Never had a gipe about MF but...

[Bryan]

Here's my funny funny story.

I get an email from MF saying they're having a 10% sale off of Scratch and Dent stuff that ends May 1. So I poke about and lo and behold I find a guitar I've actually had my eye on in the exact color I want. And the price is really cheap, obviously a 10% discount form a normal S&D price. So I take last night and today to convince myself to give in and pick up the guitar.

I get on the site today (Still May 1st as far as I know) and lo and behold the price has gone back up. So I call them up thinking that this is surely some sort of computer or clock error and I can still get the guitar at the lower price being it's still within the advertised time.

Well guess what? I'm politely told that whatever the web site says the price is happens to be the price they're selling it at.

What total crap!! The sale ran yesterday and today and now they're not going to honor their sale? That's horrible. The lady tells me it's because the prices of the S&D stuff can change from time to time.

How is that? It's the same guitar. There's only one in that style and color.

Gawd I am soo mad right now.

[lerxstcat]

If it says the sale ends on May 1st then it's over on May 1st. If it says THROUGH May 1st then the sale is still valid on May 1st. Big difference.

[charvelguy]

well.. I actually am in the same boat as you only it happened to me about a week ago. I actually had the items in my shopping cart and went to check it out after I was finished shopping on the scratch n dent items I thought I would want. When I went to check it out....it would not allow me to finalize the purchase with either a CC or Paypal. IT said my 'address' was invalid when I've purchased from them earlier with the same card, same billing & shipping address in my account..very odd as it would not allow me to enter the country, and when I went to enter the state.. it would return to default start.

The price difference was 30-35 dollars. I called customer serv and I initially was told the price fluctuates because not all scatch n dent items are the same in damage. Price shown is price you pay. So, I hung up and tried again a few times and then called back to place the order with another rep.

I made copies of the item in my inbox, the problem at checkout and the rep stated I would be able to have the price matched or honored if I coulf provide proof. So, thinking that the price would rise again, I locked it in at the 30+ more price, paid and will send the fax...see what becomes of it. When I checked back , the price went up yet again, now it a difference of 70 dollars from the original listing. Odd thing was, they had the price I wanted to orginally paid on the blem items right next to the new price, but there was no stock available on the lower price item.

Another thing.. I place an order for two items.. they were shipped separate. One was being delayed in shipment by days relative to the other, yet..no back order status was shown when purchased or on my order confirmation. I called on that, and they said it was in the warehouse but they didn't have a reasonable explainantion for the delay other than "it must have been one of the last ones" .. which leads me to believe they didn't have it in stock and were waiting for a return.

[Spacelord]

I have to agree that MF S&D prices do fluctuate.. and can depend on stock or some other factor. I ordered a S&D (aka "blem" as they call them too) a few weeks ago for what I considered a great price. The next day the same blem item was at least $60 more! For some reason that particular color was much cheaper. I ended up with a good deal, and glad I didn't wait.. especially since I'd swear the guitar I received was brand spankin new.

[KLNowak]

Why don't print out the page with the advertised price and take it to Guitar Center or Sam Ash? I did that with a DV8 and even though the MF I had sale was over I had the printout so they honored it.

[joshulator]

Are scratch and dent items mostly pulled from returned items? I could see where, and I am only guessing here, they would have a very limited supply of these items and maybe the items you wanted had been snatched up by somebody else.

[charvelguy]

They claim to have the item in stock, my compaint and the OP's complaint is they just are varying the prices.
This is the 'normal price' as of today. This was also the final price on the scratch and dent items.

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Roland-VariOS-Open-System-Module?sku=707047

[Bryan]

Why don't print out the page with the advertised price and take it to Guitar Center or Sam Ash? I did that with a DV8 and even though the MF I had sale was over I had the printout so they honored it.

The price changed before I could do that. Sunday it was the lower price, Monday it was higher.

[Bryan]

Are scratch and dent items mostly pulled from returned items? I could see where, and I am only guessing here, they would have a very limited supply of these items and maybe the items you wanted had been snatched up by somebody else.

I have a feeling this is the only one of its kind. I mean how many Eric Clapton Strats do they have returned that are Candy Green?

[Bengal]

Ahhh... Musicians Friend. The online Guitar Center...

I would expect nothing less...

[charvelguy]

They just confirmed with me that even though an item was shown as being in stock in the warehouse and available for purchase..they admitted to not having any on hand when purchased. So, they had to sit on the order until they got another blem or honored it with a new item. Either way, they did honor the sale at the price given.

[charvelguy]

btw..as an update to my rants. MF responded to my comments I made about them in a bizrate survey. They credited 20.00 for my troubles as well as refunding me the price difference on the item I had in my checkout which I could not purchase and had to buy at 30.00 or so higher. I thought that was very good cust service on their behalf.. so they have redeemed themselves in my book.

[Ripley7t]

I only live about an hour from the outlet in MO. If anybody ever wants to have something high dollar that is blemmed checked out in person there let me know. They just moved to a bigger showroom. I have never seen so many broken necks in my life as I did the last time I went to the clearance center.