T'was the Nightmare Before Christmas.... With a Happy Ending!
Written: Dec 08 '04 (Updated Dec 23 '04)
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Last Update 12/16/2004
I ordered a Washburn D10CEQ guitar, Washburn GC70 guitar case, Randall amp, instructional guitar DVD, polishing cloth, strap & picks as a Christmas present for my 13 year old daughter. She also plays flute and piano. I chose Music123 because they were able to beat any price I got elsewhere. I placed my order in Nov of 2004.
I had a lot of problems getting the discounted prices and free shipping to show up in the checkout section on their site. I had to contact Customer Service several times to fix each item I added. Once, they actually deleted my shopping cart and I had to start all over again. It seems there are bugs in their website scripts that don't show the correct prices in the checkout and have to be manually corrected by Customer Service.
All of the items except the guitar were said to be IN STOCK. I also applied for their Music123 credit card and was accepted. If the STOCKED items were ordered in Nov, why were they being held to be shipped 4 weeks later? Also, they could not confirm when the guitar was coming in from Washburn.
Imagine a 13 yr old girl on Christmas morning opening a guitar case only to find NO GUITAR! Their site said the ordered item (the guitar) "usually ships in 3 to 5 days", but when I checked the status each day, the shipping date was constantly being pushed back one day which was not what Customer Service was telling me. They were quoting a week sooner, BUT could not guarantee it! How can a reputable distributor place an order from a Guitar Manufacturer and not receive a firm shipping date from the Manufacturer?
** Update 12/9/2004:
Well, I received an email from Music123 today. The good news was that they were going to have Washburn ship the guitar on 12/12 directly to me. I'll believe it when I physically see it...
Now for the bad news: The Washburn guitar case GC-70 and Instructional guitar DVD that I had on order since November and was told was in STOCK.... and would ship on 12/12 is now OUT OF STOCK! How can that be??
I also received an email from them today 12/9/04, saying that they do read the reviews here. Good, I hope they read mine!
** Update 12/10/2004:
After several back and forth emails between myself and Music123, I managed to get them to have Washburn ship the GC70 case directly to me. My reasoning was if they were going to have the guitar shipped direct, wouldn't it make sense to have the case shipped that way as well? Both guitar and case were coming from Washburn. Ideally, the guitar would be better protected if shipped within the case. The problem is, they didn't give me a definite ship date on the case from Washburn.
** Update 12/12/2004:
I received an email on 12/12/2004 from Music123 that they just received a shipment of the Washburn GC-70 guitar cases. Regardless, I still don't have a drop ship date on the case direct from Washburn. I'd rather have the guitar ship in the case to protect the guitar. The remaining items (less the guitar and case) are now showing up on my account to have shipped on 12/10/2004 with an estimated arrival date of 12/14/2004 to my home, shipping from South Bend,Indiana. They provided the FEDEX tracking numbers which I have verified, and they appear to be correct. Now if I can get the guitar and case in time for Christmas...
** Update 12/13/2004:
I tried contacting Washburn regarding the delivery status of my daughter's guitar & case which was to be shipped DIRECTLY from WASHBURN. Here's their response:
"Hello James, We're not privy to that information unfortunately. You'll need to talk to Music123
about an ETA. Best regards, Jay Mote - Customer Service Representative"
"Quality Customer Service Depends On Everyone"
U.S. Music Corp.
444 East Courtland Street
Mundelein, Illinois 60060
Phone: (847) 643-5173, FAX: (847) 643-5170
1-800-US-SOUND x.5173
I explained to them about the run around at Music123.com and not being able to get a confirmed delivery date on the guitar & case, and you see how they responded. I mean seriously, they have NO IDEA as to what the status of my drop ship order is? So much for their statement, "Quality Customer Service Depends On Everyone".
Music123 says contact Washburn.... Washburn says contact Music123....
** Update 12/14/2004:
I received another email from Music123.com. Apparently the DVD I wanted has come in. Unfortunately, I had to cancel the order for this earlier because they said it wasn't coming in until 12/25/2004. I found the same DVD on EBAY for less. Remember folks, this was an item I had ordered in November, was told was in stock and would ship 12/12.
Wow, I just received (3) emails in a row from Music123. The first said the guitar was going to ship from Washburn on 12/12. The next email said it was going to ship from Washburn on 12/14. What is really disappointing is that they said that the guitar case won't ship from Washburn until 12/25!
Now if Music123 would think about how bad they have been torqing me around since November, they would cancel the drop shipment of the case from Washburn and send me one of the cases they just got in on 12/12. What is really ironic is that I saw 4 Washburn G-70 cases on sale from a dealer on EBAY for less $$ and with immediate shipping. If they don't resolve this soon, I am going to have to cancel the case with them.
I left work early around 3:30 PM, to grab the shipments off the front porch and stash them before my daughter got home from school. Guess what? They hadn't arrived yet. When my daughter got home, I made sure she did her homework in her bedroom. About 15 minutes later, two boxes arrived. I dashed outside to meet the delivery man 1/2 way up the driveway. Man, that was close! Later, after my daughter went to a school event, I opened the boxes and took a look at everything. I received the guitar strap, polishing cloth, two types of guitar picks and the Randall Amp. The amp was really nice and I enjoyed playing through it with my '59 reissue Les Paul, honey sunburst.
Yesterday (12/13) Music123 sent me an email with the subject saying, "Music123: Need it by Dec 25th? There's still time!".... LOL... yeah there's still time alright, time enough to buy it somewhere else...
** Update 12/15:
I received (2) emails this morning from Music123. They provided me with a UPS tracking number for the guitar, telling me it shipped 12/14/2004 from Washburn. They also provided a tracking number for the case, which happens to be the same number as the guitar. What's odd is they say the case was shipped 12/25/2004 (past tense - This turned out to be a typo and should have said 12/14/2004). Looking at the shipment weight (30 lbs) and both having the same tracking number leads me to believe that both case & guitar are to arrive tomorrow (12/16 - fingers crossed).
** Update 12/16/2004:
I came home early again to try and hide the guitar before my daughter came home. Guess what? It hadn't arrived yet. My daughter came home and once again she got sent to her room to do her homework. About 10 minutes later, the UPS truck pulled up and I was handed the big box. Carrying it into the garage I kept thinking , "I hope its not damaged. I hope its the right guitar. I hope the case is in the box too". My wife & daughter went out to get dinner and I brought the box in and opened it. The case was flawless and so was the guitar! It was simply beautiful! I strummed a few chords, then quickly put it away before my daughter came back. I noticed the strings were a little high off the frets, but I think I can get that adjusted by a friend who owns a local guitar ship and is a Washburn dealer and repairs them. It's not Music123's fault at all.
My advice to anyone experiencing trouble with orders from Music123.com, is to keep on their tail with emails or phone calls and asking them to do whatever is possible to get your item to you promptly. The fact of the matter is, if you don't speak up and aggressively pursue the order, they are certainly not going to do anything on their own to expedite or correct your order.
I'm not a new customer with Music123.com. About 4 years ago, I purchased a Yamaha flute, music stand, flute gig bag, flute stand, polishing kit & extended flute service warranty from them -- no problems at all.
About 3 years ago, I purchased an Alesis 3630 compressor from them. Again, no problem, so I don't know what happened this time.
Review Summary:
People, do yourself a BIG favor and go to your local music store first to find what you need. Please don't let what happened to me, happen to you. The cost in savings wasn't worth the daily aggravation of what I went through. It's clear that my order should have been managed better without my intervention.
Music123 needs to overhaul their website to fix the problems with the discount pricing & free shipping, so it shows up correctly in the customer's checkout section. Their email notifications are confusing, sometimes sending you multiple order status updates all at once, each conflicting with what the other email said.
If the items you order are really in stock, they should ship them out right away and not make a customer wait several weeks, holding up the order until back-ordered items come in. I know they do this to conserve shipping costs, but its very frustrating to a customer, especially if its a gift item that needs to arrive in a timely fashion.
Was I a hostile customer?...Yes. Did I lose my patience?... Yes, several times. But more importantly, I am a caring father who simply wanted to see the smile and sparkle in his daughter's eyes, after all the Christmas presents had been unwrapped and I tell her, that there's one very special gift left. I momentarily walk out of the living room and re-enter carrying her very own brand new guitar. The number one gift she really wanted for Christmas.
My purchase experience this time through Music123 wasn't initially a very good one. Fortunately, it had a very happy ending. Thank you Music 123.com for making it right and giving my daughter the best Christmas ever!
- Jim
Pittsburgh, PA
Recommended:
Yes
What product did you purchase or try to purchase? Washburn D10CEQSB Guitar
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