I wanted to take a moment to contact you regarding your business and Troy Benns. I have a big problem with Troy. He keeps selling me guitars and I can’t seem to make him stop! Haha! Seriously, he’s fantastic – he’s a super nice, helpful person that has turned the buying experience more like doing business with a friend. He’s a boon to your shop, but I’m sure you already knew that.
I’m getting in on learning to play guitar late in life, I guess. I’m almost 50, but I always wanted to play guitar from back in the MTV days of the 80s when I was in high school. To me, there was nothing cooler than a Flying V guitar or a Charvel Jackson (because that’s what Warren DiMartini was playing in Ratt!). I begged my parents for an electric guitar….they gave me a harmonica! How’s that for being born under a bad sign! Somehow playing Judas Priest’s “You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’” just wasn’t the same on harmonica. Anyhow, flash forward to this past December. I finally decided to get serious about learning and so my quest for a guitar began. There were a lot of large chain stores that populated my Google search, but I already had an idea of what I wanted. I was looking for either a Custom Shop Fender Strat or a Custom Shop Gibson Les Paul. I was really impressed with your website. The guitars were pictured in a very artistic way. There were lots of great pics from all angles of the guitars which was a bonus AND for quite a few, there were videos of Greg Koch playing them. I didn’t realize what a treat that was, in and of itself!
I won’t lie. I called other places. I called about specific guitars – Custom Shop Strats. In both instances, I had salesmen who didn’t either have any info on what I was calling about or who tried to point me to something else. I got a lot of run-around. Then I called WIldwood. Troy answered the phone and I talked to him briefly and told him the two Fenders I was looking at. Without me asking, he offered to go get the guitars, play them and then get back with me. I thought, “OK. We’ll see if he actually calls back.” You see, I’d heard that from one of those other places and they never called back. Sure enough, in a few hours, Troy was back on the phone with me and his evaluation led me to buy a Custom Shop Strat that was actually a few hundred dollars cheaper than the one I’d thought would surely be “the one”. Not only did he pick a cheaper guitar, but he gave me a killer price. I bought it before we hung up the phone.
And that was just the beginning.
From that point on, I’ve gone on to buy another Custom Shop Masterbuilt John Cruz Strat Wildwood 10, two True Historic Custom Shop Gibson Les Pauls, a Wildwood Custom Shop Martin (because you’ve got to have an acoustic, right?), two Friedman Wildwood 50 Amps, two Friedman 2×12 Vintage Speaker Cabs, and recently, a Martin 1937 Authentic VTS D-28.
Understandably, my wife said I better quit my day job as a middle school teacher and become a professional musician before I buy another guitar. Man….I’m sure going to miss her. She could make good biscuits! Haha!
Troy has helped me with each purchase, oftentimes playing multiple guitars, giving me tone reports in emails and even taking video clips to help in the decision making process. The bottom line, your shop has set the bar for excellent service before and after the sale. I’ve received the best price without any haggling or games. I’ve received top-notch customer service. I’ve never had a better buying experience online for a musical instrument. Period. Wildwood Guitars has become synonymous with quality and excellence in my mind. I will recommend anybody who is interested in a fine instrument or equipment to you. I have absolute confidence that you and your staff only accept and procure top quality instruments. Your staff have an intimate knowledge of the stock and are happy to play and evaluate the instruments. That’s critical for somebody like myself who lives so far away. There are music shops all around me in NC, Atlanta, Knoxville and even Nashville. I’ll always come back to Wildwood because Troy earned my business and your shop just plain ROCKS!”
Thanks for everything!
Jim
