Another Guitar Center Fiasco

[capnsandwich]

Wow. Sorry you guys have had bad experiences. I've also had experiences like that in Chili's, Sears, the grocery store, and Home Depot. My point is that service in general is pretty poor these days. Retail sales employees don't make a lot of money, so you don't always get the best of the best employees.

That being said, I recently started working at Guitar Center and I haven't found any incidents like you guys are describing here at my store. Everyone who works in my store is friendly and nice, and we try to be as educated as possible. However, when there are something like 400 guitars on the wall and 100 amps, not to mention all the basses and other gear such as accessories, it's a very difficult challenge for a new employee to learn. I find that most of my customers don't have any problem when I say "I don't know the answer to your question, but I will be glad to find out." Most people are very patient when they are treated with respect.

On the other side of the coin, I have been to other music stores before where I felt like if I wasn't buying anything, than I was not worth the salesguy's time. I think this could happen in any sales environment. The honest truth is that salespeople have to eat too, and if one customer is just looking (and not asking questions or giving any indication of buying today - or even next month), and another is ready to buy, it's kind of hard to justify spending a lot of time with the looker and not getting the sale. The other part of that too is we get so many guys who don't come to buy, but just to check out the cool gear or sit down and wank on a guitar for an hour. We have one guy who comes in every evening after he gets off work and plays the same guitar every night from 7-close.

Poor customer service is inexcusable. I refuse to do that to my customers. I was hired specifically because I'm a bass player. If you live in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area and want to deal with someone who is knowledgeable about bass guitars and amps, please come see me. While we don't have the biggest selection in our stores, we can special order practically anything out there. I'm also working with my manager to do more with the bass room. I've already reset all the basses by brand, type, and price, as well as making sure everything is plugged up and working. And I've only been there for two weeks.

My name is Wayne, and I'm proud to work at Guitar Center in Lewisville, Texas.

Come see my Rumble Room! There's enough wattage in there to blow your hair back!!!

Well, looks like they need to clone you a few thousand times and then send them to all the GC's in the country. At least there's one good guy in there we can depend on.

 

[Marley's Ghost]

You will continue to see GC discount what we call "aging" Used gear. If you see something in a store for 6 months + (at least one of my stores) we will be ready to let it go. We are working harder to price it right the first time, and sell it fast. In my territory, we are also being proactive about repricing our used gear on a monthly/bi-monthly basis. Although we have become more disciplined to our price protection policy, we are not stupid, we will still agressivley price aging used gear and other gear that we are discontinuing out of our system or gear vendors have discontinued. I would venture to say there are hundreds of people out here who have scored incredible deals on basses becase the color has been discontinued or something like that and this will continue.
jh

+1 I scored a used MIA G&L SB2 at the NYC CG for $699. It was in mint condition!

 

[debassr]

Wow. Sorry you guys have had bad experiences. I've also had experiences like that in Chili's, Sears, the grocery store, and Home Depot. My point is that service in general is pretty poor these days. Retail sales employees don't make a lot of money, so you don't always get the best of the best employees.

My name is Wayne, and I'm proud to work at Guitar Center in Lewisville, Texas.

Come see my Rumble Room! There's enough wattage in there to blow your hair back!!!

What are you doing WORKING at a GC? You should own a few.

Oh, and everything is bigger in Texas.

 

[modulusman]

When I was about 20, I bought a new GK 4x10 cab and a new 400RB.

Seemed like a perfect matchup to me. GK + GK = , right? It was my first non-combo amp, so my knowledge of impedance was extremely limited. The (first set) of speakers blew within 33 days of purchase (was about my 8th time ever using the head/cab). Probably due to them selling me a head that was improperly matched for this cabinet, but was a "perfect" match according to the salesman.

I called them to see if it was covered under my warranty and they said no, because it was passed the 30 day return policy or something. they would have to contact a GK distributer order the speakers and they would fix it for me - for a service charge. Or I could call GK and have the speakers shipped to my house and fix it myself/get it fixed at a no-name repair shop for a much larger charge. I had GC do the service, since I bought it there in the first place. They had it for 3 weeks.
What happened at a gig right away? Speakers blew during a set.
Next day, I called GK. They claimed it was a "bad batch" of speakers that they sent, and would send another set of 4 for free. Great, but I still don't know how to put them in...I contacted GC the next day to see if it was covered under their "service warranty" they said no, and had no record of me bringing it in and suggested I bring the cabinet in to get fixed - for another full service charge - and it took another 3 weeks to fix!!!

The best part!? They suggested I bring the GK 400 RB in as well because that "probably needs repair too". So I did, and they took my money, and 3 weeks of band rehearsals.

And my head clipped out during practice a month later and the speakers blew a third time. Ended up selling the cabinet back to them for $150 w/ blown speakers.

What I'm saying is, they took advantage of my lack of knowledge about something and used it to make more money. Maybe I'm the dumb one, but why would a "reputable" store have to make you feel like that in the first place???

So because you were too stupid to run your rig right it was their fault?

 

[Brad Johnson]

That wasn't very diplomatic, now was it?

 

[Oreomeister365]

He sounds arrogant. Talk to me in 40 years. I'm 58 and look it...and I play about 60 gigs a year and have for years. The last thing I need is some 18 year-old who couldn't find his ass with a road map talking uninformed nonsense to me at a music store when I stop in to buy something. You need to know what you're selling and you need to find out the customer's needs before showing them something. That is true in any sales job.

But the point it, he IS some 18 year old kid who you've never met and you know that. You already know what's going to happen. Might I suggest some mom n pop stores maybe where they don't hire a new staff every season? It may not be acceptable but if you already know the result why even try? Esp when there are places suited to people like you?

On another note: my local music shop has recently undergone a huge upgrade and when I asked about a job they said "ah we're good on employees, we got mostly former guitar center guys and stuff like that, people who know their stuff" and geez go figure, me being on talkbass for 4 years has probably taught me more about gear then ANY of those former guitar center employees. The first guy I asked didn't know what a patch cable was....

anyways.

 

[Brad Johnson]

But the point it, he IS some 18 year old kid who you've never met and you know that. You already know what's going to happen. Might I suggest some mom n pop stores maybe where they don't hire a new staff every season? It may not be acceptable but if you already know the result why even try? Esp when there are places suited to people like you?

No, you don't know what's going to happen, that's what I was talking about

On another note: my local music shop has recently undergone a huge upgrade and when I asked about a job they said "ah we're good on employees, we got mostly former guitar center guys and stuff like that, people who know their stuff" and geez go figure, me being on talkbass for 4 years has probably taught me more about gear then ANY of those former guitar center employees. The first guy I asked didn't know what a patch cable was....

anyways.

So there's one more reason to go to a mom and pop?

 

[pstyle]

I worked at GC for a few years. I started working there in 2001 while it was still a cool place and I had the best managers ever. Slowly but surely it started going downhill.. it became more and more like a Circuit City and less cool.. all the good managers got replaced with crappy managers and I just finally had enough and quit. And now I can't even get a stinking ex-employee discount anymore! I have several friends that work there and they can't hook me up anymore even if they wanted to ... which sucks!

 

[fretman4god]

i've not seen a great instrument selection at GC, but one time I was looking to buy a pickguard for my p-bass, and they had 19.99 on the tag for it. it was a nice, actual fender pickguard (usually 54.99). When they rang it up, it said 54.99, and I called them on it and showed them the tag. They honored the price on the tag, even though it was wrong. I don't think they're all out to screw the customer...

 

[lonote]

But the point it, he IS some 18 year old kid who you've never met and you know that. You already know what's going to happen. Might I suggest some mom n pop stores maybe where they don't hire a new staff every season? It may not be acceptable but if you already know the result why even try? Esp when there are places suited to people like you?

On another note: my local music shop has recently undergone a huge upgrade and when I asked about a job they said "ah we're good on employees, we got mostly former guitar center guys and stuff like that, people who know their stuff" and geez go figure, me being on talkbass for 4 years has probably taught me more about gear then ANY of those former guitar center employees. The first guy I asked didn't know what a patch cable was....

anyways.

The point is that when I go into a GC, I expect good service and I generally get it but it annoys me when I don't...and it SHOULD annoy any customer. I go to GC to buy stuff, not for entertainment. I don't have an attitude, I have a need or I wouldn't be there in the first place.

 

[playinpearls]

i would have to say as a former employee of guitar center that the quality of service and goods has certainly gone down. When i was hired, the manager sold me on the fact that they cater to the "experienced" musician that knows what he wants and just needs a little help or something...and i'd have to give it to him, it was a great sotre when it opened in 99.

but now....i go in there and i'm lucky if someone says hi, other than the front desk person. they have all the crappy drum kits on the floor now and all the good kits stacked up. their cymbal selection sucks, and everyone that works there is full of themselves...

i buy from craigslist now, unfortunetly you can't get sticks on there....ebay is good too, but i'd rather try before you buy...

their bass department has taken a turn for the worst also...

 

[ynie92992]

I go to Sam Ash, the people are nice. But, some people don't understand that we need are our strings JUST as much as the next guy needs those expensive pedals. Overall, the customer service is good,but it is slow, you think you get helped, but you have to wait to get the dreaded yellow paper of 30 minutes.

 

[Cryhavok]

I've never personally had a bad experience at GC, but I can see how it could happen.

I've been to 2 (maybe 3) guitar centers. One in Terre Haute, IN and one in Cedar Rapids, IA. They're both pretty small, at least compared to what some of you are describing. The bass section is decent, but there's no "Rumble Room" or any large area like that. In both stores, the bass section is just a corner wall with mostly Fenders, Squiers, Ibanez and Peaveys, a few Warwicks and a couple random others scattered about. It's not a terrible selection, but its a pretty run-of-the-mill set of basses. Definitely didn't see anything unique or used, and I wasn't able to find the bass I was looking for (Spector Legend).

In both stores, everytime I go in there I get an awkward stare and maybe a head nod or a "whats up?", but no one tries to help me or sell me anything. In fact, the one difference I've noticed between everyone's complaints and my own experience is that no one has every been pushy with trying to sell me ****. Maybe I just have that "broke college kid" look, but I'm always able to spend an hour+ at GC without talking to anyone. Last time I was at GC, I was playing Schism on a Warwick Corvette and a sales dude walked by on his cell phone. He got about 5 feet away then stopped and turned around and came back to sing the lyrics. Then he just walked away and never said anything else to me.

Regardless, I never buy anything there. I like to go there to browse and check stuff out, maybe buy strings or picks, but otherwise I usually just find better deals online. My first bass I got through musician's friend, which is essentially GC, but I was able to get a better deal there than by going in-store.

I say I can see why people have bad experiences there because GC is definitely a BUYER BEWARE kind of store. I personally do loads and loads of reasearch before buying anything. Most people don't have the time or effort to learn as much as they can about something before they go buy it. So when someone goes to a store called GUITAR CENTER, they shouldn't have to be ridiculously well informed about what they want. They should be able to go into the store and learn what they need to know from the sales reps. Thats part of the service a store should provide. If the sales rep can't do anything other than tell you a price and sell you the item, there's not really much of a need for him in the first place.

I guess what I'm saying is that if someone trusts the store enough to assist them in purchasing brand new, expensive musical equipment, there's no reason that person should come out with an overpriced p.o.s. that they thought they were buying because the sales person made it seem right for them, when really they just pushed the easiest model to sell or the hottest brand name.

For those of you who do work at Guitar Center, and do your job right - Hats off to you. For those of you who "like music" and think "it would be a good idea to work at Guitar Center because i like music...right?", make sure you know your **** before you start selling people stuff you know nothing about.

Cheers!

 

[ClassicRock55]

The Sam Ash stores in my area have been improving their bass and amp selections and you can usually talk to the staff.

A couple of months ago I went to the Sam Ash out in Buffalo Grove on Dundee. I was floored by the place. Walking in to the bass section, they had brands like Hartke or Lakland that my GC hasn't carried until recently. I picked up a Marcus Miller Jazz bass when a salesman approached me. He was a guitard but unlike most guitards he played the bass with authenticity and authority. We talked about JPJ for a while because he was a big Zep fan. Real cool place with chill employees and an awesome selection of sheet music outside of Slash's Book of Tabbed out Solo's. I picked up a Jamerson book. The best part was the bass section was far removed from the guitard wing so I could enjoy some peace

 

[lethargytartare]

I'm part of the favorable-to-GC contingent. Every deal I've ever been ripped off on was either on-line or in a mom-n-pop. But at GC I've purchased numerous items, kept them a week, and if I had to take something back, they took it no questions asked. I recently wanted to use a credit from one GC at another to get guitar hero -- the clerk ran all over the place to get the approvals to get the credit transferred, and made it happen. Last week I had to get a speaker stand at the last minute, and the clerk (a different guy) hunted around for what they had, new and used, and in the end pulled a floor model one for me and it was priced almost competitive with the craigslist realm. But the warm-n-fuzzy part of the story -- he knew I was getting it to use at a wedding, and the following monday he called to make sure it had worked out ok. When I got my first bass there some time ago, they did setups for free on pretty much any instrument I brought in (good ol' guitar Bob). And if you go EARLY to their ridiculous sales, you can actually get ridiculous deals -- it's a pain, but I've seen the rush that happens at 7am when the doors open, and it doesn't surprise me that the best deals get picked over quite fast.

I know they can't compete with people reselling their own gear on CL, or auctions on eBay, and I don't expect them to do so. Bottom line for me -- 99% of the time I know exactly what I'm getting from GC, and I can always return it if anything isn't right. On internet deals, I'd say just 75% of the time I know exactly what I'm getting, and there's very little chance of returning that stuff. So, I've no reason to be upset with the GCs around here (Arlington Heights, IL and Highland Park, IL).

Oh, and I worked retail as a high-schooler too, so when I meet a surly kid at GC, I try to remember all the a-holes I had to deal with day in and day out...working retail can really really suck...

cheers all!

ltt

 

[Brad Johnson]

I've noticed a common thing in the complaints about GC... many people can give you police quality descriptions of all of the enemy combatants/offending parties whenever they have gone into a GC and typically been mortally annoyed. The 14 yr old with the Strat banging away on a Mesa, etc.

I swear I don't even notice other people when I go there. I go to check out gear, might shoot the breeze with someone I see that I know and then I leave. This may sound crazy but maybe because I'm not looking to be offended by the visit, I'm not.

It's not like every other store is a mausoleum.

Food for thought.

 

[eotpr]

I wish I could take back the earlier post I made about the RIVERDALE UTAH GC. I went in there Friday and was going to sell them my Ibanez Guitar for a down on a new Bass. I spoke to TOBY their supposed "Guitar expert" . First he said that the nut was a home job because the screws mounted through the neck. I checked with Ibanez on that they just laughed at our so called expert. Then he said that the pads would not fit into the nut properly. They do with absolutely no problem this was verrified by a local luther. Then he said that the screws into the holes that hold the locking nut pads into place were stripped. The problem was he was trying to put it in crooked and was trying to cross thread it. Then he said the switch was noisy because it clicked from position to position. Well, needless to say they lost a customer and some sales because of that. I was gooing to use the cash for a down. I will just sell it outright and but from someone else on line if I have to. Never again will I purchase anything at RIVERDALE UTAH GC!!!!

 

[Marley's Ghost]

I wish I could take back the earlier post I made about the RIVERDALE UTAH GC. I went in there Friday and was going to sell them my Ibanez Guitar for a down on a new Bass. I spoke to TOBY their supposed "Guitar expert" . First he said that the nut was a home job because the screws mounted through the neck. I checked with Ibanez on that they just laughed at our so called expert. Then he said that the pads would not fit into the nut properly. They do with absolutely no problem this was verrified by a local luther. Then he said that the screws into the holes that hold the locking nut pads into place were stripped. The problem was he was trying to put it in crooked and was trying to cross thread it. Then he said the switch was noisy because it clicked from position to position. Well, needless to say they lost a customer and some sales because of that. I was gooing to use the cash for a down. I will just sell it outright and but from someone else on line if I have to. Never again will I purchase anything at RIVERDALE UTAH GC!!!!

Never sell an instrument to a store unless you want to get fleeced. TB, Ebay or Cragislist are the best ways to go IMHO.