Sweetwater

Thanks again for your customer service. As you know my son is a recording engineer so he has purchased a lot of items from Sweetwater. I am the Dad who purchases smaller items like guitar picks, strings and stomp boxes. Your communication is the best I know of in the retail music business. You recently kept me posted on the tuners' 2-for-1 deal, thanks Sweetwater work great. I received the tuners and the strings the same day in separate boxes. Each box had a small sample of candy in it. Eventhough I don't eat the candy the gesture made me smile. And I really like that you have kept the same customer representive with my family for what is probably 10 years now. Today I purchased a bag of Dunlop nickel silver finger picks. I am looking forward to the delivery and also the candy. Thank you again. It's a pleasure doing business with you.

At the beginning of the pandemic, I was unfamiliar with Sweetwater but I knew it's competitors. My musician friend of 45 years told me to mention his name. My first purchase was a guitar pedal. I couldn't believe the personalized nature of the service (phone call & email). When the competition was out of stock, Sweetwater had already stockpiled supplies for the home recording studio I was building. Then, I asked my sales rep, Caleb, about some different guitars that were Out of Stock. We identified a couple, placed a hold on one, and he called me as soon as it came in: a G&L Bluesboy Tele. The 55-point inspection also helped sell me on Sweetwater. While shopping on line, I read reviews about guitars and found people spent money on set-up when ordering guitars from competitors and regretted NOT having ordered from Sweetwater. I love my new G&L, adding a new look and sound to my collection. Next, with Caleb's help, I ordered an Ibanez Mikro Mini as a surprise for my daughter who has been playing now for about 2 years. My daughter was taken completely by surprise, kept saying "It's Beautiful" and literally ran into her room and brought her amp out into the living room to play. (She is usually too shy to play in front of people.) Caleb himself has one and he was correct: The Ibanez provides a quality look, sound, and feel for an amazingly small price.

I look on line at the competition. I visit guitar shops in person. But when I am ready to buy, I go to Sweetwater. You would be well served to consider this approach.

I have had many good experiences with Sweetwater. Purchases, returns, advice, tech support - all were very very good. Before I learned about them, I shopped at a local "Guitar Galaxy"( name changed to protect the innocent). Sweetwater were very frustrating to deal with. I am sorry and surprised to read some recent negative reviews. I can only think that the whole Covid thing, with it's economic downturn must be the reason. I have had the owner, Mr. Surack, contact me directly to ask if everything in the buying process was good. I have always gotten the impression that the whole team was committed to doing the best they could. Twice they even gave me a free upgrade to similar but more expensive product when they were out of stock on a less-expensive item. I have read in several publications that supply chains are being disrupted on all kinds of products in all kinds of markets. That is the only explanation I can come up with for the recent bad reviews. I continue to buy from them and support them during these hard times, because 1. They have genuinely tried to help every time, 2. They are committed to keeping up with technology 3. Great prices, and 4. I don't have time to deal with doing involved research every time I need to buy something- I am too busy making music! I consider them to be a part of MY team.

Buying through Sweetwater was a great experience. Instead of the "if you can't dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with B. S." employees of some well-known walk in stores, Sweetwater employees know their products and take the time to make sure the customer gets what Sweetwater want. Instead of the online vague answers about products from other sites, Sweetwater employees and associates know or will find out the technical data needed to make a wise purchase. Ordering through Sweetwater was very easy, with a no "wonder what is going to happen next" or "am I going to receive everything". I had questions concerning what actually came with the Rode Go II wireless system and Sweetwater left me knowing I was going to get exactly what I purchased. Sweetwater let me know exactly where my purchase was and when it was going to arrive. They were so concerned about the backorder, they phoned me to make sure I was aware of the backorder. EXCELLENT customer service. As for the product, I cannot say enough. It has been the best purchase I have ever made for the videoing I do. The sound quality is great, the ease of use is great, and the accessories, lapel and handheld mic are the best I have seen for a wireless set up such as this. The dead cats for the Go II are great and easy to assemble. I was a little worried looking at some reviews, but I can attest they are great! The product is well worth the cost. Sweetwater keep up the great work. You are far above the rest."

I ordered a sampler which happened to be an open-box unit... save money should be great right? Wrong! I received the unit with a damaged midi port. I had to struggle through DAYS of technical support that had the audacity to suggest at one point ignoring the non-functioning port and using a completely different setup.

I would've GLADLY paid for an unopened item if I had any indication the item wouldn't have been thoroughly inspected before being shipped out let alone listed for sale. INCREDIBLE.

Sweetwater refused to return the package via FedEx stating the reasoning was that the package was delivered when it was available for pick-up at a FedEx location. They instead insisted I receive and purchase materials to repackage the replacement unit. So much for hassle-free returns!

There are so many companies selling music equipment these days, why spend your money where you're treated so poorly! I didn't even mention the account security issues IMMEDIATELY upon making my initial purchase.

There doesn't seem to be any real sense of integrity or stewardship at Sweetwater. I can't say they went above and beyond in helping me to get any issue resolved. I rightfully expect to return ANYTHING that I purchased damaged from anywhere. Silly me, I expected a smooth and empathetic resolution from start to finish.

I've never had an issue REMOTELY similar to this at Guitar Center and it's Guitar center and their years of experience I'll be buying with moving forward.

I recently searched for a lower cost upgrade from Cubase AI 9.5 to Pro 10.5. I found a great deal at Sweetwater, so I thought. First I called in rather than just placed the order. I got a Sales rep. Brain. Brian happily sells me the download. After a few hours of waiting; the download arrives. I follow the instructions... no versions to be upgraded. Found out I had upgraded to 10.5 which cost more money. Paid it. Got another download. Same problem. Set multiple screenshots of everything all weekend up to today, nearly a week later. Still not working. Sweetwater Sent the wrong upgrade again... WANTED $200 MORE for another download with no attempt to make it right with me paying. Sweetwater Can Kiss my Ass for trying to hustle a Man for dollar. Sweetwater thought they had a sucker and made some change on daily interest. Shame on you SWEETWater

When you make a purchase from them, you are automatically assigned a Sales Engineer to help you with your order by answering any questions you may have about the products you intend to purchase. I don't get it. I've thoroughly researched the $5000 eurorack system I committed to when I hit that "place order" button. What questions could I possibly need answering that I couldn't answer myself with a quick google search? Oh, how about, "why did you mysteriously cancel my order after 2 weeks of ghosting me?" These people won't pick up the phone or answer emails. Orders aren't fulfilled until the Sales Engineer gives the "go" signal. But what happens when your Sales Engineer goes AWOL? You sit there waiting for 2 weeks, stressing about whether or not you're going to receive your stuff, and with that amount of money on line, it's impossible to initiate plan B, and go with another vendor. I've sent half a dozen emails trying to get an update on the status of my order, and then one day, the order just disappears completely from my account, with no proof it even existed. And now the system I attempted to purchase is out of stock, so I guess my Sales Engineer didn't even bother to reserve a unit for me. No explanation, no confirmation of cancellation, no responses whatsoever. Well, their loss. I was about to drop 10k easy on new equipment, and I did end up doing just that with a better company that actually values their customers. Don't let their "one on one customer service" act fool you. Sweetwater are an empty corporate shell of a company. They seriously need to drop this nonsensical sales engineer middle-man BS. Y'all know they're just in it for their employee gear discount.

I recently purchased a guitar on-line from Sweetwater Music. My first ever on-line guitar purchase. After, I received the guitar, aesthetically I did not like the guitar as I'm super picky. Therefore, I contacted Sweetwater and spoke with the sales engineer assigned to me who assisted me in selecting another guitar of the same kind form their vast collection. He also connected me to the customer service department and we made the arrangement for return and an exchange.

Subsequently, I saw another guitar listed in their gallery, and I decided to choose that one instead. I called back and my sales engineer as well as the customer service representative both had already left for the day. Therefore another sales engineer assisted me and kindly secured the guitar of my choice, and sent an internal memo to the customer service representative requesting the change.

All of the aforementioned activity after the initial receipt of my purchased guitar and returning it, took place in less than a 24 hour period including the shipment of the replacement guitar which I received the next day!

As a result of this experience with Sweetwater Music, I know for a fact that Sweetwater provide more than an excellent service to their customers, and the company with it's dedicated employees really stand behind the fine products that they sell!

Thank you to everyone at Sweetwater Music!

Sweetwater Sound provides American customer service the way it is SUPPOSED to be! I recently made two separate purchases -- small accessory items in each order -- and within a few days of each purchase I received a PHONE CALL thanking me for my purchase and asking me to contact them (and that customer service staffer directly) if I had any issues. That's just way over the top, not to mention the small pack of assorted candy Sweetwater included with the shipments. I guess they are trying to cheer us up after almost a year of pandemic frustrations, and the candy certainly brought a smile. Now: will they do this consistently -- i. E. include surprise treats? Don't know; but one thing that has been consistent over the years is their high quality products, tech'-educational help, and customer service. I have also dealt with other large music / sound vendors (zZ...; GtrC; MusF... etc.), and while their initial prices might be a little less, after actual shipping charges AND customer service -- there is no comparison. Sweetwater gets my vote, and my business.

I am a long time musician of 30+ years and this was my first interaction with Sweetwater Music. I have no complaint about their selection of products, pricing, shipping or anything else, HOWEVER I will be reluctant to ever do business with them again. After making my purchase,@ $3200. 00, I expected that that was it and I only needed to await the arrival of my items. This was not the case. On the following day I received a phone call from an out of state number that wasn't a friend of family member, so I didn't answer it. In my experience nearly all out of state calls are spam of some sort and I try to avoid them. I later discovered that I received and email from Sweetwater stating "I need to speak to you before I can ship this order out to you so please give me a call". I was not expecting this and assuming this was a genuine email, felt lucky that I checked this account. Like many people I use alternate emails for specific purposes. In this case I used an alternate email in anticipation that Sweetwater would send advertisements that I would have to unsubscribe from, and that Sweetwater may also sell my information, which seems to be common practice in e-commerce. The point being that it was luck that I came across the email. After calling Sweetwater they confirmed that they were not going to ship my order until and/or unless someone spoke to on the phone... it's company policy. My opinions about this policy aside, I was taken back that they would hold back and not ship something I PAID FOR! This information was not stated anywhere in the sales process. I've since read through everything I can find on their website and there's no mention of this policy. What if I missed the email? What if my email became corrupted and unrecoverable (I've had this exact experience)... there are many what if's that could have delayed the shipping of my purchase of an unknown and extended period of time. In and of its self I wouldn't necessarily have minded this policy if only Sweetwater had the foresight to clear identify this additional requirement in the purchasing process. I would at least known to expect it. For this reason I am giving them 3 stars for their odd policy and for failing to realize the potential stress, disappointment and unwelcome surprise this could bring to bear on their customers. I really hope they reconsider this policy.

"Sweetwater has access to the same goods as everyone else. Sweetwater sell that at roughly the same price as everyone else and offer the same free shipping etc. But, how they differentiate is on their personalized service.

When you buy from Sweetwater you get assigned a Sales Engineer and that person is now your point of contact for Sweetwater. Whether it's a technical question or trouble with your order or any other reason to contact Sweetwater, your knowledgeable and friendly sales engineer is available.

Like others, Sweetwater also has a very good website with good blog posts and knowledge articles. They also have a great YouTube channel which al helps with the education part of your buying experience.

Like others they offer free shipping.

But unlike others, they offer a two year warranty (fulfilled by Sweetwater) on any item that does not carry a manufacturers warranty over 2 years.

So in short, they do everything everyone else does, and then they have a dedicated Sales Engineer and a two year warranty. They really do care about each and every customer personally."

After reading nice reviews about Sweetwater i decided to buy few instruments from them. After opening the account Sweetwater automatically added me a sales engineer without previously asking what is my music background (I was professional musician almost 30 years so my tech questions are totally different fro beginner.) So, immediately it gave me a bad predisposition for the quality of their support.
In the first 3 Emails, I asked my "chosen" sales engineer a clear question about my split order and he answered me about Sweetwater family, how is nice and so on... After fourth Email I finally got answer what is going with my order.
Next stage was to ask about some specific detail about a keyboard and he answered me that his friend like that keyboard without any details - you know typical talking like beauty products-its amazing, beautiful and so on.
After that I sad I will probably buy it - and guy just finished the purchase without asking me. I realized that I got pusher salesman who word "PROBABLY" understand as word "WILL".
I wrote him to stop my further order and, he, again, order without my approvall. And now I saw a new rule where the word "CANCEL' means "BUY" in his pushing style.
I searched on their website how to change sales engineer but I didn't find ay how to do it or get other support. All my questions go to my "chosen" salesman. And I said myself what are you doing, wasting your time for nothing?! There so many better music stores with simple and classic systems - if you have some keyboard questions you will be directed to keyboard department, and get best support in that area.
Goodbye Sweetwater, it was a short unpleasant experience and wasting of my time.

I just want to share about some INCREDIBLE customer service that I received lately. I was having some issues with a software license that I had purchased through Sweetwater Sound, and I could tell that Sweetwater's support team had their hands tied by the software developer and were just as helpless as I was.

Just when it looked like all was lost, I took one final look at my customer invoice and couldn't help but notice the email address of the president of the company right there on the invoice! The email address was accompanied by the following note:

"I want to take the time to personally thank you for your business with Sweetwater. I am so grateful for every customer, and I encourage you to continue to pursue your love of music. I want you to know that your satisfaction is our first priority."

This right here is leadership. A company president who is so confident in the excellence of his customer service team that he would put his own contact information on an invoice. I have to suspect that he rarely, if ever, gets an email - his company's customer service team is really that good! But in this case, I did send an email, and within an hour I'd received a response.

You can't go wrong with Sweetwater Sound. I'll keep going back to them again and again. And I hope that my own professional processes and service standards will measure up to even just a fraction of theirs!

I had purchased from Sweetwater for a few years now but only small items. Buying a new Guitar on Line is a bit different, you can't hold it or touch it If you buy something used on let's say eBay you have to expect imperfections and even some problems. But when you are buy new you want the BEST. This is the great thing about Sweetwater. You know how you get one of those little tags inspected by? From the manufacturer well that's just not good enough for Sweetwater. Sweetwater do a full inspection above and beyond what is expected. That's a great thing because if there is something not so right they address it before you get disappointed with it.
To make a long story short this was my 1st new guitar purchase on line. My sales engineer Ryan kept In constant contact with me throughout the process. It's not like talking to someone at a big box store that you may not see or speak with when you come back to pick up your guitar. I ordered a new Fender Professional ll that hat to be special ordered. I was told it could be 4 weeks till it comes in It came in in 2 weeks. When it came in Ryan called me to let me know it was in and to tell me that my guitar was photographed and the pictures were sent to my email. I chose to have the strings changed and a full set up. That was done right away and my new guitar was shipped, I got in 3 days. It is perfect. The set up is perfect and the guitar is effortless to play. This process took the fright out of buying an expensive item on line. At least from Sweetwater. I was so completely satisfied with this experience that I ordered another new Guitar from Sweetwater. This time an even more expensive Rickenbacker 12 string. I'm confident this experience will be great also. I will keep you posted. Thanks again Ryan, small mom & pop store treatment in a large company is hard to find and goes a long way. This is something you don't get much of these days.
I've read many reviews all were good the only bad ones for the most part are BAD Credit related. How's that equates to a bad review is almost laughable ( sorry I just had to mention that)

I bought an orange rockerverb amp from Sweetwater. It was a special order, "non returnable" amp because I wanted the black tolex version. Sweetwater knocked off $100 of the retail price to get my business. So the Orange company sent me one that had been sitting in their warehouse for 3 years just so they could get rid of it! It had all kinds of corrosion and issues inside of it that I could not see. The issues did not happen right away until after the return period expired. Their 2-year warranty is a rip-off and they will charge you up the ass to repair stuff. They will only repair certain things in that two-year period and it's usually things that don't go wrong in 2 yrs. Sweetwater did not help me, and told me if they fix it it will cost much more money than to have orange do it, so I had to send it back to Orange within the first 6 months to have all the input and effects Loop Jacks replaced and other corroded Parts replaced. It sounded fine for about another 3 months until I started having problems again and Sweetwater didn't help me whatsoever. The bottom line is, if they give you a "deal" on something "brand new" and your representative gives you a discount, or if you get a demo/floor model, they make sure that whatever brand/company you're buying from from gives you the oldest one in the warehouse that hasn't sold. That's why they give you the discount. I found out my supposably brand new amp (that was never used or purchased prior to me buying it) had been sitting in the the Orange warehouse for three years before they gave it to me! By the time I found out it was too late to return it. They will give you old stuff that has never been sold instead of giving you stuff that should be manufactured within a year's time of purchase. Companies like Musician's Friend always gives you items that have been built within 12 months of the time you order it. So, if you think Sweetwater's two-year return policy is worth it believe me it's nothing but a scam to get you to buy their stuff. The 2-year warranty is only helpful for very non expensive items. But if you want something costing over $300 they aren't going to help you if problems arise after 30 days. If you get a discount and don't pay their premium price you will get something old from the warehouse that has never been purchased and been sitting and getting banged around and exposed to a lot of elements like moisture and so forth. A lot of my Sweetwater equipment has failed over short periods of time.
I now buy my stuff off of Reverb.com and Musician's Friend and I have never had a problem with anything. If it's too good to be true it usually is and Sweetwater's two-year no-hassle return policy is full of crap.
It's hard for me to explain exactly how their two-year policy has worked with me without actually talking to you, but trust me Sweetwater is nothing but a bunch of scandalous people that tell you what you want to hear in order to get your money and then abandon you once you buy something.
If you want to save money and get wonderful gear go through Musician's Friend or pretty much any other major retail outlet other than Sweetwater... or buy used from a reputable store. Who wants to buy brand new stuff that's been sitting in warehouses forever?

I recently purchased a Gibson ES 335 from Sweetwater. There are many online retailers but I went w/ Sweetwater because of their 55 point inspection process and the helpfulness of the person that interacted with me. Received the guitar, what a disappointment. This model was VERY expensive but it arrived w/ several large scratches in the finish. There was rust on the metal fittings, bridge parts, pups, and knobs. Amazingly, for a semi hollowbody instrument the sound lacked sustain and resonance and the bridge vibrated horribly with playing. There was also a foul chemical smell emanating from the guitar. It was so bad that I became nauseated just sitting with it in my lap and had to put the guitar down and get away from it. So, either Sweetwater did their inspection and STILL sent out a bad instrument, or they didn't do an inspection at all. Won't order from Sweetwater again. This is the issue whenever ordering from an online retailer... how much do they care, and in this case, it was very little.

I've read some less than stellar reviews on Sweetwater in a couple places, and I'm sure there are some representatives there that are. Well. Incompetent. But that is to be expected with *any* company. If you go the next step up however, trust me Sweetwater will take care of you. I just wanted to chime in and say I've been doing business with Sweetwater since 2009 and the very few issues I did run into were fixed immediately and it was as hassle free as possible. Sweetwater is one of the only big retailers that I actually feel safe with ordering from, especially if it's a large amount of money you're spending. Every time I make the decision of buying elsewhere, just to save a couple bucks or because I'm impatient due to something being out of stock, it always ends up being a huge headache and in the end I say "... Should have just gone with Sweetwater. Whoops". Another big plus besides their customer service and consistency is that if you're buying an instrument, you get to see the ACTUAL instrument, not a stock image, you get the actual serial number, and you get to pick which particular one you want. That is huge, and more businesses seriously need to start doing that if they want to ever hope to compete. Should I need a return, the process has always been painless and nothing has ever come out of my pocket for it. Last but not least, I want to give kudos to my sales rep, Kyle Malone for always being straight up with me, helpful and never trying to upsale me like some clown at... another major retailer we all know would.

I promise, just buy something small or cheaper and try out this fantastic customer service at Sweetwater.

I'm just a guy, MeshuggahDave, but this company has easily provided the best experience in shopping I've ever had in all my 36 years.

You get a dedicated service guy to contact at will. Sweetwater respond virtually immediately unless they'reoff the clock but then you get a reply when they're back on.

I have never been so impressed by a company.

I have never had the pleasure of shopping with a company that employs staff who are just as enthusiastic about meeting your demands as the company service and prices are.

My guy Steve is better than anyone guitar center employs without a doubt.

No offense either. It's not even the man. It's the brand. I know my guy is trained by professionals in the field. I can even look up his biography page on Sweetwater.com

Check out my guy:
Steven Steward

Great company.

Amazing consumer focus.

Great prices but I don't even care. They practically updated my whole computer remotely for free and provided an efficient and friendly tech to remotely solve my issue involving connecting my GT-1B to my windows 10 computer.

I might be a noob

But with Sweetwater behind me,

I'm prepared to start every project with confidence.

No problem.

Forget about it.

Enjoy yourself and let Sweetwater make it so!

A problem developed with the software portion of a product I purchased from Sweetwater. It became of roundhouse of difficulty in seeking a resolution. In as much as my original posting expressed my frustration, I must equally speak out regarding the manner in which Sweetwater Sound stepped forward and took the issue into hand directly and through their technical support, sought out and resolved the issue.

I would consider myself a rather demanding individual when something goes wrong and I am subsequently pleased that Sweetwater Sound persisted in a most professional manner to ensure that I wasn't ultimately saddled with a problem not my own. I commend them for their enduring patience during a troubling situation.

So if you need musical products, I speak here without reservation in recommending this company and its staff.

On June 6,2020, Saturday, I placed an order for over $3000. The "sales engineer" was filling in for another who would get credit for the job. He took all the information, told me that on Monday I would get an email from Fedex advising me of the delivery for June 10th. Monday AM came and went. I tried calling my "engineer" and got his voicemail which he did not return. Several hours later I tried again, still no response, not even an email. Around 5pm I received a boiler plate email advising me that there was "an issue with my card". I called, but no " engineer". Left another voicemail asking him to call me for a different card, but he didn't. Instead I received an email just this AM indicating that the item was shipped. The card WAS accepted. Delivery will not be on the 10th!
His lack of responsiveness was dissappointing.
If I were the president of the company, I'd question this "engineer's" service.
As a matter of fact, you can't find the president's or anyone else's email except for your "engineer".

I bought a few stuff from this store and did ask for a discount, another online store was actually giving me a better price and when I asked for price match the sweetwater told me this:

I believe the fact that I can provide you with a free 2 year warranty, free unlimited technical support, and the fact that I know enough about this equipment to tell you precisely how it will work and how to connect it should be worth the difference of a few dollars, don't you?

Before buying I sent a diagram to the sales rep of what I was looking for to achieve with my mesa boogie dual rectifier and tc electronic g system.

I found out later that he was not correct and the solution was just buying a couple TRS cables and not a full midi switcher, midi splitter, and midi cables.

What I did not like is that I got the wrong advice and now I have to pay the shipping back, I don't like being told something and them end up being the wrong advice, I don't think it was because Sweetwater wanted to sell something but because he did not know enough what he was talking about. I think clients go to sweetwater because of their knowledge and if I pay more for that they should own it if they give the wrong advice.

Sweetwater sound is simply the best musical gear retailer.as a direct result, i have been a very loyal customer. Why? Many reasons: Sweetwater have the best customer service-hands down. Stores like guitar center completely suck and in fact they're probably going bankrupt because of it; for many reasons like: the "i only work here" attitude.[never] the case at Sweetwater. There's always someone who's knowledgeable. If 1 person doesn't know an answer, you're quickly referred to another rep who does specialize in whatever piece of gear/dept. To fulfill your individual need. Everyone's extremely polite, patient and honest. They re not used car salesmen. They're pretty much all musicians or sound techs or people like me who've worked in the music industry as well. Sweetwater stands behind what they sell.if you ever have an issue with anything [say it's electronic or something]their tech support is bar-none.if something's ever wrong, they make it right.if ever anything's defective in the slightest, they promptly email you an rma label.other chains don't do that -seriously. When shipping... it's lightening-fast. Often same day[especially when you're a long-time customer]that's 1 thing about them... they value loyalty... and reward you for it. I'm speaking from many years of experience as a Sweetwater sound customer. I'm eternally grateful to this company. Remove review

I bought an audio interface from them fifteen years ago and from day 1 it did not work, it was stuck in a power off / power on loop. I thought it was my PC configuration and lost a week of work trying to fix it. I finally sent it to the manufacturer's factory service and had it repaired. It was defective. It was only today, reading these reviews, that I realized that Sweetwater had sold me defective and possibly returned stock. The reason I came to check these reviews is that a Sweetwater sales rep started calling me, in the middle of the night, and sending me emails introducing himself as my "personal sales rep." I responded to the email and told him calling me is not OK - and that his call had disturbed me in the middle of the night, and then his response was not to acknowledge that he had called me without my consent, but to ask me what time zone I am in. I checked my Sweetwater "account page", and it doesn't even show a phone number registered with them. There was also no way to delete your account. Stay away from this company unless you want defective gear and people spying on you to get your contact info to spam you, If you see a promotion for a free giveaway or contest, don't sign up, you'll just be opening yourself to spam and unsolicited phone calls.

Stay away. Far away. Gracious as Sweetwater take your money. Disappear after your products broken. If it's after 30 days their 2 yr warranty is a joke. You will be sending it back to the company that made it because their useless tech crew can't fix even a tube replacement. They can't fix it or its not really broken. Then your nightmare begins. Religion underlying theme. Don't mix religion with gear please. Big issue no discounts which you can get anywhere. Fight for your price match. They actually will try and convince you it's better to pay full price. Go with indie stores, or musicians friend, Sam ash direct they all will give u a better deal. No bull$#*! in between. Trying to cultivate some type of relationship with u so u will keep coming back. But when u need them they are not your friend. You will find out on ur own unless u maybe get the one decent person there. Even lots of money makes no difference after awhile. Run don't walk.

I've been a working musician for 40 years.
Always loved dealing with Sweetwater.
I purchased a Roland DJ-707m and was promised the Serato Suite software and it was not in the box. After days of different calls, I was told from customer care that the controller was supposed to automatically unlock in Serato after I registered it. After more days and days of trying, my sales person found out from the Roland sales rep, that the serial code was supposed to be included in the box. I have a DJ, karaoke gig that was booked to try to sustain my income until MGM is up and running with full concert entertainment/ nightclubs and this really messed up my gig.
I only spent the $1000 to try to make some money doing smaller venues. I am a working musician and guitar player with a full band normally and this was terribly disappointing. I liked the mixing capabilities of the Roland DJ-707m to do solo/duo shows, DJ break music, and to do karaoke, etc. Now my sales rep left for 3-4 vacation and I'm still left unable to unlock the software. I'm extremely surprised that a company with amazing track record dropped the ball so much. I had options to find open box deals from competitor companies for several hundred dollars less. I should've went that route and purchased the software. I think there's a good chance the software code was taken out of the box from someone before it shipped. It took some major convincing to my wife to spend the money because we are both employed in the entertainment industry and are struggling due to Covid-19. Either way, I've never left a negative review in 40 years, but I had to share my experience to help anyone in the future buying Roland controllers who are promised the Serato Suite package. Peace to all and stay safe.

In these times when it is personal connection, integrity and kindness that matters, this experience has shown me Sweetwater is in it only for the sale and the money. A really sad and disappointing experience.

I ordered Nov 2020. To date:
Customer service has failed in many areas so please be aware. SHORT VERSION: Josh made the $4K sale of a new sound system from bottom up so I could do online platforms to share and record a variety of instruments. I am a total neophyte with this and he promised it was part of his job to assist me once I received the equipment he put together. He has VANISHED and not helped me at all. Also, I was SENT USED EQUIPMENT (super sneaky) and when called out on it Josh apologized and promised a discount yet I still have not gotten one. Bottom line is I regret buying from Sweetwater as I felt taken advantage of from being sent used equipment, being told I would receive money back yet nothing has been rectified, and finally being told I would have support with set up questions but have received none.

The longer version for the detailed oriented, and if you experience any of these red flags use my experience to speak up or a confirmation to go elsewhere. Also, hoping since Josh doesn't respond to his phone that maybe he can be reached here:

1. I am STILL waiting for a call from Josh my "sales engineer" who promised when he made the $4K sale to assist with set up of the sound equipment which I am totally unfamiliar with and this is now January. When I received my audio interface, mic, speakers, etc I spent days with online tutorials trying to figure it out because he told me he was busy. After more time and still no working equipment, I called and he realized he sent me the wrong cables. More hours and still no sound flowing. Called following week because it's still not working, and he told me to use the support line. I spent four hours on this and in the end was told I may have a faulty audio interface or maybe a bad cable. Sweetwater told me to contact Josh as he would be the one to turn to ( the classic tennis game of being bounced back and forth between people). They sent ANOTHER cable that didn't work. Called Josh but another assistant tried to help instead. This guy eventually gave up and told me to call Josh. I did and Josh told me being so close to Christmas that he was swamped and had no time to help me and asked for my understanding that Sweetwater's business had grown by over 1 million customers since Covid began and he could barely keep up with his sales and calls. He told me all it would take is five minutes to help me out and he just didn't have that until after the holidays. I told him I understood and would forgo a Christmas sound event I was offering. I have been contacting Josh since the end of December (I also missed a NY eve event) and he has vanished. No customer care. No follow up. No promise kept to support after his sale. Not even the 5 minutes he told me would be all it took to get my system working.

2. Received my Presonus Audio Interface and it was clearly used even though I paid full price. Called Josh about this and he admitted it saying he was trying to save ME money but funny thing is he didn't give me that discount. He apologized (he is very smooth) and said he would credit me but I still (one month later) have NOT received my refund for my used AI.

3. Received my ribbon microphone (which I was told was delaying my entire shipment which was on hold for this piece) and the box was damaged and clearly rebuilt with the help of rolls of packing tape. Josh told me he knew I didn't want to wait until January now as he found out it would be delayed even further so went to the shop window and sent me that one and they had hanging there and build a box for it. He told me this was brand new and no discount was offered. So TWO MAJOR EXPENSIVE COMPONENTS CAME USED WITHOUT MY AUTHORIZATION AND NO REFUND GIVEN.

If you feel you are in any way being sold or scammed instead of supported, listen to your gut and go elsewhere. I wish I had. I will not be using Sweetwater ever again. In these times when it is personal connection, integrity and kindness that matters, this experience has shown me Sweetwater is in it only for the sale and the money. A really sad and disappointing experience.

I made an order on Sweetwater for a Rode Podcaster USB Broadcast Microphone. Within a few minutes of ordering, I received an email and a phone call from Tony notifying me that the item was on back order. I let Tony know that I would wait until the item was back in stock. When I reached out a couple of weeks later for an update, Tony called me and let me know that unfortunately the vendor put the item on backorder again. I was pretty bummed out because I needed the equipment for work - Tony was quick to offer me an awesome deal (it was a demo mic) on an even better mic! Within 2 days I had the mic and stand at my door. I was so impressed with the customer service throughout the entire process, especially with Tony. And incredibly appreciate for their communication and their service. Not sure when I'll need more equipment, but I will for sure be back here when that happens. Thank you, Tony!

I've purchased a few items from Sweetwater, and their follow-up customer service is pretty good. One product I bought had an instruction booklet that was a bit confusing to me, so I called one of their tech experts who pretty much blew me off. I called back later and got a different expert who was not much better and suggested that maybe it was 'pilot error' and that maybe I should have gotten a less-complex device. I've been using all kinds of equipment for years, but this one has me flummoxed and the tech pros aren't exactly helpful in some cases. I've turned to other musician friends who have helped me muddle through to a point, and Sweetwater agree that the user manual leaves something to be desired. That being said, I now wish I hadn't spent so much on the one I got, and maybe one with fewer features would have been a better choice.

I recently purchased a Tech 21 bass driver through Sweetwater. I have in the past tried contacting them to provide information to assist in making a decision on whether I should purchase other Tech 21 products. With no response. I finally decided to purchase the Tech 21 SansAmp Bass Driver DI Effects Pedal. I purchased it through the Sweetwater website. A few hours after submitting the order, one of their customer service reps called and suggested I get one of their demo models because the new ones are on back order. Which was discounted and was delivered a few days later. I tried plugging it in and hooking it up to my current rig with no results. I went to the Tech 21 website and found that the power cord was sold separately and ordered it through a different music shop in Chicago. Tech 21 videos demonstrating the product clearly show the power cord being used.The customer service rep made no mention of the needed power cord. Nor does the website advise customers that it is needed. A few simple questions would have taken maybe another minute or so. But it was more important to get the call over with to move on to other calls. I have several friends who've used Sweetwater before and have been extremely disappointed with their customer service. This will probably be the last item I buy from them. Maybe I should have contacted my friends at House of Guitars and been happier with my experience.

We purchased my son's first guitar online from Sweetwater after his guitar instructor's recommendation. Wow. Not only were their prices very competitive, the product quality is excellent. But most outstanding was their customer service! We received a personal phone call thanking us for our order, asking if we had any questions, etc. We were assigned a personal sales rep to connect with and ask any questions to. It was truly shipped overnight for FREE, we received another phone call 2 days later... we thought there was a defect with the guitar. I emailed our personal rep late at night, and he responded on his own time almost immediately! Sweetwater were willing to completely replace the guitar within a few days at no cost, or fix the problem. And then a week later we received a personal email from the owner.
Hands down the best customer service I've received in a very long time... customer service like this is a lost art these days, but not for Sweetwater!