I almost hate to write this because I love Pat's for walk-in and off-the-shelf shopping BUT, their special ordering system is broke (nicest thing I can say about it).
I should've taken heed of the negative reviews on special ordering here (as it's clearly a trend but I've always had good luck there so we tried it).....boy that was a mistake.
In a nutshell, we ordered an item that's readily available for immediate shipping on a number of internet sites. Pat's happily took 1/2 in deposit, then promised 3-4 day arrival. Long story short it took a number of phone calls (none of which were returned), 2 store visits to inquire/threaten to get our money back, 3 missed ""promise"" dates, and a final ultimatum on our part (3 weeks later) before the item arrived. When it did arrive the box it was in looked like it'd been drug up from L.A., then taken through a car wash for good measure. To our amazement the instrument ended up being fine.
Based on others' comments on here, and my recent experience, Pat's obviously has a serious long-term problem with how they handle special orders. If they have it in stock in one of their stores, fine. If they'll get one in for you (no down payment) and you're not in a hurry, fine, but I would never special order anything from them again, ever.
Again, this situation is unfortunate as we really like them on a normal walk-in basis. Consider yourself warned about special ordering though.
Pros: None in regard to Special Ordering
Cons: They take your money and slow-roll you
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