zZounds.com Reviews 191

I will have to agree with the others on here because I went thru the same thing as far as the false advertisement and shady business practices. I've never seen a business that is this unorganized and that blatantly lies like this company does. Incidentally, AMERICAN MUSICAL SUPPLY AND zZOUNDS IS THE SAME COMPANY, HAS THE SAME NEGATIVE 2.2 STARS, AND THE SAME COMPLAINTS! I feel people need to beware of this and not fall for the same company with a different name. They have the exact same issues and the exact same false advertisement.

I ordered a guitar from these guys, long story short, they shipped it to the billing address rather than the shipping address. I notified them immediately after receiving the confirmation e-mail, they said it was too late to change it. The guitar arrived, I tried to get a label to send it on to where it was supposed to go in the first place, they said they couldn't do that, it would need to be returned. I asked for a return label, they told me since nothing was wrong with the guitar, I'd need to pay the postage to have it returned, which was around $100. I ended up selling the guitar and ordering from another company. Absolutely the most disorganized group I've ever dealt with.

I ordered a guitar from ZZounds. When I received the guitar the pickup selector wasn't working and neither was the mode selector for that model guitar. When I called them about it they were unsympathetic and just didnt care. They offered me a refund and that was it.
They didnt not offer to fix the problem. The problem with this place is that they dont check their guitars before they ship them, otherwise they would've heard that there was an electrical problem.
ZZounds is TERRIBLE. Dont waste your time and money with them!

first of all everyone below me is purely lying don't listen to them they try to get something $1,000+ and expect no credit check when it clearly states there will be or they use a prepaid card you MUST use a real bank with your info in it if you do any different your obviously tryng to game they're system which is beyond stupid

my experience ordering krk 5 classics went as smooth as ever never got declined and it got here in two days from somewhere across the country i highly vouch and recommend zzound to anyone

if you experience a package being broken, mishandled its not zzounds fault its fed ex ground shipping i would highly recommend if you're in California or in Tennessee to find a new website that doesn't use fed ex for your purchase they tend to damage, steal, lose thousands of packages a day

if you want proof im a real buyer text me on instagram @killldraco

thanks zzound :)

Fast delivering NO problems 100% Service is professional. I like the price's fair. good quility. Never had a problem's. They work with you. Sincerly String's

So, I've had multiple purchases from zzounds over the years. Things were pretty good before it wasn't. Their customer service has gone to hell. I've noticed it on several occasions. Just rude and obnoxious. Not good at all.

I've tried to just deal with it until today. I stuck my neck out by suggesting to my roommate he should get his own account. Big , BIG mistake. There was an initial snafu in the application process that turned into an utter nightmare that they refused to get past and move it all forward.

Nick, a supervisor, and others during this long drawn out ordeal acted like they don't have any common sense. The word idiot came to mind. Everything combined has become way too much.

Adios, Zzounds. You just lost a terrific customer. A loyal customer. A Customer who helped keep your business open all of these years. If you will treat my roommate in such a poor manner, you will do it to me. That is not happening.

Keep losing customers, old, and new, well it is pretty easy to figure out what happens next.

A shame. A real shame.

About a year ago I had applied for their ”no credit check” installment plan. I was denied with no explanation. Fast forward to a few days ago and my new order gets cancelled again. I'm super frustrated with their “no credit check” automatically approved payment plan. Its B.S. I tried American Music Supply and was approved and currently enjoying my new equipment. I will never try to do business again with zZounds!

I found a hard-to-find instrument on zzounds.com. It was expensive so I looked for reviews on this site. I saw many negative reviews--mostly for customer services, shipping, and financing. I almost did not buy a guitar I really wanted. After talking to a Gibson rep who endorsed zzounds, I took a a chance and am glad I did. The customer service was excellent. I spoke to reps multiple time (mostly to get a feel for their attitude) and every interaction was quick, responsive, and professional. The shipping was quick and I received regular updates about the shipping status. And the guitar was packed better than guitars I bought directly from Gibson. Everything was excellent. I recommend them with great enthusiasm, Be sure to read all reviews carefully, but make your own decision.

Tried ordering from here & order kept getting canceled due to “verification reasons.” Placed 5 different orders.. Everything matched up the same as my banking info, address & so on which they require, yet order still resulted in cancellation… Terrible service- Wouldn’t recommend… Went to Sweetwater instead - Service was smooth & speedy (shocked as it being holiday season).

Zzounds is the most unprofessional company I've ever dealt with. They told me they'd give me a deal on an item then sold them and backed out of our deal leaving me high and dry with a gig coming up. Worst company to work with when looking for gear.

I admit I have had bad credit for a while due to school loans and not being able to work due to illness, so when I saw their ad for no credit check on certain items it caught my eye. All I wanted was and $89 hard case for my guitar, and to pay it off in four payments to start rebuilding my credit, maybe.

They canceled my order, never let me know why, and just said there was something they couldn't verify. When I asked them how am I to give verifiable information if I don't know what they can't verify? They said that was handled by a separate company and wouldn't tell me who they were.

Here are my suspicions. Now they have my card number and information. Even though they say no credit check that's crap. They do and won't tell you. They probably do some nature of soft check so it won't show up as a credit check.

I think they are crooks and recommend no one do business with them ever again. There are just too many questions.

bought a guitar from them, showed up later than promised, and the wrong color, I called, they were rude obnoxious, so I just paid for it,, let it go,
later order another from them, they were blocking my number and canceling my order, called to ask why,to find, supervisr there was telling them to hang up and block my number after getting my bank info,
not worth the childish games, bad service, bad buisness practices.

I ordered a 3500.00 Breedlove and when I got to picking up the guitar which was well over the 45 days return policy I noticed that the guitar kept going flat I called Zzounds and their customer rep was by the end of the call yelling at me cause i knew it was dry and asked them if they had any humidifiers at their warehouse cause this guitar sounded so bad for the money and he was cursing me out because I didn’t want to pay for it. I sent the guitar to Oregon to have the luthier look at my guitar it was BONE DRY and the guitar is useless and I am stuck paying for a 3500.00 and they couldn’t fix it although they said they could. Long story short I spent 380.00 at Breedlove and it still goes flat abd I am stuck with the bill. I hate Zzounds for sticking me with a 170.00 payment every month

I had ordered an epiphone SG guitar from guitar center and one year later it still had not arrived I went on ZZ sounds site ordered the guitar and it was shipped to me at my door within 4 days which is pretty impressive... Came packaged up beautifully and the guitar is absolutely beautiful..Thank you people!!

I placed a purchase into Zzound to finance equipment, with 10 mins i get an e-mail telling e that my order was cancelled due to a previous order going into collections. This was odd because this was my first order with the company ever. When i call into Customer Service they inform me that a family member has a defaulted account and that I cannot purchase with them until that account is satisfied due to they can only finance a certain amount per household.

My issue is that the card, billing information, social and name on the account does not have any link to me. When speaking with the manager he informed me that "Well the name used on the Billing in the default account as well as the phone number matches to you?" When i asked so o legal identification information, just things anyone can submit freely is what's stopping" The manager replied yes and then proceeded to tell me to contact my family member and make them pay the balance. i told him this is not my debt or my issue, not even link to my social, why am I being held to someone else debt just because we share a last name? He told me that's just their business practice and how they protect themselves.

I have been with zzounds for years. I just found out today I can no longer purchase from zzounds due to excessive returns. In 2022 I returned 3 pieces of equipment, and one was defective. Their return policy is 45 day return if you are not happy with the product. And when I call and try talking to the representative, he made me feel like I did something very wrong. Now mind you I spend over 3000 dollars a year from that company, and I was never late with one payment. I also asked them how come I did not get a warning or at least something, his response we do what we want and that was it. Very upset

Zzounds are excellent with the billing, but poor service after they got your money.
We ordered equipment in thousands of dollars. Got it. After a few weeks, one amplifier died (it happens). I emailed their service department. Two days later I'm getting a response "please call us" (already 3rd world country service). I called. I gave the guy the order number. He asked for me to explain the problem. I mentioned that I sent an email with all the details, and he said that "he doesn't have access to the service email" (what?).
After a long call, I was told that I'll get a return label and I'll need to send the item back. Had to contact them for again. Poor service. There are many good alternatives to this website.

Let me start by saying that I've been an unappreciated customer of zZounds for many years (which is changing today). I've bought Gibson Les Pauls, USA Fender Strats, PRS Guitars, etc - all from this sad excuse of a company.

I've spent over $10,000 with them and I regularly spend over $10k investing in gear every year. I'm saying all this to help you understand that this isn't a one-off review about a frustrating experience.

I'm also an entrepreneur and own several of my own businesses. zZounds is all around a terrible company with pathetic business practices that aren't in the best interest of YOU (the consumer who keeps them in business).

They misrepresent their policies, aren't open to customer feedback, and are quickly gaining a reputation for the worst service in the entire industry.

On top of all that, they just flat out do not care.

The good news for us is that they hurt themselves so much by the way they do business, that they won't last long with where the world is headed.

Zzounds warranty worthless unless ship back to them, worthless, music stores will not fix your legit repair if you don't buy it from them. Extended 2 year warranty, don't think so.

Just prior to buying a guitar (Epiphone Sheraton II pro) from zZounds, I asked if they were going to take it out of the box and go through it. I was told no. I will receive the guitar as it was shipped to them by the manufacturer. When I got the guitar, it had been removed from its original shipping box and placed in a guitar case (I ordered a case too). All of the clear vinyl had been removed from the pick guard and pickups and the tags normally found on the tuners were missing. I found them later in the box the case was in. The guitar had clearly been opened and handled by other people. It looked OK so I thought I would give it a try. If it plays and works OK, I will be happy. A few weeks later I went to use the push/pull switches for the first time (it has split coils). I noticed the volume (push/pull) knobs had an excessive rocking side to side movement. It looked like someone may have tried to improperly remove the knobs and opened up the holes a bit. Again, being a nice guy, I thought, no biggy, knobs are cheap, I will just replace them. The tone knobs were perfectly tight. I normally play in humbucker mode so didn't pay too much attention to the knobs. a few more weeks went by. I noticed that when switching pickups, the selector switch had lots of static, like it was dirty. I am now beginning to feel like this was not a new guitar. Could it be one that was returned by another customer? A little later on, the pickups started dropping out in a middle of a songs. I would have to lever the selector switch a half dozen times to reconnect to the pickup. I thought, well a dirty switch, I guess I can clean it... Then as I plugged the cord into the jack, the nut flies off and the jack fell into the body. There was no early indication of a loose jack. That was the last straw, time to call zZounds. Well.... it seems that was a waste of time. I was told I was outside the 45 day return window and therefore they would not replace my guitar with a new one. I sent an email to their President and after waiting two weeks, I got a response essentially, telling me the same thing. I owned the guitar for 80 days when I called them. Less than three months. The email response also stated that the jack falling into the body could have been prevented by frequent preventative maintenance. What an insult! I am a 74 year old person who has been playing since I was 14. I played professionally when I was younger. I now play about once a week. I very well know how to maintain a guitar and, have guitars significantly older than 80 days that still have their original "non-noisy" selector switches in them and the input jacks are tight. At this point, I really believe zZounds sold me someone else's headache. A guitar that was returned by another customer. I understand their warranty policies. I have worked in Customer Service for 50 years and understand very well how things work. However, I feel my circumstances are extenuating. In essence, they lied to me when I bought the guitar and because I didn't jump right on the phone when I received it, too bad for me. Had the frequency of problems occurred quicker, I would have called them sooner. I didn't want to make a big deal over what could have been nothing so didn't call them the day I opened the guitar. That was mistake number two. Mistake number one was believing them when I ordered the guitar and was told I would be getting a brand new unopened box. I do not see how I could ever do business with them again. If you buy from these people beware of what they tell you and what actually happens. I will buy from Sweetwater from now on.