"Placed my order Nov 30. Received it promptly. Item was defective so I had to send it back. Had to fight with them to send a prepaid label to return it. I returned it immediately and have yet to see my refund. All messages ( 5 to Jordan Garcia and multiple others to customer assistance ) go unanswered and phone calls to them they always say they will check into it and call me back ( and never do ). I even have them another shot before this refund mess as I went to purchase another item the day after I placed this order. They were 80 dollars higher on price than what everyone else was selling it for, so I asked if they could match guitar center, musicians friend,zzounds price. He said he would have to check with his manager and let me know. Never heard back from him that day so I called him the next day, he said he was "still waiting on his manager" and said he would call me, and never did, so I bought it elsewhere. Now seeing the mess I am in for my refund, I am glad he never called me back ! Looks like I will have to open a PayPal case to get me refund cause these guys seem shady. Wish I would have seen the reviews here first before purchasing through them"

"I travelled to SAMASH ATLANTA to pick up an amp I had ordered online. Upon unboxing it in the store, I discovered that the amp got damaged during shipping. Gio, the sales manager, said that he was going to take $50 off as a result. He then told me he was going to complete a return for the original purchase and re-sell the amp to me with the aforementioned discount. Which I thought was fair. Not only did Gio (the genius) not complete the return, but he re-sold the same amp to me so that a week went by with my SamAsh account showing that I purchased two amps. I traveled back to the store and explained to him that he never returned the first purchase. He was very lackadaisical about telling me that he sent the email and he could not do anything else. All along I'm thinking: "Are we in 2023? or 1993? For a music retailer to be so antiquated in its customer service?" In any case, 4 days later, Gio (the genius) ended up returning the discounted purchase, leaving the original purchase unscathed. Again I called him, only to get the same rambling, bumbling, unprofessional non-explanation that it was not its fault and that he sent the email. Now I have to travel a third time to Smyrna to return the damaged amp. Never will I purchase from SamAsh Atlanta again? I wish we could clone Rich Snape, the guitar technician and outstanding professional and human being, and have him work in Sales there? Mr. Snape is the only reason I will ever walk into the SamAsh Atlanta store? What a disappointment!!!!!!!! By the way, this is my very first negative review ever! That's how **** bad I was treated as a customer!!!!!"

"Terrible customer service. Purchased a guitar case online. they shipped the wrong one. i called immediately and explained their error. they asked if i would like an exchange. i agreed. What i didn't know was that they wouldn't ship my correct case until they received the wrong one, processed it, assigned my problem to a sales rep, he would have to search a store to locate a case, then put an order in etc. This case was ordered September 7. As of the 27th i told them to just give me a refund as i couldn't wait any longer. It is October 2 and they STILL haven't processed the refund. when they do, it will take 3 to 5 business days to get my money put back on my card. This is horrendous service. Never buying anything from Sam Ash again."

"Sam Ash is a good store but I'll have a very hard time going back because of a single employee. I had called ahead to match up a particular mic and was told to come on down, which I did August 4th. I was directed to Shawn at the central desk who was busy with another customer. 10 minutes or so later he finished and walked away without a word. He's walked around playing with stuff and talking to his friends. I was again directed to Shawn after seeking help elsewhere. 10 minutes later after finding someone  else to help he told me to give him a minute and disappeared for another 10 or 15 minutes, again piddling  around. After staying patient and calm all this time I was then starting to get agitated. Another employee attempted to help but it wasn't his department. Most of the employees were friendly enough but Shawn was disresctful and indifferent and clearly didn't want to be there. I've  spent thousands at Sam Ash in personal gear and equipment for my church. I wasted an hour of my life in that store and will be looking elsewhere next time I need something."

"I regret ever trying Sam Ash, though this last time is the proverbial Straw. I will never purchase anything from them again! I purchased a used Sterling Cutlass, supposedly in "excellent" condition, when it arrived it was missing everything but the old strings. When I asked for the parts I was told that because THEY purchased it used (in other words, their "buyer" screwed up and bought an incomplete unit) they would not supply the parts, saying they could not get them "under warranty" since THEY purchased a used item. They offered me "third-party parts" which I refused, I wanted the original Sterling parts, not some Chinese crap that would fail over time. So much for a guitar in "Excellent" condition, with no way to adjust the neck, bridge, or use a tremolo. They finally offered to take it back, and even though this was their mistake, I would be charged shipping for the return. I wasn't going to PAY THEM more than I already had to return a non-playable/incomplete guitar.
If they had stated that the guitar was "as is" or "missing parts" to keep the guitar playable I would have gone elsewhere or purchased it new (not much of a markdown from new anyway)
they actually wanted me to pay them even more money to return a defective product (in my opinion, since I cannot fix intonation or adjust the neck).
DO NOT TRUST THEM TO BACK UP THEIR PRODUCTS! Like their New Jersey location, there is a reason Sam Ash is going bankrupt. I noticed that many customers at this site feel the same way. I personally hope it's sooner rather than later, I'm so done dealing with Sam Ash in any way, shape, or form. I prefer Companies who stand behind their products, care about their customers, and are honest when they describe what they are selling. They are a terrible company to do business with. Looking forward to the day Sam Ash folds and is completely bankrupt. They have no credibility to continue being in business."

"Long story short; I spend a lot of money on gear and yesterday was my last straw with Sam Ash after many times being treated as a pest and nuisance by Sam Ash in store employees and customer service. The way I was spoken to by a female staff member in the Pro-Audio department of the Edison New Jersey Sam Ash (Sunday 4/30/23 around 5 or 6 PM) simply for wanting some clarification on what was going on with my order and my personal information was rude and denigrating. She literally spoke to me as if she was speaking to a person with an intellectual disability who is also a criminal and/or degenerate worthy only of contempt in between her huffs and sighs of disgust. Doing so in front of a trainee no less to pass her example onto new staff of how they treat customers. Sam Ash customer service flat out did not care and did not even say "sorry to hear that." Their response was "okay?" When I said "well, I guess I'll cancel my order then since this seems to keep happening every time I try to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars with Sam Ash" their response was "okay, I'll send the store an email (an EMAIL, lol!) to cancel your order" before ending the call with me. Don't be mistaken, this attitude toward customers must come from the top. I know for sure all recordings with customer service are recorded and customer service has dealt with me like this several times and they are clearly never worried about hearing from their bosses about it. I don't know if in-store phone conversations are recorded but clearly they're never worried about speaking to the customers like they're pests either. Too often I hear these store's managers and employees lament the end of brick and mortar music shops due to the rise of online gear buying. That's a vast oversimplification. Most musicians would MUCH rather try and then buy gear in a store. Brick and mortar music shops are suffering just as much - if not more from this awful, condescending treatment of their customers than they are the rise of online shopping. After giving the wider company of Sam Ash the benefit of the doubt time and time again, yesterday was my last straw. I will never do business with them again. Too many times I've been talked to like this and never once has one manager/person in a position to do so said "I'm sincerely sorry to hear that. I'm going to talk to the employees to let them know this isn't how to treat customers and I'd hope you give us another chance to win back your business." Nothing. Just "okay, bye."
"

"Sam Ash approach to trade in offers is beyond ridiculous. I stopped by today, after long time, hoping that things changed. Guess what? Nothing changed. Same greedy trade attitude. Oh well... thanks God for giving us Sweetwater. I'm dealing with them for a couple of years now and I had nothing but good experience. Well since guys at Sam Ash store insulated me today I'm going to buy same guitar from Sweetwater first thing tomorrow. Cheers."

"I placed an online order for a drum kit and some accompanying items; a high-dollar purchase. I was contacted a day later by customer service, letting me know that the drum kit (which I had naturally presumed would be new, as everything in the product listing would indicate) was a heavily-used floor model. Asking if I still wanted the drum kit, in very clear terms I said no -- I requested a new kit as advertised, or for the entire order to be canceled. I asked specifically to not process or ship any part of the order at this point. A day later, I was told via email that the order had been canceled. A day following that, I received a shipping notice for the remainder of the order, and now it's my problem to return it if I'm unable to refuse delivery in time. I'm still waiting for the charge to be removed from my credit card. I was already pretty upset about the bait-and-switch, but this is the icing on the cake."

"I was setting up a home studio and had spent considerable money with Sam Ash..so they knew me. However, checking on their site if they had a particular item it said "in stock at the store". Drove 1/2 hr to purchase..nothing in stock. They said "oh call ahead to make sure we have the item." (no apology). Twice after that, i called to see if particular items were in stock. Oh yeah we have that. Are you sure??? Yep. Drove 1/2 hr to purchase and guess what, the items werent in stock. The guy i spoke to (both occasions) actually seemed annoyed i was **** at him for his sloppy item check. He mustered a sorry man. Spoke to the managers about the wasted time and fuel and that this scenario had happened 3 times now. They wasted more of my time verifying they didnt in fact have the item. Made no real effort to keep my business or compensate for their sloppiness. I now shop Sweetwater (more large purchases that Sam Ash could have had). Sweetwater has been top notch and totally recommend them "

"Bought item on eBay
Within hours of listing. They didn’t shop for a full week. Then when I inquired for the 4th time as to when they would ship they canceled my order and said it wasn’t available. Do not deal with Sam Ash direct on eBay. "

"I ordered a “available” DJ board from Sam Ash’s online store. After a couple days of waiting I never received a confirmation from Sam Ash for my DDJ-1000 order going thru. So I emailed and called Sam Ash. They assured me that the boards were just on back order and that it would ship in 2-3 weeks. I continued to email a few days later asking for a possible ETA. Sam Ash emailed me back saying they now discovered the DJ board was “open-box” and weather or not I wanted to continue with the order. I emailed back yes that I did. Several days later and no response they cancelled my order without telling me in any form of communication. Horrible experience."

"I purchased music gear from Sam ash music.they are very hard to deal with.they lost my bose l1 system and have no want to help me find it.i will never purchase from them again.i should have gone to musicians friends they are amazing.my order was placed almost 1 month ago and they pretty much told me oh well.worse place I have ever dealt with and the customer service is terrible.if you order from Sam ash don't be exited about your purchase it won't show up."

"I was having trouble with record volume using GarageBand recording my podcast. I could not find a solution online and decided to go to Sam Ash. The salesperson was fantastic. He listened to what issues I was having and then helped me find the best solution. Being in sales for many years I appreciate a salesperson who is there to help you find the best solution for the cost."

"I ordered a guitar at a decent price they said it was the last one in stock, and two had been sold. The next day the ad said three had been sold and they had the last one for sale again. I looked today, two months later, and they had the last one for sale, and it said two had been sold. There is a lie in there somewhere, and I don't know why, because it was a decent guitar, and a good price. How many "last ones" can you have? "

"I came across this review site and I saw some of the reviews here and for a company thats been around since the 1920's I would say they are doing an exceptional job for their customers. I dont think they would have lasted wrong if they didnt do a good job. obviously no company is 100% all the time. Heck, even Amazon messes up some of orders. Doesnt mean wont shop with them again so I think people expect way too much these days. Sam Ash has always been the place I could spend my Saturdays playing all the instruments I want in the store and they never asked me to stop. How many stores let you do that?"