Musicians Friend hates me!

[newtwanger]

So I decide to click on the link to MF on the TDPRI page as I do every day, decide to buy something and guess what??

Canada Shipping - This item is eligible to ship to Canada. Canada shipping excludes Quebec.

WTF?

Last I checked we were in Canada and were no harder to get to than Ontario and much easier than PEI and Nunavut.....

I'm contacting them to find out EXACTLY why. I wonder if it's illegal to exclude a part of a country like that. Imagine....

US Shipping - This item is eligible to ship to the US. US shipping excludes New Jersey, Ohio and Portland,Oregon..

That would give the lawyers a field day......

[mikespe]

Do you have any friends out of Quebec that you could send it there then have them ship it to you? Yea you would have to pay for the shipping but if you really want it and its a good price it might be worth it.

[robt57]

They love your money...

[Dennis68]

Don't feel so bad, some U.S. retailers and other companies actually do not sell in certain states because of obscure consumer laws. There was an article about it about a year ago in the Financial Times newspaper if I recall correctly. The bottom line, however, is a retailer is allowed to pic and choose where they sell to. Unless I am missing something (a problem they had there, or one of those obscure consumer laws, etc..) it does seem odd to exclude one province. Did you happen to call them and ask for an explanation of the exclusion? I'm sure they would tell you why.

[Tele Fan]

So it's not you they hate, it Quebec. See if there's one of those UPS stores close to you but outside Quebec. You could probably have it shipped there and pick it up.

[Joe Chaney]

haha! i wish MF sent to europe, then i wouldn't have to pay double what you lucky north americans pay from musicians friend, guitar center..... etc that dont post to europe.

guitars are so expensive here i paid $690 for my MIM std! and thats the cheapest i could find

[newtwanger]

Don't feel so bad, some U.S. retailers and other companies actually do not sell in certain states because of obscure consumer laws.

I hope that's why, because anything else would be pretty crappy.
I know Quebec is an oddball (all products must have packaging and instructions primarily in french, margarine must be colored to not look like butter by law) but that's a local retailer's problem. It's also why we don't get alot of the good stuff.

I have a Plattsburgh NY address I ship most stuff to so it's not a problem, I just wanted the "deal of the day" $10 bass gig bag, and would rather not have to drive to NY (eliminating any savings) when it could easily be shipped.

I haven't seen any other's (GC, Sam Ash, Allparts, etc.) do this. I think I'll look at their shipping rules too.

[DADGAD]

IIRC, in the USA any business has the right to say, "We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone." So, I don't think it's illegal. However, I do wonder why they would do this in the situation regarding the OP.

[Telenator]

It's probably something stupid like, Quebec demands that the labels be bi-lingual with the French portion on top and prominant. Sometimes they make things really difficult for themselves.

[getbent]

It may be that MF thinks Quebec hates them... so they 'stay away' from Quebec. You are the victim of the Venn Diagram.

[emu!]

www.musiciansenemy.com

[CatfishStudios]

Im fairly sure that an individual or corp. may ship where the hell they want to ship..there is no law that says they have to ship to Quebec. I also think any such laws would be ridiculous. Oh we have a GC in P-town..which is same company and they honor all MF prices...

[bowlfreshener]

Sometimes when places like MF do not or cannot do something, it may not be their fault, as they have various rules and guidelines they need to adhere to by the various manufacturers. Not all items offered at MF are shipped to Canada, so to me it seems like certain manufacturers may have different rules and guidelines so MF does not interfere with agreements with distributors and retailers in Canada. I mean why else would MF ship be allowed to ship certain items to Canada, but then cannot do other items? I do not see the company limiting their potential to bring in sales, but I can see different manufacturers restricting MF sales into Canada so not to interfere with MSRPs, distrubutors, and agreements made in Canada.

[CatfishStudios]

Sometimes I see huge corps such as MF as a sort of economical virus, or invasive species...there are a lot less mom and pop guitar shops around than there used to be...good for the consumer as prices are generally lower than the small dealers could manage..but very bad for local economy..think wall mart...maybe its a good thing they have not fully infiltrated the great white north. I remember when MF was one store in Medford Oregon..I used to shop there..then the online aspect really took off..and of course drew the attention of GC as a competitor...ever play monopoly? I made a choice to no longer support either branch of that conglomerate..didnt they aquire music123? or was that sweetwater..hard to keep track.

[boris bubbanov]

How big is the item?

Newtwanger, what ever happened to that Quebec based parcel service ya'll had a while back, where UPS sued them and the Province under NAFTA saying that Quebec provincial government subsidized/ and or favored that local service over them, and then UPS demanded lost revenue? Wow, did that ever sour me on UPS.

DHL still does not do business AFAIK in New Orleans, just a business decision, they say. If a merchant had a nice deal with a delivery service, and that service did not do service there, I guess you could argue cost alone was the motivation.

Dunno. Looks like evidence of another nut-case US corporate decision.

You do realize that only one ten of one percent of US citizens know what P. E. I. is or where Price Edward Island even is located?

[getbent]

Originally Posted by boris bubbanov

You do realize that only one ten of one percent of US citizens know what P. E. I. is or where Price Edward Island even is located?

beautiful place. I went there after reading Anne of Green Gables as a kid... then I coupled it with a trip to see the Bay of Fundy... that was one long car trip! (from california)

[boris bubbanov]

http://cgi.ebay.ca/TWO-1871-Prince-E...80505211a15773


I once had some P E I coins, traded them for US "Barber" quarters, I think.

[g-Paul]

I'll bet half of us Canadians don't know where PEI is either!

[Frank_Kimball]

But...newtwanger...dude...I gotta ask...wtf color is your margarine then, man? I am actually more alarmed by that then by MF's obvious disregard for cross-border relations with our bon amis Les Quebecois.... If I saw like some bright orange or turquoise oleo headed for my croissant I would FREAK OUT, man....

[charlie cash]

Its probably because someone else has an exclusive distribution with the manufacturer of the product in Quebec, so the manufacturer does not allow MF to ship there.

[Frank B]

Originally Posted by Frank_Kimball

But...newtwanger...dude...I gotta ask...wtf color is your margarine then, man? I am actually more alarmed by that then by MF's obvious disregard for cross-border relations with our bon amis Les Quebecois.... If I saw like some bright orange or turquoise oleo headed for my croissant I would FREAK OUT, man....

Don't worry man, it's white.
I can order anything from the US and get it straight to my doorstep so it doesn't have anything to do with laws. They don't offer "free" shipping to Quebec and I hope there is a very good reason for that.

All I know is that I would have bought 3 guitars from them over the last months had it not been for that shipping dumbass rule so you know what ?
It's their loss.

[Frank B]

Originally Posted by charlie cash

Its probably because someone else has an exclusive distribution with the manufacturer of the product in Quebec, so the manufacturer does not allow MF to ship there.

Then it would be a shipping issue with a specific manufacturer, not all of them. They wouldn't make this a general rule for all of them at MF.
IMO, this would't make for a shipping issue with Quebec precisely but for all Canada.

[charlie cash]

Then it would be a shipping issue with a specific manufacturer, not all of them. They wouldn't make this a general rule for all of them at MF.
IMO, this would't make for a shipping issue with Quebec precisely but for all Canada.

Canada Shipping - This item is eligible to ship to Canada. Canada shipping excludes Quebec.

I read that to mean that they will not ship the specific item to Quebec, not a general rule for all of MF products. Maybe I read it incorrectly.

[Frank B]

Originally Posted by charlie cash

I read that to mean that they will not ship the specific item to Quebec, not a general rule for all of MF products. Maybe I read it incorrectly.

I see what you mean. But when you go on the website, before choosing a specific product, if you click on the shipping info highlighting the fact that they ship free to Canada, they'll mention that they don't ship to QC period.