Took 12 days to ship from the time it was pulled from stock? Sorry, but that's unacceptable!

17 days from placing the order to receipt? And you gave a positive review? Wow, I felt guilty when I delayed sending a fellow VDF member two hoops after waiting five days.

Hi guys,

Just wanted to post an update on my order with Drum Maker (to recap, I had been waiting since March to receive some custom drum bags). Im happy to say that I received the bags a couple of weeks ago. They are great and I am very happy with them. Also, although I know Andy has taken a lot of heat here, he really put in an honest effort to fix my problem when he became aware something was wrong - he got to the bottom of it, and got my order shipped within the week.

I've had the chance to email with Andy a few times earlier this week about what went wrong with my order and why it took so long to resolve. In all those conversations Andy was apologetic, honest, and friendly. He seemed very much like someone who is passionate about his business and who cares greatly that his customers are happy.

While, I can't speak for any one else's situation, I don't think Andy is to blame in mine and I can understand why it took as long as it did for my order to resolve. To keep the story short, when I alerted Andy that I hadn't received any bags earlier this summer, he checked with the bag company and they indicated the order was ready to ship. From Andy's point of view all was ok, the order was on its way, no problem. I would have thought the same thing in his shoes. At that point, I think my order sort of fell off the radar because the bag company and Andy thought the order shipped, and I was playing the waiting game. Also, to make things more complicated, Andy's store move was in full swing and communications were spotty. When I contacted Andy again and said I still hadn't received anything despite the assurances of the bag company, he contacted them for a third time and got them to review their shipping orders going back to March. It turns out there was some mix-up -they didnt actually ship any order to my address, even though they mistakenly told Andy they had. In the end it seems the bag company was at fault, not Andy.

So, it was a long and winding road :), but Im really glad it turned out ok. Big thanks to Andy for getting to the bottom of things. I really appreciate the effort.

Good luck guys - I hope your issues get resolved soon, just like mine did.

James

the price of fame?

http://fox17.com/news/features/top-stories/stories/bbb-investigates-longstanding-nashville-drum-company-eric-alvarez-17546.shtml

It's ironic that I came across this thread! I haven't been on the forum in a while, and I just asked Andy to cancel my most recent order that I placed 38 DAYS AGO! Let me chime in with my complaints about Andy:

I placed an order from him on October 4th. 3 triple flanged hoops, nothing too major or hard to handle. Today is November 11th and I STILL have not received the order. I am tired of his excuses! I just moved the shop (how long can he use that excuse? Will he still be using it a year from now?), family tragedy, flood etc. etc. etc. I don't mean to make light of his "alleged" issues with family members and ex-employees, but the reason I say "alleged" is that I am not so sure they aren't just more excuses.

I have never been thrilled with Andy Foote, or his drummaker.com business, and I only order from him when he has something that nobody else does (read: I only use him when I absolutely have no other choice!).

Here are the problems I have always had with Andy:

1. VERY slow to ship. EXTREMELY SLOW! Even on in stock items, it always took a minimum of two weeks to get from Nashville to Cincinnati (a 5 hour drive and a 1-2 day delivery with any carrier).

2. Expensive shipping rates. I ordered 8 tension rods once (standard length) and he charged me $16 to ship. On the most recent order that I still have not received, he charged me $18 to ship two 14" an one 12" triple flanged hoops. Ridiculous!

3. His website doesn't tell you if something is in or out of stock. You may think he has it, but that doesn't mean he does. He'll also play the "you should never assume" card and blames you, when it is HIS JOB to keep HIS WEBSITE updated.

4. If you order 4 items from him, and he has 3 items in stock and 1 on backorder, he holds back the ENTIRE shipment until the 1 backordered item comes in. I guess he doesn't want to pay two shipping charges, even though he has charged me double for what it should cost to ship.

5. Finally, and this is the worst one in my opinion (see also # 3 above), if anything goes wrong with the order (slow, out of stock items etc), he makes it seem like it's YOUR fault for not contacting him and telling to him RUSH everything. I got a very sarcastically worded email from him, when I politely asked about this most recent order. It had been two weeks, so I just emailed him asking for a status on the order, and his reply was along the lines of "well, why didn't you ask for a rush on these? If you needed them quickly, you should have let me know". Quickly? Two weeks is quickly? I replied back just as sarcastically and said "I didn't think I need to put a "rush" on supposed in-stock items that are a 1-2 day UPS, FEDEX or USPS ground delivery from Nashville to Cincinnati." Does that sound like a business owner who "values his customers" or wants to "stick together" and have a "sense of community" and all that other PR crap that he spews out? Not to me it doesn't.

I am done with Andy. I am tired of his attitude, his excuses, his B.S. and his extremely slow and outrageous shipping. Glad he has time to make multiple Facebook posts and tweets all day, but can't find time to ship my order or refund my money.

Never again! Check out his entry on the BBB page. Not exactly high marks or a stellar track record by any stretch. I love how he whines about all these small companies in this industry that have closed their doors, yet he talks and acts like a complete, aloof a$$hole that doesn't value his customers, and that will eventually force him to close his own doors. Ironic.

I've had good dealings with DrumMaker and a marginal one where I waited 2 weeks extra on the entire order for a backordered 18" Emperor coated head. I have to think Andy, like other businesses ,is trying his best in an extremely tight, competitive market. So many drum-related American companies being squeezed to DEATH by overseas and/or overseas FUNDED businesses. I was mad at the time, but this is not my livelihood any more, it's my passion/hobby. I really hope after the dust settles another American company is still here..."Walk a mile in my shoes".....

I placed a $690.80 order online with drummaker.com on 2-15-2013 (lugs, hoops, t-rods, iso-mounts…) as of today 11-13-2013 I have not received any of the parts. For the first few months my requests for refund or immediate shipping date were answered with the following: “We've almost completed our recent shop move and expect shipping to get email back to normal shortly”. Recently my refund requests have not been answered, but the website still appears to be open for business. Frustrated and confused.

I wish all of you the best of luck with Andy Foote. You can see what I had to go threw to get my money back and then he shorted me 4.00 after all this. Thanks to everyone who got involved and spoke there opinions. Your not going to change the bum or the way he does business so buy at your own risk. This is one business that should be forced to ship first and then let the customer pay after they receive the item, any thoughts on that Andy?????????????Chow folks, wish all of you a great Holiday season!

Update from my post above from November 11th.

I am still waiting for my refund that I asked for TWO WEEKS ago! All I have gotten from Andy is an auto-reply email that gives the standard "We've almost completed our shop move.....................". He also has not returned my phone calls. What a bunch of crap. Ironically, if I call about placing an order (giving him money), he calls back within an hour. What a total D-Bag!

I have filed a complaint with the BBB of Central Tennessee. His number of recent complaints is alarming.

Bottom Line: Don't ever trust this shyster. I went back and read his post on page 1 of this thread (user name is "newdrum"), and it just makes me laugh. Everything he says in that post, he has done the opposite of with me, and many other people. This guy is all talk and no delivery. I encourage all of you to take your business elsewhere, so this guy gets what he deserves.

V

Worse yet, now all these "successful user testimonials" are showing up everywhere else on other forums

Usually first-timers that are probably fake (or written by himself)

Hang in there, dude