SamAsh.com business practices?

[motojosh]

Originally Posted by Napman41

I'd call them and they answered the phone. Try calling them.

Originally Posted by Joe McNamara

Especially as the website suggests "If the promo code does not work for you, please call one of our sales associates at (800) 472-6274. They will be glad to assist."

Thanks--if I decide to purchase the guitar, I will indeed call them. I have no doubt that they'll honor their offer (that wasn't my original question). I'm asking about the customer experience. I don't see why you think they'll give me better information about that than the actual customers will.

Say, for example, a new restaurant opens up in town. You'd like to try it out, but you don't want to waste your time if it's not any good. You can call the restaurant and ask them if they're good, or you can ask people who have eaten at the restaurant. Who would you prefer to ask? Which group is likely to give you more useful information?

I'm asking about the store, not about how to get 15% off. Everyone makes different tradeoffs when they shop; the price is only one part of the deal for me. A bigger part is that I want to do business with stores that treat their customers fairly and with integrity. Some AGF sponsors have built exactly that kind of reputation here by treating people well. When that happens, word gets out. I will probably check out a carbon fiber guitar someday, and when I do, my first call will be to LA Guitars because Ted has shown time and again here that he is a good person with whom to deal. (In fact, if LA Guitars sold Godin, Ted would be my first call for this one, too!)

Having no experience with Sam Ash, I don't know whether that's the case for them, so I asked for feedback. Thanks to the replies from Captain Jim, sabatini, Highway_61, and Steve DeRosa here--all of whom have had good dealings with Sam Ash--I am much more inclined to believe that Sam Ash is this kind of store than I was when I asked the question.

[motojosh]

Originally Posted by GuitAbuse

Try 25OFF4U and see what happens.

Thanks for bringing a little humor to the thread.

[motojosh]

Originally Posted by Steve DeRosa

BTW, you're going to love that Godin 5th Avenue. I own two - a cognac-burst acoustic and a blonde CW II - and the latter was the only guitar I've owned in 53 years that didn't need a single string-path adjustment, even with a change to flatwound 13's: perfect neck angle, perfect relief, perfect bridge height, no buzzing or fretting out, just tweaked the pickup poles a bit to compensate for the hotter signal - and this was a blind purchase from Amazon (not exactly known for babying their instruments); I've played guitars five times the price that didn't handle as well - and if that doesn't speak quality I don't know what does...

Thanks Steve. You don't know this, but it's sorta your fault that I'm looking for a new archtop right now... Last summer, you posted a link to some great deals that Sweetwater was having on the Ibanez AF151. Similar to the Godin, that's not something that I can get locally, and it's not so expensive that buying online is a huge risk, so I picked one up. Been playing it for a while, and loved it, but last month a friend's daughter was picked to play guitar in her school's jazz band. I let her borrow the Ibanez for a couple weeks until they could find a guitar for her. During that couple weeks, though, she fell in love with the Ibanez, and I couldn't say no when she asked me to sell it to her (though I did ask her to give me the first crack at it if she ever decides to get rid of it!). So now I'm looking for another archtop. The AF151 was good enough that I'd be totally happy getting another, but I thought I'd try something different for a change.

[Judson]

Give them a call ... I had a great experience buying a Taylor online through Sam Ashe Direct. I did however, talk with one of their customer service guys to get confirmation on the final price because it was already on a deep closeout discount *and* I wanted to use a promotional coupon that was active at the time. I ended up with a Taylor GA-3 for only $829 total. Give them a call ...

[titanNV]

(Comment removed)

[The Growler]

I've purchased from Sam Ash several times and never had any issues. The staff in the store were great as well. I doubt this is on purpose deception and if you call, they'll make it right.

[rz1]

The only thing I've ever ordered from Sam Ash was not a guitar. I got an email from them a few years ago saying they were offering big discounts and to call them if I needed anything. I had been looking at an A-B-Y box, and decided to call to see what they could do. They offered to take 20% off the regular price, so I went ahead with it.

Another time, in-store, I asked them if they'd honor a sale they'd had that had ended a week earlier and they did. I've never had any bad dealings with them, so I'm inclined to believe the problem you're seeing is not intentional.

[BFD]

I just gave it a shot on both the $995 & the $695 Cognac Burst versions and the correct amount was deducted each time when I entered the code on their home page.

[Highway_61]

Originally Posted by BFD

I just gave it a shot on both the $995 & the $695 Cognac Burst versions and the correct amount was deducted each time when I entered the code on their home page.

It would seem that the error (scroll back to see that it did, in fact, exist) has been repaired.

[motojosh]

Thanks again for the feedback, everyone. The discount is working properly on my end now as well but wasn't as of yesterday, so it seems to be an error on the website that's been fixed. FWIW (and because I said I would report back here), I did receive an email reply just this afternoon from a sales technician that said: "Which Godin model were you looking for? I will see if I can fix it here on my end."

It's great to hear that many AGFers have had good experiences at Sam Ash, which (as mentioned above) allays my original concerns.

[rgregg48]

Sam Ash cheated me big time in 1970.
Have not and will not deal with them until
The Cubs win the world series,, in other words
Never,, pm me if you want to hear the tedious story.
Rick

[GuitarLight]

Always use the phone to order, when you order a guitar online. This way it will be made clear about what it costs by simply asking them. Any online company that does not supply and provide a toll free order line, I move on, and never consider them again. Sam Ash I believe, has a toll free number to call concering your order and cost. Call them.

[Earl49]

I've been in Sam Ash brick & mortar stores, and ordered a few things from them on-line too. I was treated well in all cases. The only negative thing I can say is that they sometimes follow-up after a mail order a bit too aggressively, calling several times. Some people call that "good service" but it annoyed me when they kept calling my cell phone and burning my minutes. They did stop calling when I asked firmly.

[Paleolith54]

Originally Posted by motojosh

Thanks again for the feedback, everyone. The discount is working properly on my end now as well but wasn't as of yesterday, so it seems to be an error on the website that's been fixed. FWIW (and because I said I would report back here), I did receive an email reply just this afternoon from a sales technician that said: "Which Godin model were you looking for? I will see if I can fix it here on my end."

It's great to hear that many AGFers have had good experiences at Sam Ash, which (as mentioned above) allays my original concerns.

People like you are why I am glad I never had to work in retail.

[motojosh]

Originally Posted by Paleolith54

People like you are why I am glad I never had to work in retail.

I don't believe we've ever met. Care to expand on that judgment, or are you happy assuming you know everything about a person from a few sentences? What, exactly, are "people like [me]" like?