MUSIC 123 ignoring price matches?

[Meowy]

Originally Posted by chbaker

Sorry for the delay. Depending on where your email goes to, it does kick an automatic email letting you know we received it. Unfortunately, the Music123 quoting functionality is on an old system, but general emails will do that. If you email webtalk@music123.com or PM me, I'd be happy to get your request resolved

Sincerely,
Chris Baker
Night Supervisor

Fwiw, I never get auto response emails from m123, always from MF. That said both both their turnaround time goals more often than not. Sometimes with great prices, other times asking for more info, or suggesting I call. I've learned my lesson. When time is of the essence, call.

[MikeArta]

I;m pleased to report that Music 123 finally responded to my PM request on the Epi Les Paul Jr Special P90 in Satin Yellow @ $129

[bjcarl]

 

Originally Posted by MikeArta

I;m pleased to report that Music 123 finally responded to my PM request on the Epi Les Paul Jr Special P90 in Satin Yellow @ $129

 

If you call, they'll probably go ahead and knock another 5% off of that for ya

[Fusion1]

I sent in a PM for the Gibson SG Standard on 12/13. I didn't recieve a PM until 7 days later and it was in my spam folder so by the time I checked it the price match was expired as they limit price matches with a 9 day expiration period. Wouldn't you expect the expiration period to start from the time they send out the price match email to you, and not the time the customer originally sends in the price request?

[JohnnyDD]

music123 yesterday told me the only thing they will do is pricematch or take 15% off the music123 price. I did the MF route instead.

[Flatspotter]

I've been trying to get a price match for a week on a Les Paul Deluxe with a coupon code on zZounds, but M123 has only given me quotes that are higher than zZounds. The latest email I got yesterday said that zZounds price is $2249 (it's actually $1499), and that they never received a screen shot that I sent of the coupon code applied (price with coupon is $1349.10). Then they said, "...for the time being we have such a limited supply of these currently that I cannot set up a quote."

[bjcarl]

Originally Posted by Flatspotter

I've been trying to get a price match for a week on a Les Paul Deluxe with a coupon code on zZounds, but M123 has only given me quotes that are higher than zZounds. The latest email I got yesterday said that zZounds price is $2249 (it's actually $1499), and that they never received a screen shot that I sent of the coupon code applied (price with coupon is $1349.10). Then they said, "...for the time being we have such a limited supply of these currently that I cannot set up a quote."

It worked for me and at least johnnytuinals...you could try the route I took...after getting a price match from M123, called zzounds and got them to price match M123's price match. Since I was being sincere, I must've come off as sincere as it was pretty easy.

If you haven't, I'd also recommend sending in multiple price match requests to M123 and/or calling. Contacting Chris Baker is also an option, but per M123's policy, you should be getting the Deluxe for $1245.

M123 is pretty much the biggest bunch of bull{censored} I think I've ever seen in retail...I really wish they'd stop this price matching crap so I'm never tempted to buy from them again.

[Flatspotter]

Originally Posted by bjcarl

It worked for me and at least johnnytuinals...you could try the route I took...after getting a price match from M123, called zzounds and got them to price match M123's price match. Since I was being sincere, I must've come off as sincere as it was pretty easy.

If you haven't, I'd also recommend sending in multiple price match requests to M123 and/or calling. Contacting Chris Baker is also an option, but per M123's policy, you should be getting the Deluxe for $1245.

M123 is pretty much the biggest bunch of bull{censored} I think I've ever seen in retail...I really wish they'd stop this price matching crap so I'm never tempted to buy from them again.

I tried calling first, and they said they wouldn't price match a coupon code. I persisted, and offered to send a screenshot. The CSR told me to send it, then I got an email with a quote that was higher than zZounds. I emailed a couple of times, and once got another quote that was higher than zZounds, and another that I referenced above.

I'm gettting tired of all this nonsense...

[Fusion1]

Sounds pretty much like standard operating procedure over at M123 with these shenanigans.

Originally Posted by Flatspotter

I tried calling first, and they said they wouldn't price match a coupon code. I persisted, and offered to send a screenshot. The CSR told me to send it, then I got an email with a quote that was higher than zZounds. I emailed a couple of times, and once got another quote that was higher than zZounds, and another that I referenced above.

I'm gettting tired of all this nonsense...

[jhorne]

Originally Posted by Flatspotter

I tried calling first, and they said they wouldn't price match a coupon code. I persisted, and offered to send a screenshot. The CSR told me to send it, then I got an email with a quote that was higher than zZounds. I emailed a couple of times, and once got another quote that was higher than zZounds, and another that I referenced above.

I'm gettting tired of all this nonsense...

If you aren't completely fed up yet, I'd try the following:

Call again and if you are not successful, get the name of the CSR and their supervisor, and anyone else involved in the transaction, and send all of that information to the email Chris Baker provided. I have a feeling by the time you start asking for names they'll probably come around. Or you could skip the first part and just send all the info in an email. Only risk there is that they sell out before the email gets handled...

There really is no excuse for this stupid {censored}, but it has been going on for years.

[bjcarl]

When persistence fails, use annoyance...send in 10 price match requests and email Chris Baker! Telling them you've seen posts by a lot of folks on HC who've already gotten that deal might not hurt, either...

[wagdog]

All;

I have had 100% success submitting pm's via the website, and have submitted several in the past month or so.

1. They do seem to take a while (last one took 5 days). I'm guessing the CSR's work on these when they have down time. Each one is a one off, so it takes a person to actually investigate, do the math and send the quote.

2. I send ONE PM request, not 10. Why make extra work for these people?

3. I *BUY* the item. Again, why kick the tires? Are you going to buy the item? Don't submit PM's just to see what happens. What happens is you make work for someone. I see a number of "I have a PM for, pm me for it" in the deals thread. That makes extra work for people - if you don't intend to buy, don't waste their time - just sayin'!

[bjcarl]

Originally Posted by wagdog

2. I send ONE PM request, not 10. Why make extra work for these people?

It's not so much that I want to give them extra work-or even that I actually want to annoy them...I sent in a PM once last year and then accidentally sent in another cuz I couldn't remember whether I'd done it or not. This was my first attempt ever at PMing via M123...the first response I got was the famous, "we can't match that because it's not the same item"(it was), the second response was, "Best Buy is not an authorized Fender dealer". Thinking these were screwy replies and obviously mistakes, I sent in a 3rd request on the same item and was offered an amazing 5% off coupon.

At this point, I was pissed because I couldn't fathom how a company could promote itself with a guarantee and then reply with bogus excuses like that...on my 4th attempt, they finally matched the price.

Since then, I've personally seen and heard every bull{censored} excuse from them for not matching a price, when I send in 10 at a time, it's always on something that I intend to buy and I always end up buying(except when I have multiple successful price matches on the same item).

[wagdog]

I hear ya man. Was just thinking/bloviating out loud, lol.

Fwiw, I sent in a pm this morning on some stuff and got a reply within 15 min. Maybe the time of day matters? Who knows.

[bjcarl]

Originally Posted by wagdog

I hear ya man. Was just thinking/bloviating out loud, lol.

Fwiw, I sent in a pm this morning on some stuff and got a reply within 15 min. Maybe the time of day matters? Who knows.

I did actually send in a test PM yesterday(just one) on a Vox SSC33(their newer single-cut guitars with the funky p90-looking p'ups). Shockingly, they replied fairly quickly and did a straight-up 123% PM...

If you aren't familiar with the guitar, MSRP is $1000 and they were being sold for $799 til recently. In any case, I now have a PM on one for $242.49 It's good til Jan.2...I might use it, but if anyone reads this and really wants one, hit me up and it's yours. Otherwise, I'll slap that bitch in the deals thread sometime next weekend

[sdgails]

as of now, you might get a quicker response from music123 pm via passenger pigeon.

[wagdog]

 

Originally Posted by sdgails

as of now, you might get a quicker response from music123 pm via passenger pigeon.

 

Took about 15 min this morning.

[Meowy]

double post (also in the deals thread) but I got a response today honoring a PM on gibson pickups within an hour

[bjcarl]

They responded to my request on the Vox guitar really fast, but I'm still waiting to hear back from them on the Perri's leather strap from 5-6 days ago. This is almost certainly a case where they were waiting for them to sell out

[GAS Man]

Just had a little annoyance. I sent in a price match for a Perri's strap that Amazon has a great deal on. 2 days later still no response from M123 and now the price is up about 6% at Amazon. . But that's only about 63 cents



Ah, but that's what I get for bein a piker.

[harold heckuba]

This is crazy, why would a company not want business at X-mas?

I sent in two (small) price matches over a week ago.

Got them back today and:
1) Neither price was even close to being matched
2) More baffling, they waited a week and until X-mas eve to send them.
They were to be gifts, I dont need them this late.
3) They waited just long enough until the price went up elsewhere before sending
back a non-matched price..

[GAS Man]

By the way chbaker above did help me out with the price match on the BBE Tremolo pedal. Thanks again Chris

And then yesterday I did finally get back the requests that I'd submitted through their system. So what I submitted late the day of the 18th thru their system finally came back to me mid day on the 23rd. But I'd already used the price match link Chris set up for me.

So if anyone wants the BBE Tremolo for 33.89 let me know by PM'ing me your e-mail address. First come first serve.

[bjcarl]

Originally Posted by harold heckuba

This is crazy, why would a company not want business at X-mas?

I sent in two (small) price matches over a week ago.

Got them back today and:
1) Neither price was even close to being matched
2) More baffling, they waited a week and until X-mas eve to send them.
They were to be gifts, I dont need them this late.
3) They waited just long enough until the price went up elsewhere before sending
back a non-matched price..

They do want business...especially at Christmas. The problem is, M123/MF have clearly bitten off more than they can chew. They're trying to attract business and squash the competition with an unrealistic guarantee. I doubt the corporate bigwigs who concocted this scheme had any idea that Amazon, Best Buy or anyone else would be able to sell anything for as cheap as they do.

As for the CSR's...they're either encouraging them to avoid price matching on money-losing deals, or they've hired a bunch of people who have no business being in customer service.

In any case, I'm thinking the average potential customer is easy to fool...when they send back some crap response like, "Best Buy isn't an authorized Fender dealer, but we'd be happy to offer you 5% off", most people don't call them out on their bull{censored}.

Someone mentioned a class-action lawsuit earlier in this thread or in another one...at first I was like, "sure lol", but apparently, according to a friend of mine who's a federal judge, it wouldn't be unheard of. It really boils down to false advertising...at the very least, it's unscrupulous, unethical and embarrassing for MF/M123...it's not only screwing their competition, but also screwing their customers.

I've said it before, but I almost can't wait til these clowns go out of business in 2013 so I'm forced to deal with an honest company(in my experience) like Zzounds or Sweetwater...or hell, just my local mom 'n pop...(I just hope they leave HC the way they found it when they do!)

[brandass]

I just got several PMs back that I'd submitted electronically 3-4 days ago. Each from a different CSR, and the math is roughly close (odd that the calculations don't come out the same for everyone, it's not like a perceptual difference or a political opinion, it's math right???).

Anyway, I really don't think they were waiting for the prices to go up, I think they're just working through a backlog at the busiest time of year for them.

Maybe now that the bolus of gift giving purchases is past them they can focus down on what they had to backburner previously... plus self-centered slobs like me looking to pick up cheap new gear for yours truly. If only I were half the man my kids believe I am.

[bjcarl]

 

Originally Posted by GAS Man

By the way chbaker above did help me out with the price match on the BBE Tremolo pedal. Thanks again Chris

 

Mr. Baker is one of the few bright spots for MF/M123 IMO. That said, I'm pretty sure he's ignoring the forums right now-between an unrealistic policy his higher-ups have implemented, game-playing CSR's who obviously are misinformed, and the slew of unhappy customers, this has to be a major headache for him. If he is paying attention, have a Merry X-Mas, Chris...I sincerely hope things get better for you guys