Salesperson, and place all my major orders with her and make sure she understands what I want; this way she knows what I want and can fix it fast if something goes wrong. So far much better experiences. Good thing because I recently placed an order for my Ibanez PS10 which isn't exactly inexpensive, and worked out all the details to confirm I was getting a new, unopened, new-in-box guitar from the MF warehouse, and I did.

Another example, I ordered 2 x 20' speaker cables online, not through her; got them delivered, one was 20', the other was 6' but had the 20' packaging and label. Sent her an email, got a no return refund for the 6' cable that was supposed to be 20', and ordered another 20'. Quick and painless.

 

[MistaGuitah]

I once ordered an expensive multi-effects pedal and they sent me a whole case of them. When I called to return them, they had no idea or even any record of it! However, because I returned them, they refunded me for the one I had bought.

 

[phillybhatesme]

@Bardagh I realize that many many many people order from MF and have 0 issues, I'm just annoyed lol.
@rsm Yeah, I guess I treat Sweetwater the same way where I just call Maxwell or whatever his name is...
@MistaGuitah LOL WAT hahaha, that's hilarious.

The plot thickens. I was able to log into the UPS site and despite the charge showing up on my bank statement as 2/14, the label wasn't created until the 22nd. And FWIW, the charge on my statement didn't even show up until today - it never displayed between 2/14-23rd. I assume that this was the date of one of the pending charges that never fully went through, but idk - I'm speculating.

 

[phillybhatesme]

UPS just stopped in front of my house, then drove away. No guitar.
This is my NGD thread apparently lol.

 

[rsm]

@phillybhatesme what a nightmare, hope it works out!

 

[Bardagh]

@Bardagh I realize that many many many people order from MF and have 0 issues, I'm just annoyed lol.
@rsm Yeah, I guess I treat Sweetwater the same way where I just call Maxwell or whatever his name is...
@MistaGuitah LOL WAT hahaha, that's hilarious.

The plot thickens. I was able to log into the UPS site and despite the charge showing up on my bank statement as 2/14, the label wasn't created until the 22nd. And FWIW, the charge on my statement didn't even show up until today - it never displayed between 2/14-23rd. I assume that this was the date of one of the pending charges that never fully went through, but idk - I'm speculating.

Well, just because my situation turned out better for me, it still shows their sales people don’t have access to reliable information. As a company their internal communications and logistics are pretty iffy.

 

[Bardagh]

UPS just stopped in front of my house, then drove away. No guitar.
This is my NGD thread apparently lol.

That’s brutal man.

 

[phillybhatesme]

Well, just because my situation turned out better for me, it still shows their sales people don’t have access to reliable information. As a company their internal communications and logistics are pretty iffy.

Yeah.
- Email states my order was cancelled
- Rep confirms my order was cancelled
- "There were two guitars in your original purchase"

I don't know.
They don't know.
No one knows.

 

[glpg80]

@Bardagh I realize that many many many people order from MF and have 0 issues, I'm just annoyed lol.
@rsm Yeah, I guess I treat Sweetwater the same way where I just call Maxwell or whatever his name is...
@MistaGuitah LOL WAT hahaha, that's hilarious.

The plot thickens. I was able to log into the UPS site and despite the charge showing up on my bank statement as 2/14, the label wasn't created until the 22nd. And FWIW, the charge on my statement didn't even show up until today - it never displayed between 2/14-23rd. I assume that this was the date of one of the pending charges that never fully went through, but idk - I'm speculating.

What’s been happening with Guitar center/musicians friend is that the sales people charge the high dollar item twice to get double the commission pay and once they are paid in their paycheck, only then will they work with you to remove the 2nd charge. It never gets escalated to management within that time frame so to the company they don’t know anything is wrong and you’ll get hung up on trying to climb the ladder over the phone before they let their commission be docked/removed. That’s why they’re refuting you bought two because the original purchase probably was entered like that albeit illegally.

I only trade guitars locally with guitar center and scout their store used inventory. I refuse to do any business over the phone with them because I’ve heard of this happening many times to anyone buying new. I just go to sweetwater because their staff is legit knowledgeable and honest.

 

[phillybhatesme]

I don’t know if there was anything nefarious happening from their end, but I wouldn't be surprised if two people got commission for this order @glpg80

Update:
2:21 today - got an email stating that my refund would be initiated when they received their guitar back - I don't know if my Karen wig is on, if I woke up on the wrong side of the bed, or what, but this is just unacceptable to me. I shouldn't have to wait for a refund. All errors and issues and miscommunication has been on their end.



So I called again and spoke with another person, explained my situation, explained that I'd already spoken to two reps, told him about the last email I got from Zoey and that I needed him to initiate a refund immediately or speak to his manager. 45 minutes later, he confirmed that he was able to issue an immediate refund and that I didn't have to wait for it to be returned to the warehouse. I got an automated email "confirming" but I probably should have pressed for something a bit better than, "Here are your return instructions," and I'll be watching my bank account like a hawk to make sure this charge is gone in the next coming week.

At no point was I offered anything for their mistakes, which surprised me a bit. I don't necessarily think I'm entitled to anything, but most companies will offer their clients something when errors are made. With that being said, had they offered me a 20% off coupon for a future purchase, big deal; I don't think I'll be buying anything from MF in the future.

Edit - I was told that the management team will speak with the representative from the 21st who took my "second" order, as if that's any consolation or like I give a fuck.

 

[Deleted member 38657]

Sorry this happened to you. I hate to admit that I continue to order from them, and no joke they screw up 9/10 of my orders. 100% commission scams going on there is my belief. I have been charged anywhere from 2x to many times for the same purchases that were supposed to be refunded on more than one occasion by different reps that it absolutely could not be just a coincidence. Funny that after I removed my saved payment from my account it never happened again. My husband actually spoke to the big boss's personal secretary about it who at least pretended to be appalled. Like you, never offered an apology, never offered compensation of any type. In fact I have had to call 100% of the time just to get my points credited to my account over the last couple of years.

 

[phillybhatesme]

NGD: And I don't even fucking care - Schecter C-1 FR-S Blackjack

 

[Bardagh]

Hope it was worth the wait and the bullshit!

Also good lord that is a giant speaker.

 

[phillybhatesme]

Lol thanks. Just plugged it in to my small Delta King and was actully surprised to get some decent gain out of that amp.
Can’t wait to plug it into my Mesa - maybe later.
The combo of the Sustainiac pup with the Floyd Rose is what attracted me to this model.
I’ll have to acquaint myself with both new tools; I’ve never used a Floyd Rose or any kind of locking trem system, so YouTube vids have been my friends regarding setup and tuning.

I gotta give Schecter some credit - this fucker arrived in tune and hasnt missed a beat.

 

[phillybhatesme]

Plugged this piece of shit into the Mesa.