Pedal Genie

In theory it's a great service. In practice I spent too much time waiting for to/from shipping and for the pedals I wanted to become available. The solution to these problems seemed simple to me: First, include a return label with the pedal, and ship the next one out as soon as you receive a tracking number for the previous pedal's return shipment. One order I could tell within a few minutes that the pedal wouldn't work for me. It took 2 weeks to get the next one because I had to wait for a label, wait for the return shipment. Wait for processing. Wait for the next shipment to arrive. Second, pedal availability will always be constrained when you let users keep the pedals for as long as they want, and you only have a few of the high-end pedals that may be more desirable in a rental situation. I think most people sign up for Pedal Genie with the intention of testing a few specific items they are thinking of purchasing. If you can't buy more inventory to satisfy demand, maybe tier pricing per week. So a default checkout time is 2 weeks, but you can pay a premium to keep your pedals for 3, 4, or however long you want. Or maybe add a "get it now" premium option that lets you jump to the next spot in line for a pedal if there's a wait list. Keeping all that data from the customer may be wise, but for someone who is really hoping to use a particular pedal for a gig or recording project - not knowing what you're going to get or when is a frustrating part of the service. I cancelled because I found I could test a pedal by buying it and selling it at a loss in less time for less money (even paying for all shipping) than the PedalGenie subscription.

I really love the concept of Pedal Genie. And in practice, there are a huge number of pedals to try and the customer service responses were excellent. I did have issues with my orders not turning around quickly—that is, I would return a pedal and be without for a while. And the cost was a little high for me, though the new pricing plans help. I'd almost like to see an even lower pricing plan of something like $5 a month membership that then allows me to spend $10-$20 more on a pedal "rental" only when I want it. So I might go 3 months without wanting to try a new pedal and just pay $5 per each of those months. Then I decide that the new Keeley Dark Side looks cool and just want to try it. I go on, pay the extra $15 cover or whatever in addition to my normal membership fee, and get it for that month. Then I either have to return it or pay the extra $15 again the next month. Just a thought.

I really enjoyed the service, but my only complaint was shipping time. It seemed that I had to send an email to ask when the next pedal was being shipped to get my next one to go out. It typically took around 10 days to get the next pedal after the day I shipped it back. So basically, if I got 2 pedals in 1 month, I was out without a pedal for 15-20 days of the month. If shipping time could be reduced to a 5 day turnaround time, I probably would rejoin the service.

Many pedals that I wanted were not available - need more stock (i.e., multiples) of each pedal to handle demand.

I felt that requiring that 10 pedals be in your wishlist was too high. I typically don't have more than 5 pedals I'm interested in. I ended up filling the list and then getting pedals I knew I didn't really like. I'd rather not get any pedal than one I don't want.