"I ordered a trombone mouth piece November 8th and still have not received it!! I called around December 8th and after a long wait on-hold, I was told the order was never sent to the supplier! I was told however, that he had found one in stock in another store and I could be assured it would be sent out immediately and I would receive it in a few days. Well, still no sign of it nor have I received an followup email! Nothing! I ordered a Conn trombone from them in 2005 and was told I would receive in about three weeks. About two and half months later it arrived at the store just as I was cancelling the order! Never, ever order anything through Sam Ashe unless you don't care when or if you ever receive it! I've had great experience purchasing in-store many times. Their ordering process and results are terrible! "

"Stupid crass people that should be fired on the spot after what they did today

"

"Purchased a new gibson guitar from Sam Ash after waiting 2 weeks for my guitar to arrive from backorder, it finally arrived and was broken. The guitar was not at all wrapped as it should be to prevent damaging a $2800 guitar. The headstock was split away from the neck because whoever shipped it was either lazy or plain stupid. I sent it back to them and am still waiting for a refund. "

"Ordered limited edition guitar July 28 2017 and was told it would ship end of august, that's fine. End of august get email order shipped (yippee) next day another email order canceled. Called customer service to find out what's going on, from 1 rep to another got different stories meanwhile another email order shipped again with tracking number that didn't have a package to track, called again , "oh its warehouse mistake order will ship monday". After week of emails saying order canceled, order shipped my rep says it's shipping and they upgraded to 2 day shipping. 2 days later guitar arrived but broken headstock because of poor packaging. SamAsh had been in box because they had put samash hanging tag on guitar with couple samash in case, rep said they do that at epiphone/gibson when guitars are inspected. (B.S.) Ive ordered cheaper guitars from other guitars superstores online before and always packaged well, but this had the case open with guitar moving, no paper under strings and headstock not wrapped, a must if shipping in case. Looked on website and they still had guitars in stock, called and got return info and was told "yes 2 guitars left in stock and they will put hold on 1 for me and when broken guitar is received they will ship replacment". But rep didn't tell me I had to pay return shipment. After I shipped broken guitar she gave me courtesy call and let me know they were out of the guitars and I needed to order different kind! So now I'm out money and no guitar. "

"Very slow and sloppy, payed 82$ for one day shipping and I got my package 4 days later, then I had to wait 3 about a month for my refund, worst service ever."

"Tried ordering a copy of MOTU's Unisyn. The Sam Ash site says "unavailable, ORDER TODAY!".

So, I did.

I simultaneously contacted one of the reps at MOTU to find out if it was still available, as it is a Legacy product. Mike, helpful and responsive as always (I've purchased a number of hardware and software items from MOTU over the past decade) said it was, and they regularly drop ship for Sam Ash customers.

A couple days later, I received an email saying the order was cancelled.

I called to find out why, and was told is was due to some sort of mail-order-back-order-issue they have, and that they needed to re-confirm some qualifying info on me.

I did so, and hung up the phone.

A week later, I called to check the status, and can not get any information out of any of the people who I actually have on the phone talking to me... I have to discuss it with the sales-person who I placed the order with (are these people on freaking COMMISSION these days?) and he's been repeatedly unavailable.

Meanwhile... Mike from MOTU has dropped me a couple "where are things at" e-mails, and indicated that I can make the purchase from him.

I just got off the phone with Sam Ash AGAIN, and could not get anyone to answer my questions, saying that I had to speak to the sales person.

I cancelled my order.

I purchased my first keyboard (electric piano) from Sam Ash in White Plains in 1983. Numerous purchases over the decades, before I moved from the NYC area, on-line once that was in vogue, retail again once Sam Ash opened in the Dallas area.

But I give up on them. Musicians Direct has MUCH better customer service practices."

"Ordered a Ibanez Bass Guitar Package from Sam Ash online on July 28, 2015.
The order was supposedly processed and fulfilled. I called customer service on August 2, 2015, they assured me it was scheduled to ship the next day, (Monday the 3rd). I was suppose to receive an email when it shipped with tracking information; i didn't receive it August 4th either. I called my credit card co. today and they said payment was not processed nor was it pending. I called Sam Ash to cancel the order because it has been 8 days since the order was placed. The representative said; what if I told you it was going to ship tomorrow? I told them I lost faith in Sam Ash and did not believe him and I wanted the order cancelled. I just ordered it from Guitar Center. They told me this item is on back order from the manufacturer and would ship mid-September. Finally the truth. I believe Sam Ash also back ordered this guitar package, even though they did not admit it, and was going to lead me on til mid September. Disappointing for my granddaughter who waited every day for the Fedex driver to bring her eighteenth birthday gift. I will never shop at Sam Ash again"

"I ordered electronic drums online. The picture and the description were totally different from what I got. Customer service was pleasant to talk to but it was clear to me that they were not willing to make things right. I would have kept the drums but for that reason, I opted to send them back. I am not one to complain but that experience with Sam Ash will definitely be my last."

"I ordered a fender squier brushed gold tele back in March 2015...paid in full!!!!!Since it was a new product it would be available or in the store in 5 to 7 days,and would receive a call once in....1 week after due date no call,so i patiently waited 1more week...NO CALL (15 DAYS)...so went to the myself on a Sat..they checked and gave me the dumb look...and excuse...a few came in but something happened....blah blah blah BULL!!! So again they will call and there's one coming in so i should receive it by the weeks out..so i ordered a 119.00 case and accessories...even bought a wireless system as well....WHAT!!! NOW it'll be here at the end of April after I called them after another week!!! May11 2015..no call i call them and what do i get.....uh,uh..wow let me see hmmmm...uhh..what's your #...hmmm,ok they're closed now,so im going to leave a note and I'll call them in the morning which would be May 12..he .said. wow here we are May 13 no .....anything. ..2nd time this bull happened, bought a ibanez hollow body.1 to 2 weeks no call so i go to the store. ..oh! It got damaged during shipping and sent it back...oh know one called you?..he saids again. ..WOW! CUSTOMER SERVICE IS HORRIBLE! !!!!! I live too far away for blank trips and terrible service. ..I have a Jackson's music 10 min from me,but i chose to travel 30 to 40 min became I've spent majority of my cash there. ..from audio to guitars...WHAT THE F@$$$!"

"I'm a professional percussionist drummer I have bought from Sam Ash on line and there store in Westchester for years. I went to the store on route 4 in NJ and after my experience with the people that work thete and my conversation with the owner Sammy Ash I will never buy from them again Story I bought some drum heads at around 630 pm I went out to my car and fell asleep in my car untill 930 I went to start my car The car wouldn't start because I left the lights on My cell phone was dead so I couldn't call aaa I went back to the store they were closed I knocked on the and asked if they could call aaa for me they said no we can't were closed They wouldn't help a senior out and long time customer. When the people that worked in the store left. They saw my hood was up they wouldn't help me. I called Sammy Ash up also told him what happened and he really didn't want to be bothered he was kinda of rude The people working in the store must be from another planet I will never buy from any Sam Ash and spread the word of what a Jerk the owner of Sam Ash is and what he thinks of his customers Howard Halpern"

"my experience with Sam Ash has been very good so far. every time I have visited there store they have been very friendly and most of the time some one will offer there help to me for looking at or trying out an instrument or answer my questions. I would rate them B +.
Visit my website Dave's Music Academy for Guitar Lessons and etc. Here http://j.mp/DavesAcademyofMusic
if the link doesn't show for you to click just email me and i'll send it to you and send you more information about guitar lessons ****@****
or call me ***-***-****

Thanks
Dave"

"While we've read many complaints about the following issue, I had to prove to myself whether those complaints were legitimate or not. I have been warned not to buy from Sam Ash by close acquaintances in the music business because of their sales tactics and ethics.

This negative review is regarding seemingly deceptive or misleading sales tactics. Specifically, I have been attempting to buy a mid-range ($1800-$2400) Taylor acoustic guitar. I have either emailed or called Ash about several Taylors Ash had advertised. All were allegedly sold. However, even a week after being told these guitars were sold, Ash still has them advertised.

While this is not a purchase complaint, it is a complaint against an organization that has been known by many to use these old "used car salesman" tactics (bait-and-switch?) for fine instruments like Taylor, Martin, etc. Not only is this practice unprofessional, unscrupulous and odious, but it causes a great waste of time for potential customers, those who haven't even become customers of Ash.

These seedy sales practices (bait-and-switch) speak volumes of what to expect as a customer, post-sales, a harbinger of future negative customer support. These manipulative advertising practices could even spell disaster for problematic issues with an initial order as with many of the negative reviews we've recently read.

We can only recommend avoiding Sam Ash to others, as for us we will avoid this "used car lot" for any future purchases."

"Beware! Sam Ash will not accept their $15 coupon for free gear. Today my girlfriend and I visited 2 other music stores before going to Sam Ash. One reason we went to Sam Ash was because we found that they still had the $15 coupon for free gear in the new Buddy. I wanted to purchase a music conductor stand and 2 pairs of drum sticks. The conductor stand was $9 cheaper on the Sam Ash website. The sales manager Nick Ross seemed like it was a chore to authorize the price match to their own website pricing. He actually didn't even verify the web pricing as if he already knew what the Sam Ash's web price was. He put in his authorization code and just walked away. I figured that he was having a bad day.

I gave the drum associate the $15 coupon for free gear to put towards my drum sticks. He called Mr. Ross to verify if that was OK and then asked if I had used the coupon previously. I told him no the coupon just came out. As the associate was starting to ring up my order Mr. Ross called him on the phone and told him not to accept the coupon because I had used a different $15 coupon 5 months ago.

The associate asked Mr. Ross to come to the counter because I had questioned what a coupon that I used back in August had to do with this January coupon I was trying to use now. Mr. Ross finally came to the counter and told me that other people had abused their coupon for free gear and the ad they placed was for a year. He said since I used an August $15 coupon already I was not eligible to use the January $15 coupon. There is no disclaimer on the coupon relating to this. He then showed me where the January coupon did state Limit one per customer. He then turned his back on me again and left. Doesn't limit one per customer mean at least per monthly coupon not for the life of any $15 coupons Sam Ash offers?

Needless to say I was livid. The store manager was not available so I decided not to make a purchase and I'm not sure if I will ever make another purchase at Sam Ash. The only reason I gave Sam Ash a 1 is because their drum manager Brian has been very helpful and knowledgeable when I have made my past purchases."

"I ordered a Yamaha Keyboard for a Christmas gift. Online it said they could make the delivery before Christmas and only after I places the order and paid extra for two day shipping, did I get an email from them saying they actually cant do two day on that item and could have it to me in two weeks. It took them over a day to get me that note and by that time, all other options of where I could buy from and have it on time had since passed. I wrote back the same day I received their email letting them know I wanted a refund since I could not have it in time. It has been more than three days and I still have not heard back."

"I bought a book and they refused refund. I had the receipt , it was in perfect unread condition and it was withing one week of purchase.
The cashier cited some fine print on the receipt and said due to copyright laws it could not be returned.
What a scam!Buyers beware! They will sell but not refund or exchange merchandise."