“Overall, this is a reliable company to purchase guitars online. I deducted one star because their 55 point inspection is exaggerated and primarily non-existent. When you purchase a guitar to be delivered, it will be packed properly and arrive on-time in new condition if you're buying brand new. However, any manufacturer defects will most likely not be discovered by their Quality Control team even though they claim to thoroughly review the guitar. If you are mechanically savvy with guitars, then it's still worthwhile to order. I can say that they are very good at handling returns and refunds, so I am fine with buying from them. I would just ask that they actually perform or improve their 55 point inspection prior to shipping. In my opinion, the Les Paul Modern is the best electric guitar for the price. It as the maximum features and produces quality sound. I've tried SG Muse, PRS, Fender and other brands, and the Modern gives the best sound for the gifted listener and those that demand the best features.”
“Excellent customer service, and I love supporting smaller companies rather than the large corporate chains, but I do have a bone to pick with Sweetwater's preferred shipping carrier, FedEx.
So while most of this review is about FedEx, it also reflects unfortunately on Sweetwater, who I trust to deliver my orders in a timely manner.
Fortunately, my go-to sales rep at Sweetwater Nich M. told me that the company would be changing shipping carriers, based on my experience and maybe other customers. Nich was also very good at following up once I expressed extreme frustration with FedEx for the incredibly slow delivery time.
Basically, it took 12 days from order of product from Sweetwater to delivery to me. Totally unacceptable, and product was delivered 3 days later (Monday instead of Friday) than expected on confirmation e-mail, which meant that I did not have it for a gig I had the previous Saturday.
FedEx has very good tracking information, but unfortunately it showed me exactly how slow and inefficient their process is. It took 2 days from order to start the shipping process, then the product (speaker stand bag) went from the Midwest to East Coast (North Carolina), then back to Midwest, then back to North Carolina (wtf?), before finally starting on it's long journey to the West Coast. What also made this frustrating was that at the same time I was waiting almost 2 weeks for delivery, the U.S. Post office which has a terrible reputation did a much better job delivering a package I sent cross-country, it only took 4 days!
When my FedEx package finally arrived near my location (San Francisco), about 60 miles east, I figured it would be delivered that day. But it took 3 more days! Also, the tracking information is confusing, because while it said "Tracy, CA" for Location, it was actually en route to Tracy, not there yet (it was coming from Arizona). All in all, a very frustrating experience.”
