Furtadosonline.com online shopping and service review.

Furtados is one of the biggest, best and renowned musical instruments importer and retailer in India. Started in Mumbai in 1865, they have been around for 145 years and also recently opened a new outlet in Ahmedabad. Their range of instruments covers almost all types and categories and also some renowned and reputed brands.

Their reputation of selling in stores is well known, what about their online business?

I recently bought an electric guitar from them, an ESP LTD M 10. Here is an account of my experience shopping online with them, and also their in-store after-sales service.

Here is why I bought online rather than from the store

I visited their store a few times to enquire about the guitar I wanted.They told me they did not have it in stock at the Pune store and they took down my number so they could call me later about it.

I also told them that I was ready to pay a booking amount of Rs. 1000 up-front, and would pay the rest when they had the guitar in-store for me to pick up. They hesitated to take my money to make a booking, letting me know that their system was down, hence, they could not check their stock in Mumbai, also that they were going to receive new stock in a weeks time and that they would phone me to come down and pick it up.

A week later, no phone call, no new stock.

I then decided to go ahead and buy the guitar from Furtadosonline.com

Some quick enquiries over the phone before buying it online

Q1. Is there any difference in price buying it online or buying it in-store?
A1. No. No difference in price.

Q2. Any extra 2% charges for using credit card as payment.
A2. No.

Q3. What about after sales service?
A3. After sales service can be availed at any store, anywhere in India where they have a store.

Q4. Are delivery charges extra?
A4. At the moment there is no delivery charges on bills of Rs. 1000 and more.

Q5. What about octroi payment?
A5. Octroi payment should be made by me on delivery which will be roughly 3% of the cost of the guitar and this octroi amount would be refunded to me, after I make the payment and mail Furtados corporate office the original octroi receipt. Instead of a refund I could also opt to use the amount to buy something else from Furtados, like guitar straps or plectrums etc..

And finally the actual sequence of events...

-->Monday, 21st of November 2011 13:54 hrs --  I ordered my guitar from Furtadosonline.com, paying by credit card. Upon placing the order, I immediately got an email confirmation of my order stating the order number, the product, its price and the shipping address.

--> On Wednesday, 23rd of November 2011 -- I called them up to confirm my order and its progress.

--> On Saturday, 26th of November 2011 at 19:00 hrs -- I received my guitar at home delivered by Blue Dart.

I immediately checked out the guitar for issues and buzzing. There was a buzz on the 12th Fret on strings 5 and 6. :(


--> Sunday, 27th of November 2011 -- I took the guitar to the Furtados store in Pune at ABC Farms and gave it to them for straightening the neck. The checked my paper work and immediately took up the job, under warranty of course, and said that they would let me know when the guitar would be ready.

(Monday 28th Furtados was closed as the Pune store is closed on Mondays.)

--> Tuesday, 29th of November -- In the evening I called them to check if the guitar was ready, they told me it was not and that they would call me to let me know.

--> Wednesday 30th of November 11:30 hrs -- I got a call from Furtados store to let me know that the guitar was ready and I could pick it up.

--> Thursday, 1st of December 2011 -- I picked up my guitar from Furtados and finally got to spend some quality time with it.

--> Monday, 6th of December 2011 -- I mailed Furtados' Mumbai office the original copy of the octroi receipt with a covering letter, sent by registered A.D. facility of the Indian postal department.

--> Wednesday 14th of December 2011 -- I received the registered A.D. letter in my post box and the octroi amount refunded to me, transferred to my bank account.

...phew...

All in all not a bad experience.


The Packaging
The packaging in which I received my guitar was pretty sturdy. The guitar was kept inside a  soft foam bag. The bag was 0.5 to 1mm thick. Then it was wrapped in a bubble wrap. The bubble wrapped guitar was then placed into the guitar's bag. The guitar bag was placed inside a two piece card board box at the center and the empty spaces between the guitar and the cardboard box were filled with plastic air bags.

Areas where they could improve

1) The delivery if made within 3-4 working days of ordering would have completely blown me away. I feel this way after the amazing delivery time lines I have experienced with Flipkart (I recently heard of Flipkart delivering within the same day and in another case, within 2 hours! of course the items delivered were a books but Flipkart generally delivers electronics within 3 working days).

2) Other than the initial order confirmation mail, I got no email/sms updates, or updates sent to me by any other medium about my order and it's shipping. I could only see the details upon logging into my online account in Furtadosonline.com and then checking updates about my order. Some pro-active updates initiated by them would have been good.

3) This one is a feeling I have with no concrete evidence. I somehow feel that my order was not acted upon until on Wednesday 23rd of November. when I called to check on it. If this is true then I have had to wait a couple of more days for it to reach me. And anyone waiting eagerly for something knows how annoying and painful that can be, especially if you spent the previous 3-6 months saving up and planning for it. The final days of wait after having ordered, are agonising!

4) A good proper setup job & checking for a buzz before delivery of my guitar would have been nice and saved me a trip to the store.


Final words
The neck straightening and setup job done on my guitar when I gave it to them at the Pune store, was extremely well done. This was confirmed by my guitar teacher, professional and Master guitarist Christopher Fonceca.

To sum it up, I would recommend Furtadosonline.com as your point of online shopping for musical instruments.

So that's it folks. That was my  experience.
Please share your experience and do leave a comment too.

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