Buying online from.......

[Jonesy64]

gear4music

I have never used them.

They have a couple of items I need at lowest online price and free delivery. Great if the stuff turns up in good time but I would rather spend the extra from a known reliable source should their reputation be a bit hit and miss.

Anyone here have experience with them?


Thanks in advance....

[Les]

They dispatched my order on 16th. Courier was Yodel. Tracking said they tried to deliver it but I wasnt in, cant remember date {19th ish ?}cos' it's gone from tracking history, no card through the door.

Tracking said they tried to deliver it 09.57 on the 21st.

Well, I was in at 09.54 on the 21st. No card through door. Contacted them xmas eve to see if I could pick it up. Tracking said it was at the depot to be told it was with a courier, they gave me his number and I rang and arranged to meet him about a mile away, he rang back before I set off to say he didn't have my package.

Got a card through the door yesterday saying it had been left at number 36. Well it hadn't, Don't know where it is, but I'm just about to go knock on loads of doors to see if anyone's got it.

[Ed_S]

The first time I bought from them I'd paid extra for express delivery and nothing turned up, so I called to ask why and just got attitude - asked if I was aware it had snowed in some parts of the country! They did, with prompting, refund the extra shipping and what I ordered arrived intact and correct the next day so I let it go. The second time, what arrived was plain defective so I rang up and got hit with the attitude again - they'd need to get it back and assess it before they could help, and it felt like the inference was one of me having broken the thing unpacking it, which I didn't take kindly to. Stuff that gets sold in sealed boxes sometimes arrives broken, but I'm used to "I'm sorry, we'll send another out today for delivery tomorrow and the courier will take the broken one away". There won't be a 3rd try from me.

[Myke]

[quote name='Les' timestamp='1388319443' post='2320655']
They dispatched my order on 16th. Courier was Yodel. Tracking said they tried to deliver it but I wasnt in, cant remember date {19th ish ?}cos' it's gone from tracking history, no card through the door.

Tracking said they tried to deliver it 09.57 on the 21st.

Well, I was in at 09.54 on the 21st. No card through door. Contacted them xmas eve to see if I could pick it up. Tracking said it was at the depot to be told it was with a courier, they gave me his number and I rang and arranged to meet him about a mile away, he rang back before I set off to say he didn't have my package.

Got a card through the door yesterday saying it had been left at number 36. Well it hadn't, Don't know where it is, but I'm just about to go knock on loads of doors to see if anyone's got it.
[/quote]

Never trust Yodel.

[Woodinblack]

I bought a Gibson Darkfire off them that was reduced as it was missing most things but reduced to £1k. Delivery was quick and they were no problems to deal with. I also bought was supposed to be a broken bass combo from their ebay outlet, for £5. Turned out the speaker lead had come off. Its not the best bass amp in the world but it is pretty good for £5.

[Porkpie]

Oh dear Les, this sounds horribly familiar.

I was supposed to have a bass delivered by Yodel last year. Tracked it into their Newton Abbot depot, but it never got to me. Two people in their depot admitted they had a problem with their system, and another one with stuff going missing.

To cut a long story short, with some help from this site, the seller and I tracked down the bass which had already changed hands twice, and got it recovered by the police. Yodel still would not admit it was even missing!

Two weeks later they finally admitted to plod that it had been nicked, which enabled me to get hold of it, but weren't in the slightest bit interested in doing anything about it.

I will no longer buy any high value item online if it's going to be delivered by Yodel.

Sorry, gone away a bit from the op, but I think you need to get onto Yodel real quick (and I feel better for that rant!).

I doubt your troubles are anything to do with Gear4music

Edited December 29, 2013 by Porkpie

[BetaFunk]

[quote name='Myke' timestamp='1388320565' post='2320674']
Never trust Yodel.
[/quote]
In my experience most of the couriers are the same. You're in the hands of the Gods as soon as it's in the couriers hands and you just have to hope and pray that it arrives in one piece, if it arrives at all.

[Les]

[quote name='Porkpie' timestamp='1388320844' post='2320676']
I doubt your troubles are anything to do with Gear4music
[/quote]

Well it's the courier they chose to use to fulfil my order so I won't be buying from them again

[Jonesy64]

Thanks guys, I'm going to stick with who I know....I would have ended up saving around £10, not to be sniffed at I know but the poss Yodel incompetence coupled with what sounds like dismissive customer service at the shop doesn't make it worth the risk!

[spongebob]

+1 on Yodel. Avoid at all costs in my experience.

I always ask which courier a firm uses before buying. If it's City Link or Yodel, I walk.

Quite a few places use DPD - totally excellent. I always send using UPS - again, brilliant service.

[kevin_lindsay]

I've never had any problems with Yodelmor City Link. Mind you, my neighbour works forvYodel, so any deliveries for me via them are personally delivered hy my neighbour.

[Bikenbass]

Ordered an effects pedal from G4M.
Despite it being shown as in stock, it took the best part of 8 weeks to arrive, all communication between us was initited by me. Saved a few quid by ordering through them, but the worry, delay and poor info just wasn't worth it.

[discreet]

I've bought several items from gear4music. They have a 14-day money-back guarantee as standard and an optional 4-year warranty which includes a 60-day money-back guarantee. I've had no problems with the company at all and found their customer service to be good. Plus as Marvin says, you can choose the day of delivery and opt for a morning delivery or even a Saturday delivery.

You will find horror stories about every courier if you look hard enough. It's one of the hazards of buying online. No service is ever 100%, so statistically any carrier a company chooses to dispatch its goods is going to see a certain number of delivery failures.

Edited December 29, 2013 by discreet

[chrismuzz]

I've ordered from them a couple of times and been really happy with the service and speed of delivery. I don't know when they started using Yodel but I've had things delivered by that courier company before and there's always been some kind of problem however small.

[woodyratm]

I bought my alesis wireless unit, fast shipping, let me know what each stage was - pleased
Yodal actually were excellent ( and after the stories id heard, i was cacking it) - item arrived on a saturday at 6.30pm. Item in good nick etc.

[uncle psychosis]

I've had two experiences with them.

First one : ordered something they told me they had in stock. They didn't. Told me it would be in stock "this week for sure ". It wasn't. Gave me the same line three weeks running. I cancelled.

Second one : ordered a bass case. After about ten months a strap broke. They replaced it. Two or three months later the replacement broke in exactly the same way (clearly a design flaw). G4M refused to replace it as I was "now outside my one year warranty period" on my original purchase. I'm still annoyed I let that slide but I was distracted by more pressing matters.

I won't be using them again.

[Les]

Guy over the road at number 40 (not 36 like the note through the door said) has just dropped my package off.

[BassTractor]

My own experiences with Gear4Music have been more than perfect, them showing a high level of service and being proactive, so the negative comments here surprise me. I also seem to remember G4M came well-recommended in several similar threads earlier.

I agree their choice of courier is part of the package, and must be part of the rating, though my experiences with that part have been perfect.

[MiltyG565]

[quote name='spongebob' timestamp='1388330074' post='2320798']
I always ask which courier a firm uses before buying. If it's City Link or Yodel, I walk.
[/quote]

I've had loads of deliveries from City Link when I order stuff from the likes of Mark's and Spencer's. There was one occasion where the product didn't arrive on the day I had selected, but that wasn't actually their fault, because they only received the product in the next morning's delivery.

I've never really had any trouble with any couriers, truth be told. I've actually had far more trouble with Royal Mail and postal services than couriers. Maybe I've been lucky? Who knows? It seems to me that bad experiences are always the ones that surface on a topic like this. I'm not promoting any of these companies, just want to redress the balance.

[flyfisher]

[quote name='Les' timestamp='1388324904' post='2320736']
Well it's the courier they chose to use to fulfil my order so I won't be buying from them again
[/quote]

Fair enough, but might be worth telling the shop why, otherwise they may never get to know how their chosen courier is performing and won't do anything about it.

[Johnm93]

I second the experiences with Royal Mial as being the least reliable / most unreliable.
Problems far too many times with them.
No real bad ones with any of the major couriers.

[Les]

[quote name='flyfisher' timestamp='1388350243' post='2321157']
Fair enough, but might be worth telling the shop why, otherwise they may never get to know how their chosen courier is performing and won't do anything about it.
[/quote]

Yes, of course. My beef is with gear4music not the courier. They usually send an email asking how the experience was.

[Myke]

[quote name='MiltyG565' timestamp='1388344814' post='2321052']
I've never really had any trouble with any couriers, truth be told. I've actually had far more trouble with Royal Mail and postal services than couriers. Maybe I've been lucky? Who knows? It seems to me that bad experiences are always the ones that surface on a topic like this. I'm not promoting any of these companies, just want to redress the balance.
[/quote]

[quote name='Johnm93' timestamp='1388350899' post='2321163']
I second the experiences with Royal Mial as being the least reliable / most unreliable.
Problems far too many times with them.
No real bad ones with any of the major couriers.
[/quote]


To be fair to Royal Mail, you probably receive a lot more items from them than via courier, so the number of problems will seem higher than the problems with a courier. But going on percentages then the problems via courier with probably be higher.

(In this case you is meant as plural, not specifically you)

[Thunderbird]

G4M are OK the thing I do not like is the way they package stuff it is shocking no wonder you see so much damaged G4M stock on ebay I received a bass from them they had taken the neck off and just put the bass in a crappy cardboard box there was a bit of damage but I sorted it myself as did not want the hassle of returning it etc I think next time I need gear I will get it from Thomann always been pleased with there service but you need to spend over £160 for free delivery so it is not worth buying small items unless you do a bulk order

[MiltyG565]

[quote name='Thunderbird' timestamp='1388387660' post='2321359']
G4M are OK the thing I do not like is the way they package stuff it is shocking no wonder you see so much damaged G4M stock on ebay I received a bass from them they had taken the neck off and just put the bass in a crappy cardboard box there was a bit of damage but I sorted it myself as did not want the hassle of returning it etc I think next time I need gear I will get it from Thomann always been pleased with there service but you need to spend over £160 for free delivery so it is not worth buying small items unless you do a bulk order
[/quote]

Though Thomann is only £10 shipped from Germany, which I think is amazing value, considering it would cost me £10 to ship anything to anywhere in the UK.