# General Mandolin Topics > eBay, Craig's List, etc. >  Instrumentalley.com

## fiddlemike

What's up with InstrumentAlley? I ordered an Eastwood Mandocaster from them on the 21st and they haven't shipped it. They also don't answer the phone or email.

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## jim simpson

I just called the 800:  1-877-57-Alley (25539), I was asked to leave a message as all their associates were busy. I guess leave a message. Did they promise you an arrival date?

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## MikeEdgerton

Here are some threads that discuss this company. The applicable subjects will jump right out at you. Honestly, this doesn't look like unexpected behavior from what I'm reading.

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## Pete Summers

I had the same problem with this company. Wouldn't ship, hard to get anyone -- sent them several emails, all unanswered, made 3 phone calls (one was finally answered and the guy said they'd ship that day, but a week later, still nothing.) I finally sent them a cancel order notice and they did (cancel it, that is). Strikes me that company is just someone's hobby. Bah humbug!

Finally ordered the mandolin from an Ebay vendor and got it in 3 days.

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## Perry Babasin

Oddly enough I ordered a mandolin tailpiece from them Monday last week. I didn't hear anything from them for a couple of days so I went back to the website and searched out my account and found the order marked as processing and kind of forgot about it. Friday morning I got a shipment confirmation email and Saturday (Fed-ex home) it was delivered. Sloppy communication but a good product, good price and quick delivery. I'm thinking they might not carry a lot of inventory, so big ticket items need to be drop-shipped...

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## Mandolin Mick

Bad experience over a year ago!!!  :Mad: 

Though I eventually got my Kentucky KM-855, which turned out to be a great mandolin, I would *never* buy from Instrument Alley again. Here's why:

1. Paid overnight shipping but got it in 3 days.
2. Said they'd throw a strap in the case for a couple of bucks. Charged me full price, and it didn't come with the mandolin. Came a week after the mandolin.
3. Wasn't set up, no bridge, etc.  :Confused: 

Having said that, you'll probably get what you ordered, but the grief isn't worth the money saved. If I had to do it again, I'd pay another $100 and deal with a reputable business.  :Frown:

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## fiddlemike

I haven't heard from them except for the automated response when I placed the order. No answers to emails directed to Customer Service and they don't answer the phone. I was going to order from Elderly but they didn't have the color I wanted. This will be the first and last time I deal with instrument a$$h$les.

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## Mandolin Mick

I had the same experience as you with lack of communication. I believe that when I wrote e-mails and threatened them they sent e-mails in return, although they were hollow promises. They're there and know you're trying to reach them ... they just don't care because that's their way ...

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## nickster60

I have a Elderly instruments story. It was my wifes birthday and she wanted  a Taylor nylon string. We hunted around the local stores GC, Sam Ash and some other local stores we found one that had a face crack. I order one from Elderly and told them that if possible I would like go get it by the weekend(her Birthday). My wife has a problem with her hand so it had to play pretty easy. The manager sent it in the back from a full setup and to make sure it would be easy to play. He said they would ship it that day I never received a shipping confirmation so I figured it didn't ship. I called in the morning to see if it had shipped and it was sitting on the bench. The manager got on the phone and said he would ship it 2nd day free of charge. It arrived 2 days later and the wife loves the guitar. 


It is kind of hard to beat Elderly. They may not always be the cheapest but the are a great company to deal with. In the world of the internet it is pretty easy find the cheapest price. Not so easy to find out who is running a good company. There are many good retailers who sponsor the the Cafe,they are some of the best you will find.

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## fiddlemike

After sending Instrument Alley an email canceling my order, I received an email saying that my order had been partially shipped today. But, the FedEx tracking number they sent doesn't appear to be valid on the FedEx site.

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## MikeEdgerton

Give it a few hours. You create the tracking information on your computer but it doesn't populate the website until Fedex picks up.

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## Mandolin Mick

That's right ... the tracking # never worked for me either, til the day my mandolin finally arrived. IMHO this is at best a shady operation.  :Frown:

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## fiddlemike

The second email I received said that I couldn't cancel the order because it had already been processed and order processing to 1-7 business days. So if you place an order on a Saturday it could take 11 actual days for them to process your order. Which is rather strange for an internet retailer. Doh!

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## fiddlemike

My Eastwood Mandocaster from instrumentalley arrived today without the free 10' instrument cable or the shopset-up. I was billed for 2 day shipping and the setup neither of which I received. The gain knob is slightly bent, it doesn't impact its use kust it's a new instrument. I'm hoping they actually ship the line 6 effects pod I also ordered.

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## lazydog

My experience was terrible with Instrument Alley! I ordered a specific chromatic tuner, two weeks later I received a different, cheaper model which was broken in three pieces (maybe shipping) and was charged the same price as the more expensive model. After a series of arogant and dissettling e-mails they finally decided to replace the tuner but of course with the cheaper model which I never ordered in the first place and of course was charged for the more expensive model which I never did receive, the old "Bait and switch". I chalked this one up to experience which I feel is important to share. Instrument Alley should be avoided as in my opinion they are swindlers.

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## stonefingers

I have only ordered a couple of items from I.A. but I have always been very pleased.  The worst I could say is that the status on my account doesnt "keep up with" the actual item.  I ordered a set of tuners last week and until the night before they arrived, the account status said processing...I received them in 3 days using standard ground shipping.

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## Verne Andru

I was looking to buy a mando off IA during the summer but got turned off by their lack of responses to pre-sales questions. And nobody on the other end of the telephone. I figured if they weren't going to respond quickly to get my business, they certainly wouldn't once they had my money. I purchased elsewhere.

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## Jay Bird

I was just about to buy from them, thank you for creating this thread.

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## manjitsu

In my experience, it's *never* a good idea to buy anything from an alley. :-)

Chris

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## flightmedic

that bunch is fraudulent and doesn't deserve business that should otherwise go to the reputable group of sponsers that support this site

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## Gwernen

I've met all the folks at Elderly's, they are only an hour and half drive west of me. They will let a gang of us sit around, play any instrument in the shop, even the ones pushing tens of thousands of dollars, imagine. Myself I won't deign to touch those precious things but its fun listening to folks who are brave enough do it. They tolerate a dozen wandering souls traipsing around the shop and asking questions, taking things down off the high shelves, and cranking up any old amp in the electric room. They will also talk you out of a bad decision, even if you thought you had your heart set on something, and even when they are the ones selling it. Good folks.

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## Gwernen

oh sorry, my original point was that I just ordered a case from instrumentalley and all I got was an auto receipt auto-response, and I was just about to ask the same questions as above. I'll let you know how it comes out. Now I'm worried.

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## Clement Barrera-Ng

Wish I had read this thread before I placed my order for a set of Grover tuners with IA.  My usual go-to places (Elderly, FQM) are either back-ordered, or does not carry the model I want.  Order was placed on 2/11, and still no shipping confirmation to this day.  They were supposedly shut down during part of that time so they can do inventory, and when I emailed about the item I did get an email reply pretty quickly about the 1-7 day processing time.  Now I am not sure whether I should worry about when I may get my order, or what I may get in the mail.  

Needless to say, this is the last time I'd buy from these people.

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## P.D. Kirby

I just did a search at reseller ratings which I have found to be a good source of information for online retailers. Needless to say IA has 50 reviews but only a couple of favorable ones and the content of these make one think they were written by the owners of IA, that is to say there are no details of the transaction just quick statements of how wonderful the experience was. All of the complaints were very detailed as to product, name of customer service persons , time line of events... There is even a link with a report from the BBB of Utah that gives them a C+ rating with 22 registered complaints. In short do yourself a favor and stick with the tried and true sponsors found on the Cafe, the few dollars you might save don't seem to be worth the headaches... JMHO!  

Link for resellerratings
http://www.resellerratings.com/store/Instrumentalley

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## roblap

> I just did a search at reseller ratings which I have found to be a good source of information for online retailers. Needless to say IA has 50 reviews but only a couple of favorable ones and the content of these make one think they were written by the owners of IA, that is to say there are no details of the transaction just quick statements of how wonderful the experience was. All of the complaints were very detailed as to product, name of customer service persons , time line of events... There is even a link with a report from the BBB of Utah that gives them a C+ rating with 22 registered complaints. In short do yourself a favor and stick with the tried and true sponsors found on the Cafe, the few dollars you might save don't seem to be worth the headaches... JMHO!  
> 
> Link for resellerratings
> http://www.resellerratings.com/store/Instrumentalley


Wish I had read that before placing my order there last week. 

I feel like I may have been burned but it's still early and we will see how this plays out.  I got my new Rover RM-75 Saturday from Instrumentalley.com and it was a little fishy from the get-go.  There was no box damage and it arrived well-packaged.  There was a rip in the case material to begin with.  Bummer, but nothing a little glue wouldn't fix.


My heart sank when I saw the headstock though.  Couple nasty cracks in the finish.

And finally, the tailpiece cover.  Every pic of a Rover RM-75 I have seen shows a decorative stamped tailpiece cover, but mine was plain jane.


Also, there was no documentation on a presumably new mandolin.  No warranty card, instrument tag, nothing.

I submitted an email for an RMA, and we will see how this goes.  Their return policy page hints that I might have to pay return shipping charges, but I will be fighting that for sure.

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## roblap

Update:
Returned the Rover and am waiting for a replacement.  They are not answering emails. Instrumentalley is possibly one guy in his house in Utah.  I'm pretty close to submitting a credit card complaint and contesting the charge.

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## Scott.DeWitt

I thought I would give them the benefit of doubt after I saw a post that they were working on issues.  Unfortunately they have missed the mark.  I submitted my order 12-23-14, communication was nonexistant except auto generated.  I received my order 01-07-15, tracking did not work,a piece I ordered from China days later beat my order from them by a couple of days.  They got the case I ordered right, they got the tuner I ordered right but as for my Morgan Monroe flat braided strap that is only offered in three colors I received the one color I definitely did not want, tan, even though I ordered brown and it was reflected on the invoice.  There is no contact information on the invoice, it just refers you back to the web site to read their return policy.  I will not be spending more time and money to get it right.  Have they taken care of their issues?  Me thinks, not so much.

Scott

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## Bill Drellow

I realize that this post is being made 6 1/2 years after the most recent one, but in the event it might benefit a Cafe member ...
I tried to buy a set of Grover tuners from IA on Saturday. Had never heard of the company but it seems sources of 309s had become scarce. After I made a PayPal payment for the price of the tuners, the order page still showed that my cost would be the retail price, $0 shipping. But when I clicked to place the order, I was redirected to a shipping pane where the cheapest option was more than $18. For a set of mandolin tuners? I couldn't figure out how to cancel the order, so I opened a live chat. Got no response beyond a stock "next available ..."  After quite a while, got a reply saying chat wouldn't be available until Monday. The "Contact" link where you would expect to find a phone number opened a second entire browser page on my laptop, but no contact info for IA. I eventually found a way to change the quantity from 1 to zero in the order form and figured that was that. Today, four days later, I received an email from IA saying they couldn't find an order associated with my email address. I can't speak to their honesty or lack of same, but this is clearly one disorganized, hapless business.

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## MikeEdgerton

> ...After I made a PayPal payment...


That was probably a good move. It would appear that not much has changed over the years.

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