Musician's Friend
Reviews and Complaints

Just got today and set it up, played for an hour and here is my review.
KILLER, AMAZING!
Module is fantastic
To me, all the hardware and pedals are pretty heavy duty like Roland.
Kick tower sticks like glue to carpet.
Velcro already on it.
The feel of the bass is nice.
Rack is so much better the Alesis or other round tube racks.
Oh yeah, it's already assembled!
Pads are super heavy duty, beautiful mesh, see through heads.
Cymbals are maybe the weak part of the set, but they are fine.
Acousticly, this set is pretty quiet.
This is a steal. I'm 62 years old. I'm a pro guitarist and a pretty good drummer so my opinion is legit.
BUY IT!

So, after ordering a new bass for my son, to be shipped to Maryland, we anxiously awaited the arrival excited to see it. Being it was a surprise it was tracked accordingly. Upon arrival and my sons return home, he found the brand new bass guitar sitting on the side walk soaked with water and the bass damaged due to the water. UPS had left it out in the rain.
Scared of the expected response from Guitar Friend "It's not our fault, file a claim with UPS." They instead addressed the issue, shipped a new one for return of the damaged one and we are all happy. Robert Jackson was amazing! He took that horror away and made it right. I HIGHLY recommend them as well will purchase from them again in the future. Thank you for doing the RIGHT thing to keep us all happy.

I've always had good experiences with Musician's Friend. I've been ordering guitars and accessories from them for over ten years and I have never had a problem with returns, quality of products or any type of bad service. I year or two I had ordered two different guitars on the same day from musiciansfriend.com and decided that I was going to send one back. I contacted them through their 800 number and they were very courteous and understanding of my situation. They had already shipped both guitars already and when I called they told me that they would stop the shipment of the guitar that I didn't want at it's next checkpoint and would refund my money at no charge. I've always had great service with Musician's Friend and frequently order from them and recommend them to other people looking for musical instruments.

Excellent website for all your musical needs. Great stock and great deals. I have ordered several times and never really experienced a problem. I have had to make a refund once but it was no problem at all. I returned the item and I received a full refund back onto my account. Though I recommend this site to everyone they're are just a couple of things to be wary of. The customer service is good but the sales reps are not as informational as they claim to be about particular products. Also, and this only happened once, I bought a guitar and was expecting the one that was in the picture but when I had received the guitar it was something different. Though that was partly my fault for not thouroughly reading all the item contents and description and just basing my decision on the picture, I still didn't like the fact the used a higher end model to display and lower end guitar which in the end was still very satisfactory. Other than that I have had nothing but a great experience with this site. Happy buying.

Purchased a Rane four controller 03/2023, I just unboxed this unit, updated firmware and one side of the platter does not work, I've never used it, I was confident about this product. I own a Rane One controller I bought from Musicians Friend as well, works perfectly. I feel like I'm stuck after paying $1800 for it. Sounds like there's nothing they can do for me, I am not a happy camper, If I don't hear back from them with a solution. I will not purchase anything else.

On March 4, 2020, I placed an order on the Musician's Friend website with order number MFW***437. I ordered an open box item that was described on the MF website as being in great condition with only minor signs of use. However, when I received the guitar, I noticed that the bridge was out of adjustment and the E & B strings were lying flat against the neck pickup. I took the guitar to my local music shop for adjustment, and the guitar tech discovered that a piece was missing from the back of the bridge/tremolo. He tried to get a replacement part from Ibanez, but they couldn't send it due to the COVID-19 pandemic and non-essential business shutdown in Pennsylvania.

I contacted MF customer service on March 23, 2020, and spoke with a representative named C North. He advised me to provide the receipt for the guitar tech's bill, which I promptly sent on March 24. However, I did not receive any response from C North despite multiple attempts to contact him via email and telephone. On April 3, I initiated an online chat with MF customer service and explained the problem with the guitar. The representative suggested that I return the guitar, and I agreed since it was not delivered as described and was still unplayable.

I also tried to resolve the issue of the $95 refund for the guitar tech's bill. The representative told me to contact C North again, which I did on April 6. On April 8, I called MF again and spoke with Lynnard Scott, who requested a copy of the receipt and assured me that he would contact me the next day. However, I did not hear from him, despite sending multiple emails asking for a status update.

On April 17, I called MF once more and spoke with a representative named Mark. He said he sent an email to C, Lynnard, and their supervisors to resolve the issue, but as of April 22, no response had been received. I called again on April 22 and spoke with Brenden, who informed me that the $95 would not be refunded because I had returned the guitar. I explained that this didn't make sense since I had returned the guitar at the suggestion of MF and was now out $95 for a non-working guitar that I no longer had. I requested to speak with a manager, but Brenden took my contact information and said the manager would get back to me either on April 22 or the next day. However, as of April 24, I have not been contacted by the manager or supervisor.

In summary, I have made ten attempts to resolve this issue with MF, but have received no results. The guitar was not delivered as described, I spent $95 to try and make it playable, and it was returned at the direction of MF. I am now out $95 with no benefit and have experienced extremely poor customer service from MF with no return contact or follow-ups.

I ordered a used drum set. I spoke to a rep on the phone when I ordered it. This was around 4 pm on 2-20-24. They confirm my order, send emails. Then around 9:56, after their call center is closed, they cancelled my order. On their own! I certainly didn't want it cancelled, I wanted the drumset that I paid for.

On top of that, they put some random phone number on my order. I was literally on the phone with a rep, I don't even know how they can mess that up.

If you're on this site, you're likely also going through some unnecessary difficulties with Musician's Friend. If you are, my condolences, these guys suck. On the off chance that you're reading this because you don't know whether to buy from Musician's Friend, just don't. Save your time and order from Sweetwater. Go local if you can. These guys suck.

Their business model is based upon for every customer lost, they get 5 new ones and have no desire to implement their own assurances of "customer satisfaction." For 1,000's of unsuspecting customer (read reviews elsewhere on internet) have been "screwed." I am one too. Never again... all should avoid MusiciansFriend. They sent me a damaged guitar. They emailed me saying when inquired the used guitar was "Like new." It arrived with a chunk of wood missing from main body.

I've been buying stuff from Musician's Friend for over a decade now, but I gotta say, the service has gone downhill big time. And I just figured out why - turns out, the parent company of musiciansfriend.com is none other than Guitar Center. And let me tell you, Guitar Center sucks! Every time I go to the Rockville, Md. store, there's this snobby attitude that I can't stand. I have to go hunt down someone to help me, even for simple stuff like instructional DVDs. And when I do finally find someone, they often just point me in some random direction and leave me to fend for myself. I once asked a so-called "guitar tech" if he thought there was a big difference in string gauge, and he had no idea what I was talking about. I mean, come on! That's just bad service.

And unfortunately, it seems like Musician's Friend is following in Guitar Center's footsteps. I've complained about their service before, but it's like no one reads my emails until it's too late. And let me tell you, if you're a musician - whether you're just starting out or you're a pro - there are plenty of other companies out there that actually care about their customers. They want to build a relationship with you and your bandmates, not just make a quick buck and forget about you.

I don't need people kissing my butt, but I do expect good service. I want to feel like my business is appreciated. And let's be real, rewards points don't mean squat if the service is terrible. So if you're thinking about buying gear from Musician's Friend, I'd say think twice. There are better options out there.

So, I decided to give Musician's Friend a try and ordered a pair of studio monitors with warranty on September 27, 2020. Unfortunately, the item was put on backorder and I was informed by customer service that it would arrive on October 11, 2020. However, when the date arrived, I received another backorder notice. I was frustrated, but I contacted customer service again and they told me that the new shipping date would be October 22, 2020.

To my dismay, I received yet another backorder notice. I called customer service once more and they apologized for the delays, blaming it on Covid-19. They assured me that the new shipping date would be by November 11, 2020. However, on election day, I decided to cancel my order and explained to them that I no longer wanted the product. After being put on hold for 15 minutes, they told me that my order had been cancelled and that I should wait about 8 days for my money to be refunded.

But, to my surprise, on November 4, 2020, I received a notification that my package was being shipped. I was furious and called customer service again, only to be told that there was no record of my order being cancelled. I was beyond frustrated and gave them a piece of my mind about their poor customer service.

Despite being a loyal customer of Musician's Friend and having spent thousands of dollars at their store, I refuse to pay them a dime for anything else. My advice to others is to wait until Guitar Center files for bankruptcy and get your gear when it goes on clearance. Middle fingers up to Musician's Friend.

I recently made a purchase on Musician's Friend during Cyber Monday. I was excited to get a new guitar and chose a color that I really liked. Unfortunately, the color I chose was out of stock. The customer service representative told me that it would ship on December 16th and arrive by Christmas on the 23rd. However, when the 16th came and went, I checked on my order and found that it hadn't shipped yet. I called customer service and was told that it was back-ordered until January 3rd. I was disappointed because I had planned to give the guitar as a Christmas gift.

When I spoke to Gabby, the representative, she tried to tell me that the delay was because I had a different shipping address than my billing address. I explained that it was a gift and I didn't want it to arrive when I wasn't home. Gabby spoke to the manager and they offered me a discount and free 2-day shipping. I was happy with the offer and waited for my guitar to arrive.

However, when the guitar didn't arrive in 2 days, I called customer service again. They told me that they had sent it and it was now UPS's problem. It turns out that they had sent it out past the deadline to make the airplane that day. UPS decided that it was okay for the guitar to ride in a cold truck in 12-degree weather for 6 days and deliver it whenever without contacting Musician's Friend or me. I was worried that the guitar would be damaged from being in the cold weather for so long.

I told UPS that if the guitar arrived damaged, they would have to replace it. I was very upset with Musician's Friend and UPS. They didn't seem to care about making lasting customers. It's too bad because I know a lot of musicians, and I will make sure to steer them away from Musician's Friend. I will not be buying from them again.

I'm just another person who had an experience with Musician's Friend's customer service. I've been a regular customer of both Musician's Friend and Guitar Center for a long time and have spent a lot of money on their products.

In January, I decided to buy a brand new bass under a 48-month financing deal. I ordered it on a Friday evening and it was shipped on Monday for delivery on Tuesday. I was surprised because Musician's Friend never ships overnight on their own dime. I checked the shipping details and saw that it was shipping from a town 10 miles away from me, which was also the location of a Guitar Center. This made me suspicious.

When the package arrived, I had my son record me opening the box. I removed the gig bag, which was well-packed. However, as I opened the bag, I noticed scratches and dings on the bass. When I removed the bass, there were no tags or cards, and no plastic on the pickguard. There was, however, a 9-volt battery already in the bass for the active pickups. It was clear that I received a floor model, and a well-used one at that, for full price.

I returned the bass and received a full refund. However, I won't be purchasing anything from Musician's Friend or Guitar Center again, unless I need emergency strings or drum sticks.

I decided to write an email to my Sweetwater rep and the CEO, congratulating them on always earning my business. I'm happy to say that Sweetwater just got a big order from the company I work for. Who do you think made the recommendation? :D

These guys are just terrible. I ordered an item from them and they shipped it via post office/UPS partnered service. It made it all the way to Washington state and was within 100 miles of my residence. Then, overnight, it was sent to Brooklyn New York. And there it has stayed for four days now. Some idiot in the postal service decided it should be Rochester New York instead of Rochester Washington, I guess. So they sent it 4000 miles to the east. Can you believe that?

I called Musician's Friend about the blunder and the lady I spoke to was so rude. She just stated it was on the wrong truck and would be delivered today. I told her maybe the wrong truck 4000 miles away. I asked her if they could just send another of the product I ordered. But she gave me a flat Nope for an answer. She said there was nothing she could do and told me to call back tomorrow. Really? So it's tomorrow (four days later) and my package is still in New York. I doubt I will ever get what I paid for.

So I will just eat it as a bad, very bad first experience with these numb nuts people. And my last experience with them. I ordered the same item from Sweetwater Music and received it no problem first time. They even called me to confirm my order was correct before shipping and followed up to make sure I received my product from them. Now that's what I call customer service!

So my advice to you: Never order from Musician's Friend unless you want to get blown off and ignored and never receive your product. Can't put it any simpler than that, people. Musician's Friend is NOT YOUR FRIEND! Let that sink in and marinate on that before you even consider ordering from the NOT YOUR FRIEND music store.

I gotta say, I'm pretty disappointed with Musician's Friend. They claim to have a 2 year warranty on their products, but when I tried to exercise it, they told me it was too late. I bought a Warlock from them less than 2 years ago, and when I went to change the strings, I found out that the screw holding the high E string tuner was stripped out. I called them up, hoping to get it fixed under warranty, but they just gave me the runaround.

According to their website, they offer a 2 year Musician's Friend warranty on all their products. But when I asked about it, they told me that it was actually a manufacturer's warranty, not a Musician's Friend warranty. That's not what it says on their website, though. It clearly states that the warranty is a Musician's Friend warranty, and that you should contact them if you need to exercise it. But when you do contact them, they just give you the manufacturer's phone number and tell you to call them instead.

It's pretty clear to me that the 2 year warranty they advertise on their website is just a bunch of BS. They don't actually honor it, and they don't seem to care about their customers. I wouldn't recommend buying from them, unless you want to risk getting stuck with a piece of garbage and no way to get it fixed. Save yourself the trouble and go somewhere else.

I recently made a purchase from Musician's Friend, specifically a Pioneer PLX 500 turntable. I was excited to finally have the money to buy it and was told it was in stock and on its way. However, my excitement quickly turned to frustration when my first order was cancelled without any communication with me. Apparently, the Guitar Center who claimed to have it actually didn't. This happened not once, not twice, but five times. Five orders, five cancellations, and finally they notified me that it had shipped.

When I received the turntable, I was extremely disappointed. First of all, it was not even close to being a new turntable. Second, it was shipped in a box that was big enough to fit two turntables in it. Third, there was absolutely no packing material in the box. And fourth, it arrived in about 50 pieces. The top shell was shattered and they had attempted to tape it together, which obviously didn't work. It was missing all cords, manuals, one leg from the turntable was missing, and all accessories. I could not believe they would even consider mailing something in this condition. I had ordered and paid for a brand new item, but instead received a completely broken and trashed open box display model that was completely unusable.

This was the last order I made from Musician's Friend, after a total of five orders. I would not recommend buying anything from this business. The only result you can expect is anger, frustration, and heartbreak. I have included photos of what I received, so you can see for yourself the condition of the turntable.

I recently made a purchase on Musician's Friend website for a used guitar and was pleasantly surprised to receive a promotional credit of $116. However, when I tried to use the credit to complete my order, I encountered some technical difficulties and was unable to apply the credit. I decided to call customer service for assistance and was connected with a representative from the Philippines who was very helpful.

The representative suggested that I clear out my cart and he would place the order for me. After a few minutes, he returned with the unfortunate news that the promotional credit could not be applied to a used item. I thanked him for his help but decided to place the order myself a few hours later. However, to my dismay, the promotional credit was no longer available.

I contacted customer service again to have the credit reinstated, but I was met with confusion and unhelpful responses. One representative, Nate, was able to get the manager to offer me a $50 credit instead, which I accepted. However, when I tried to pay for the guitar at a nearby Guitar Center, the credit could not be found.

I called Musician's Friend again to inquire about the missing credit and was told that Nate would call me back shortly. After waiting for 30 minutes with no response, I called back and was told that it would only be a few more minutes. Finally, Nate called me back and after searching for another 10 minutes, he was able to locate the credit. However, I was informed that I could not use it to place an order online and would have to call to place the order.

After all the hassle and frustration, I realized that I no longer had any desire to purchase the guitar and decided to cut up my Musician's Friend card. While the experience was disappointing, I appreciated the efforts of Nate and the representative from the Philippines who tried to assist me. Overall, I would caution others to be wary of the promotional credits offered by Musician's Friend and to double-check the terms and conditions before making a purchase.

Amazing how you can purchase a used item from a company that buys it from a customer used mind you they are diligent in their buying if used gear they just don't take item from customers if they aren't working. So you go and purchase it and they turn around and cancel it without even a thought of... Hello upon testing the item you purchased we found out that it wasn't working properly after we purchased it from another customer (remember they test everything before buying) so we are just notifying you that the order is being called. So they make no attempt in finding a replacement to ship because they can't manage to find another one in the entire stock of endless supply of said item. Very poor excuse and service for an obvious regret in their part selling an item where they found it to be too good a deal to sell so best to catch the error and claim it broken because they would loose money on the deal.

On or about 11/13,2022, I was on YouTube browsing about videos concerning the Boss RC-600, when up pops an advertisement for the Boss Rc-600 from Musician's Friend showing that it was 199 dollars with Code Holiday, well there was another ad showing the Boss BC-600 Loop Station showing 70 percent off which led me to believe that the Musician's Friend was some kind of pre-Black Friday sale price. I contacted Musician's Friend and spoke to Drew Etheridge who informed me that Musician's Friend honors the sales prices they advertise and also does price matching with other competitors adds. Drew asked for me to see a copy of the screenshot, to him so I did, I sent both the Musician's Friend screen shot, and the bestdeals. today.com screen shot showing 70 percent off. Drew first said he could not clearly see the screen shots on his computer. I thought they was rather odd. Then Drew said that there was no way that Musicians's Friend could match a 70 percent discount. So based on what Drew had previously said that Musician's Friend would honor their advertised price, I assumed that they would. I called back several times, after Drew informed me that a member of management would contact me, which they did not. Drew then explained what the ad actually meant, however that is not what the ad said, as if a consumer is supposed to be able to interpret an advertisement that is intentionally deceptive and translate it to what Musicians's Friend wants it to mean. Drew then told me that he was going to send the screen shots back over to members of management. So I waited once again to hear back from them. Again no such call came, so I called Drew back, and asked Drew for his supervisor's email. For I had previously called Nate Mayberry several times and then emailed him but to date have not received any response from him. Which I am now even more upset, because my complaint which is valid and under the law I have rights as a consumer. In fact, the ad I reported to Musicians's Friend was removed within 12 hours, and it has not been reposted. That action right their infers that the marketing ploy and deceptive advertising was just that and was against advertising federal advertising laws according to the FTC. I requested a same day in writing to Drew Etheridge that I wanted to purchase 4 units, which I thought was a reasonable request. I took the liberty to also contact your competition bestdeals. today.com aka Amazon market deception, and got their ad removed, which should help Musician's Friend get more traffic. Frankly I believe and now that Musicians Friend should honor their advertised sales price as Drew Etheridge said that they would, go back and listen to the phone calls. I called back yesterday and spoke with a very enthusiastic customer service representative Kea Suttle, she listened to my concern, and asked to see the ad screenshot, when I sent it to her, she agreed that it was misleading and approached her supervisor, and then she translated the meaning of the ad just like Drew Etheridge did, but that is not what I was after, I was after obtaining the advertised sales price that Musicians's Friend intentionally and fraudulently placed on the internet to draw internet traffic to their onlline store. Please read the FTC regulations concerning deceptive advertising. And I am still waiting for a member of management to contact me and settle this matter, because at this point of time, I feel that I have been punked and the punking is continuing, It is normal for a Musician's Friend employee to know what an ad may mean, because they deal with your ads everyday, but as a consumer I do not possess the knowledge to be able to translate or interpret the deceptive and misleading ad that you posted on 11/13/2022 at 4.39 pm. I have included the screen shot of your ad, which is most definetly missing the details that it should have listed in the advertisement.

Our nonprofit Org has been trying to get our complete order fulfilled or a refund on the missing parts since April 2022. Prepayment was required since we are a non-profit. We have been communicating with William Pozo who said in July 2022 we would be issued a refund which we have yet to receive. Order #S30977431

Purchased guitar from musician's friend website 08/13/2022 for $179.00 + $11.79 sales tax. I received a different guitar, unwanted as not what I paid for, contacted musician's friend and was issued a return authorization... Returned via their prepaid ups shipping label. Refund has never been received as of date 08/31/2022. They use a third party firm as an intermediary between them and ups thus ups has no access to disposition... Not-with-standing I dropped off at a local ups and shipping was confirmed. The guitar purchased is shown in attached photo.. Sunburst color; the white guitar in second photo was waht io received and returned.

I ordered a bass on 5/15 and paid $56.10 for next day air.

Luckily I checked my email on 5/16 around noon and saw that Musicians Friend (MF) needed to contact concerning my order. Because my billing address was different from my shipping address they had to make a phone call to me, ( I was talking to them). Had to hang up and then called me right back to confirm its me? Anyway. Drew at MS told me my bass would be here 5/17. I finally checked on the order and tracking thru FedEx said by 8pm 5/17.

I rechecked my email after 6pm and now not being delivered till 5/18. Thats 3 days for next day, 1 business day delivery. I did not count 5/15 on sunday I ordered it.

I will NEVER pay for "Next Business Day" Delivery with MF.

Now, who was at fault? I will try to make a claim against FedEx for the 56.10

The shipper blames it on the carrier and the carrier blames it on the shipper. I have not used MF in some time and will be not using them again I believe.

I placed both of these GONG orders in October 2021 and as of today, 2/14/2022 they were still on backorder. After contacting the company that manufactures the gongs, they are no longer producing them.

I have called several times to no avail and now we have cancelled the order. I want a replacement order and the only thing available is ONE gong the price of both gongs that I ordered. They are only offering me a 15% discount and that totals more than the order for 2 gongs. I am also tax exempt and have been doing business with you for over 20 years and am always hassled when I ask for the exemption and I am not able to use my musicians friend card which offers special financing offers. That is how I was always able to afford purchasing these instruments for the ministry.

What in the hell are you people EVEN doing selling this piece of [censored] guitar that I would not pay 10 bucks for?

NEWS FLASH:

It cannot be played on arrival — forget the simple setup [censored].
The bridge is way to low, no adjustment can change that!

The neck and fretboard most likely the worst I have ever seen in a new guitar.
And yes, I have purchased many guitars.
low end to high and in between.
Myself a former band member and professional guitar instructor.

A am an expert guitar setup tech, and amateur luthier.

If you attempt to advise me, I will most certainly be pissed.
When it comes to guitar evaluation, professional setup —
I am like Noah speaking of the flood.

Many people pay me for their guitar setups.

Now clearly you can say, No Problem, send it back.

That is NOT GOOD ENOUGH, at the very least you have wasted my time,
and at the very worst you are ripping people off selling them this ROGUE-090.

Who in the hell wants to purchase a guitar, have it arrive, only to be 100% unplayable?

On the plus side, I do recall getting a Telecaster from Musician's Friend sometime ago, and it was fine.

Got a busted guitar, I told them I would gladly send pics they declined said to donate or discard broken guitar, Spoke to 2 reps that didn't seem to care or know what to do, went on chat seemed shady wanting credit card info, definitely won't buy from this company again! Instead of just sending out replacement guitar wanted to make everything complicated, I bought guitar for a specific price on sale the one rep said couldn't give me the same sales price on replacement guitar, definitely won't use this company again!