Ernie Williamson Music — Local services in Ellisville

This lengthy review relates to repair service, or I should say, lack of service, and has nothing to do with retail shopping at Fazio's. I'll just set the stage by saying I've been playing guitar full and part time for 40+ years and as one can imagine, have had my share of experience with repair shops.

I brought my high end Taylor (K26) to Fazio's for repair because they are an authorized dealer. I explained to the manager that the guitar would likely need the ES system replaced (Taylor pre-amp) and that I needed the guitar back in one week for a gig if at all possible (this was noted on the repair request). A week passed without a call (fortunately my show was rescheduled) so after 9 days, I called them and was told they were waiting to hear back from Taylor and would call me. Hmm, would have been nice for them to let me know that. Since I play most weekends, 3 days later I started dealing directly with the repair tech Jeremiah, and he THEN said he would contact Taylor for status. He emailed me and said he had left a message with the wrong department the week prior but had it worked out now and the part was on the way. Since I needed the guitar back for the weekend gig (it functions, but not as it should), I asked if he would put the part back in, I would drive back and pick it up and then bring back again once he had the new part. Luckily when I picked up my guitar, I checked it out in the parking lot before I left because although it was at the front desk ready for pickup, it was still disassembled. Since then, I have initiated EVERY conversation regarding status of getting new part and typically receive 'oh yeah let me call them and get back to you in a litte bit', then, nothing.

It has been 24 days now and the last email I received said (and I quote): "I just got the shipment from Taylor in, don't get excited, we got our wires crossed and they sent me the PUP not the Pre Amp. I'm working it out with them right now. More info to come". Fed up, I called Taylor directly and the FIRST person that answered the call took care of it. Sending me the part directly and recommended another local music store to take it for installation. No mix up, no confusion, no complication or wires crossed.

Sounds like Jeremiah needs an administrative assistant, but I'll never go back to find out. I suggest that those in need of guitar repair make the drive to...

I've been a customer of Ernie Williamson since 2004 when I bought my first Fender Strat. Last week, I bought my latest Fender Strat from EW which was a special order from Fender. Last year I had to order a guitar direct from Fender because they would not let dealers order this particular guitar at the time. The guitar arrived with fret and nut issues, but having ordered direct from Fender, I had few options. But, Sasha in EW's shop took great care to fix those recently and the guitar is great. Because of that experience, I had Mike order my new strat from Fender. At first, they promised a ship date a year from now, but Mike knowing it was available in stock from Fender's website he pushed to get it here within a week. When it arrived, Mike and Sasha gave the guitar a thorough inspection to make sure there were no issues like my previous experience. Mike went above and beyond to make sure the guitar was setup and played properly. You can't get this kind of service from Sweetwater or the big box guitar stores. The entire staff at EW Ellisville are salt of the earth people who take care of their customers. I also started taking lessons there a few years ago and Mike F set me up with Mike C who is the perfect teacher for me. He is open to my whims of what I want to learn and switches up without any questions. In the current environment of online and direct to consumer sales, local shops like EW go above and beyond in helping customers and that is why it's important that we continue to support our neighbors in these local shops Thanks to the whole EW team for being great partners in the local...

I called Fazio's on 9/13 to see about selling some used equipment in my inlaws home. I spoke to Denise who said she'd like to work with me directly. I informed her at the time that I know almost nothing about musical instruments.

I spent time taking pictures and then conversed with Denise for the next three days. She asked twice for a number. I wanted to sell these to a store vs individually due to my lack of knowledge. I give a number based on the few things I thought I found and she claims her husband passed on the deal.

No counter. Then, when I express my disappointment with this whole experience, she relays that her husband is the manager and my result would have been the same had I come into the store. This totally disregards that I spent days working with her vs an hour, and given that I received an offer from a different retailer, I highly doubt that everything I had would have been passed on in store.

This seems sketchy and under the table. I wonder if the owner knows that's how this manager is running the store.

Edit- since I can't reply to the reply, I'm curious how this is going to be looked into since I was not given any contact info nor have I given mine. I see that generally a manager responds to these reviews, now i wonder if it's the same manager married to Denise. If so, I highly doubt this will be investigated at all.

2nd Edit- to be clear, I am not angry none of my items are purchased. I am angry that I wasted 4 days of my time and I feel as though two scammers were trying to get me to name a low price so they could take advantage of my ignorance...