Guitar center rant (wow another one?)

[A-Step-Towards]

So i found a classic 50s P bass on guitar centers used site 349.99$ , new these go for 750$ so its a pretty sweet deal in good shape with a gig bag. I was pretty happy and called about it , the guy said shipping would be 15$.

I said sold and he ran my card , he said it didnt go through and said its not working because my billing address doesnt match the card, I told him yes it does I have bought from your used site before and this never happened. He said okay and kept trying , after the 4th time he said call me back if you have another card otherwise I cant sell it to you.

I was a little upset , the guy was trying to talk over some eddy van halen wannbes in the background, you know those guys that think there great at guitar because they can play some super fast solos and dont know what a D chord is? yeah those guys. So it just put me in a bad mood. I get online and check my bank account and I was charged 4 times for 365.01$, yes i was charged each time the guy put in my information, i had like 800$ in my checking , I am a college student and am not exactly rolling in it. Thus my account was -700$ and was overdrafting.

I called guitar center and the guy basically said there is nothing I can do take it up with your bank, awesome customer service

I sat down at wells fargo , 3 days in a row getting it sorted out , i didnt use my debit card for nearly a week , had to borrow 100$ from my dad to get through the week , delayed shipping on a item i had to send out since i didnt have cash a few days, and in the end i got no bass.


Just a forewarning i have heard more horror stories then good ones about buying there used gear. I did buy once before and it went great but this guy sucked.

It was at the Springfield , Missouri guitar center and the reps name was Justin.

As of today all my money is back and i can use my card but it was alot of headache for nothing.

[Depth_Charge]

Sorry to hear about the experience.

Maybe if you bring all the bank paperwork showing what happened to a GC manager, they might be able to work something out for you. Maybe discount you that bass or give you a store credit or something.

If nothing else, they might see an opportunity to improve their staff's use of such billing technology, and customer service.

[angrypanda]

I hate guitar center but I have to say I do not use my debit card for anything anymore because this happens all the time, dumb ass people running your card multiple times then it takes a week to get it sorted out!

[rmayer]

Ah yes, Guitar Center, the home Depot of music stores. Wait, sales people at Home Depot are more knowledgeable.

[rmayer]

That's what happens when you hire kids from high school and pay them $7.00 an hour.

[Depth_Charge]

Sounds more like a combination of employing youth AND not providing proper training, supervision and motivation, but YMMV.

[Lesfunk]

I had the same trouble trying to buy from GC with a Credit card over the phone. It's th only place I've ever had that problem. In the long run it's better. There's a zillion better places to get gear.
Not all guitar center stores suck but the company itself kinda does.

[Ursus Tyrannus]

Man, I'm glad I dont have one of those Guitar Centers near me.
I got a good one in the nearby town of Attleboro, MA. They are awesome and treat me very well and I dont even spend much money there. In two years I've bought two basses from them, a $300 Ibanez SR300 and a $89 Peavey Patriot, a high roller I aint. Their tech guy is super cool, helpful and just plain pleasant to deal with as well as many of their other staff.
I have never been to another GC and readily admit I may have an anomaly with one of the better run ones nearby but I've never had a single problem like I read about in on-line forums and frankly, they are better than the few nearby independently owned music stores in my area both in service and selection. Its like an inversion, I have been treated rudely, dealt with incompetence, indifference and a utter lack of knowledge by the mom 'n pop stores who all have a very limited selection and I have been treated above and beyond by my local GC.
No, I dont work there, I'm not related to nor personally know anyone who works there, I just cant assimilate the complete disconnect between what I read about GC in on-line forums compared to my numerous personal experiences.

[Fendbassfan]

Last time I was at a GC I was standing at the counter waiting for the guy to finish ringing up some guy in front of me so I could buy some guitar strings. He finished and walked away into the showroom. I said, 'Hey, where are you going. I've been waiting here to buy a set of guitar strings. He said someone will be there to help me. I said no they won't cuz I'm leaving. I told the girl that stands by the door how lousy the service is and I'll just buy the strings on-line. I got in my car and the manager came to my car. I told him it was rude for the guy to just walk away like that and I drove away.

[Jason P Bass]

Originally Posted by Depth_Charge

Sounds more like a combination of employing youth AND not providing proper training, supervision and motivation, but YMMV.

Agreed. Happened AT Guitar Center, but could have happened anywhere.

Bottom line - merchant made a mistake, and the bank failed to catch suspicious charges (4 identical charges, seconds apart, should not be approved. The bank screwed up). Force the bank to choose between "loaning" you $700 for a couple of hours or losing an account forever.

These days, everybody wants a new customer. I bet they'll refund your overdraft charges.

[prd004]

You made two mistakes, shopping at GC and banking at Wells Fargo!

[Jason P Bass]

Originally Posted by prd004

You made two mistakes, shopping at GC and banking at Wells Fargo!

Oh I didn't catch that the bank was Wells Fargo.

OP, good luck. And find another bank.

[dalkowski]

Originally Posted by prd004

You made two mistakes, shopping at GC and banking at Wells Fargo!

Actually, banking at WF is a far worse mistake.

[bobunit]

Originally Posted by Jason P Bass

Oh I didn't catch that the bank was Wells Fargo.

OP, good luck. And find another bank.

Ya see, Wells Fargo is bad. Mmkay!?

[Foamy]

Wells Fargo is not at blame here! Dang, guys! Come on! They may not be the best bank, and y'all may have some bad blood with WF, but they have no idea what happened. How hard is it to imagine back to back similar purchases? I do it all the time at the gas pump, and occasionally when I buy the same gift for different people.
They fixed it! And they still have no real proof that the OP did not walk out with several instruments.

[Ursus Tyrannus]

Wells Fargo (whom I've never dealt with) should have caught it, this type of thing happens all the time but usually they get discovered. Several identical charges with time stamps seconds apart usually get kicked out of the system automatically, ones within minutes get flagged by the system and are usually dealt with without human intervention. It was not WF's mistake but they should have been smarter at catching it.
And then something like this happens, card reader/processor error.
However, I dont think the blame can be laid at the feet of WF or GC but at the card service provider being used between the GC and the bank. I have worked in retail for most my life and have had to deal with these type of companies. A retail store does not do the processing of credit/debit cards, that is handled by a third party provider whom the retailer pays for providing that service, and it can get quite expensive for retailers, and when mistakes happen its the retailer who gets the blame. Its only natural, you dont know what card service you dealing with, only that you went to store "X" and use bank "Y". Depending on where in the processing chain the mistake is discovered its up to the bank or the store to deal with, usually its been my experience all card transaction get finalized at the end of the business day and sent to the bank but you can set it up to be done automatically at certain times or be done manually any time during the day, but its best to wait and process at the close of the day. Unfortunately neither made the mistake and in the end the card processor has to make good but they are the link unseen by the public. Some are better than others, some make more mistakes, some are cheaper depending on a monthly fee and/or a per transaction fee. Just think of how many transactions one GC can generate, then multiply by how ever many other retail chains and independently owned retailers a single card company handles. Add in satellite woes and weather interruptions, out dated and abused equipment and its a wonder the system works as well as it does, let alone at all. I had a contract with a card company that every time a bad snow storm hit the mid-west we couldn't process cards on the east coast. Sure, they were cheap to deal with, but we got what we paid for. Got a new card processor server who did a lot of the multiple charge thing, I think in a week two customers were multiple charged but many many transactions were sent multiple times and caught by the perspective banks, but man were those customers mad at us! Then it was discovered it was the software in the old card scanner having issues communicating with the new register software so we needed all new readers. It really is a miracle any of this works.

[BigOldHarry]

Originally Posted by A-Step-Towards

So i found a classic 50s P bass on guitar centers used site 349.99$ , new these go for 750$ so its a pretty sweet deal in good shape with a gig bag. I was pretty happy and called about it , the guy said shipping would be 15$.

I said sold and he ran my card , he said it didnt go through and said its not working because my billing address doesnt match the card, I told him yes it does I have bought from your used site before and this never happened. He said okay and kept trying , after the 4th time he said call me back if you have another card otherwise I cant sell it to you.

I was a little upset , the guy was trying to talk over some eddy van halen wannbes in the background, you know those guys that think there great at guitar because they can play some super fast solos and dont know what a D chord is? yeah those guys. So it just put me in a bad mood. I get online and check my bank account and I was charged 4 times for 365.01$, yes i was charged each time the guy put in my information, i had like 800$ in my checking , I am a college student and am not exactly rolling in it. Thus my account was -700$ and was overdrafting.

I called guitar center and the guy basically said there is nothing I can do take it up with your bank, awesome customer service

I sat down at wells fargo , 3 days in a row getting it sorted out , i didnt use my debit card for nearly a week , had to borrow 100$ from my dad to get through the week , delayed shipping on a item i had to send out since i didnt have cash a few days, and in the end i got no bass.


Just a forewarning i have heard more horror stories then good ones about buying there used gear. I did buy once before and it went great but this guy sucked.

It was at the Springfield , Missouri guitar center and the reps name was Justin.

As of today all my money is back and i can use my card but it was alot of headache for nothing.

That's AWESOME... You got charged 4 times for a bass you didn't get to buy! OUTSTANDING!

GC Does it AGAIN!

Originally Posted by dalkowski

Actually, banking at WF is a far worse mistake.

Yeah, hard to debate that. Them and BofA are the absolute *worst*.

[elgecko]

Wow, a legitimate gripe for once. Usually, these threads are pretty lame.

Kind of refreshing in a weird sort of way.

[tangentmusic]

I only go to GC with cash in my pocket and a distinct purchase in mind.
If they don't have what I want on hand, I'll go elsewere.

[ShredderMaximus]

yeah, I hate WF. When I opened my first ever bank account there for my first job, I thought I had money in my account, and it was hot out. So during the course of the day I bought 4 of those big-a$$ cans of Arizona tea separately for 1.00 each on my card. Turned out they had taken money from my account and I had .02 cents balance, so they proceeded to charge me 33$ per charge in overdraft, which ended up totaling 132$.

It was my own mistake, but when I went in to beg for leniency (me being a 17 year old kid and this being my first account) they made me wait an hour, and then took off a whopping 20 dollars!!!! Woo Woo!

Needless to say soon after I closed my account (after paying) and went to the local bank where I've been happy since. But that has always just left the worst taste in my mouth in regards to Wells-Fargo, screw those guys!!!!
[/rant]