For anyone that may have an unfulfilled order with Midwest Percussion.

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dmacc_2

Guest
Caught wind on another drum forum that they are "no-longer" it seems...

If you have an order with them that you've deposited money on, may want to take it up with your credit card company.
 
Great!! I've been doing business with them for nearly 20 years. I ordered a brand new Ludwig LM404C snare on 04/12/13 that was "in stock." Ludwig apparently had 2 of them available. One was to be shipped to Midwest and then sent to me. I followed up on 05/06/13 and was told by John that the drum would be sent to them on 05/08/13 and would be shipped to me in 3-5 business days. I just followed up again last week and tried again today. Looks like they're OOB and I'm out nearly $400. I'm sure there are several others too. I feel bad for anyone that may have ordered a full kit from them.
 
Great!! I've been doing business with them for nearly 20 years. I ordered a brand new Ludwig LM404C snare on 04/12/13 that was "in stock." Ludwig apparently had 2 of them available. One was to be shipped to Midwest and then sent to me. I followed up on 05/06/13 and was told by John that the drum would be sent to them on 05/08/13 and would be shipped to me in 3-5 business days. I just followed up again last week and tried again today. Looks like they're OOB and I'm out nearly $400. I'm sure there are several others too. I feel bad for anyone that may have ordered a full kit from them.

Can you dispute the charge with your credit card company?
 
Just called my bank to start the dispute process. We'll see what happens.

Hopefully you get the protection you need. This is the benefit of paying by credit card. If you paid by check or cash, you'd have zero recourse.
 
Great!! I've been doing business with them for nearly 20 years. I ordered a brand new Ludwig LM404C snare on 04/12/13 that was "in stock." Ludwig apparently had 2 of them available. One was to be shipped to Midwest and then sent to me. I followed up on 05/06/13 and was told by John that the drum would be sent to them on 05/08/13 and would be shipped to me in 3-5 business days. I just followed up again last week and tried again today. Looks like they're OOB and I'm out nearly $400. I'm sure there are several others too. I feel bad for anyone that may have ordered a full kit from them.

Yup, I have a Ludwig LB402B on order with them. Placed the order 4 months ago. Was told it would take 2 weeks. 2 months went by and I called about it. Said they'd have to look into it and would call back. They never did.
Tried calling yesterday and discovered that their phone line was disconnected and website no longer exists.
I had my whole Ludwig Classic Maple kit built and delivered in about 2 months. 4 months and counting for 1 snare seems a little too lengthy. I have a bad feeling about this.
 
nnoooooo I have been buying exclusively from them for years, thankfully I have no orders pending. They even closed their facebook page!!!
 
dang. i've bought quite a few cymbals for cheap when they would have their 20% off deal. i've heard lots of bad things about them, but never had any problems with the exception of slightly slow shipping. any clue why they shut down?
 
In the "me-too" category, I placed an order for a Ludwig Classic Maple Snare back in January and was told repeatedly by John at Midwest about delays at Ludwig in building the drum. A few weeks ago John sent me an email stating it was in the final stages at Ludwig and was going to be drop-shipped to me. Earlier today I talked with a very helpful rep at Ludwig who researched my order and it turns out the drum had never been built...likely because Midwest did not have the cash flow to have paid Ludwig for it.

A few times during this whole period of delays John at Midwest had offered to refund my money. (It wasn't even MY money - I play for a Sunday morning church service and the CHURCH had actually reimbursed me when I ordered the drum.) There wasn't a pressing need to have the drum so I was just waiting it out in good faith (*pun intended*) as it eventually would have been the perfect drum for that situation (5x14 wood shell, cherry stain lacquer with tube lugs.)

Now the only GOOD news I have is, since I have my receipt which states the drum was backordered to begin with, AND email correspondence from Midwest up until a few weeks ago, my credit card company has accepted my dispute and given me a credit for the drum even though this all goes back to January. As dmacc stated, it's always good to use a credit card for financial transaction protection.

I had done a pretty good amount of business for probably close to 15 yrs. with Midwest and there were occasional delays but it always worked out and they seemed like cool enough guys to deal with. I'm surprised and sad this has happened.
 
I guess I was one of the lucky ones. I ordered a set of Tuxedo bags from them back in January of 2011. I kept getting the runaround from them blaming the NAMM show and Humes & Berg falling behind on their orders. They said that they were waiting for the bass drum bag. After a couple of months and a few really nasty phone calls and emails they sent a Protection Racket bag instead. I vowed never to buy anything from them again.
 
I'd make a personal visit to the owner's place of residence. Shouldn't be that difficult to find out in this day and age.

My condolences to those who were ripped off.

Being in financial trouble is one thing. Flat out lying is another.
 
Happy to report that I was able to get my money back after contacting my bank and taking the necessary steps. I'm hoping it worked out for others too. Sounds like they just shut down and left a lot of people hanging from what I've read on other forums.
 
This Place stole money from me and alot of others. This place was deserted recently. I've contacted local business that have verified that they are not there though the village hall still says they have their business licence until December of this year. Their licence should be revoked and the company investigated. I've begun investigation and I'm hoping that the owner is found and arrested. I was waiting for a custom order Tama tom to arrive but it never did. Tama won't honor the purchase because they never received payment but Midwest Percussion was still licensed to sell Tama even though Tama is just the distributor. Tama legally doesn't have to give me the drum but it's still wrong, and it's not worth suing them for a little over a hundred dollars. My credit card company says they need proof that the company is closed and it must be proof from the government or a news clipping.
 
From the Illinois Secretary of State website (public information)

CORPORATION FILE DETAIL REPORT

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Entity Name MIDWEST PERCUSSION, INC. File Number 63441384
Status ACTIVE
Entity Type CORPORATION Type of Corp DOMESTIC BCA
Incorporation Date (Domestic) 03/22/2004 State ILLINOIS
Agent Name JOHN LITRENTA Agent Change Date 05/02/2007
Agent Street Address 19027-B SOUTH JODI RD
President Name & Address JOHN LITRENTA 17109 KERRY AVE ORLAND PARK 60467 Agent City MOKENA Secretary Name & Address SAME
Agent Zip 60448 Duration Date PERPETUAL
Annual Report Filing Date 03/18/2013 For Year 2013
 
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I'm not sure how that information would help. It has his home address but that doesn't help. I'm going to be contacting local newspapers. That's my next step. I've already contacted the Attorney General.

Going to his house does nothing. He would arrest me for trespassing.
 
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This is most unfortunate for you and Midwest percussion. I knew these guys personally and bought alot of stuff over the counter from them. John is a good man and i'm sure he did not mean to screw anybody over. Unfortunately these are the things that happen when a business goes under. We all love the internet but this is what it does to our neighborhood mom and pop shops! I have many great memories of clinics these guys brought home to us. I personally met Terry Bozzio, Dave Wekl, Rod Morganstein, kenny Arnoff and probably a few more I can't recall. If it was'nt for them, this may have never happened. Hopefully you retrieve your funds and they can lay to rest with a good name. this is again most unfortunate.
 
This is most unfortunate for you and Midwest percussion. I knew these guys personally and bought alot of stuff over the counter from them. John is a good man and i'm sure he did not mean to screw anybody over. Unfortunately these are the things that happen when a business goes under. We all love the internet but this is what it does to our neighborhood mom and pop shops! I have many great memories of clinics these guys brought home to us. I personally met Terry Bozzio, Dave Wekl, Rod Morganstein, kenny Arnoff and probably a few more I can't recall. If it was'nt for them, this may have never happened. Hopefully you retrieve your funds and they can lay to rest with a good name. this is again most unfortunate.


Um he sure did mean to screw people over. I don't care who came to his store, and I don't see how a place that small could hold a clinic. If you knew him personally, I wouldn't trust your comments anymore than I trust John. It's a business..he was in it to make money. When his business started going under because of guitar center or the internet doesn't make it right to take money from people. He should have payed his debt and given what was owed to people and closed his doors and declare bankruptcy. I don't care if he was good to others. He sure as hell wasn't good to me and others like myself. I feel worse for others in which they are out thousands of dollars. My loss isn't as great as others are. I could care less about mom and pop shops or small family business. Most small family business's don't care about having a bigger business or helping others. They only care about one thing, and that's making money for themselves. Mom and Pop should have done their homework and realize that society doesn't improve by taking from others without contributing. I'm not saying places like Guitar Center are any better. People are in business to do one thing, make money. It's really simple. They have something you want and they sell it to you for a price in which they make a profit. What John did was not ethical and breaks down what is already a fragile society. This stuff happens all the time. Business's will close their doors and sometimes open up something else with a new name. It's always safer to purchase things from larger companies that don't have as much a chance of going under, and always making sure you have substantial documentation of your purchase in case of the event that a large corporation does go under. Purchasing from him was my mistake. I didn't see the warnings. I didn't check out the business enough. His receipts over the internet aren't really receipts. It's just their store invoice. I should have known better on that one. I haven't given up on getting my money back somehow. This is still very new. There are others that have thousands lost and they are more pissed than I am. I already don't trust people very well. This makes me trust people even less.
 
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