Pmt online... Pointless??

Dave_Mc

^ That's ridiculous.

This is why I'm always a bit sceptical of the "Phone first" advice that quite a few people here give (and almost act like you were asking for it not to be in stock if you didn't phone first if you went by, say, stock the website said they had). It wouldn't be the first time I phoned a shop and was given wrong information, either.

rossi

I hate PMT .Everytime I go to their store for a set of strings I end buying a guitar .Thank God for online string sellers .no idea what the rest of you doomgloomers are talking about .

Nick

ellangus said:

My son and his mate just got back from PMT Manchester a couple of hours ago. His mate was going over to try out a Fender Mustang 90. He rang them to check they had one in stock - they did - They drove to the store (40 minute drive) guitar not in stock!! He had to put down a £40 deposit on the guitar which he can go back and try it when it arrives from their warehouse??? If he decides he doesn't want to buy it, he'll get his deposit back (presumably it will take 3 -5 working days to return the money back into his account) - what the fuck is going on? Unbelievable - I'd have hit the roof and told them where to shove their guitar - I will never buy anything from PMT again.

Reserving the guitar is a good idea as it creates an order for the stock to that branch - less chance of anything going wrong again. I do agree that as they got it wrong on the phone, it would have been a nice gesture to reserve the stock without taking funds. 

I say this without any knowledge of their internal procedures, of course.

fandango

ellangus said:

... He had to put down a £40 deposit on the guitar ....

PMT aren't the only guilty party pulling that returnable deposit stunt. I was in a certain branch of GuitarGuitar recently, and they didn't have what I was interested in. So they offered to pull the right model from another store, on receipt of a deposit.

But they were really great with allowing me to try a number of guitars to check necks/feel etc. Kudos to them.

There's good and bad with every retailer. And it's what you as a customer prioritise in a service from such shops.

Not had any experience with PMT. Maybe it's because I'm a bloke. *cough*

Bridgehouse

I knew there was a reason I started buying vintage rather than new.

Cos there's absolutely no pitfalls buying vintage at all..

darthed1981

I've bought quite a lot from PMT in Northampton and always found them decent.  They seem a good bunch.

There is very clearly a commercial relationship between PMT and Blackstar, but it doesn't sway their judgement all the time.  I went in a few weeks back intent on the HT1R, and the chap in PMT showed me why I wouldn't like it and pointed me at a Vox AC4 that I liked more - not enough to buy it there and then, but it was a useful visit.

sellisnba

A while back I was visiting relatives in manchester so I decided to go to PMT, at the time I was interested in a epiphone les paul so I tried a bunch of them. The last one I tried felt a bit odd. On closer inspection it became apparant that the neck had snapped at the headstock and been repaired (an awful repair, it wasnt even colour matched). I pointed it out to the sales person who just replied "oh..right" He then put it back on the rack with the price tag (full price and no mention of the repair).
I walked out and have never been back.

Ancient_Mariner

Had good experiences at the Oxford store (the original staff seemed mostly to come from the old ABC music store that closed) but I've not been in for 4 or 5 years, simply because I don't go that way often & haven't been looking for guitars or amps to try.

Collings

I've used PMT in Birmingham on many occasions without any problems. Gary Chapman is always good to deal with but I've known him since the old Musical Exchanges days.

I wouldn't buy anything from their website as it's just so poor and I would never be certain they have the items in stock regardless of whats indicated. 

thecolourbox

I can't stand the Birmingham store but visited the Salford one recently when I was nearby for work and thought it was a much better shop than the Birmingham one. I bought an ebow...

Edit - which also meant that I got to say "I'm not sure, I don't know my wahs from my ebow" which I was pretty chuffed about

ellangus

I have to say in fairness, all the staff in the Salford store seem pretty amiable and helpful, it's just the fact that they tell you that they have stuff in stock on the phone and when you arrive after a 40 minute drive - not to mention cost of petrol/bus fares etc. they don't and then want a deposit from you just to try something out which they already have in stock.