[fuel37]

Hi Guys,

I just wanted to know if any of you have ever had any problems with LAMusic.ca?

I've been going through a bit of hell with them for about 2.5 months now. I have dealt with them before and never had a problem, ordered a cab for my vox and it arrived the next day, ordered some accessories, same thing, next day.... then i ordered a pedal by phone, asked if it was in stock, they said yes, we have them for $$$, how would you like to pay, I said paypal.... they added it on to their site with me on the phone and I sent the money.

Weeks later, I had not recieved my pedal so I called and spoke with a sales person who looked it up on the pc and said oh, it's backordered.... not sure when we'll have them (on their site, "If an item is not in stock, most will be shipped the next day. And if it can not be, we will contact you immediately with an estimated time of arrival." - https://lamusic.ca/default.asp?szNav=About). So I said ok, waited for another month and called back..... oh we still don't have them, we'll let you know when it ships. So, I waited more, another couple weeks go by and I call again, "oh it was shipped three weeks ago, you didn't get it?".

Turns out it got shipped to my address without the apartment number, and, canada post being the angels they are, delivered it somewhere!!! So, I called lamusic and they opened a case with canada post.... this was over a month ago, everytime I call I get told i'm being looked after and not to worry but, they've had $300 of my money for almost 4 months, and have refused to refund me and won't keep me in the loop with whats going on.

I've referred many of my friends there (some with orders for a whole rig), as well as spent alot of my own money there. I'm sure the store is great, but I'll think twice about ordering online from these guys again, I'm sure any other store would have at least said here's your money back, or we'll ship you out another one asap.

Anyways, End rant!

 

[danbo]

There's no "Customer Service" there, just "We'll take your money!"
That's why I shop across the street at the Guitar Shop..best service in the world!
Maybe you should call the BBB?
Mario is the owner, I'd ask to speak/meet him.

 

[Gunny]

I was in the store once when I purchased a bass combo. Recently I checked their on-line availability for an item and it said "in stock". It was an expensive piece of equipment, but some similar ones had free shipping and mine didn't....so I phoned them. Turns out they didn't have it in stock at all, and would have to order it in. The free shipping thing was a gimmick because they take a loss on part of the payment, but it's never totally free to the buyer.
I'm OK with these guys based on my first purchase. I now know to call ahead before making another buy. I didn't know about that other store nearby, I'd check that out too.

 

[nine]

Call them and ask to speak to a manager. Don't bother speaking to the same level of dudes you've been dealing with up to this point. Tell the manager that if it's not resolved in a week you're going to file a complaint with the better business bureau. You've got to give them a timeline, otherwise they'll never fix it. That should get his or her attention. Don't get mad. Don't freak out, just insist that he fix this problem immediately, as you've been more than patient.

Also, tell the manager that you're going to have your credit card reverse the charge (assuming that your paypal was being paid from your credit card) if it isn't sorted out. I'm guessing that by waiting this long you're no longer protected by Paypal whatsoever. Call up your CC company and inquire about reversing the charges.

 

[nine]

Oh yeah, and just for your info, nearly every online place will swear up and down that they have what you've asked for in stock (even if it isn't). They want you to place the order and give them their money instead of finding it somewhere else.

It sucks, but that little "trick" seems to be par for the course. Then they just hope that they get it in stock before you get so ticked off by waiting that they lose you as a customer.

 

[fuel37]

When someone agree's to sell you something, and takes your money and then doesn't give you what bought, thats called theft, or fraud (and in this case, also mail fraud).

I have threatened to have the charges reversed on my card, I've been holding off because they have been decent when i called and I still really want what I ordered. Plus the case was opened on canada posts end so I was waiting to see what we heard back from them.

I want to reiterate that I have had 2 positive experiences buying from them as well as this one. It just infuriates me that this is what they consider "looking after you dude". I've had better experience's with my local shop when things went wrong and they are known for being slack.

 

[nine]

How is it mail fraud if they accidentally shipped it somewhere else? It's bad service, plain and simple. It can be resolved. I realize you're all pissed off about this, but it's hardly fraud or theft.

Hate to break it to ya, but the police aren't going to do jack. Don't waste your time or theirs by calling them.

 

[gproud]

I would just like to point out that a Canada Post claim can take a very long time to conclude, with little information provided by CP during that time. I waited 2 1/2 months for an insurance claim. I called about every 2-3 weeks during that time. Also, you can't actually open a claim until 30 business days after the shipment went out. So from the time the thing was shipped that I mailed, to me getting the insurance money was almost 4 months.

 

[fuel37]

Canada post had the case open for 3 weeks and then closed it and said, the trace on the package indicates it was delivered. the end. no product from la, no refund. I ordered, I paid, I didn't recieve. (the order was placed jan 4th).

Also, advertising something is in stock when it isn't and promising a 3-4 day delivering time.... isn't that considered false advertising.

 

[Hamm Guitars]

I'm not sure if you stated so or not, but I assume that you ordered online and had the item shipped as you do not live in the area where they are located.

When dealing with matters such as this, never -ever- use the telephone as your method of communication. Use email if you can, and if you are local follow it up with an in person trip to the store. You want a record of what you are going through.

As a small business owner, pissing off a customer is not worth bickering over a few hundred dollars. I'm sure if you go straight to the top man (or woman) and you explain the situation in a rational manner they will just give you whatever it is that you paid for and you won't have to bother waiting around to see what happens with Canada Post. They should also learn that they have to get a signature when they ship product.

Some lower level managment types might not have the experience or knowledge to see that inconveniencing and pissing off paying customers costs more than a few hundred dollars in damage to the companies reputation. It is far cheaper to keep the customers that you have than it is to obtain new ones.

If you approach the owner with a threatening attitude, or even worse if it is relayed to him/her through one of the employees that are covering up a simple mistake, everyone is going to have their backs up and things will take longer to work out.

One reason websites list products as being in stock when they are not may be because the stores website is tied into a distributors site, and is not updated frequently enough. It usually works like this:

You go to a web site and order something

The store processes your order payment and passes it onto the distributor.

The distributor drop ships the item to you, using a packong slip/invoice with the store's logo.

Good Luck,

Andy

 

[fuel37]

Hi Andy,

Thanks for the reply!

Just so everyone knows, I am not a threatening kind of person or a person that likes any kind of confrontation. I've been very very gentle in my communications with the store and it took alot of hmm'ing and ha'ing before I made this post. This is not something I have done before (making a negative post about a business or person) and I hope I will not do it again, but, I'm losing patience.

I have been doing my best in keeping with writing emails over calling as I realize the importance of the trail if something does happen, however, when I send three or four emails to two different people and the general sales line and recieve no response for 14 days (this has happened numerous times), I lose my patience and pick up the phone.

I have basically give you folks a very brief description of whats went on, I haven't touched on the things that have really bothered me in this whole ordeal.

It's unfortunate, I had several items that I planned on purchasing there in the next few months (orange amp, cab, and a few other items) that would have totalled in the thousands.

Again, I want to re-iterate that I was more than happy with 2/3 of my transactions there. I grew up in a family business and was taught from as young as I can remember that the customer always comes first. I've seen my father lose thousands of dollars because someone was having a hard time and couldn't pay a bill etc.... I've also worked in an environment (call center) where their whole m.o. was to get the customer off the phone as quickly as possible and as cheaply as possible. Needless to say, this didn't match my morals, I didn't work there long. But, I feel that I understand the two extremes of the customer service scale, and I feel that I L.A. is on the wrong side of that scale.

If anyone knows who I should talk to at the store, please let me know.

Thanks in advance for reading.

 

[JSD's Guitar Shack]

Oh yeah, and just for your info, nearly every online place will swear up and down that they have what you've asked for in stock (even if it isn't). They want you to place the order and give them their money instead of finding it somewhere else.

It sucks, but that little "trick" seems to be par for the course. Then they just hope that they get it in stock before you get so ticked off by waiting that they lose you as a customer.

Thats not a fair statement. Don't lump all online sellers into this catagory, some of us actually care about customer service and doing right by our customers.

Hey fuel37, why isn't Paypal helping you out? You paid and didn't recieve, why wouldn't that be eligible? You could reverse the charge on your credit card but you'll probably have to give up your Paypal account after that.

 

[fuel37]

Thats not a fair statement. Don't lump all online sellers into this catagory, some of us actually care about customer service and doing right by our customers.

Hey fuel37, why isn't Paypal helping you out? You paid and didn't recieve, why wouldn't that be eligible? You could reverse the charge on your credit card but you'll probably have to give up your Paypal account after that.

I agree, I've dealt with many many great shops online in the last few years.... this is the first real problem I've had.

I tried to open a dispute with paypal and it come up saying that this transaction is not eligible for dispute.

Some quotes from paypalsucks.com:

According to PayPal accepting their ToS (Terms of Service) in effect means you waive your rights to credit card consumer protection laws if you want to use their service, and that you may not issue a chargeback for unauthorized use of your credit card and PayPal account, or if you do, then they have the right to limit your account.

I don't want my account locked, then I can't buy anywhere online.

If you are a bona fide, up-standing individual with hundreds of successful transactions, but someone pays you with a stolen credit card, your account (by PayPal's own admission) is immediately flagged as being "criminal behavior" and any money in that account is confiscated. If a customer "disputes" the charge, same thing happens. (See email above.) PayPal claims that they will fight chargebacks, but read this before you fall for that one.

This is sort of appealing but, I'm not out to cause these guys any harm. I just want what I ordered. Or for them to tell me that it's gone, get over it.

 

[fuel37]

BTW: JSD.... you'll see me as a customer in the future.... we've emailed before and I was very impressive by the way I was treated even though I was only tire kicking.

 

[jcon]

fuel37, hope your situation gets cleared up soon.
I have to agree with some of the others here regarding La Music and their online inventory - it's a mess! Sometime last year I was looking at getting an Epi Elitist LP from them. Their website showed they had one in stock so I went down to the store to check it out. SURPRISE, not in stock! One sales guy told me it was sold the week before and another explained the stock on their website just means in stock at "a warehouse", not necessarily their warehouse - now that's just silly!
On the other hand, I bought a Hercules guitar stand from them, got it home only to find it was broken. Went back the next day and they didn't even open the box or ask to see a receipt, just told me to grab another.
Them not having the Epi LP was a blessing too. Ended up buying a custom Tokai Love Rock from JSD - what a sweet axe!

 

[danbo]

MARIO is the owner..see him.

 

[nine]

Thats not a fair statement. Don't lump all online sellers into this catagory, some of us actually care about customer service and doing right by our customers.

Hey man, that's fantastic that you care, but I stand by my statement. I've heard of so many instances of people getting caught on that little trick that it really seems to be the standard. I've had it happen to me as well.

Again, though- that's fantastic that you try to avoid that. I certainly wasn't trying to include you personally in my statement.

 

[nine]

Fuel37, for one, most of the info on that Paypalsucks site is eons old. And secondly, you can certainly get your CC company to reverse the charges. I had a guy screw me on eBay and neither eBay nor Paypal would help me out, despite him turning around and selling the SAME guitar neck a while later. They just didn't care. I called up Visa and they got my money back. You can do the same and if you're tired of dealing with LA Music, I suggest that you call tomorrow and get the process started.

 

[violation]

I was going to get some pickups / pedals from them, I e-mailed them to ask a couple questions and still haven't got a response... that was 3 months ago, haha. After a week of waiting for their reply I just went to Steve's and bought them... about an hour drive from my house, but it was worth it. The price was even cheaper than LA's.

I know I'm never going to buy from LA... they don't reply to my e-mails, they don't get my money. That simple, lol.

Good luck, hopefully it all gets worked out.

 

[torndownunit]

Hey fuel37, why isn't Paypal helping you out? You paid and didn't recieve, why wouldn't that be eligible? You could reverse the charge on your credit card but you'll probably have to give up your Paypal account after that.

I would take a guess that's it's because the item was delivered. Just to the wrong address. But the correct address wasn't on the package which totally goes back to LA Music as the root of the problem. In Canada Post's system it will show up as a confirmed delivery. I think you'd have to rely on the person who received to be honest and return to sender. And you probably can't count on that.