Hillje Music Center

We were in the market for a clarinet for a 6^th grader. Hillje was the first place I called and now I wished I would have done business elsewhere. We ended up purchasing a new clarinet with all of the accessories. They have higher priced rentals than other area music stores. We received poor service from the Round Rock location-​a manager helped us and acted as if it was a burden to him that we needed assistance. Seemed he would rather be anywhere than working in that store. Found all accessories on Amazon for a much lower price (savings of over $ 100) and went to return the items purchased 4 days after original purchase date and was told their return policy was 48 hours. Not posted anywhere in store nor on the receipt. When I asked for a manager to authorize an exception to the return, the young clerk was yelled at over the phone, however the return was authorized. This is a very different experience than many of my friends have had with Strait Music. Heading there now to purchase a metronome…

The worst !!!
I’ve been renting from them for a year and a half.
Kids quit band and now I’m trying to return the two instruments.
They are telling me the mouth piece is the wrong one on both instruments and wanna charge me $ 140 for each mouth piece.
It’s the mouth piece they gave me!!!
Every time there’s been an issue the person in charge is not in or out of reach.
It has been such a hassle.

After reading the other reviews I felt compelled to share a positive story. I have been a customer of Hilje Music Center since 2010. I have rented a flute from them for my daughter who is now in high school band. I also purchased a marimba from them for my son who is still in middle school. I am a trumpet player and have used them multiple times for repairs and cleanings on multiple horns.
I have always found the staff at Hilje friendly and informative. I usually do business in person in their shop and avoid calling in because I work very close by. I have never had an issue with an inaccurate estimate or slow responses like the other reviews have suggested.
Most importantly I trust this shop with my best trumpet. I would not hand over a $ 6,000 instrument to just anyone to clean or repair.
I do know that the amount of time a repair takes depends on multiple factors, and that there are certain times of the year where the repair shop is extremely busy. I personally try to avoid repairs around holidays, or at the very beginning or end of the school semester. These are the times when any music repair shop will be the busiest.
In general, I support Hilje as my local repair shop. I would also rent and purchase from them again. I appreciate the convenience and have had nothing but positive experiences with them.

Save yourself a headache and go elsewhere. Took my son’s trombone to get cleaned and services for the upcoming school year. Dropped it off on Thursday and they said it would ready the following week. I didn’t hear from them so I called them the following Thursday to check on status. They had not even touched it!!! I picked it up and took it to Strait and they had it ready the next day. How do these people make any money if they don’t work. The people that answer the phone are not professional and are eating and chewing on the phone while they are talking to you. The «service technician» was just walking around the store when I got there like he was finished with his work for the day — it was 10:00 a.m.