Sweetwater reviews

4.1

80% would recommend to a friend

(541 total reviews)
avatar

Mike Clem

89% approve of CEO

74% positive business outlook

Sweetwater has an employee rating of 4.1 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 21% above average for employers within the Retail & Wholesale industry (3.4 stars).

Reviews by job title

541 reviews
2.0
Jun 26, 2025

Management issues from my experience

Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Benefits are good Discount on music equipment

Cons

Management with unclear goals and unrealistic expectations Bad work life balance

2.0
Sep 9, 2024

Big mistake

Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Great discount on gear, this is the only “Pro” in my opinion. Also, there are some good people that work for the company, but not Management. Management are literally all Guitar Center defectors. They are told to drink the Kool Aid and shut up, so they do.

Cons

I tried working here for a year. I was a top performer for my tenure, but my income was not even close to the expectations that were set by recruiter. I moved to Fort Wayne and was headed for a life of poverty if I let myself get stuck at this job. You need to call like 15,000 customers before you start making any money. This is basically cold call phone sales. You spend half your time covering for other employees’ while they are out of office and you are expected to accept no pay for this coverage. But required to provide excellent customer service as if it’s your own customer. The early mandatory meetings were an absolute nightmare and waste of time. We were forced to be a captive audience for the redundant manufacturer presentations. No pay for this, pro bono work. They forced us to watch Dave Ramsey religious themed personal finance videos in training to prepare us for living with low income… this was my first major red flag. There was NO work/life balance. The only people who were making enough $ to survive worked ridiculous hours and were losing their sanity. You have to PAY every day for a paper cup of below average coffee, first job I’ve had were no comp coffee was provided. Even though you work mostly in complete isolation cubicle style, there is no option for remote work. I suspect this is party due to wanting captive customers for their coffee and food sales and, of course, the morning meetings.

Viewing 55 - 57 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.