Parkway Music — Local services in Town of Clifton Park

WARNING: * PLEASE SHARE * To anyone dealing with Parkway music. I am a verified pay pal user and Parkway music a verified seller. Parkways policy {which I called and asked not to participate in, but is mandatory store policy} was to fill out a personal information store form? to match the shipping address to given via Pay Pal. This is what Terry John Hiemel of Green Island NY from Parkway music Clifton Park, NY, told me he was going to do with the information when I called. TJ did NOT want to deal with it at the time, was rude and insisted doing it later, when I asked about the mandatory information as part of sale {before checkout?}, which I DID end up doing in an effort get the drum {didn't know why as this info is already provided via Pay Pal} and I asked to have selling listing/post taken down after payment was received. The drum then was paid for and Parkway music accepted payment, and I received my receipt 20 min later I get a call from TJ of Parkway music.. who told me he has decided to renege on the sale and not go through with the sale because of something he read on another site by a disgruntled eBay seller?? I asked what he meant and heres what he told me what he did. What TJ of Parkway music did {after sale/being paid} was take the information provided by Pay Pal and the personal store information form and do a background check on me? seriously? its not like its a job interview.. He could have just called pay pal to confirm payment {as it was insured} and go find a box to put it in, but Terry John Hiemel chose to take my personal/financial information provided for sale, and POST IT ELSEWHERE?? He did NOT use my name as he stated, as google would have returned 77,000,000 hits. After Parkway bailed on the sale, I posted my experience here as well as the other sight Parkway music and Terry John Hiemel put their trust in. TJ then decided to retaliate even further and then take the information provided by pay pal and store form and repost it on a public viewed web sight?? I'm upset that Parkway music did this with the mandatory information I provided to make sale safe and then turn around and do this with it?? seriously?? Matt Hatfield is aware and TJ of Parkway music also included other "family members emails", and other email address of others individuals and dot coms {I don't even own}, along with other "incorrect" collective information he received and reposted for public view {copy avail}. TJ Hiemel posted and that Parkway music "avoided" a rip off and stated "Im glad we didnt do the sale" and slandering me {all this after I paid them}. This is a clear violation of the Pay Pal merchant agreement and violation of consumer anti-trust laws, criminal misused of personal and financial information.. I never knew anything about Parkway music before this. All I did was buy a drum off Parkway musics web sight and instead waiting for the mailman to bring a box, Terry John Hiemel and Parkway music decided to do this with MY info and the stores time instead. Ive bought thousands of items on the internet and in stores and NEVER went through a background check to make a purchase. I know the drum was undervalued {$100's} and/or mismarked or not even in stock and is the REAL reason Terry John Hiemel and Matt Hatfield {supporting owner} bailed out of the sale. ATT: ALBANY NY LAWYER WANTED........

I hesitated to write this review, but my experience at this store was so poor I will never be spending money there again. I would also advise anyone else against doing so. The issues began when I purchased a prs sonzera amplifier, and then returned it. The amp had very loud tube rattle and an excessive hum when the volume was anywhere above a quarter turn. When I returned the amp, I was met with an extremely passive aggressive attitude from the employee who handled the return. He insinuated those issues were shared by ALL tube amps and I should have expected or been ok with it. Regardless, I traded it in for a fender custom deluxe reverb, which was an amazing sounding amp. Once again when I took the amp home I ran into troubles. After playing for 30 minutes with the volume above halfway the amp would start fluctuating in volume, distorting and making popping noises. Once again when I returned the amp I was met with a passive aggressive attitude and insinuations that I didn’t know what I was talking about, it was cables or my pedal that I had plugged into it they claimed. They even went so far as to ask me if the power in my house was grounded properly. I own a blues junior already, never had an issue with it so I know all these possibilities were not the issue, but I still took the amp home again to triple check. Alas, the issue was with the amp not my other equipment. So I returned it for a second and final time, and as I was waiting for my refund watched another employee promptly carry the amp back to the sales floor with a price tag on it before ever looking twice at what was wrong with it. As far as I know, it’s still broken and still for sale on their floor. Parkway if you’re reading this, save your integrity as a business, stop trying to sucker people and send that broken amp back to fender! EDIT: this shop owner must be out of his mind to try and reply that they weren’t intentionally disrespectful. I know when I am being treated with respect and when I am not, and from now on my business will go to DROME SOUND or Sweetwater where they honor their return policies with respect and no sideways looks or questioning of your intelligence. Furthermore what even is a “compatibility issue” between a fender strat and a fender tube amp? If you actually know what you’re talking about you’d know that’s completely ludicrous. Glad to hear you found a sucker to keep that amp, he probably hasn’t tried turning the volume beyond...

By far and away, the best music store I have ever, or will ever do business with. For the new customer who has never set foot in Parkway, the selection is through the roof. That being said, if you don't see what you're looking for, seek, and ye shall find, believe me.

Also, when you walk in, it's very hard to tell who the owners are versus the other personnel who work there, and you won't know unless you ask to speak with the owners, or if either of them happen to be the first person you speak with. Also, you'll notice there are no "salespeople" there, nor are there hard sells. All you will find are educators who know their products supremely well, and you'll notice they are passionate about music first, and making the proper sale second.

By "making the proper sale second," I mean, anyone who works there will help you find the right instrument for YOU. Notice, I did not say the most expensive. They have repeatedly done this for not only myself, but I have seen them do so for all customers. They prove daily, repeatedly, and massively that the most expensive instrument is NOT AT ALL necessarily the best sounding.

Categorically, I will tell you that Parkway feels like a down-home, friendly, Mom 'n' Pop operation, which is precisely what it is. On no level whatsoever does the place feel like a corporation, and they make their customers feel like people instead of suckers with wallets in their back pockets.

This is what a proper retail experience should be in this context: education and correct selection. The overwhelming majority of their customers return and vigorously recommend other musicians to come to Parkway, and those customers, myself included, are all greeted by name.

To me, that says it all and beyond.

God Bless Tom, Matt, and the entire crew at...