"I ordered some drumheads from this company and it seemed to go off without a hitch. At first, I was willing to wait for 3 of the 6 drumheads that I had ordered since they were on backorder. 3 days later I get an e-mail saying that I have credit on my account when 3 of my drumheads were said to have been shipped. Apparently, they only sent 2 of the 3 heads that were supposed to be shipped. I then cancelled the rest of my order simply because I do not want 3-4 different shipments on something this simple. More than likely, I will not be doing business with them again."
"I placed an order with Music123 on 1/12/06, and it is now 3/17/06 and the order has not been filled.
Contacting Music123 using the on-line ‘Correspondence’ page is useless, as Music123 does not respond. However, Music123 has sent over 20 e-mails constantly pushing back the anticipated shipping date. These e-mails all state that the manufacturer is the reason for the delay. However, the manufacture insists the product is readily available. The manufacturer put me in contact with another distributor, and I placed an identical order with the alternate distributor. The duplicate order was drop-shipped from the manufacturer within 24 hours.
I haven't had any trouble getting someone on the phone at Music123, but the answer is always the same; the product is backordered. I have heard of financially challenged companies defining 'backorder' as something similar to 'we owe too much money to the manufacturer and they have cut us off'. Even though Music123 did not provide their definition of backorder, I was able to establish that the product is readily available from the manufacturer.
If you demand customer service, this may not be the company you want to work with. However, if you like getting the run-around and you want to gamble with your money, shop with Music123.
On the bright side, my order was considerably cheaper than anywhere else (online or storefront). I was aware of Music123's poor history before ordering and I take full responsibility for making such a foolish choice.
I don't believe this company means to do anyone harm, but it's possible that they are fabulously inept at customer service. Assuming they have telephone service, I intend on calling to request a refund.
FYI - Woodwind and Brasswind is somehow related to Music123 (same mailing address and website design) and I have experienced strange practices with that company as well.
UPDATE 4/13/06: I called to cancel on 03/17/06 and was told that refunds are made on the 15th of each month (I paid by personal check) so I decided to wait until the week before the 15th of April. The shipping date has changed twice since 03/17/06 (now it is 4/18/06) so I called to cancel today. Music123 says my money will be refunded at the end of April. I hope it will be that simple. "
"I am so scared. I ordered an amp, speaker, etc. from MUSIC 123. They charged my account Monday the 30th and my stuff has not even left the wharehouse and it is now Friday the 3rd. Curious, I googled their name and found list of complaints about them that is so incredibly long I am still in shock. The stories are so horribly sad--poor musicians that save all of their pennies to get that piece of equipment that they can barely afford just to be ripped off by some faceless online schemers. Now, I am another one of them. Now I have $150 in limbo and have to face the fact that I may never see my merchandise. I decided to take a chance with them when I saw that they are "musicians working for musicians"--I guess they are . . lazy, unreliable junky musicians, maybe? I am so upset, I can barely afford to make this purchase and now I'm affraid I'll have nothing to show for it. And who knows if it will even work; it's a non-factory sealed deal! According to reports, even their new stuff doesn't work whan it gets to its recipient. I am probably going to get a bag of loose parts and shattered tubes. I am really apranoid now. i also don't want to fall into some abyss where they just keep telling me its going to ship and then doesn't. "
"I ordered a guitar, guitar strings and a tuner on 1/16. The order arrived in two packages on 1/24 and 1/25. The order was complete except for the case that was supposed to be included with the guitar. Calls to their customer service line go unanswered longer than I have time to stay on hold. They also are extremely slow responding to e-mail. At the time I placed my order the product information/specifications page stated twice that a "deluxe hardshell case" WAS INCLUDED (I saved a copy of the page that I have referred back to). The fact that a case was included was part of the reason I placed the order in the first place. After an e-mail request to please provide the case that was to be included with the guitar (I can’t get through on their customer service line), they edited the product information/specifications and deleted the references to the included case; and are now telling me the guitar does not come with a case and they will not provide one. Presently I am waiting for another e-mail response, so it's possible that there may still be a resolution to this frustrating experience. If so, I'll provide an update. The unfortunate aspect of this is that the guitar and case were to be a birthday present for my daughter. Her birthday is in a couple of days, so we will end up buying her something else and the gift of a guitar will unfortunately have to wait for another occasion. In the future I intend to take my business elsewhere and will recommend the same to my friends (and my kids’ friends & their parents)."
"First, the prices seem fair - neither significantly higher nor lower than other online retailers.
Second, most of the lower priced merchandise appears to be close out, back stock or cosmetically damaged. This again is neither a positive or a negative. Just something to be aware of.
Third, free shipping is going to be slow but in my experience no slower than any other retailer who offers free or reduced shipping. If you don't pay for shipping, you shouldn't expect it to arrive tomorrow. For example, I placed an order on the 8th, it shipped on the 11th and half of it arrived on the 16th. The other half had arrived by the 20th. That was free shipping.
I placed another order using three day shipping: order placed on the 12th, shipped on the 12th, arrived on the 16th. Fifty more dollars but worth it in my case.
Customer service didn't reply to my e-mails and the wait time for phone service was at least 15 minutes but the reps are polite and helpful and answered all my questions completely and did what I asked without hesitation.( They cancelled my order without any grief.)
My two complaints - I ordered a close out set that became unavailable and they didn't notify me immediately. This was pretty unacceptable because the order was agift and I expected it to arrive within a certain timeframe. If I hadn't contacted them, I would still be waiting. That's bad.(They did reslove the situation satisfactorily though when I did contact them).
Two: They're online information concerning your order doesn't update properly. All of my orders had incomplete information concerning tracking numbers and even when something had already shipped showed that it was still in the shipping process. I would like to see that fixed.
Overall: My experience was a mixed bag. Ultimately, everything arrived in good condition and within a reasonable timeframe but not without extra attention that I would have preferred to use elsewhere.
"
"Was strung along for two months while they kept saying the drum set would ship "real soon". Charged my card immediately. The warehouse was moving so I was patient. They gave concessions on shipping and gave a $50 discount on the drums but as it turned out they could not find the drums after all. I received my original money back and was told to order something else. They initially offered $50 concession discount on my new order but backed down when I asked them to match the price at Musician's Friend. Will not deal with these guys for at least a year. CS does not answer e-mails and queue time on the phone is at least 15 minutes."
"Extremely Poor customer service. Don't pick up phone for hours. The delivered order was incomplete and is taking weeks even to contact them."
"I purchased a guitar pedal from them. They're prices were competitive and they advertised free shipping. I expected a somewhat slow shipping because they said that they were moving warehouses, but i expected my shipment in at least 2 weeks. It has now been over 2 weeks and i have not gotten any reply from them. I have emailed their customer service and sales department 3 times but no reply. Checking my status online, the item has not even been shipped yet. Claiming that they reply to emails and ship out in 48 hours is a total load of crap. Would not buy from them again. "
"Great price. Nice customer service. Fast shipping."
"I ordered a Fender Strato guitar, Amp, etc. from them on the 21st and selected ground payment, and realized later that night i needed it here by friday so i upgraded it to 3 day shipping instead.
I sent the extra money for the upgraded shipping, but it didnt show up till way later that day so it wouldnt ship out in time to be here by friday, i was dissapointed, i called up customer service to see if i could upgrade shipping again, lady at CS asked why i told her it was for a birthday which was true, she upgraded it to free 2 day service to make sure it got here by friday.
So far i have had no problems with this merchant!"
"Actualy ordered from WWBW (WoodWind and BrassWind - same store.) Several items ordered on 9/7. Main item I knew was not in stock but it had an ETA of 9/30. 2 days later received email that the main item was not available until 10/30. One other item on back-order. Other items shipped. 10/26th received email main item was back ordered until 11/10. 11/09 ordered shipped. Item arrived 11/16 damaged. Box was not properly packed. Item did not come configured as ordered. I took pictures and emailed them. After several phone calls to WWBW and the item manufacturer I received replacement parts on 12/10. I had to install these myself. Manufacturer was actually more help than WWBW."
"very slow company 2 deal with ..ordered on friday with paypal account . charged instantly and as of monday the order is still setting there in their wasehouse ..2 bad newegg.com doesn't sell amps .i'm not use to peeps this slow and with a "it's in processing" mindset . "
"I had bought and returned a Yamaha accoustic guitar set three times due to some product defects and ended up not buying at all. But during that process, I had not problem talking to the sales persons and getting RMAs. And I always received replacement before I even sent the previous one back. All in all, I like this site and will definitely use it for future purchase."
"I recently purchased a bass w/case from them and was very satisfied with the whole experience. I was a bit apprehensive after reading some of the negetive reviews, but was pleasantly surprised at the speed and quality of service. I ordered a "open box" item and it came in almost perfect condition. I ordered Fedex ground free shipping late Sunday night and the shipment arrived Wednesday morning. Their prices on the items I purchased could not be beat. Also I accidentally ordered 2 cases instead of 1, when I called customer service they were very helpful and I was only charged for 1 case. I would order from them again without hesitation."
"DON'T BUY ANYTHING FROM MUSIC123! If anything goes wrong with your item, don't expect customer service to help. They were very rude. My Roland piano had a bad chip after less than a month of use and they blame me for blowing it up! That's customer support for you! It was not used very often and never cranked up very loud. What's bad was that they initially won't take it back even though it was within the grace period for returning the product. They violated their own return policy. After arguing about their return policy they agreed to accept the return. However, I would have to get a quote for the repair from a local dealer before they would accept the item. They knew that it is still under manufacturer's warranty, and that the repair cost is $0.00. By doing this, they forced me to get the piano repaired instead of returning the item. It took over ONE AND HALF month for me to get my piano back. What a waste of time! "