Sweetwater

Full review
There are literally hundreds of well known and oft used on line stores dealing in musical instruments and accessories. I have purchased guitars, harmonicas, ukuleles and assorted other items from several of them and have, by-in-large, been pleased with the lower (than local retail) prices and broad selections. What drew me to Sweetwater was it's unique advertising that headlines, "FREE Shipping: No Minimum Purchase." Well, after a year or so during which I have tried to buy a good many things from them (only one or two successfully)I have learned a few things about them that might come in handy for you to know if you are thinking about ordering something - large or small - from them.

Most importantly, their website and warehouse are in very poor communication. Of the ten times I have been ready to order from them, what I wanted was 'Out of Stock and ON Order' for seven of them! Their phone Customer Service staff is helpful and friendly - ALWAYS call them first unless getting that email after a week telling you they don't have what you ordered in stock doesn't irk you - it sure does me!
Then there is the issue of the "Free Shipping".... read the fine print. It applies to some but not all items!

The site is vast and makes it look like they actually have things they don't keep in stock - so the site is not useful (or honest) in telling you what they actually have ready to ship on a given day. When they DO have what you want, it ships very quickly and arrives in reused packaging with a small plastic bag of candy (the 'sweet' in Sweetwater) included. The on line process for ordering and site navigation is quite smooth - but simply has little relationship to what they actually have in stock.

So, nice people on the phone who should always be consulted (they have a toll-free 24/7 number you can call)about the actual availability of an item before you order it. When they have it, the service is GREAT - but, more often than not, they don't. And 'Free' is simply not always the case - a tad of 'bait and switch' or, at least dishonest, advertising I find especially annoying. There are lots of better stocked sites to choose from.

ADDENDUM: 7/9/09

Since the time this review was writen, over two years ago, Sweetwater's methods of more accurately keeping track of items in stock has improved greatly.  Thus, my primary irritation when the review was written has been greatly alleviated and I have found their persopnal rep. to be especially helpful and forthcoming.
In light of my more recent experiences and with Sweetwaters personal attention to customer satisfaction, I am pleased to upgrade my title - and my rating of their on line store.