Musician's Friend Continues to M F-up with my orders - WHY MUSICIAN'S FRIEND SUCKS! STILL! AND MORE!

RECAP

• Take a simple order. Ship it ground. Check. - Call this Order 1
• Take another simple order to ship overnight. Ship by ground instead. NOT check. Call this Order 2A
• Promise to stop order 2A and overnight a replacement (Order 2B). Stop order 1 instead. NOT check.
• Promise to "walk that overnight replacement order" 2B out the door so it arrives by needed date. NOT check

For those keeping score, that is 1 error, 1 compounded error, and 1 egregious error (breaking a promise made "to set things right")

UPDATE (and more MF-ups at MF, the company)

Order 1 is now almost a week overdue. A check of the tracking information shows that order 1 was recalled back to MF again instead of being sent back out to me and the original order 2A is being sent back out to me instead of being accepted as a return. AS OF TODAY July 23, the package that was OUT FOR DELIVERY TO ME on July 16, literally an hour or less from my door until ERRONEOUSLY RECALLED by Musician's Friend, is now in Randolph MO! The UPS truck probably drove by my house several times that day with the order in back. A WEEK LATE, not moving in my direction,  AND MUSICIAN'S FRIEND HASN'T EVEN OFFERED TO SHIP IT BACK TO ME THE FASTEST WAY POSSIBLE. - OK they did offer. AFTER I called to follow up and was on hold for a long time while they tried to sort this mess out again. So, when it finally arrives, it will only be a week and a half late.

ALL of this mess was initiated by Musician's Friend. The correction for accidentally recalling order 1 instead of order 2A was to send order 1 back out to me after it reached the warehouse. Instead, order 1 is somewhere in Kansas and 2A is heading my way.

Score: Musician's Friend 4, Me 0
And we both lose.

I've lost all faith in MF, and I've spent not inconsequential amounts with them over the years (including a Gibson Les Paul Standard, multiple amps, etc.).

Musician's Friend loses one loyal customer, and the value of that goodwill in personal recommendations.
I'll never receive anything I ordered when I needed it. I may never even receive everything I've ordered. I am concerned that I'll never receive all the refunds and discounts I am due.

Fellow musicians, if you are listening. Take your business elsewhere. I recommend locally. Support the local shop and they will support the local music scene.

Musician's Friend, if YOU are listening, and I particularly mean MF CEO, President or other senior executive, hear me:

1. your first error (ground instead of overnight), while it shouldn't have happened, was easy to make right so that I got my stuff and you retained my goodwill. 
2. Your second error (recalling wrong order) was bogus since I specifically offered to provide the order number to prevent confusion, because your rep was clearly confused. 
3. Your third error - WHAT! Now NOTHING would arrive on Friday?! REALLY?! And yet, as amazing as it sounds, your errors are continuing.

Mr/Madam President/CEO of Musician's Friend-


Why have order numbers if you don't use them to actually manage orders? Crap, forget about that. Just GET somebody with a brain to figure out how much money you owe me in refunds on merchandise returned (recalled by you intentionally and accidentally) and see to it that I get those refunds. I'd be happy to provide the order numbers.
On second thought, that is giving you all too much credit (no pun). Just refund my credit card for ALL my purchases in the last month. That way, you won't need no stinkin' order numbahs.
THAT, and a direct apology, will make it right.


~~~~~~~~~~
Matter Resolved 08/16/10: See http://cedareden.blogspot.com/2010/08/thank-you-musicians-friend.html

MusiciansFriend.com are MFers

Here has been my experience with Musicians Friend over the past week, and why they really are MFers!


Here has been my experience with Musicians Friend over the past week, and why they really are MFers! Just wanted to know I will never order from you again & have am telling the world the best way I know how: http://cedareden.blogspot.com/2010/07/musiciansfriendcom-are-mfers.html

FOR REFERENCE, HERE ARE THE ORDER NUMBERS:

#SXXXXXXXX  07/14/2010 $128.89 INTERCEPT/RETURN to MF - REFUND -
        MF Mistake Ground instead 1 Day

#SXXXXXXXX  07/15/2010 $85.00 Next Day NO CHARGE because of mistake on first order

#SXXXXXXXX  SHIPPED 07/13/2010 Due for delivery 07/16
        (tracking says intercept/RETURN)

I placed an order on 7/13/10, shipped UPS GROUND, due for delivery today,  7/16/10 -- it included a cart to carry my heavy AMP for a GIG this weekend. I received an email on 7/13/10 thanking me for my order and the UPS tracking number indicated GROUND due 7/16/10

I placed an order on 7/14/10 paying $30 extra for OVERNIGHT SHIPPING due 7/16/10 -- it included a small amp for ANOTHER GIG this weekend.

On 7/15/10 I received an email thanking me for my order and showing shipping by UPS GROUND NOT OVERNIGHT. So I called and the idiot tried to tell me I asked for Ground and was getting Ground. I explained, NO, I had an EARLIER order that was ground but paid $30 extra to get this latest order 7/16/10. I OFFERED TO PROVIDE ORDER NUMBERS SO HE COULD SORT IT OUT. He declined.

After more than an hour on the phone, at 4 in the morning, this idiot and his idiot supervisor (Chris, I believe) agreed to send a STOP SHIPMENT AND RETURN on the recent order that was accidentally shipped GROUND instead of OVERNIGHT. AND they assured me that a NEW small amp would go out immediately overnight and still arrive hereon FRIDAY.

The next thing I know, I check the tracking and the first order, which was an hour away at  the facility waiting to be delivered to me was RETURNED TO MUSICIANS FRIEND. THE IDIOTS RECALLED THE WRONG ORDER. When I called about that, I was told SORRY, we screwed up (again) and nothing you could do about it.

NOW, It is 5:30PM FRIDAY, NO SMALL AMP AS PROMISED that Chris assured me he was going to personally see it get done. NO EARLIER first ORDER that should have been here today. NOTHING I ORDERED FOR TODAY IS HERE. AND THE BEST THEY COULD DO IS SAY WHEN THE FIRST ORDER GETS ALL THE WAY BACK TO THEM THEY WILL TURN IT AROUND AND SEND IT IT ME.

CREDITS ARE WORTHLESS BECAUSE I DON'T WANT ANYTHING TO DO WITH YOU IDIOTS. Not only that, you can't even INSTANTLY refund my credit card even though EVERYTHING was your fault due to your stupidity and stubbornness and refusal to actually pay attention to the problem I was describing to you.

Now they won't even let me post this complaint to their email support using my registered customer name.

Musicians Friend ARE MFers, plain and simple.

~~~~~~~~~~
Matter Resolved 08/16/10: See http://cedareden.blogspot.com/2010/08/thank-you-musicians-friend.html

My Upcoming Summer & Fall Gigs

Here is a schedule of my upcoming summer/fall gigs so far:

With The Whompers:
• Fri 8/6 - Saranac Lake TBD (BluSeed?)
• Sat 8/7 - TriTown Festival Parade, Brasher Falls 11AM (line-up 10AM)
• Sat 8/7 - private party, Brasher 4PM-8PM
• Sun 8/8 - Erin's Isle, Brasher Falls 4PM-8PM

Solo Acoustic/electric
• Almost every Sunday - Praise service First UMC, Saranac Lake
• Almost every Wednesday - Community Supper, First UMC, Saranac Lake
• Sat 10/2 - Rockin' for Rett 2.0, sometime between 10AM & 4PM; Tucker Farm, Gabriels - I should be able to play a longer set and show off some new originals - Great cause, Good Music

When Josie comes home . . .

This is a picture of a little dive in Madison, Wisconsin that I posterized.

Isn't this the awesomest sign?

Talk about your pure, funky Americana. Betty Beavers Fuel Stop - in THREE D ! Click to zoom in and check it out! (check her out?)

On the road to the gulf coast

It is noon on Tuesday and I am on my way to the gulf of Mexico. I am driving through Pennsylvania on interstate 81. Green fields on rolling hills. Light blue sky filled with bright white clouds. Concrete roads and jersey barriers. Big rigs hauling tandem trailers. Road construction everywhere. Narrow, shifting lanes. Just 6 more hours to my first night stop. I'm looking forward to see my daughter, my sister in law and brother in law.

Note: this blog entry was dictated by using Vlingo on my BlackBerry Bold. I did not text while driving!

Exhausting

Mmmmm. I love the smell of motorcycle exhaust: an oily, metallic fragrance with a top note of something purely motorcycle in nature. It always reminds me of when I worked for Rockingham Security as a job in college. One weekend I had to stand guard in a Harley shop because the owners were in receivership or something. Every now and then I'd go from the showroom to the shop and start one of the hogs up, just to hear it roar. It was then I came to really know that distinct smell of an idling and revved motorcycle engine.

I'd been driving motorcycles since I was 14 or so but had never warmed up a bike's engine indoors and so missed that smell. Or perhaps it was just that my little Suzuki 250 and Kawasaki 500 just didn't have the digestive system to produce the smell. Certainly my big V-Twin Honda cruiser does it.

Final 50 Wrap!

My big day ended in spectacular fashion. Marlene and the kids took me out to dinner, and we were joined by 5 of my closest friends. It was an unexpected and pleasant surprise. We enjoyed a long, sumptuous dinner, cake and conversation. When we returned home, it was present time. I got a number of nice gadgets and things. The best was saved for last, though.

Shown here is my new Fender Vintage '60s Reissue Stratocaster, complete with tweed case and strap. WOW! I haven't had a chance to plug it in yet, but I just might. It's 1 AM but my amp is over in the office, above the garage and a separate building from the house. Hmmmmm. . .

Birthday #50 Chronicles (Tales of an Aging Ponderer)

5/26/2010 09:26:15 AM •

My day started with a failed attempt at sleeping in. My phone kept beeping like a Star Trek communicator every time a friend posted a birthday wish on facebook. Not complaining. It is nice to have friends.

Dragged my butt upstairs and had a bowl of Luck Charms with "new swirly charms" or something like that, and skim milk. It was like eating a bowl of petrified pseudo-marshmallow with an occasional sweetened oat cereal.

Scheduled for ultrasounds and cystoscopy at 11:30 & 12:30 at the Adirondack Medical Center (hospital), I spent the remainder of my morning reading Terrence West's Fallen Angels on my iPod touch (book 1 of the Fallen Angels trilogy - something to do with Area 51) while trying NOT to dread the upcoming procedures or overthink pre-procedure preparation. But it is hard to read while you are trying to calculate the precise best time to shower so that you arrive fresh for invasive procedures without arriving damp! Things like this and a zillion other stupid and important things swirling around in my mind are the reason I don't sleep much.

I know: who schedules themselves for potentially unpleasant procedures on their birthday, right? I didn't have much choice. I had to fit it in when I could, not knowing when I might be called off to the Gulf to help with the spill (http://GulfCoastPost.blogspot.com). And tomorrow I have to get up and leave at 6:30AM to make a follow-up with an entodontist so he can root around under a a new crown because his root canal didn't take. Hopefully third time is a charm!

I decided to shower at 10:30 so I can arrive at hospital* to check in 1/2 hour early. I've also decided to ride my motorcycle in. It is just four miles and I'm not donning all that gear and lugging it around all day. Just helmet and gloves. It'll be easier to find a spot to park, plus I can just lock the helmet to the bike. Brooom brrrooom!

(*I remember when I started hearing Americans begin to use "hospital" as do the Europeans instead of "the hospital." I can't say I like it. And I still can't say I'm going "on holiday." When I go on vacation I go on A holiday -- though apparently I am ok with going on vacation versus going on a vacation. Plain hospital and holiday sound so pretentious.)

My daughter, Emily, up from North Carolina for my birthday (and to see her friends), wished me a happy birthday this morning. A smile from her melts my heart and makes my day. Thank you for that, Em. Shortly after, she took off again - we don't see much of her when she is home anymore.

Rumor has it we are going out to dinner tonight. I had kind of hoped I could just go play guitar at the Community Supper and keep things low key. But, I think birthdays are really for the other people in your life and I will try not to ruin this for them by being my usual grumpy self. Grrrrrrrrrrrrr.

God, when did we all turn middle-aged?! I remember when the neighbor turned fifty. That seemed so significant. Now I am turning fifty and in some respects I am still that 17 year old boy skidding around in an old VW beetle. I've known for some time that we have some internal "age" that doesn't seem to change for us. But every time I reach an age milestone, I am amazed I don't feel different. Does this mean that 80 year old gentleman pillar of our community still feels 18 or 21 and just appears to us to be the wise, old man?

Maybe it isn't so much an internal age as it is an internal identifier or identity - our self-image formed at some point in our early life that doesn't change much as our bodies age around it. I'm not the first guy to turn 50, but does everybody ponder it as much as I?

"'Cause I'm the Ponderer. Yes I'm the Ponderer. I ponder, ponder, ponder, pondewr ..." - sung to the tune of "The Wanderer"
Hah! That right there just reminded me of the old Mad Magazines.

5/26/2010 10:20:41 AM •
»» Off to the showers - more later ««
Wish me luck (Not for the shower, dufus! The hospital visit!)

»»»»»»»»»»««««««««««

Back from my little expedition. Don't ask. Owooooooo-ooo-ooo-OUCH!

Day's End

Sunlight gilds tree-filled banks
Across still blue water.

A horizon of water and clouds
Erupt in flames of orange and red
Set ablaze by the setting sun.

At last the sky goes pink to grey
And happy bats begin to flit about,
Far few to stem the insect tide.

Loneliness

"Loneliness is a fearsome enemy. Humans can stand any number of setbacks – poverty, starvation, the worst pain their bodies can inflict, homelessness, disaster, the moment before death, and the centuries upon centuries of life that remain once a loved one is gone forever. They can weather it and emerge from under the sledgehammer of it all as long they have one thing. Someone to go through it with them. Even if that person is not kind to them, they know at least that they are not alone."

"Maze of Trees"
by Claudia O'Keefe

Reflections on the Dawn

Early morning, late May
Sunlight in pure yellow rays
Streaming over the mountain peaks
Streaking across an azure sky
Striking new leaves fresh with chlorophyll
Stirring robins to sing in the new day

Leaves, freshly unfurled,
bathed in photon streams that flow unfettered
by their passage through cool, unsoiled mountain air,
glow lemon-lime as if illuminated from within.

Those who sleep may be better rested than I
but miss a spectacle so free and invigorating
that I shall rise running rings around them
in spirit if not in deed.

Although,
I do see a nap in my future.