Complaint Review: Musicians Friend - Internet

Hi, Ted, This is Bob, another employee at Musician's Friend. I work at many levels of the company and "Sorry from Kansas City" is definitely the type of employee we work to train and maintain. Like her, I'm personally unhappy to hear about your shipping problem and the ineffective customer support you received. It's quite true that although we made a huge investment in our new, state-of-the-art warehouse -- with the sole purpose of providing better service to our customers -- we ended up providing worse service while we got everything up and running smoothly. We also began hiring new staff for a brand new Call Center in Kansas City. It's not easy to find staff with the combination of smarts and character -- like "Sorry" -- so we inevitably have some turnover as we develop the staff who are truly suited for our customer service effort. Several months have gone by now and the new call center is now performing smoothly. I should also mention that if you have any outstanding issues, please send an email to our resolution team: forums ( at ) musiciansfriend ( dot ) com [note anti-spam]. These experienced folks have the authority to wade in and resolve any situation to your satisfaction. Give them a try, and you'll see. Again, our apologies for the disappointing experience you had. At least keep an eye out for any fantastic deal you might find on our site. We'll see that you get the personal service you deserve. And remember our resolution team. Many thanks, Bob (at Musician's Friend)

I read your report and really felt bad for you. I know the letter you are talking about-the one with the 10 or 20% off your next purchase if you "give us another try" letter. I am a sales rep at MF. I don't consider myself an average employee and I would have done more for you than just tell you it could be 30 days, so "sorry about your bad luck." I consider myself an advocate for the customer which often makes me ask myself if I am really doing the job I was hired for-to make money for the company, or if maybe I find myself just trying to keep customers happy before I have no job left with service like you received. Sadly, I have sat next to reps like that and wondered why they aren't trying to do more, but it happens. part of the problem is that they are losing employees faster than they can train them (at least at the new call center in Kansas City) which means you are often talking to someone who is new and may not understand the procedures. For instance, our normal shipping time is 3-5 business days by UPS. Now, if your package happens to get lost, we must wait 8-10 business days before UPS will even start a trace. If it was sent out via USPS-(this is where customers really get angry) we have to wait 30 business days before we can file a report with the post office. If your package was around 34 dollars, then more than likely your stuff was small and went out USPS which is why the rep told you 30 days, but i always tell the customer that it's USPS and that is why it's 30 days we have to wait- communication is key, but I wouldn't just leave it at that. I'd call someone higher than me. Here's how it works....you call me and tell me that your stuff still hasn't come. I have to put you on hold and call the "help desk" who are the decision makers. Personally, if you call and you are nice (aggravated is fine, but please don't scream at me-I'm just as frustrated as you)-I call the help desk, say "take a look at order xyz- this guy is being very nice, but he is really frustrated"-I explain the situation and then ask "what can we do for him?" I try to at least get the customer in house credit if nothing else. for 34 bucks they should have just sent you new stuff and if you received your original order-so what? 34 bucks is not a big deal, but what probably happened is that you got a hold of a sales rep that is either new and didn't realize we could fix the situation or they didn't care, which is not just an MF problem, it's a societal problem, but that's neither here nor there. Working at MF (in Kansas City) is frustrating. I am a sales rep and I make a meager wage because my income is based primarily on commission. There are times I work an 8 hour shift and only take 5 sales calls-the rest are questions, complaints or returns. We have a customer service department, but the calls seem to keep crossing over and all of the sales reps are frustrated because we are taking nothing but service calls all day and making 3 dollars less an hour than customer service. This could possibly be another reason why the rep tried to just get you off the phone as quickly as possible. I hate to think that, but I'm sure it happens. personally I am just working part time to get back out in the world after staying home to raise my kids, my husband makes decent money so the money is less important to me. I just enjoy talking to customers so I don't really mind helping a customer fix an issue, but most people don't have that advantage. Every time I take an order I am pleasant and helpful and I feel like I have made a connection with another human being so when I hang up the phone my last thought before it rings again is "I sure hope this will get to them without an issue." Sometimes when customers call I just want to go down to the warehouse myself, pull the order and assure that it goes out the door correctly and in a timely fashion, but sadly I can't and with all the problem calls I have had over the last three months I have less confidence that it will actually make it to you correctly and on time. I am sorry you had such an ordeal, but remember that there are some of us who really care about the customers. maybe next time if you don't get the answer you want, hang up and call back in a few hours. there are over 200 reps working at any given time and even the help desk varies with what kind of decision they make at any given time so you might get lucky the next time you call. I hate to say it like that, but I want to be honest. Sometimes I go ask one manager for a better deal for my customer and they say no so I just go ask another one. All I need is a name to put in for approval so if I need to ask three different people to get an approval then I will till someone gives me what I think is fair for the customer. Maybe it seems like I care more about the customers than the company, but in the long run I think caring about the customers IS caring about the company. MF's new warehouse is not as smooth as it should be, but give it time-they'll be back to normal soon. Sorry from Kansas City.