Shar Products Company Review

By far the best customer service experience probably ever. During this pandemic I needed to get a violin to practice with my daughter.There was a slight hiccup at first with my credit card (not their fault, things happen.) I called them and they corrected it within the same day, help my order, and fixed it all. They kept me in the loop through out the entire process and made sure that it was still shipped out in a timely manner. They truly are a great family owned company and I will continue to do business with them from now on. Their prices are phenomenal for what they have to offer (come on now, stringed instruments aren't cheap. And you know you have to pay for quality.) When I ordered my daughters violin back in December, they were extremely efficient. Her violin came in two days from Ann Arbor, Michigan to Murfreesboro, Tennessee..in TWO DAYS!! That's an insanely good shipping time! I have no need for expedited shipping, cause I might see one of the SHAR employees hand deliver it to me in a day! (haha. That would be kind of funny.)

Overall, Best place ever o order anything string instruments and anything else they offer!!

I was shocked at how fast the shipping was!

I broke a string on my cello and my local shop is closed because of the stay at home order in Ohio. Amazon couldn t get one here for three weeks. Found SHAR on Google and took a chance. It was here in three days

Thank you so much for helping me keep making music while stuck at home

It is the best place to get your instraments. It is shar headquarters.

Ordered a holiday music book of duets. Excellent product that was packaged very well to prevent damage, and received a quick and thorough response to my concerns about the arrival date. Product arrived when expected. Highly recommend!

Awesome . . . My daughter did all the talking and they helped her graciously

UDATE: Thank you Ryan for reaching out and making this right! I appreciate the apology and follow up.

The place is great, the people are great, and their products are awesome, and their prices are great, too!

Great day testing out instrument upgrades. Staff was friendly and helpful. Thank you Shar!

Great customer service, the people there is very nice.

Always such helpful staff, good music library and quality selection of instruments and "accessories."

I have not been there in a long time, they have remodeled, it seems bigger, I only bought music, they has a petty good selection of what I wanted. sales clerk as nice not pushy.

Back to school busy, but still managed to be incredibly helpful and calm. Great job, team!

Fiancee needed a new cello case and the staff was very friendly and helpful in helping her find the perfect one. They even helped her with a rosin recommendation. She's happy with her purchase and I'm happy to write this review :)

Shar censors its customers' reviews, and these ratings are thus fraudulent.
I had been buying from them for many years, and all is fine as long as there's no problem. But when there was a problem with one of their products---an item I had purchase several times from them, but whose production had changed for the worse---they refused twice to allow my negative, detailed review, and even an email of protest directly to Shar's management remains unanswered.

Awesome place to rent a string. Very reasonable prices and great knowledgeable staff.

After an in-home bow trial of a few bows, I sent the bows back. Since I was mailing thousands of dollars worth of bows for which Shar was holding a credit card number, I was very anxious to know if they had arrived back at Shar or not.

After sending multiple emails, I received no reply. I tried calling on several occasions only to reach an answering service stating all reps were unavailable. Finally, after days of calling, I reached someone who told me the bows had arrived. It was only then, ten days after mailing, that I received an email from the rep I was dealing with.

I am choosing another company to purchase a bow from.

Anthony took such good care of us, from the moment we walked through the door! My curious 6 year old had so many questions and he took the time to answer them all. I would highly recommend Shar to anyone, beginner thru expert. Exceptional customer service!

I find their customer service to be very accommodating. Their rental program is excellent. I am very pleased with them.

I have purchased sheet music and strings from SHAR Music literally since its beginning in the early '60's. The merchandise includes everything a professional violin player or teacher could want, and the service is first rate and dependable. The website is easy to use.

Reasonable repair prices, excellent help selecting a new bow.

I came here for a 9:00 a.m. customer service interview, arrived at exactly 9:00 a.m., waited at the door, and called the number given by HR, to have no answers, and no one in the lobby. The doors were locked. Once I did reach someone, the manager was contacted and he arrived "upset" the meeting was starting at 9:15 instead of 9:00 a.m., promptly ending the interview with complete disrespect. I wondered if I arrived at 9:01, thrown off at the energy of an awful person, who is director of sales (how?), but I was here at 9:00. Me and my family have been customers of this store for ten years, and this was not the experience I expected of them. I have been in customer service for the past seven years and know that this is NOT how to treat others. Any decent human who understands communication would know that too. My music students know compassion and humility before all else. I always had recommend Shar for their rentals and sales, but I immediately withdraw my support of this company and will be recommending all music students of mine, grad students and faculty in music I am affiliated with, and those in this field to do business elsewhere.

Bonnie

This company will not let you down. They have excellent customer service and good quality instruments.

Great selection of instruments and friendly staff. We love their rental program.

Warm, friendly environment! Recommend for all music needs

Great place and nice instruments. But my cello had been in there repair shop for at least a month now and stuck with a loaner. Any answers?

Really friendly employees. Very helpful in getting the right instrument /case / peripherals you need

The place was clean and very friendly and open. The staff very welcoming and very nice. Was able to get my new instrument with little to no hassle, though I found out later during my violin lesson that my instructor had been there the very same day I had gone, but we just missed each other by like 10 minutes lol. So that would have been great to meet up, but maybe next time.

Great music store.. great stock.. be prepared for sticker shock tho.. prices are a little higher.

Great music store. Friendly and helpful service. Great place to rent a student musical instrument. Got my instrument. Got my cello fixed and now repaired here a number of times and was satisfied every time.
Sheet music wise they have what I need 99% of the time. The other 1% they just end up ordering and/or shipping it to me for no extra cost.
They're always in stock with rosin and music essentials.

I ordered my beginner violin three weeks ago and received it within two weeks, as the customer representative told me. The violin, Prelude, is of great quality and produces a delightful sound. I highly recommend this place to shop for stringed instruments, from beginner to professional. The staff are very friendly and professional and the instruments are of excellent quality.

My go-to spot for basic violin supplies and rehairs

Top Notch! Have rented instruments from them for years and they've gone above and beyond on a couple of occasions. Highly recommend.

Clean and spacious showroom with a knowledgeable staff.

They took forever to respond to my emails (at least a week). I ve called this place 4 different times, nobody ever answered! Was very difficult to return my A String.

Go here for my everyday needs for my violin; great place

Very nice and well laid out store. Tidy and organized with a wide range of violins, violas, cellos, and basses. Friendly and helpful staff who don't hover over you like some places. Several studio rooms available to go in and close the door to play and listen to instruments. Excellent store hours.

The staff are very helpful! Anthony has given me great advice on a couple of occasions. They have a good selection of instuments and accessories, and have let me test out things before I've bought them before so that I can see the difference in quality between the differently priced products.

SHAR Music is amazing! Super friendly staff and an incredible assortment of string instruments of the violin family all the way from beginners to professionals. My daughter who has been playing violin for years was curious about learning to play Cello. Our visit to SHAR solidified her resolve.

SHAR also has a full workshop for instrument repair, offers lessons and sells a wide assortment of music.

We bought strings and music/instrumental items from Shar online often. When we were in Ann Arbor, we decided to stop by this shop. The staff are very friendly. We saw all the small violins and my teenagers decided to try with their "fat" fingers.

The combination of service and items available at Star's is impossible to beat for string players. I highly recommend visiting their store to get a one-on-one experience for whatever you're shopping for.

Great music store for orchestral students. Not a guitar store. Lots of neat violins to try out.

Wonderful company with friendly and courteous employees. If you need to rent a stringed instrument this is the place to go.

It is a good store for renting or buying violins an other stringed instruments.

We like this shop. They have good instruments and reasonably priced. They also rent instruments for younger players which is great. We figured renting for a year was about the same as buying a small violin for our daughter though

I paid my rent of the equipment over a month ago, somehow I had been receiving calls and letters saying I owe them money. Last time I called someone said he would research into it. Yet, after research, the gengleman left me a message saying I still had a balance. I was able to reach a lady after several calls today, and finally she found my payment record, and said she was sorry the system did not get updated with the payment.

Our daughter purchased an advanced level violin. Despite them being crazy busy, Michael took great care of us, making sure all our questions were answered, and our daughter was able to try out a variety of violins and bows. Michaels expertise and knowledge was invaluable in the decision making process, and we highly suggest making a trip to SHAR Music for your musical needs.

We rent my daughter's violin from here and they are great. If something happens to the instrument they take it back and give you a new one.

Great place for rentals and purchase of violins and other stringed instruments!

They were fast and efficient. My daughter wanted a little more fanfare than, here is your case and instrument.

I just wanted fast and the best deal, everyone said go here. They have fair rentals with the money building towards a 50% discount on another instrument (no guitars or ukes)

This is a review of my experience at the Shar showroom in Ann Arbor (and not of their online shop.) As a customer of their online shop, I was quite excited to have the chance to visit their showroom/brick-n-mortar store. Staff: Professional yet warm, friendly and genuinely helpful. The person who helped me was also quite knowledgeable (and played the same instrument I did, holds a music degree). Environment: spacious, clean, relaxed ... quite suited for music-related shopping. This was a spontaneous visit so I didn't expect to a wide array of instruments to peruse, but was nevertheless pleased to have tried out a few and also a bow. You can take as much (reasonable) time to audition instruments in a comfortable private room. PS The staff are quite proud about their store and their story and are eager to share it .... for me it says a lot about the company!

When our 89 year old private teacher (whom we love) was having difficulty remembering the composer of a sonata in a minor that he wanted my son to play, I called the lovely people at Shar and sang it to them over the phone.
Theresa then sang it to Alex and so on until they decided they would call me back after speaking with one of their bass players. They did call me back! They played the piece on the bass over the phone, told us the composer and publisher.
Of course, we ordered it from Shar. These people go above and beyond to assist! Thank you to everyone in the customer calling center!

Good shop for stringed instruments. I found everything I was looking for.

Very clean and staffed with knowledgeable associates. Despite being tucked away in an unexpected location it is easily accessible with ample parking. They are extremely well stocked with musical instrument for orchestra. I went to have them check on a violin I bought my son and they looked it over and said it was in fine condition despite my lack of knowledge. This was seconded by my child's teacher. So, they have earned my trust by not trying to scam a buck like a disreputable oil change facility.

Very exceptional staff and customer service. Wide variety of merchandise.

Knowledgeable staff. A vast variety of stringed instruments. They have an awesome repair shop. Repairs are done quickly. Prices are fair. This place is worth checking out!

Very helpful choosing a new instrument & educating us! Definitely will go back. We traveled 1.5 hrs & so worth the drive!

I've purchased a cello, bow, and strings from Shar. I've also trialed 8 bows in total ranging from $350-$950. Unfortunately, one of the bows I purchased had a broken frog. Luckily, Shar was helpful and provided me with a free fix. When trialing a different batch of bows, my favorite bow was unfortunately warped. I would have purchased it otherwise, but $770 for a warped bow is no good. Unfortunately I also received a dead string from them, but only noticed after taking it to a luthier. They were extremely helpful during my cello purchasing period and sent 4 bows to try out Tha they felt would suit my cello best. They're easy to get a hold of and I appreciate their chat statement. I just wish the quality was a bit more consistent, perhaps be more diligent to inspect the bows they're sending out before hand. The cello have bought is good, however, I'm a little frustrated with the trade-in option as there isn't a cello in their inventory that I'd want to upgrade to, and they charge you $250 to "fix" the trade-in cello regardless of it's condition. They are upfront about their policy, but after meeting with other shops, I've realized that there are other places that will do a 100% trade-in regardless of the instrument condition (assuming it's not broken).

I have been using Shar School Sales for 8 years for my violin school. I have purchased over 100 violin, violas and cellos as well as accessories such as music stands, metronomes, tuners, rosin, replacement parts and music. I have always been pleased with the customer service, quality control and product. Recently however the shipping (to Canada) has been atrocious! I recommended a student purchase a new violin case and it took 3 months to arrive after shipping. I purchased a large order myself and 1 part came timely. The next part never shipped (6 months later still on 'back order') and it took me many failed calls/emails and social media shout outs until they placed a new order. The 3rd part apparently shipped and was 'returned' (not by me!). I did not receive either a shipping or delivery notice from Shar or Canada Post. I still haven't received my product ordered 6 months ago.

Very bad online shopping experience.
I ordered several items from Shar music in May. For one item, I received cheaper substitute without asking my opinion.
For another item, I called to cancel one item after one and half month wait and was told that it was back in stock and I can expect to receive it in a week. Now two weeks later, I still don't see anything yet.
About the violin I bought, it is good quality. But I just realized that I actually could have much better violin with the same money spent if I choose other shops.
The customer service number, I tried maybe 10 times at different times, only one went through.

Our go to place for strings and accessories. Have purchased all my daughters violins, bows and cases here since she was 9 (now 21). The staff has always been kind and patient with her at every age. Highly recommend!

every string player loves to go and browse through Shar. Additionally they let you try out their instruments

Wonderful! I shop on their website and it is SO ORGANIZED! I love it! So easy to find things! I order something at least once a week. Great selection of products!

Shar is a fantastic, helpful location. They are relatively in-expensive, and travel to most schools to trade instruments.

The best music store around with lots of different imstruments. The people there are professional and their prices are reasonable.

Very thorough explanation on everything related to string instruments. Easy to work with and rental fees are very reasonable.

I have been doing business with Shar for about 35 years and I have always found them to sell quality products with excellent customer service.

They've got just about everything for educational rentals.

I play cello, and I have been shopping at Shar for 7 years. I bought my cello there and a whole assortment of accessories. They provide repair and rehair services as well. They are very kind and allow you to try out any instrument and bow you want. I highly recommend this store for any string player.

WORST EXPERIENCE EVER!!!!!I took my wife for an interview on Thursday October 15th to Sharmusic promptly at 9 am. There wasn't anyone at the front to meet us and the door was locked. Emailed and called, no answer. Went around the back, nothing. Finally got ahold of someone at 9:13 and was met by the rudest, most condisending person I've ever seen. We are musicians and music teachers and because of this occurance I will no longer be supporting this company! As a matter of fact I will do all I can to persuade our students and colleagues from coming here! Mister sales manager, this is to you; I wouldn't treat a dog how you treated my wife! Here's a little free advise for you sir, Be careful how you treat others.

We ordered a 1/4 size cello from Shar, used, at about half the cost that a brand new one would have run. It arrived a very quick two days later (with free shipping), in well-protected packaging (the FedEx guy ignored the very clear THIS END UP markings and it s still in amazing shape.)
For a cello that was used, and was marked dents and scratches, any marks on it are imperceptible to the naked eye.
We will definitely purchase from Shar again!

Incredible selection of string instruments and support for new students