After having just gone through yet another terrible experience buying a product online,I felt compelled to warn anyone here that lives in the continental U.S.,to avoid making any purchases online from these online retailers;
Musician's Friend,GuitarCenter & Samash.
Here is an overview of my latest online debaucle....I recently ordered a Samson 12 channel mixer from SamAsh & I was surprised to discover that despite SamAsh being based out of New York,thier online distribution warehouse is located in Tampa,FL.-which worried me,as Florida is one of the states in this country that is a haven for scams & shady business dealings.
I thought I was ordering a new,factory fresh mixer,but as it turned out,this was far from the situation.
When I recieved it,the warranty & registration card were missing.
There was a gob of dried glue on the face of the mixer.
After about an hour of using the mixer,it malfunctioned & became inoperable.
The main volume controls froze at a high level,as did the level meters and as a result,every incoming signal was distorted & I had no control over the volume after that point.
I shut off the mixer,but this did not change anything.
When I contacted SamAsh,I adamantly complained that I paid full price for a used product,but they denied it completely & they put the blame squarely on the manufacturer.
What's even worse,is that SamAsh made me pay out of my own pocket to ship the f**king thing back to them for a refund.
Of course though,if I had decided to do an exchange,they would not charge me for shipping.
This is the only retailer that does this that I know of.This is one of the largest retailers in the world & they're pinching pennies?!!
I only went outside of my usual retailer(Sweetwater.com),because they did not carry the particular mixer I wanted,but given my experiences such as this,I will never deviate from Sweetwater.com again(with the exception of bhphotovideo.com),as these two online retailers are the only honest & reputable online retailers that I know of.
My advice to everyone; when making purchases online,do not buy from anyone except Sweetwater.com & bhphotovideo.com,as otherwise,you will not have any clue as to what you will recieve in the mail,until you open & inspect the package.
If you cannot find what you want online from these two retailers,then I would suggest buying locally,so that you can personally inspect what you are getting before you buy.
Just wanted to pass along my experiences,so that no one here gets burned.
Happy holidays,
Thom