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Sweetwater has a rating of 3.4 stars from 1,193 reviews, indicating that most customers are generally satisfied with their purchases. Reviewers satisfied with Sweetwater most frequently mention customer service, sales rep, and free shipping. Sweetwater ranks 2nd among Music Equipment sites.
This company responds to reviews on average within 4 hours
Sweetwater's customer service is phenomenal! They have a good range of products and with good prices. The guitar we bought was affordable and great quality. It arrived quickly with no damage - it was packed well. I was surprised and impressed to get a call from Sweetwater just a few days after the guitar was delivered. They were just making sure everything was good. That's great customer service!
Ordered some products then the next day A representative reached out and said they were sold out & products would not be available till January and wanted to know if I still wanted them. I let them know I did. They reached back out two days later saying their was a glitch in the website and I could not have the products for the price I purchased them for. I was fished to their website to buy the products on a sponsored advertisement from Google. False Advertising is Illegal. My Wife has got me gear from these guys for years. I have advised her and she will no longer make purchases through them.
Got it for my daughter and it is amazing! She sounds wonderful and the effects just help her feel more confident and secure of her voice.
Date of experience: November 8, 2017
Time and Time Again I go to Sweetwater and they never disappoint. I've been playing for 49 years and they are simply the best experience ever.
Date of experience: December 21, 2016
Attention to detail and great followup. A totally unique experience compared to other companies in this this business.
Date of experience: August 28, 2017
I have been delighted with the care and service that I have received from Sweetwater over several years.
Date of experience: May 24, 2017
I love the service, very friendly, everything easy and very safe, very happy to find a place to buy with great confidence.
Date of experience: December 7, 2017
EXCELLENT BEAUTIFUL THANK YOU VERY MUCH. THE PRODUCT IS GREAT THE SERVICE IS FANTASTIC!
VERY FRIENDLY, CORDIAL, HELPFUL, KNOWLEDGEABLE AND PROFESSIONAL. CONGRATULATIONS!
Date of experience: March 25, 2020
Always great service and more selection of products than anywhere else. Sweetwater is my go-to for all of my hardware and software.
Date of experience: April 3, 2020
I sometimes really have to wonder how many of these negative reviews are written by either Sweetwater's competition, or by some people who don't live in the real world, where things sometimes go wrong. Any company is going to have problems, there are always going to be times when equipment is damaged, or doesn't work right out of the box, but it's what the company does at that point that sets them apart from the rest. I have bought thousands and thousands of dollars of equipment from Sweetwater, and 95% of the time, everything shows up on time, and in perfect condition. What about the other 5% of the time? I ordered a Bose LII system from Sweetwater ( $3000), and after setting it up, I noticed a rather loud buzzing sound coming from the unit. I called them,( I usually deal with Carson Mclain), and he immediately gave me a return code, with a pre-paid shipping label, and said to return it. I couldn't ship it back right away, because I was out of town for the next few days. Three days later, a brand new Bose system was at my door, and I still had the original one in my studio. They didn't even wait to get the defective one back before they shipped me a new one. Now that is great service!. I have had to return a couple of other things I bought from them that had issues, and they have always taken the items back, paid for the shipping, and shipped the new items within three to four days. I'm sorry for those who say they have had horrible service, but I believe there is a lot of exaggeration going on here. I have dealt with every on-line music store there is, not to mention the chain store guys, and I have been buying equipment for over 45 years. Each one of them has their own faults and problems. ( some more than others). I have never found one place yet that comes even close to the professionalism, service, and customer commitment that Sweetwater has. As I said before, there seems to be some exaggeration going on here. PS-- I am not an employee of Sweetwater, I am an extremely satisfied customer, who will continue to deal only with them until I see a reason not to. ( It hasn't happened yet!).
Date of experience: July 4, 2016
I am more than satisfied with my purchase. This company is top notch from the beginning of my shopping experience until I received my purchase.
Date of experience: March 31, 2020
This is a great company I just bought a strap and I feel like I was treated like royalty I'm just trying to learn to play guitar to pass time When I learn and move up to a better guitar I'll be back
Date of experience: April 6, 2020
Their caring and knowledgeable staff knows how to help and keep customers. The service is unparalleled. Sweetwater is simply the best!
Date of experience: June 30, 2018
ZZounds is better than you guys they work with me even without a perfect credit with their pay as you play program is people with good credit
Date of experience: October 28, 2017
Prices are right, delivery is fast, items are securely packaged and customer service is second to none.
Date of experience: December 4, 2017
Thank you so much! Order came in good time and I'm very pleased with the product! The free bag of candy was so nice! Thank you so much!
Date of experience: February 23, 2022
Always the best anywhere! Beats the competition hands down. I have never had a bad experience when ordering from Sweetwater. Always The Best!
Date of experience: June 26, 2018
The pedal met all my expectations and more. The control is very wide and easily changed. The battery back up is a plus.
Date of experience: April 15, 2017
Purchased a gig bag for a bass with an oversized head that didn't allow for a typical bag. Sweetwater had it in stock and got it in a few days.
Date of experience: June 1, 2017
That place is a Christian Robot Factory.
I must say the sales ROBOTS are very nice & courteous on the surface (most with an annoying Joel Olsteen kind of vibe to them) but I think there is some kind of Christian nationalism going on in that place, almost like: let's use some of the non believers money to help spread our political agenda
Kind of feeling. They won't openly talk about religion or try to convert you but it's in the extremely passive aggressive attitude that bugs me. The Company
(to its credit) is highly efficient in moving products and taking orders, and even is very powerful in the area of making sure that the company's they work with are holding their end of the warranty if something was to go wrong with the product.
All those nice attributes not being ignored,
I still am left with a feeling of the onward Christian robot thing. And it feels like it's comming from the top. In other words these guys are allowed to be flakes. You get the feeling that all they have to do is hint to the boss:
This person I'm dealing with is a nonbeliever, and that gives them carte blanche to not return phone calls and just drag their feet in general when it comes to service. So i'm not trying to nitpick here and I truly believe that if a few Musslims or Jews etc
Worked there it would be because of political reasons. However a fish stinks from the head down, and this smell kind of overrides all the good stuff they do lady's & gentleman cause there's some serious stank going down from the roof to the ground. Let me hear all you non believers sing YOWWWWW! (sung with a 80s kind of black soul
Accent).
Date of experience: August 17, 2016
Excellent in all regards. All smooth and easy and a great exclusive discount. My very best regards to Sweetwater.
Date of experience: August 4, 2019
They are always there to help us. Know about what they are selling and are very nice to deal with them
Date of experience: May 31, 2019
Salesman was very knowledgeable. He helped get exactly what was needed. Also item was shipped very fast. Thankyou.
Date of experience: November 20, 2017
Great group of people to do business with... They've taken great care of me... great service... love em...
Date of experience: May 24, 2017
Customer service was personal and impeccable, and shipping was super fast. Product was just as described and at a great price.
Date of experience: February 20, 2022
SWEETWATER WILL TELL YOU THAT YOU ARE GETTING A 1000 WATT AMP AND YOU ARE REALLY GETTING A 200 WATT AMP BEWARE THEY WILL TELL YOU ANYTHING JUST TO GET YOU TO BUY FROM THEM
Date of experience: June 14, 2016
Sprawling megastore featuring high-quality musical instruments & studio recording gear.
How do you go from a portable 4-track recording rig in a Volkswagon bus to being the nation's leading retailer of professional recording and music equipment?
Chuck founded Sweetwater as a recording studio in Fort Wayne in 1979. The business was first located in his home on Getz Road, then moved to a subsequent home on Bass Road. Initially the fledgling company focused on providing recording services to local and national artists and businesses.
Two things prompted the leap from recording studio to music retailer. The first was Chuck's frustration with being unable to find a reliable, knowledgeable music technology retailer. Prices were outrageous, and after-sale technical service and support for the sophisticated electronics he used in his studio were non-existent.
Then, in the early 1980s, the revolutionary Kurzweil K250 appeared. This groundbreaking keyboard gave musicians and composers access to realistic orchestral and other sounds, opening new possibilities for music composition and performance. Chuck created his own sound library for the keyboard, and quickly gained a national reputation as an expert at programming the instrument. Renowned musicians such as Stevie Wonder, Kenny Rogers, and other top names began consulting with Chuck, purchasing K250 factory options and upgrades through him. Recognizing the industry's need for a new, dependable, customer-oriented approach to the musical instrument and professional audio sales channel, Sweetwater became a Kurzweil dealer to fulfill these requests.
As Chuck's expertise became known and the industry grew more sophisticated, those original K250 customers returned again and again for product advice. The company began representing more product lines, and rapidly developed and implemented its unique philosophy of relationship-based selling — treating customers as friends —and unmatched pre- and post-sale customer service.
Sweetwater's primary emphasis quickly shifted from recording studio to music retailer. A new building was constructed on Bass Road and was expanded four times to keep up with the skyrocketing growth of the company. But even that wasn't enough, as the company quickly grew to nearly 220 employees. In late 2005, Sweetwater began the process of moving to their new headquarters, located at the intersection of Kroemer Road and U.S. Highway 30. The location's 38,000-square-foot building will be expanded to a total of 150,000 square feet with the addition of a 40,0000-square-foot state-of-the-art distribution center, a rich-media auditorium and recording studios designed by world-renowned acoustician and studio designer Russ Berger, and a technical training center on a 44-acre property that will allow plenty of room for Sweetwater's massive projected growth: 175 additional full-time employees and $150 million in annual sales by 2009, and $180 million in annual sales and 450 total employees by 2010. Most recently, $1 billion is annual sales and over 2000 employees by 2020.
Today, Sweetwater is recognized as one of the most successful and fastest-growing music retailers in the nation. The company has been named to Inc. magazine's list of the 500 fastest-growing private companies three years in a row, and has received the Music Inc. magazine REX Award for excellence in retailing.
