I've been a customer for decades. Never again. I recently purchased an Empirical Labs EL-9 from Sweetwater. After very clearly specifying where I wanted this not-exactly-cheap unit shipped -- and despite having a shipping address on file I've been using for about 5 years -- somehow, SWS still sent this to the wrong place. I didn't find this out until the tracking info revealed the destination city. In a frantic effort to stop this from being delivered, I contacted my sales engineer -- no response. Then I reached out to SWS through the website's contact form. Here are the highlights from the response I finally got: "Sorry about the incorrect address. Probably the best way that you’d be able to get the package rerouted would be to contact FedEx about the order yourself," And if the delivery "occurs"... "The best course of action at [this] point would be to go to the address to recover the package if that’s possible." I finally CC'd this thread to the Director of Customer Experience, at which point SWS finally took the initiative to fix this and re-ship it. Never heard a peep after this point. I'm done here -- Sweetwater has lost a customer. P.S., I attempted to leave this on their own site, but they seem to filter negative reviews from product profiles. Explains a few things... P.P.S., I guess they now ignore negative reviews elsewhere as well.

I have never left a bad review for a… I have never left a bad review for a company, I understand things happen…but after this experience I feel the need to warn other customers. Sweetwater does not allow reviews on for certain sites a reason. Super friendly customer service, until there is an issue. Ordered a very high end saxophone on a Monday afternoon and explained it was needed urgently for a recording on Friday, and was promised it would ship right away and be delivered by Wed, received receipt thought I was good to go. I was then notified there was an issue with credit card number which I remedied at 9 am on Tuesday and was assured that it would still ship out that day for delivery on Wed and was promised I would receive a shipping confirmation soon. I didn’t receive notification, so I called again Wed morning and spoke to a manager and was told again there was an issue with credit card in their system (even though I could see and verify on my end that the payment was accepted and charged to my cc). At this point I should have cancelled the transaction and gone somewhere else, but I was promised it would be shipped priority and get to me by Thursday morning. All day Wed I looked for shipping confirmation and called back at 4:30 and spoke to Chandler (a client issue specialist) who was polite, yet not helpful and very condescending. I explained the urgency and asked if I could speak to her manager and she said “no, they left for the day”. I asked if she could contact shipping and see what the delay was and she told me “no, it would disrupt them and further delay the process and that it was a high end product, they don’t just throw it in a box and ship it”. I told her I didn’t trust that it would be shipped and she said to let her know if I wanted to cancel order. I asked why I haven’t received a notice that a shipping label was created yet, she couldn’t say why, stating her involvement in this only started at noon today so it wasn’t her issue - she was not helpful at all and in my opinion made this situation worse. As of now, fedex label was created at 7:47 pm on Wed night and still hasn’t been picked up by fed ex. I am beyond frustrated with this company and wish I would have never trusted them to handle such an important and expensive purchase.

I have been dealing with Sweetwater for over ten years! I have been dealing with Sweetwater for over ten years and I am always extra pleased with everything purchased from them. The quality of my small amplifiers and microphones to the stands for my music - the help over the phone and follow-ups - and the candy! Thank you so much!

A wholeheartedly disappointing service I’ll admit I could have been a better customer in this situation but I’m just so disgusted by the lack of manners / professionalism from Sean at Sweetwater. Tried ordering something while in the US. They sent an unclear email asking me to agree to their terms like 5 paragraphs into the email. I didn’t see it and they didn’t follow up so I checked in 2 weeks later to be told they hadn’t accepted the order as I hadn’t responded. I then responded and they took another week to charge my card which didn’t go through. By then I had to leave the US and they then cancelled the order as I took 11 days to respond to their declined payment email. All of this was fine but the email I got in response was the rudest I’ve experienced dealing with a service / sales agent. How do you expect to be a sales agent when you talk to customers this way. As someone who works in service I know how important it is to be understanding of the customer and the agent both but in this case I’m just so put off by this. I would feel ashamed to send a customer a response like this.

Always pleased with this company I am 71 with arthritis and do not play very much and therefore do not order many things. The things that I do order are always shipped very promptly and their prices are about the same as any other REPUTABLE company. Their sale prices are always good. I have never had a problem with any purchase and am not aware of how their customer service is. It would be nice if they would include a receipt with the order.