Doesn't Recommend

Rick H.

Joined 1 year ago

No longer honor free service, terrible prices. I bought a guitar through Allegro Music in '03, and when Allegro was sold to Barcone's, the owner arranged for the free lifetime service on all purchased guitars to carry over to Barcone's, which was, at least at the time, a respectable name in Kingston local business. They had all the big contracts with local school districts, and always did right by their customers.

Well, looks like there's a new sheriff in town, because when I dropped off my acoustic to have it set up and restrung, I came back and they promptly asked for $27!

First of all, $27 for a set-up and restringing is absolutely ridiculous. A skilled tech with an electric restringing tool can restring a guitar in five minutes flat, and a neck adjustment takes sixty seconds tops. What's their bench rate? $80 an hour? RIDICULOUS.

Secondly, small businesses -- especially those who are being made obsolete by the internet (guitar shops, that's you) -- need to remain competitive through great customer care. That means not changing your policy without letting your customers know. Or, you know, not changing the policy that makes you a better choice than Musician's Friend or Sweetwater in the first place.

Bottom line: if I had known they would try to get $27 bucks out of me, I wouldn't have even stepped foot in the store. They'll never get my business again. I'll go through a private luthier or guitar tech, and I certainly won't buy any more guitars through them again, because there's no point. I'll get the same guitar for 15% less online, and maybe, if they're lucky, they'll make five bucks off of me when I run out of strings a couple hours before a gig. But that's not likely either.