Music & Arts Ridiculous customer service and thievery Asheville NC

I have been paying monthly for my son’s trumpet from Music Center, now apparently bought out by the Music & Arts. So earlier in the month I received in invoice from the new company stating I was 3 months behind (pause… breathe… incorrect) so I called and spoke with a nice woman initially who said that account info was being transferred so it may take a few more weeks for my payments to appear on their records. I said ok I will call next week to make a payment. It was a pleasant conversation, hung up, felt ok.

I call yesterday to see if everything transferred over and to make my payment, another rep stated that I had made a payment on 05/02/18 $35 charge and $96 on 05/16/18. (PAUSE) I didn’t make either payment. So I explained that I haven’t made ANY payments to the new company so how did they receive a payment? Who authorized said payment(s)? Riddle me this Batman. Now we have a problem. I am not on a direct draft, I pay with my debit card monthly that is not kept on file… or so I thought. The rep was extremely unhelpful so I asked for a manager, who surprisingly was unavailable at the moment and would return my phone call in 24-48 hours.

Immediately hung up the phone and called the local store. Spoke with the sweetest gentleman who mentioned he had worked with Music Center for 38 years prior to the acquisition. I explained what happened and he was apologetic but said he was unable to assist because he TOO had to call the same customer service department. I informed him this is why people do not deal with big companies and prefer small, local businesses. He also mentioned that Quite a few people have been calling about the company. (Wonder why?)

Fast forward this morning, hubs texts me and asks if I used the cc for a payment…. Nope… But now I wonder, was it for Music & Arts? Yes. Impossible lol How did they get that credit card number? Never used it to make payments. So, he calls…. Again, no direct response except the one possibility, “Someone must have purchased an instrument?”. And yes, the Manager was again unavailable. She tells him to dispute it with the bank lol (Superior customer service). At no point did she ask his name, phone number, account associated. So, he hangs up and calls the bank and puts in a claim.

Big corporations buy smaller ones in these silent acquisitions and decide take advantage of their local clients.