Music123 - Gotta vent

[jagcmos]

About a week ago I received the latest print catalog from Music123 and noticed that they had a outboard compressor (mackie quad comp) on sale ($199.99) that was about 1/2 that everyone else was charging.

I have a friend who has one and I like the sound of it, so I called up sales and had the person verify that this was the correct price and ordered it. A few minutes later I checked my card account on-line and that amount had been withdrawn from my card.

This morning I received a email from Music123 stating that my purchase had been denied because they tried to charge a more recent price of $399.99 and the card I used did not have available funds. (No shit, I knew the amount available)

I just spent the last hour on the phone getting the run around from customer support trying to get them to honor the original price (they won't) and out of frustation I just cancelled the order. I now have to wait 7-10 days for the money to be returned to my card.

To top this off, today is my birthday and this was to be my present.
I now have no present and no money and my blood pressure has gone up exponentially.

What bullshit way to run a business.

Just had to vent.

[Metaltyme]

That is bullshit man! It was their mistake...in print no less! They should have honored that original price, definitely. I'd be livid. Well, for what it's worth, Happy Birthday dude.

[jagcmos]

Originally Posted by Metaltyme

That is bullshit man! It was their mistake...in print no less! They should have honored that original price, definitely. I'd be livid. Well, for what it's worth, Happy Birthday dude.

Thanks.
I have Pantera cranked right now and it's somehow lowering my blood pressure.

[richiebee]

Can they even do that? Legally I mean. They have entered into a contract when they debited your account the original amount, $199.99. So they've done two things wrong here - they've debited your account with MORE than the original amount WITHOUT your permission, and they've gone back on the agreed, advertised price.

I would phone them back, talk to a manager.

[jagcmos]

Yeah, I'm gonna call them back and talk to a manager, but I have to calm down first.

That's what bothered me the most, they took the original price from my card and tried to get the new price a few days later and now I have a credit denied hit being filed on some database.

[Metaltyme]

Good point Richiebee. Yep...definitely calm down first, (maybe toss on some "Cemetary Gates" or something) so that you can speak all to 'Mr. Manager Man.' It might be hard to hold back, but you'll get the best results quicker I'm sure. If he's rude though, then go apeshit about how you'll go after them for false-advertising. Good luck.

[brandondrury]

go after them for false-advertising

I'm a legal dipshit, but this is probably the only thing I learned in high school.

There is no false-advertising. An advertisement is an invitation to make an offer at X price. So when Walmart or whoever says $99 for a widget, they aren't really making an offer. When you hand the widget to the clerk you are making the offer. It all happens silently and in the background, but that's the legal way it works.

Now when they charged his a different price, that is clearly illegal. It'll cost you $15k to win and you may get your $100 back.

While they could be dirty scumbags, most likely some order wasn't fulfilled on time and Mackie has some rule about their sale and now the computer won't let them sell it to you cheaply. It's part of this automated, no service world we live in today. Richiebee is technically right, but I live in the United States. We may as well be arguing with the Gestapo.

Brandon

[whomper]

Originally Posted by jagcmos

About a week ago I received the latest print catalog from Music123 and noticed that they had a outboard compressor (mackie quad comp) on sale ($199.99) that was about 1/2 that everyone else was charging.

I have a friend who has one and I like the sound of it, so I called up sales and had the person verify that this was the correct price and ordered it. A few minutes later I checked my card account on-line and that amount had been withdrawn from my card.

This morning I received a email from Music123 stating that my purchase had been denied because they tried to charge a more recent price of $399.99 and the card I used did not have available funds. (No shit, I knew the amount available)

I just spent the last hour on the phone getting the run around from customer support trying to get them to honor the original price (they won't) and out of frustation I just cancelled the order. I now have to wait 7-10 days for the money to be returned to my card.

To top this off, today is my birthday and this was to be my present.
I now have no present and no money and my blood pressure has gone up exponentially.

What bullshit way to run a business.

Just had to vent.

if its too good to be true ........

lets see now
music123 - is that yet another storefront for guitar center (?)
they took over some toher sites ( musicians friend? ) which have gone down since that happened

I wont deal with GC. but that is just me.
mostly because of their local stores. but also cause they tend to sell things at "discount" that is above other sites every day price.

next time you find it online cheap
go to a good site and ask them to price match
aim them at the web page with the too good price
while it is still up and viewable

check out reseller ratings
post your complaint there and downrate 123


reseller ratings gives 123 a score of 3 /10 - caveat emptor!!
guitar center 6.2 /10

all companys average is 8.1 /10

american musician is 9.7 /10
zzounds 9.8 /10 and 100+ reviews

musicians friend 112 reviews score = 4 /10but I just dealt with them and got a great deal + good service.
guy at church uses them all the time and likes them.

kellys - no ratings one review
dealt with them - so so results - customer service excellent - rest is less so

if we all provided our experiences whenever we buy
whether good or bad
we will have better info on who to trust

search for all music stores. check ratings as well as prices.
tanstaffl

[jagcmos]

It's getting better by the minute...

I call back and ask to talk to a manager in sales, I once again have to explain the story to the operator, who tells me that her boss is out to lunch and will call me back.

I wait a couple of hours, no one calls back so I call once again and explain the situation, he looks it up on the computer and says that he can confirm the original agreed upon price and they will honor it and asked me to verify with the my card company the amount taken from my card and to call them back.

I do so and am given another operator who tells me that they will not honor the agreement and doesn't believe the price in the current catalog. She asks me to fax them the page from the catalog and I tell to go find one.

20 minutes later she comes back with the catalog and confirms the price and when I ask to talk to her supervisor, again told they on on lunch break and will call me back.

sigh...

Update: A real manager called back and actually agreed to the original price and they would ship it express.

I'm gonna go eat some birthday cake...

[richiebee]

I think every company I've asked for service from this week has fucked me over.

First it was Mazda... all I need is a new headlamp bulb for my 2007 Mazda 5. I looked in the manual... its a five minute job. Since its under total warranty, I wanted them to do it. They need me to book it in 3 days in advance and need it for at least half an hour. Sounds to me like they want something to go get their coffee run!

New computer was due to arrive today. Got a call from the courier over a week ago to say it would be here today. Couldn't tell me what time, just between 9am and 5pm. I took a day off work because they told me "someone must be home to sign for it". So, it hadn't arrived by 4pm and the tracking didn't even say it was out for delivery. Sure enough, the local depot is two days behind. I flipped! They apparently can call you to say when its coming and that you need to be home, but they can't call to tell you they're running late, not to bother taking a day off, because it won't be here til tomorrow. Asked if I could just go in and pick it up from the depot. Nope, can't do that. They must call. Morons.

And now getting the run around from the building contractor finishing the last bit of my basement.

People suck.

Oh, and Jagcmos, I'm glad everything worked out, and happy birthday!