Sweetwater

I've been buying music gear from Sweetwater for almost 20 years, and I've been a long-term customer because Sweetwater are an amazing organization. I equipped an entire recording studio with gear purchased from them. I've purchased guitars, keyboards, amps, microphones, pre-amps, compressors, mixing desks, i/o processors, software, monitors, headphones, computers, and just about every kind of miscellaneous adapter, connector and gadget you can imagine from these guys... and I am a repeat customer because their prices are fair, and the customer service is absolutely amazing. My personal Sales Engineer - David Hess - has been a fantastic source for problem solving, and professional advice, and I'm pretty sure he can answer any question thrown at him... and, on the rare occasion I've stumped him with a question, he's known exactly where to find the answer in a matter of minutes. I just can't adequately express how necessary Sweetwater has been to my small business, and I look forward to doing business with them for many, many years to come.

I have been a musician for 32 years and still in a band, still writing music, Gigging and recording. I have bought a lot of gear in my day and by far Sweetwater has been the most concerned with the welfare of the musician first. I bought some new gear and ultimately had an issue and was scheduled to go into the studio 3 days later. I had the studio time booked for months and was going to have to reschedule. My Sales Engineer Chris Ishak was professional, accommodating and genuinely concerned and helpful. He immediately took action and shipped out a new item so the studio time can still happen. Needless to say I was super impressed and thankful for the quick reaction and concern for me making the all to precious studio time I was looking forward to. Now the show goes on! My Band Endgame will continue to record our first full length and Melt faces with our brand of Metal! Thank you, Thank you, Thank you! You have a customer for life! Oh and Give Chris a raise... He deserves it!

I realize not everyone who reads this will have the same opinion, or experience. No business is operating at 100% all the time either, and all of us have good and bad days. Customer service is not an easy job, and coming across someone who genuinely cares about their job and the customer is becoming very rare.

Sam Dowty at Sweetwater is the exception to typical customer, and by a long shot. My 83 year old father contacted Sweetwater as he was interested in purchasing a new guitar. Sam was the sales engineer that handled my fathers inquiry and ultimate purchase of a guitar. My father is currently dealing with cancer. As it turns out Sam is a cancer survivor and was very compassionate with my father, as you can read in this quote from him, "He is a Cancer survivor himself, and his encouragement, when he learned I was doing Chemotherapy, was a big boost in my moral at a time When I was feeling some uncertainty. Then to have him call me to check on my well being a few weeks later was marvelous, unbelievable."

Sam went far above and beyond anything a sales rep or sales engineer would normally do. Sam called my father after the same just to see how he liked the guitar, and how my father was doing. He, even called before business hours on his own time.

So I would like to thank Sam from the bottom of my heart for his genuine caring nature and compassion for my father. Not just a customer, but a person.

Thank you Sam Dowty and thank you to the owner of Sweetwater, Chuck Surack. Your products and service are outstanding!

Sincerely,

Jeffrey McDonald

The guy I dealt with at first was great. Pushed me through for flex pay. Told me I can Order it when I was ready. After a weeks of emailing and talking on the phone. Waiting for the guitar I wanted to get for husband to come in. He said Sweetwater was out of stock in the finish I wanted. I waited 2 weeks for it come in. Then I call the guy and he tells me they don't carry that color that it's special order. Mean while I email him 3 times to sure I was waiting for the right finish. I was waiting for the godin Acs rosewood. I even sent him a video of it to be sure I was getting what my husband wanted. He said it would be 2 day shipping. And I was getting the right one. So when I finally called to order. He tells they don't carry it that color it's a special order. And it will b atleast a week or 2 before it comes in. Then he has the nerve to say he never told me in emails that, that I would be getting the rosewood finish in 2 day shipping. After I have it on record in print that he said, the shipment comes in on the 19th. Why would I wait weeks to order it then.? It was supposed to a Christmas gift. Now it'll be 3 weeks late... It's real cut and dry... He said what I wanted comes in on the 19th I waited when I called to order he said they don't have it... And delayed everything... Just frustrating... A guitar for a 1150 is not an everyday purchase for me... atleast.

Working Las Vegas musician, begging you to not order through this company. Worst experience ever. Over priced. Botched order. Sweetwater actually held up an epiphone $800 guitar because they didnt have a foot switch in stock. Yeah, foot switch was only $35, but it was on back order and the wouldnt send epiphone guitar $800 without the $35 footswitch. Just wrong. I called to to cancel the foot switch portion of the order and just send the guitar. They promised then would ship the guitar to be delivered on Sunday, so i could be home for delivery. It is being delivered to vegas, summer, hot, and could not sit outside. But i got notice it would be delivered on wednesday... 3 days after promised. Then, i was home on wed, taking a half day off work... but the fedex delivery person just dropped a note at the door statong i was not home. No doorbell ring. I was sitting omly 3 feet from my front door expecting amd waiting for this delivery. In the end, i had to wait another 2 days to go to a fedex pickup delivery point, taking half day off work... ti get my guitar. I paid $800, waited 3 weeks, took 2 days off work, to finallt get a guitar that has a $#*!ed up knob. Yep... knobs are $#*!ed up. DO NOT ORDER. Go to guitar center. Order, have them deliver to store, pick up. Easy. I messed up and gave this company 2 chances. Please dont waste your time

Talked to someone regarding buying a new guitar on their promotional 36 months 0% interest deal. Sweetwater were happy to help and took my application for financing over the phone, and said they'd let me know when they heard from the bank. They even said they'd get me squared away in the promotion even though the guitar wasn't currently in stock. Sounded pretty good!

3 days later I called them. My 'agent' was gone for the day, though they were officially 'open' another 2 hours. They took a message and emailed me a receipt saying they'd spoken to me, and that my 'agent' would call in the morning.

I called the next afternoon, and there was no news but they would look into it. When I did hear back, they said great news, financing approved, but despite the very clear "Purchase Right Away When You Are Approved" on the website, apparently the bank had other ideas, and I have to wait until I actually receive the credit card in the mail before I can make a purchase. The 36 month 0% interest deal will, conveniently, be over by then.

They were of course very sorry, but offered nothing else to make up for the snafu regarding an almost $2000 instrument.

I might consider ordering from them in the future, but for now, Guitar Center is looking pretty good to me.

Will update if I have future dealings with them

Purchased a guitar and some other gear from Sweetwater less than a year ago. The guitar had a problem from the start, after a setup guarantee. I called about it and received multiple run arounds. Over 2 month and then i got "well you should have said something the day you got it". My sales rep then says "you have to pay shipping here and back in order for us to fix the issue." To ship it somewhat safely in a hard case was going to be $150 one way, I paid over $1000 dollars for this "brand new" guitar that was supposed to be setup. I decided to have my guitar looked at by my guy. I ended up paying $120 to have a factory defect in the neck and frets fixed. Sweetwater refused to live up to the 2year warranty... Dont get me started on the incorrect pedal Sweetwater sent me and still refuse to replace with the correct one. I ordered a flashback 2 delay pedal they sent me a flashback original and even though the receipt say I indeed purchased a flashback 2 the claim it was the original I purchased. Cutting up my Sweetwater card and will not be purchasing from this company again.

For years I shopped at Sweetwater. Their mantra is proclaimed that Sweetwater have great service and is customer orientated. I thought this was true until something went wrong. Then their "great" customer service went out the window. The sad part is that my dispute was over a $60 problem that occurred with a piece of gear I bought from them. Up until that point I spent thousands of dollars with these folks and bought from them weekly. I will never shop there again because of their false advertising and poor business ethics. I would rather go to Guitar Center or some other Big Box store (Which is what they have turned into) IT IS THEIR LOSS. That $60 dollars has cost them tens of thousands of dollars from me. LET THE BUYER BEWARE. Sweetwater is just another impersonal business with profit as the their bottom line. I will spend more anywhere else before buying from them again. Good riddance.

I have never had such a horrible experience with a business like Sweetwater. Months ago I tried to make some purchases with their installment plans, but my credit score was not good enough, and the orders were cancelled. So I asked a family member recently if Sweetwater would help me out and they obliged. I made a new order with a shared credit card with my family member (installment plans since their credit is great), and a second order on a Sweetwater credit card that was offered to us during browsing the Sweetwater site via Synchrony Bank (my family member has Synchrony bank cards elsewhere too).

WELL, apparently Sweetwater does NOT want our business or money, because ALL orders were cancelled and the account was blacklisted as "fraud"... SIMPLY BECAUSE OF DIFFERENT ADDRESSES ON FILE / NAMES OF PEOPLE (again, FAMILY members).

E-mails with the original sales representative went ignored or just told "try again" (to order), and even after my family member sent in multiple forms of identification like drivers license and the full credit card info, they still hem and haw about selling. Just absolutely ridiculous. ARE YOU GUYS IN BUSINESS TO MAKE MONEY, OR TO BE CREDIT GATEKEEPERS? The second sales rep we spoke to even was almost ready to deny us business, and their manager wanted a WIRE TRANSFER to pay for everything. EXCUSE ME? Credit cards and YOUR OWN COMPANY'S CREDIT CARD WAS OFFERED TO US to buy from you.

On the other hand, my family member has helped me purchase from Zzounds issue free, AND super fast shipping from them too. It sucks because Sweetwater is the only place we have a credit card with AND the products I am after (modular).

Now they want SYNCHRONY BANK to verify my family member's identity over the phone? Or something, in order to even complete any orders with them. Just absolutely ridiculous. DO NOT try to buy from Sweetwater on credit or with their credit card offers, if your credit score is less than perfect they will cancel your order and never speak to you again if you try to have anyone else help you and gift you purchases from them. Apparently they don't understand that PEOPLE (family) LIVE TOGETHER.

I bought my first guitar online with Sweetwater this past month, and it was an absolutely fantastic experience. I was so impressed with the excellent communication and overall professionalism that the sales team demonstrated throughout our interactions, from the initial selection and purchase to delivery.

I placed an order for a guitar from the Ibanez prestige series, and within 10 minutes, a sales representative from Sweetwater called me to personally confirm that Sweetwater had received my ordered. He answered all of my questions and told me that he would call me personally if there would be any delay with my order. He called me back later that day to confirm my payment details and to tell me that my order had been placed.

Over the course of the next few days, I received multiple emails from the Sweetwater team, which let me track my order from shipment to the minute it arrived at my apartment. The guitar arrived in perfect condition and sounds amazing. It was packaged well - clearly a lot of care was taken to ensure it would arrive in great condition.

I will absolutely purchase from Sweetwater again, and I can't recommend them highly enough to anyone in the market for music instruments or equipment.

"Two day shipping" on a $300 package. The thing didn't ship until I called and said "HEY. Where is it"

Now it's been marked delivered. Lo and behold, I don't have it! After contacting Sweetwater Sweetwater more or less told me I'm just screwed if FedEx doesn't locate it. So I essentially gave them $300 for nothing. Thanks Sweetwater! That's the LAST time I'm dealing with you. You're no better than Guitar Center.

UPDATE: Changing my rating because someone remedied the situation. It clearly depends on what rep you're dealing with. My "personal sales engineer" got back with me and said on the contrary to what I was told on the phone "of course we will replace the product or refund you if FedEx does not locate the package. No problem". I eventually did get the package. However after the initial headache, and the fact that I had to say "hey, where is it" before the package was even shipped, I'm not taking back what I said.

I've heard about Sweetwater's customer service and exceptional support. Instead of going again to guitar center, I thought let me work with them and have my personal sales support engineer. But working with sweetwater has been a continuous pain for the past two weeks now. From sending me a wrong item, to not replying to calls and emails, to wasting my time while I try to return the stuff Sweetwater sent wrong. As its not enough to wait for two weeks to get the stuff, but then I get it wrong and have to do their job to send it back to them. When I tried to get the pickup information so I can follow up with the shipping company, they claimed that they don't get confirmation numbers. My sales rep unfortunately made me loose so much time, and stopped responding, the only way that I would get him to respond is if I asked someone else in the team for what I needed. Not to mention the false promises of huge discounts, while they mark up their sales and provide mediocre quality products. Sorry I thought I will be your customer, but the sweetwater customers service is way overrated and inefficient.

My experience with Sweetwater starts with a very small order, a pair of kid's guitar straps. Very popular straps which aren't carried by most music stores, Sweetwater immediately are on backorder. After a week or two they arrive, no problem. Here's where the Sweetwater difference begins... as soon as I made the order, I recieved an email from James Lorann, informing me that he's been assigned as my Sales Tech, if I should have any question. He also asks how I heard of Sweetwater. I tell him it was via search engine and he replies. A week or two after my order arrives, he writes to inform me of a sale taking place. I reply with a short list and he returns a quote, with all items on the list generously discounted. I placed the order by phone. James is super freindly and polite, double-checking on availability on the spot, for all items prior to confirming the order. Some of the items are gifts, and he splits the order into separate shipments. Everything ships withing a day, and arrive in great shape. Wonderful! SO happy with Sweetwater and particularly James' previous service, a few weeks passed and I placed a guitar order, again contacting James to make the purchase. The particular guitar I was interested in features a distinctive wood top, which varies on each individual guitar. Sweetwater allows you to chose from their stock, providing Hi-res pictures of each guitar! My guitar arrived in a state of readiness that only required a tweak of the tuners. Beautiful! On top of that - sales staff ability to make a deal, great customer service, an awesome hands-on 55-point check (that's remarkably close to a setup), the 2-year Sweetwater Warranty and free double-boxed shipping, Sweetwater has become my go-to for music stuff. Comparing that to a chain music store where they just point at the rack, or tell you it can be ordered when you inquire about an item, and I'll be checking Sweetwater every time. They seem to have found a way to really satisfy their customers without resorting to a chain of stores and all the inconsistency that produces. Way to go!

I want to take a moment to RAVE about how great my ordering experience through Sweetwater Sound has been! The order was not mine; it was my grandson's. He is 14, and a budding (obsessive!) musician. He had earned enough money and asked if he could order a guitar pedal online using my credit card. I'm always a bit hesitant to order online products because that often means you're stuck with something you didn't want with little to no help with returns. Also, now the unhelpful vendor has your credit card number!
Not the case with Sweetwater! How refreshing it was to receive communication during order processing and even after receipt of the order. The extra effort (and candy! LOL!) has this grandmother's future business... and there will be much more business to be had. I am also a musician with a family of little musicians coming up! Who knows; we may be the future Rock version of the Von Trapps! Again, thank you for the terrific ordering experience... and the kid loves the pedal!

I have owned my Masterbuilt Epiphone DR-500 for two years now. I bought it from Sweetwater online. I liked the fact I could scroll through the guitars offered, and pick the one I want, plus the fact Sweetwater did a set up and inspection before it was shipped. I have 17 guitars in my collection, varied from Gibson to Seagull, solid body, semi-hollow to hollow, 6 to 12 string. The guitar was perfect right out of the case. My Taylor cost 3 times the price, and my Martin as well... and this is the guitar I fell in love with. They were truthful about the inspection and everything that goes with buying from them. I intend to buy another, because it goes through my amp and the board, using a BOSS Acoustic preamp AD-10 [also from Sweetwater] and ends up sounding the way I want cutting through the mix with the band. I found it easy to record with, and have now used it on 5 songs. I am very happy I bought this guitar, and you just can not beat the price. My second one will be kept at the studio. Bottom line is you just can not get a guitar at this quality, for this price, in any other make. It is money well spent!

I have shopped with Sweetwater for quite some time and Sweetwater have always had amazing service, amazing prices and flexible payment options. I want to emphasize the service you receive because buying from Sweetwater grants you a sales engineer who is assigned to you for as long as you both have business with them. My sales engineer, Nick, is amazingly helpful. I have reached out by email late night before and will still get a prompt reply from him. He also writes from time to time just to check in and see how everything is going. He has even gone as far as to order me some pickups that they didn't offer on their site, and got them for me at a cheaper rate than I saw for myself on the manufacturer's website, which I was blown away by. I have only worked with Nick during my time buying from Sweetwater, but I can imagine that this is a pretty standard experience with one of their representatives, Sweetwater seems to heavily emphasize their customer care and a good customer experience, which they achieve and then some.

Overall, Sweetwater has given me no reason to shop elsewhere, they have what I want at the best prices with payment options that are best for me when needed, and the best service you can ask for.

Hands down, this was the BEST EXPERIENCE I've ever had when purchasing a guitar. Got a "like new" (in my opinion) demo model at a great price, but that's only the tip of the iceberg. Literally an hour after my online purchase I got a telephone call from the sales engineer that handled my order thanking me and telling me my order is being shipped as he speaks and if there were any questions or concerns, he would personally take care of me. Then, he emailed professional-quality photos of my actual guitar so I could show it off to my buddies, and also let me know my guitar underwent a 55- point Evaluation. Then, my guitar arrived at my doorstep the VERY NEXT DAY! To top it off, a few days after its arrival, the President and Founder of the company sent a Thank You email along with all the Department Head contacts (including his) in-case I had any questions, comments or concerns! WOW! Nobody, I Mean NOBODY takes care of a customer like that, and this is why Sweetwater is simply The BEST! I really felt like I was important, and my purchase was truly appreciated! Oops, almost forgot to mention the little bag of candy sent with the guitar - a nice touch too! THANK YOU SWEETWATER!

Over the last 2 years, I've spent $7,842.24 at Sweetwater Sound, all of those purchases being the Three- or Six-Easy-Payment Plan. Suddenly today, Sweetwater won't grant me three easy payments for a $175 order -- credit denied. Why? Because a few of my payments for a $1,300 Stratocaster and a $400 bass amp were late during the worldwide pandemic that hurt everyone's business, left millions unemployed, and millions more facing eviction -- including me. Apparently, these well-heeled luminaries don't read the news much. I communicated with them during the pandemic. They got all their money. They were never caught off guard. They acted kind. They even made more money by charging me for late payments -- all directly from my checking account. Yet, these soulless robots are now saying, "I don't want your money." Well, you won't have to worry about that anymore -- a Sweetwater Exclusive!

I have been dealing with Sweetwater for about a year and made enough purchases through them to convince me to shop nowhere else. My first experience was impressive, to say the least. My Sales Engineer is Aaron. If Aaron is any indication of the rest of the crew, just, WOW! I had an issue with a tube amp I purchased And not only had a resolution but was up and playing in a couple of days.

My most recent purchase put the icing on the cake for me. There was an incident that I can not give details for, but I can say this, it was a total nightmare for Sweetwater and myself. In the end, Sweetwater stepped up to make everything right. Working with everyone I did during both purchases, have totally convinced me there is no better company to purchase music gear from.

I have bought a lot of gear from other well-known name stores, and none of them can hold a candle to Sweetwater and their crew. Their process to ship a guitar is the best I have seen in the industry. Their shipping is fast and convenient. The payment options are the best. You can not go wrong with trying them out. If you do you will get hooked as well.

Rev. E

I've bought 2 items from Sweetwater. A pair of Sony headphones and a Roland Mc101 groovebox. Actually 3 things, because first I bought a Elektron Model Cycles, tried it out, didnt like it at all, and then Sweetwater let me return it in exchange for the Roland. No questions or hassles. I am extremely impressed with the customer service. Mike Conyers, in particular. He actually called me to ask if I had received my headphones. And to ask if I was satisfied. Thats good customer service. These guys go above and beyond to ensure a good buying experience. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND BUYING YOUR MUSIC GEAR FROM THEM. I WONT BUY FROM ANYWHERE ELSE ONLINE. THEIR PRICES ARE FAIR, I KNOW THIS BECAUS R I RESEARCHED FOR A MONTH BEFORE BUYING. In my opinion, the things that sets Sweetwater apart from their competition (amazon, guitar center, zzzsound) SUPERIOR CUSTOMER SERVICE.