I have been renting my son's band instrument for 27 months on the rent-to-own. I called them to purchase the instrument, and they have been bought out, and my rent-to-own plan is no longer valid. I have paid $1500 for the instrument over this course of time... Now I have to buy the instrument from scratch. I feel taken advantage of. read more

So, I decided to learn how to play the cello and rather than purchase an instrument out right I decided to rent-to-own. Based on the price and student quality of the instrument, Williamson offers the best price. Currently, I am renting an adult sized, student-grade cello. This comes with case, bow and complete maintenance. If at any time I wish to upgrade to a professional-grade cello I can do so without penalty. The staff is very helpful and I found them to be great aid in guiding me towards a beginner instrument. I look forward to seeing how my relationship with them will grow over the course of learning my instrument. NOTE: They are located in a outdoor shopping center off of Plano Parkway on the westbound side of 75. Their sign is large, but if you're headed west on Plano Parkway, turn left into the shopping center and they are on the upfront corner. read more

A terrific store for string instrument rentals, repair and purchase. They have a limited amount of music for sale as well as an abundance of music supplies. Carol, the WONDERFUL luthier at Williamson's, has worked on my cello and violin. I've had lots of students over the years buy instruments from Williamson's and I've always been pleased. Why 4 stars? For the price, I prefer Cadenza in Plano. Williamson's is still an outstanding store. read more

Williamson Music 1st - Musical Instruments & Teachers Near Me - Plano, Texas

Unfortunately this company does not manage things with any degree of detail. I don't believe it is intentional, but their lack of attention to detail causes customers a great deal of inconvenience and issues. I made an order with them for rental of instrument for school along with additional one-time purchase items which were needed. They make it appear convenient because they deliver directly to the school. But what actually happened is that several items were missing, and some wrong items given. It was due to backorder, but the real problem is that they don't communicate! Not only was the order late and with missing/wrong items, but I had to make multiple calls and trips to the store to work it out. They did not call me to inform me ahead of time, nor return my calls after. Although I had been charged for everything, over 1 month later, I still have to follow up to find out when I will get the rest of the items from my order, they are not proactively checking the status of these items. Also I made multiple unreturned calls to the head office to get my credit card info updated with no return call. It is really poorly organized and mismanaged. However, on the upside, when you go into the store, the guys there are able to properly repair and answer questions about the instruments themselves. read more

Absolutely LOVE these guys in Plano. I showed up unintentionally just minutes before closing with unusual requests & plenty of questions. Young guy was informative, offered suggestions which did help me make a purchase, polite, didn't rush me at all, even made a call to Frisco sister store for me. Exceptional service guaranteed everytime in Plano no matter when you show up for all your music desires! read more

I placed an on line order in July which was charged to my credit card, but never shipped. I have contacted the store (Plano) multiple times via thier on line messaging and made 7 calls. Each conversation offered an apology and promise of refund. it is now a month later and no resolution. I have given this establishment ample time to make it right before logging this review. I made this situation known to our band/orchestra directors, and found that I am among a large group with very similar experiences. There are quite a few great establishments in this are for your band/orchestra needs - Williamson is not one of them. Be wise and take your money elsewhere. read more

So this rating is for the store in Frisco. I was not impressed at all with the Plano location. I am very much a self help guy if I have the tools and wanted to replace the cork on my sons neck. It was a hassle getting them to tell me if they could just sell me the cork by itself. The Frisco location blew the Plano location out of the water as far as knowledge, customer service and willingness to take the time to show me everything they saw with my instrument and even gave me advise as to whether it was even worth it to repair it given the Sax brand. I opted to get it fixed anyways due to how great the whole process was. read more

Williamson has really changed over the last 4 years since I have known them. Significant upgrade in store personnel, presentation and stock. By far the best and quickest repair service, at fair prices. My family enjoys the monthly complimentary jazz workshops. Great message and music. Not a sales pitch but a community of avid musicians. read more

This company is super shady. I ordered a cello case from them and they emailed and said it was backordered for like a month. Plenty of places to buy a case so I asked to cancel the order and refund my PayPal. And they just never did. I followed up and said there was no refund. (It takes about 30 sec to get on PayPal and press a button). The guy was like hmmm, let me look into that. I had to get PayPal to get my refund for me. read more

I bought a brand new alto sax 15 months ago. Loved it! Dropped off an old Tenor Saxophone after speaking with Andre the owner. He said he does excellent restorations, suggested the best way to go and said it will be 3-4 months lead time. This was February 2019. After numerous calls, messages left with never even a courtesy call back i picked up my horn and have to find another shop. The owner is garbage, no class or consideration. They have lost my business and i DO NOT RECOMMEND THEM!!! read more

Put my kids trumpet into quarantine for more than a week without permission. When I called to see if they were open they said nothing about quarentine. When I drove there to drop it off they said three days of quarantine. After an entire week plus a few hours, I called to ask when it would be ready and they tell me its in quarentine still and they have not even looked at it. At the very least they could have offered a free rental but they did not. I found other places when I called around that can fix it while I wait. So if Williams Music had been truthful when I called last Monday, I would have called around that day and dropped it off somewhere better. read more

Had a great experience renting a trumpet for my daughter. Easy to deal with, honest and no tricks or deception to the contract unlike Bell'a Music store. Highly recommended for CISD. I'll be going back to them in August. read more

The experience was great in the beginning. However, when I inquired about paying off the instrument, and realized they had initially charged me almost double the price I could have bought the instrument at outright, I asked to speak to someone at the corporate office. FIVE MONTHS later, multiple calls each month, and even calls and messages to their owner Andre, I have still not heard back from this business. I am still paying monthly as they have no problem taking my money, but do not have the decency to return a phone call. Frisco Residents, do not use this music store for your child's instrument rental unless you want to pay a fortune and be ignored when you have questions or concerns. read more

I placed an order for several items along with an instrument for my student in orchestra at the end of last school year, so June. 2 items were on backorder for which I was never notified and only knew because my son mentioned that his teacher said that he needed to purchase X&Y for class. I had already purchased them but had no idea they were on backorder and that they weren't delivered. I had to call several times to inquire about the items and was assured they would be delivered. Here were are in Sept and he is still missing an item. I have now called 3 times over the last month and was told the item is in stock and that it would be delivered. Well it hasn't been. I paid in June, and 3 months later no item. His instrument also arrived with a broken string, so that had to be fixed as soon as he opened the case. If I had to do it again I wouldn't choose Williamson as there is zero communication!! read more

We rent a BASS from Williamson. I don't have much experience with the people in Retail Store...however extremely happy with Orchestra Repair Team(at Plano location) Carol and the other nice gentleman(Korean..never got a chance to ask his name). Very flexible and always accommodates to suite your schedule. If I were to rate them I will rate 10 on a scale of 1 to 5 :) I would like to see this type of customer service from their Frisco store as well. read more

I had to make a Yelp account specifically to write this review. I've been a customer at Williamson's for almost seven years now (unfortunately). The majority of its popularity in the area stems from the large variety of different beginner-level instruments they carry. All the middle schools in East Plano recommend purchasing instruments here or renting them. They're making a big mistake. I bought my first intermediate violin here because it was the only music store I knew of. Turns out, there are amazing (far superior) music shops online and some just a little further in Richardson. The main two that I can think of at the moment are Shar Music online and the J Rury shop. I've always found it stressful to go to Williamson's to buy things or even have a look around at the instruments and accessories. The staff are either unfriendly, clueless, complacent, lazy, or condescending. The store operates on two extremes: in the beginning of the school year, it's so busy and full that the workers couldn't care less about the quality of service they offer. It's all quantity over quality. Any other time, the store is silent, and when you walk in, they don't bother acknowledging your existence and carry on with whatever they were doing (read: nothing). However, the luthiers in the back are extremely friendly and genuine. Charlie has an exceptionally warm and amiable character. Peter is also wonderful and is an effective translator for Charlie, who speaks exclusively Korean. Carol is very friendly and very helpful, and she's quite flexible with prices and deals. But today, I had one of the worst experiences ever as a customer. I'm a math tutor who works with children and their parents, and I know how important it is to maintain a respectful relationship with the customer. Nick Sarabia, the assistant store manager, evidently doesn't. He was rude, sassy, disrespectful, and gave a general "I don't care and nothing you say will make me" attitude. He also had no idea what he was doing. I needed a soundpost adjustment, because my violin was too powerful in the higher registers and needed a fuller sound in the lower. Also, I wanted a richer tone instead of a overly brilliant one. This can be done by moving the soundpost, and if it weren't for the convenient and close location of Williamson's, I definitely would have gone to J Rury for this job. And I should have. I wasn't expecting much, given that it was Williamson's again, but I decided to give it another try. I thought I'd end on a good note with this place before heading off to Berkeley for college, and I needed to get the soundpost adjusted before leaving. I walked in and received no greeting. Then I walked up to the counter and asked for a soundpost adjustment, and Nick wrote that down on one of those tags that the luthiers use to keep track of long-term repairs (at this point I knew that he had no idea what this was and how long it would take). He took my violin and walked to the back. Returned a few minutes later, and "that would be fifteen dollars." But I haven't even told you what I want yet? How could you possibly know what adjustment I wanted to make to my soundpost? It's not like it had fallen over or anything, so 1) you're blatantly trying to rip me off and 2) last time I came here for this same adjustment, I didn't have to pay a cent. So I asked if I could walk to the back and talk to the luthiers myself. As I was talking to Charlie, Nick rudely commented that "he (Charlie) has no idea what you're saying." Throughout the rest of my time at the store, Nick repeatedly commented on Charlie's English comprehension skills in a haughty and borderline-racist manner. That is no way to do business. Inappropriate. The soundpost ended up in the right place and everything was good to go. I walked up to the counter and put my violin in the case, thinking that was that. But then Nick says "that would be twenty-five dollars." For a minor soundpost adjustment that was FREE the last time I came here?! I tried to explain my situation to Nick, who wouldn't listen. Even the luthiers, who REMEMBERED ME from last time, came to my defense. Nick was stubborn and refused to do anything other than charge me. Eventually he lowered it to fifteen, but nothing more. So once again, I was ripped off. The prices at Shar are so much cheaper than those at Williamson's; I really regret shopping here for so long not having known of Shar earlier, because I've basically been ripped off everything (especially strings--GO TO SHAR FOR THOSE!). Shopping at Williamson's is kind of like a convenient, necessary evil. The only thing this store has over other competitors (like the two I've mentioned) is location for people living around here. They have a kind of monopoly going on and capitalize on the misinformed or otherwise confused beginners who don't know where to start. I can tell you, start anywhere but here. read more

I am pleased with the availability and quality of what I was looking for, but I detected a hurried attitude from the sales staff. They could have sold me a higher quality item if they'd taken the time to explain what they had available. That said, I did receive great service on my rental and just made a mental note to go elsewhere if I need to discuss anything in detail. Oh yes, if you've got a rental with them, they'll discount you on standard prices for some store items, but the standard prices on what I bought was high to begin with, so the discount only brought it down to what I'd expect in the first place. read more

I've always had good and efficient service from this store. When we needed repairs or a larger instrument they have been helpful.

My parents promised me a new violin if I made first chair violin for All-Region Orchestra back in the late 70's. I did...and that week my mom took me to the Williamson's house, yes house, to pick out my new violin. Row upon row of beautiful instruments hanging from strings in Mr. Williamson's garage/workroom. It was heaven! He and Mrs. Williamson made me feel so special, and I remember Mr. Williamson personally coming by our school every couple of weeks. I still play that same violin every week at church (I'm almost 50 now), and just today I received a box back with a part I sent to be repaired. I ONLY go to them for my violin and bow repairs and no one else do I trust with my precious instrument. Thank you Carol for outstanding and quick service! Doni Hall read more

We are renting a trombone for my daughter to make sure she likes the instrument before we purchase one. The entire set up was supposed to be delivered to her school. It was delivered but they included the wrong mouthpiece. I had to drive down to their store because there was no offer on their end to make it right. The lady working behind the counter was flat out rude. She handed me the correct piece without saying a word then walked off. I expected to at least get a "Sorry, we made a mistake" or "Thanks for coming in". Horrible customer service. If my daughter does stick with band, we will not be purchasing an instrument from this store. read more

I would not recommend renting an instrument from this store. They initially rented me the wrong size double bass and a poor quality bow. The replacement instrument did not have a rubber stopper on the bottom and damaged my wood floor at my home. Poor quality instruments and the staff at the store was rude and abusive to my 13 year old son on a recent visit. I returned my instrument and rented from a competitor read more

I am a volunteer clarinetist at my church and a local community band. I have had my clarinet repaired here and was especially pleased with the service once the repair had been done. There were a few pads that possibly were not seating well or whatever was creating the sound differences and they promptly worked with me to correct them. They do carry a fair variety of reeds and other accessories. I will admit that they do have a limited music selection but if I remember correctly Nadine's Music Manor is the place to hit if you want a wide variety of music. read more

We continue to have bad experiences with this company regarding renting instruments for band season. I had to go back to the Frisco store at least 6 times for things that were not taken care of the first time, such as renting us an alto sax that the band director had us take back because it was not in playing condition. I am currently waiting for a bassoon repair to be completed, which was promised to me to be competed 7 days ago and each time I call they say they are "working on it today and it will be done by tomorrow." This will be our last time here. I will find another company to rent from and make repairs in the future. read more

I had a bit of bad experience with this store and the company. I rented a saxophone for my son, and along with the rental I bought a bunch of stuff. My son used it for all of 10 minutes total the whole month for which we rented it. When we went to return it, they said a $35 dollar part was missing. Nothing was; that's all we brought home. I asked the store and the company to check their inventory against the sales receipt. They didn't want to go through that trouble. The salesman wasn't there and wouldn't return my calls. I considered that loss as part of the rental. So, I paid more than $100 for 10 minutes of play. Lesson learned. Since then I bought two saxophones on eBay (a bargain for what this store was quoting), I guess, strangers are more reliable. (But I am sure this store and company are great. :) read more