Not happy with the service

JonEthan

JonEthan

New member
Let me just vent out, coz I'm really pissed with the service I got from Swee Lee today.
This is my first time to buy anything from them, and today doesn't really leave a good impression.

First of, I went to Bras Basah. Was looking to buy an Ibanez S320. The service was actually great and the lady attending to me (didn't get her name) was very kind and helpful. She got everything ready - guitar, trembar, cable, manuals, and a free $19 gigbag.

Tried to pay through Diner's 0% installment, machine won't dial. Tried on outright Diner's card payment (diff machine), also not working. Tried using other credit cards, same problem. They said NETS or Cash would work.. doesn't work for me.

So, i was dissapointed but it was still ok. I thought I still had a rest of the day free, so decided to visit Sweelee Sims Drive to get the S320 there.

Went there, tested the S320 (the neck of this particular unit is much thinner than the one in Bras Basah, by the way), and a couple other guitars then decided that i'll get it.

Went to the cashier to pay for the guitar, and here's what happened.

I asked if it comes with a gigbag. They said no. I explained that Bras Basah was willing to give one, they didn't care. I didn't argue, didn't need a gigbag anyway.

Credit card was charged successfully and i signed the sheet. Then the guy passed me the guitar - no bag, no box, no carrier whatsoever.. I was suprised.

Where's the trembar? He went somewhere, returned with a bar and slotted it in to the bridge and passed the guitar back to me, expecting me to leave already.

I asked, where's the manual? He said there's no manual. Are you lovelovelovelovelovelovelove kidding me? I'm buying a new guitar with a new ZR-trem and I don't get a manual? His superior joined in and said "... the cheap ones don't have manuals".. Anyone here thinks S$770 is cheap? I explained nicely that when I was in Bras Basah this morning, I have been handled the whole package, so I know there is a manual. He dug up a stack of papers and passed me a manual.

Then I asked where the box is.. he said no box. I asked, is this a secondhand guitar i'm buying? Coz it feels like buying off the streets. Three of them staff where there but no one bothered to reply.

I decided I was too pissed to even asked for the free cable, so I prepared to leave. As I was going out, one of them asked if i'm gonna carry the guitar just like that - no gigbag? God bless me for still managing to put up a smile.
 
Some of the staff there are really crappy.

Some are good, it really depends on who serves you.

Didn't you request for a new one to test?
 
I think that lady you mentioned is Aryadni. I got my guitar from her. Since then, whenever I go to SL, I will only look for her. I had bad experience too at Sims drive. Since Rayhul left SL at Sims drive, I would not bother to go there. Sadly, SL is the distributor of Ibanez. The setup of guitars at SL is not that good. Have to go to Mike at SV to setup again.
 
Swee Lee

Customer Service - Mostly self-service, where else you goto take down your guitar yourself and plug into the amp and only if you have cash they attend to you. And worse SL's staff ask my friend to come back again if he have money or please dont ask so much. After that he was like affraid to go Swee Lee to test guitar even with hard-cash (not 100% sure bout the sentence but it's something like that). I mean though somtimes there's alot of people/mean people in the shop but isnt that hard to show a smile and even avoid saying such stuff.

Website - Ultra sucky website. Never really update, you can see maybe 10 guitar on the website then 100 in the shop, that's alot different. And when you click on the guitar in the website for the guitar specs, some guitar only have like 2 sentence. Then I goto go to website like www.guitarcenter.com to view the guitar. Much clearer picture and full specs with maybe 5-6 pictures of the guitar. Like WTH such a simple thing also dont have the heart to go do. Even no specs bout the guitar (goto see their mood if they wanna type or you can tell its like copy and paste from some other people webpage).

Price - Way over-priced for some guitar, I would rather get them from Davis or G77.

Out of entire SL maybe 2 are the better ones. One of them is this big size malay guy in SL(bras basah). No offence dude and stay good, dont be like the rest =)

Anyway if they dont want to read is their problem, let them lose sale over the years and then finally its history.
 
yeah... the lady in bras basah did that for me so I thought they'd provide the same service in Sims Drv. Too bad.. oh well.. I'm very happy with the guitar but will probably not go back to Sims drv again.
 
what one branch extends to you, doesn't apply in another. if you get a good deal at certain places, i suggest you stick to it.
 
swee lee sucks +20


but still do you really need a manual? I'd have tried for the gig bag though, that's important. The bit i really can't stand is when they look at you and say all that crap.

*test*
lovelovelovelove
*test*
 
Didn't I read about this phenomena before?

Ah yes! Economics!

What's the term called?

Ah yes! Monopoly!

The fact that Swee Lee is the sole distributor of so many brands allows them to thrive even with poor service. Either someone wrestles the sole distributor rights from them, or credit cards start appearing in our wallets to let us order freely from overseas.
 
hey.. just to share my experience.. i've had good service at BOTH places..
but the tendency to receive bad service usually comes from sims drive..
the only thing that perks me is when my friend wanted to buy an amp, but was disallowed from trying it with his own guitar..
cant really see the reason behind that though..
anyways thread starter, be assured, you aint the only one who had to go through this..
many of us have, but we choose to keep our mouths shut..
why? because service varies from person to person..
and depending on their mood too..
but true enough, some just act like that all the time..
 
Last edited:
The S320 comes with a booklet. Not writtten specifically for that model, but just the generic Ibanez manual.
 
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