Sweetwater reviews

4.2

81% would recommend to a friend

(541 total reviews)
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Mike Clem

90% approve of CEO

73% positive business outlook

Sweetwater has an employee rating of 4.2 out of 5 stars, based on 541 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have an excellent working experience there. The Sweetwater employee rating is 24% above average for employers within the Retail & Wholesale industry (3.4 stars).

Reviews by job title

541 reviews
1.0
Dec 5, 2013

Not so sweet

Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Good Discounts on gear.... that's it.

Cons

The distribution center pays very poorly. There are some who have work their buts off for years and still make only $8.50 an hour. Managers work 60hr weeks and make less than $30k a year. Compared to sales the distribution employees are treated like second class citizens. There are no opportunities for pay increases or any encouragement for being an outstanding employee. The Distribution center also severely lacks safety. People use old broker pallets as platforms to get items down, many times heavy items break through. There is no training for forklifts or any equipment, management doesn't care who operates equipment. Management does seem to care about anything. As for Chuck Surack he flaunts his money with his expensive cars and even one took out a $100 bill and ripped it in two as her argued with a employee about pay raises. The company has poor values and business ethics. Even with the discounts they are paid so little that employees can't afford anything. Also they sell people demos all the time as "new" items. And odds are your next order will be wrong or broken.

4.0
Oct 13, 2013
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

You get to be around the newest and greatest gear, you're one of the first in the country to find out about new product releases, the on-site lending library lets you take home gear and try it out, on-site dry cleaning, DVD Library, cafe, and game room. The systems used at Sweetwater (database) is a phenomenal asset, quick and easy workflow and integration makes our job a lot easier. You can make as much as you want to make and the work seriously isn't that hard....simply stay on the phone as much as possible and your business will grow. You aren't micromanaged at all, meaning it's up to you to make your business grow. You set the prices and margin (within limitations) and you handle the customer as if you were the manager.

Cons

The database goes down pretty regularly, it can put a damper on your productivity. Even though Sweetwater is a great company, it's still sales...meaning some people are still cut-throat and some senior guys will try to steal your sales. In fact, some senior guys will go through all the shipped invoices and call you up about it...pretty sad when management warns you that will happen (and why aren't you, management, doing anything about it)? I'm not a huge fan of the cafe, it's overpriced and the food is mediocre at best.

Viewing 532 - 534 of 541 Reviews

Glassdoor has 571 Sweetwater reviews submitted anonymously by Sweetwater employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Sweetwater is right for you.