Midwest Percussion

Mattyxxl

Member
Im not one to bash a retailer, or anyone for that matter. I have been in retail and customer service for at least 15 years of my adult life. I have been dealing with Midwest for a few weeks and have been getting the runaround for the majority of this time.
I have been around drums for at-least 30 years but took a 13 year hiatus until the last year or two from buying and playing. Over the course of time, I have bought many many many of drum related items. (kits, cymbals, pedals, heads, etc) The majority of my larger purchases have been done at Mom and pop type places except for a few things, and now i know why. I ordered a DW 5002AD4 from Midwest and it was to ship on December 28th with "next day shipping" With their coupon i got it for something like 354 which i thought was a great deal. I could have walked into my favorite local shop and got the AD3 for 299.99 because i have done a lot of business with them recently (2 kits and about 13 pro grade cymbals) but i wanted to try the new AD4 and also give someone else some money for once. I had bought stuff from Midwest in the mid 90's before the internet and from a paper catalogue and they always had great prices, plus i refuse to buy from guitar center unless it is a must.
Well i gave them a few days after it was suppose to ship because of the holiday, and i called them a week ago yesterday. I was told "Its on the truck you will have it tomorrow" I didn't question why it didn't ship on the 28th, i was just happy it was coming the next day because i had a gig that night and was looking forward to using it. Well that day came and went, and i never called because i was busy, so i called the next day (saturday, i knew i wouldn't get it then) I talked to someone and they had no clue, they said it might ship sometime the next week, but didn't have any new information. So monday I called back, and couldn't get anyone to anser so i left a message asking someone to call me. Tuesday after not getting a call back, i called again. They were busy so i just asked for my tracking number, so i could check on it myself (since it had been "on the truck the prior thursday" ) I wrote the number down and hung up. I jump online type in the number and there is no record for that number. I call back and tell them what had happened. John tells me he will go check, and call me back within the next five minutes. 2 hours later i call John back, and he puts me on hold to go check finally. He tells me the item has been lost, it left the building and was lost before it was checked in at UPS on the 28th. I am told he will just send me a new one out and i will have it the next day, and he was sorry. So now i will have my pedal on Wednesday, a lot later than i expected, but i realize things happen. So THURSDAY i call them back and ask about my pedal. I am told they were wanting to wait and see if the first one turns up, and that even if it doesn't they will ship one out today and i will have it tomorrow. Gave me a sob story about how its costing them a lot more, and they will not only send me an email with the new tracking information, but John himself will send me an email with the information. So Today i wake up no email in sight, The pedal is getting shipped to my place of work and we get UPS everyday at 11:30AM. The drive comes in with product, but nothing from Midwest. No big deal, it is possible to get multiple drivers in during the day with more packages. 5pm i call Midwest back, just to make sure it was shipped since i didn't get an email. I was told yes it shipped sorry we didn't send the email(s) but UPS has it and its scheduled for delivery by end of business TODAY. I thank them again, this entire time, I have been nothing but very polite, work in customer service, and i realize there is no need to upset..

I come home dig through the trash for the tracking number they gave me a few days ago. pull it up on UPS site, and it says SCHEDULED FOR DELIVERY BY CLOSE. MONDAY.

Has anyone else had issues like this? I know the answer is yes, because i have searched on the internet and seen many of this same exact story about these guys. I realize come Monday, i will more than likely have my pedal. 7 business since i was told it has shipped and i will have it the next day. i am hoping it is in working order and an AD4 so i never have to deal with these people again.

Am i wrong for ranting? Is this common? Should i give them a second chance?
 
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Yes, I had problems twice. They are great if what you order is in stock. If it is backordered, never believe what they tell you because it will not be true. That was my experience. Peace and goodwill.
 
those dickheads still owe me a Paiste hat.


F
 
I had the similar issue with a drum shop in Omaha.

I waited for several months for a single Aquarian head from them. I went out and purchased one somewhere else after a week or so but since I had already spent the money there and didn't want it to go to waste, I checked back in occasionally to see what the status was. They always blamed the manufacturer, middle man, etc. on why they couldn't get it in. I finally just asked for my money back which I should have done in the first place.

Plus they seem to have minimal knowledge of drums and drummers. For a dedicated drum shop, that's pathetic. Not to mention their recent move into a more ghetto looking location. It looks like a pawn shop on the bad side of town.

Anyway, sorry about the thread hi-jack mini-rant. Just trying to say be glad you don't live in Omaha.
 
I had a similar experience about a year ago with some Tuxedo bag that I ordered. First they said that they were waiting for one of the tom bags. Then it was the bass drum bag. Tried to blame it on NAMM and the fact that Humes & Berg were inundated with orders. I finally stopped dealing with the person who takes the orders. Sent an email to the CEO or president or something and my order was shipped. I didn't receive the Tuxedo bass drum bag. They substituted a Protection Racket instead.
 
I've used these guys on and off for about 10 years. Mostly good experiences until last year. Pretty similar problem. Made an order, received back ordered email, tried to cancel by email, no communication, gear showed up about 2-3 months later.
 
I'm having this same problem with our local drum shop. The last time I ordered some heads from them it took three weeks and repeated phone calls to get them. Now I've ordered an Atlas kick pedal from them that I could have bought on line and had in a week.....it's now three weeks later and I've been told it will take another week to come in.

I like to support my local drum shop but it's getting harder to do. I often wonder if they even consider increasing their level of customer service. The shop must know that people can order online, and get their gear pretty quickly. If I was a local retailer I would sure try and do better to keep my customers coming back instead of ordering on the internet!
 
I'm having this same problem with our local drum shop. The last time I ordered some heads from them it took three weeks and repeated phone calls to get them. Now I've ordered an Atlas kick pedal from them that I could have bought on line and had in a week.....it's now three weeks later and I've been told it will take another week to come in.

I like to support my local drum shop but it's getting harder to do. I often wonder if they even consider increasing their level of customer service. The shop must know that people can order online, and get their gear pretty quickly. If I was a local retailer I would sure try and do better to keep my customers coming back instead of ordering on the internet!


Yes, it does seem that way. All too often it is not the case. Guitar Center is not the only reason some locally owned shops have closed. I am very lucky because the closest drum shop, Scott's Drum Center in Lafayette, LA, is a great place. Peace and goodwill.
 
Don't proceed with an order if they don't have it in stock. Call around, if you find it for $20 more (in stock) somewhere else, you need to decide if the the wait time is worth $20 etc.

Even the big houses will give you a 'guess' ETA on backorder gear, its safe to add 2 weeks to their 'guestimate' just so you don't fret.

MF computers for example can show 4 items in stock, but still kick you a backorder. If its a hot item (sold a ton, expect to sell more) I'll bet they purposefully build their backorder list to match up with the next (big) order of the same product. They might reserve a few units if they sold a bunch of warranties.

Maybe some forum member who works at one of these places can enlighten us.

Smaller operations like MIDWEST etc. are pretty helpless if they don't have an item in stock, you could find it/get it quicker than they can usually, as they lo$e unless they place a big enough order with the warehouse, one item is a hassle, they eat it on shipping.
 
If I ever have to call or write about a product I need that any of my local shops can't provide, the first things that come out of my mouth are, "Do you have these in stock and what are the prices". If they don't have them in stock, I immediately call somewhere else.

Dennis
 
I've replied on several forums about Midwest Percussion. Not going to rant long, but long story short, John and Art, who work there, are liars. They'll tell you that "It's on the truck and heading your way!", "I'm looking at it now, I'll ship it out by the end of the day", or "I'll call you back in a few.", none of which contain even the slightest bit of truth most of the time. Good prices, bad customer service. I understand the waits that come with ordering from vendors, and I'd be 100% okay with it, if they were honest, which they are not. My recommendation, don't order from them.
 
Ugh... Just made the mistake of ordering from these guys again (2 weeks ago) because of the 17% off coupon they emailed me.No email confirming my order, no response to 2 separate emails. Need the gear by March 2nd. I shoulda known better.
 
For the most part i have had no real issues with midwest and not a single retailer has been able to beat their prices when you use their 15%, 17% and sometimes 20% coupon codes. if you like them on facebook, they send you these all the time. my only negative experience was getting my cymbals. I asked my family for gift certificates from midwest to purchace my new cymbals. I didnt know at the time but you cannot combine gift certificates ( i should have had them pool their money for one card but whatever). so i had to buy all of my cymbals on seperate orders. not really a hardship. however my 18inch cymbal never got ordered. weeks went by and finally they realised it on their end that they just never ordered it. they felt bad and threw in a 20 doaller gift card as well as any pair of sticks i wanted. anywhere you go you have good and bad but when it comes to money, i am willing to wait for 15% off and free shipping.
 
Spoke too soon. Got home from work, and the box was sitting in my doorway. Still, some kind of email woulda been nice.
 
Spoke too soon. Got home from work, and the box was sitting in my doorway. Still, some kind of email woulda been nice.

I called yesterdayon an order i placed and also didnt get an e-mail for tracking, just confirmation. the guy said i wasnt the first person recently to call about tracking and re-sent the info to my e-mail. mines coming today. as far as people not being able to talk to anyone, i have never had a problem? 1-800-282-drum extension 2
 
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