Complaint Review: American Musical Supply - Internet

After experiencing some issues with a microphone I have owned for a few years now, I shipped my old microphone off for repair & decided that I would get something else for now (so that I would at least have SOMETHING comparable to record with)... If I liked it, I would possibly keep it & sell the old one, or possibly keep BOTH... If not, I would send it back. That was the plan, & sadly things didn’t come close to going as planned. Instead of going smoothly, this entire process was nothing but a complete TRAINWRECK, thanks to this obnoxious company by the name of American Musical Supply...

Let me jump right in & say that I went through absolute HELL with this transaction... First they grilled me to death over the phone prior to shipping my item to me, after I have bought several items previously with no issues whatsoever (both 1 payment AND "easy pay" purchases)... This purchase was an “easy pay” purchase, where you make an initial payment, they ship your item to you & they basically charge you once a month from that point on until it is paid off. Well this time around/to my surprise, they sent me an email saying "your order will not ship until you call us", but they waited to send this particular email until an HOUR after I submitted my order. Totally unprofessional! Then after all the over-the-phone grilling, the order barely ships out the same day…Then Fedex said it would be delivered on Saturday 12/21/13, only to fail on their promise after I wasted my ENTIRE SATURDAY waiting for them to arrive with my package... After somebody at Fedex realized that they would not be delivering my package on the expected delivery date, they jumped into their tracking system & for nearly TWO DAYS, their system simply said "N/A" under the “expected delivery date” column (leaving me clueless & helpless, since they would not answer the phone over the weekend)… I finally got someone on the phone on Monday 12/23/13, only to be advised that Fedex does not deliver on Mondays, so I wouldn’t see it until Tuesday 12/24/13 (aka-several days after the day I was supposed to have it)…

Then once this item finally made it into my city, I went through MORE Hell after Fedex delivered it to the wrong address (a Fedex supervisor literally had to hunt down the driver, who delivered it to a completely different address). The sad part is, this genius delivered it to the wrong address, with NO SIGNATURE, & marked it as “delivered” in the system, as I waited at my apartment, clueless as to what the problem was... Yet again, I wasted my ENTIRE DAY waiting for Fedex, a day that was supposed to be spent with family... I called FedEx about 8 times prior to finally receiving my package. Prior to the time that the supervisor finally hunted it down, I did an online chat with an American Musical Supply rep who did nothing but make excuses, saying that Fedex might have went straight to the rental office (they were closed today) or left it somewhere outside.... SERIOUSLY??? You're going to leave a $1000-dollar microphone outside, unsigned for &/or with a neighbor, when my neighborhood has helicopters flying around every other night, police driving through every 2 weeks & drug deals every weekend??? All of this after I had a note on my door saying (in plain English) "DO NOT LEAVE ANY PACKAGES OUTSIDE OF MY DOOR OR WITH ANYONE OTHER THAN MYSELF OR SOMEONE INSIDE THE RENTAL OFFICE"??? But WAIT, there's more folks! 

As I open the package, I start to see signs that this item has been used.. Aside from some bubble wrap that was haphazardly tossed overtop of the inner shipping box, broken Styrofoam pieces were used to pack it (no way in Hell did the manufacturer pack it like this). As if this was not enough, the inner shipping box was ripped at the corners & splitting at the seams as if someone had this thing in their house for a month or so & kicked the box around their living room. I heard something "jingling" around inside the outer shipping box, only to find out that it was the two LOCK KEYS that lock the microphones tweed suitcase (along with a plastic loop that had clearly been broken in order to separate them)... Yes, the keys were just jingling around loose inside of the OUTER shipping box, waiting to slip out of the outer shipping box.. As I opened the microphones tweed suitcase, I made several increasingly upsetting observations. The 2-page tech/warranty papers were clearly stapled at one point in history, but by the time I got the shipment, both pages had already been pulled apart (the staple remained attached to the 1^st page). I then noticed an empty gaping hole off-center to the right side of the inner case, more than convincing me that something was supposed to be there but had either been removed altogether or moved to another part of the suitcase (aka- signs of USE). Turns out it was the power cord. Then I observed the smaller wooden microphone carrying case & noticed that the chrome latches (both of them) were SCRATCHED as if someone took it & scraped it along a brick wall. Finally, I open the smaller wooden microphone carrying case & at this point I was beyond disgusted... The microphones exterior  finish appeared to have been wiped by some dark purple liquid (solvent?) & allowed to dry to a point where it left faint purple streak stains in several sections across the entire length of the microphone. Then I took a good look at the grille & it appeared that someone had taken the microphone up a flight of stairs & dropped it head-first onto concrete... The top portion of the microphone grille was DENTED IN, the entire grille assembly was bent at an angle (signs that it was dropped at some point) & at this point I was 200% convinced that I received a USED scratch/dent microphone when I paid FULL PRICE for what was supposed to be a BRAND-NEW one. After looking all throughout both boxes, I found no sales receipt, which obviously gave me no tangible proof of purchase should I ever need to make use of such documentation in the future. Last but not least, the inner shipping box indicated that the serial # on this mic was "00206", but the microphones paperwork said "00146"... How'd they pull that one off??? Inquiring minds would like to know...

As one might expect, I called back in to American Musical Supply livid over this transaction. Nonetheless, as a rep answered the phone, I calmly advised him of the situation & stated that at this point I just want to return the microphone for a full refund (a process that, according to their website, should be EASY). He placed me on hold for a rather extended period of time, came back to the phone & had the nerve to advise me that a return shipping label could be sent to me but would cost me $23.00... SERIOUSLY??? You're going to CHARGE me for a return shipping label when you sent me a DAMAGED scratch/dent microphone after I paid FULL-PRICE for what was supposed to be a BRAND-NEW microphone??? How is this my fault & how can you possibly bring yourself to suggest that I should come out of pocket (in ANY way shape or form ) in order to ship this garbage back to you??? Nowhere on their site do they say that the customer has to pay ANYTHING for return shipping costs when the customer receives the wrong item (in my case, the item was WRONG because I paid for a NEW microphone, not a used scratch/dent one)... He then claimed that I could take the microphone back to a Fedex location without the return label & "refuse shipment" (even though I had already signed for the package & opened it at this point)... Then I told him I shouldn't have to drive anywhere in rush hour traffic just to get this back to them free of charge. At that point, I asked for a supervisor & that supervisor acted as if they were scared to come to the phone. The rep came back to the phone once again & advised me that they would go ahead & email me a return shipping label free of charge, but it would take upwards of 24 HOURS to arrive in my email... Worse yet, he then claimed that once they receive my microphone, the refund to my card would take anywhere from TWO TO FOUR WEEKS to process... Mind you, 1st quarter music projects were SITTING on hold as my gear was on the "meager" side & this literally would have been my ONLY MICROPHONE until I got my other one out the shop sometime in mid-late January (had no clue how long the repair shop would take & they said they wouldn’t even get to it until on/around 1/3/14 due to the holidays). 

I got off the phone, & after being so disgusted, I soon came to the conclusion that I didn't want to wait 24 hours for a return shipping label to arrive. At this time, I decided I would just burn some gas & take the shipment in to a Fedex location, but after losing more & more faith in this ridiculous company as the minutes/hours went by, I decided to call Fedex prior to driving wayyy out to a location. Not to my surprise, Fedex basically indicated that the company gave me false information as they would not allow me to "refuse shipment" unless I had a return shipping label. The Fedex supervisor basically advised that if I show up there expecting to ship the package, they're gonna be looking for some type of payment. So in a nutshell, American Musical Supply lied on several occasions at this point... From sending me a USED/DAMAGED microphone when I paid for a BRAND-NEW one, all the way down to claiming that Fedex would allow me to "refuse shipment" with no return shipping label as long as I did so within 24 hours: All they did was LIE... My overall goal was to spend some time getting some good sessions in between 12/21 & Christmas, yet now I was stuck on Christmas Eve/Christmas with a trashed microphone that someone else picked through/damaged & I had no option but to sit & wait until the day after Christmas just to get the ball rolling (& God only knows how long it would take to get my money back from my 1st payment). Hell, by the time they got the return back, my next payment date might come around, which means I’m being CHARGED for a trashed microphone that I no longer have in my possession.

Needless to say, Christmas of 2013 was all but ruined. From beginning to end, this transaction was an absolute NIGHTMARE that no unsuspecting customer should ever have to endure. You'd think that someone over the phone would take ownership & be apologetic/empathetic to the customer’s situation, but rest assured that I did not experience any of the above from anyone at American Musical Supply (NOT ONCE). American Musical Supply is Based in Jersey & maybe it’s just a Jersey thing, but out of the 12 or so (roughly) people I spoke to at American Musical Supply (from the beginning of this transaction to now), they ALL sat on the phone with this "why are you bothering me" uninterested attitude, & it’s just disgusting. I have done customer service for 16 years & in the 16 years I have been in the game, I have NEVER seen such disgusting/blatant disregard for the customer (regardless of whether or not that customer has purchased MULTIPLE items from that company in the past [as I have]). In the end, I had to contact my bank in order to cancel my card, request a new card & open a CLAIM on the 1^st down payment (so that I would not have to wait weeks & weeks to have that money back in my account). Thankfully my bank has always had my back & the process took less than 48 hours, after which point they would handle it 1-on-1 with the company.

Nonetheless, after this experience, I will NEVER buy anything from this company ever again in life (& mind you, I have bought NUMEROUS items from them to date)… In this day & age, things can change for the better or for the worst seemingly overnight… Not sure what happened with American Musical Supply since my 1^st purchase, but they have definitely taken a turn for the worst, they knew GOOD & WELL that this crap was used when they shipped it out to me & they should be ashamed of themselves.  All I can do is add my complaint to the NUMEROUS other complaints that already exist on here in regards to this company, & hopefully someone else can avoid going through something similar to what I went through; Save the time, save the cash, save the headache & buy elsewhere. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!!