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Guitar Center *** Just Happened!!!
- Thread starter Bowedtoothdoc54
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I totally disagree. Upper management usually understands that the customer may not always be right; but, without the customers they have no sales, no business and they don't need employees.
My very calm response in a situation like this is "Please take a good look at my face and remember my name because you are asking me to send a letter to your CEO." The CEO is going to read it and wonder why the manager couldn't fix this little problem. That message slides down the chain until it reaches the district manager, who gets questioned about the manager's ability. It's called the plumbers principle. The manager has authority to make this right. I tell the manager I want them to remember that they had the opportunity to do the right thing. Rarely do I need to send a letter or email.
With GC I once wrote an email of displeasure to Customer Service. Within 24 hours I had a from the store's general manager apologizing and offering to make things right. It was for a bass that I had driven 50 miles to get and they couldn't find it. He ended up finding it, sold it to me for the listed price and shipped it to my house with free shipping. He asked me to ask for him if I ever have another issue. I later bought a new bass from him. He gave me a friends and family discount and had a new one shipped to me rather than giving me the one on the floor. A little respect goes a long way. I suggest the OP start by filing a a firm, factual but polite complaint to customer service on line.
Not going to read this whole thread, but it sounds like typical GC BS. Love them or hate them, eventually you will either give up on them like I did or remain a customer. I've gotten to the point where one place and one place only gets my gear and GAS money. It's not GC or MF.
Been in that GC many times. Always left empty handed, due to there lack of service and knowledge... or the fact that a 20 something weekend DJ was trying to sell me something not even bass related... after asking about bass gear ???
GC is owned and operated by mercenaries and the people who work there have no actual loyalty to the company and all it's layers of BS, they are wage slaves there to make a little money to survive. From the turnaround in managers, I assume it's the same for them. "take this job and shove it, I aint..."
If I am in that market for something, GC is like one far away trap line I need to check where I might snag something, and even if I do it might be caught in the thickets and I better be careful extracting it without injury. In other words, it's a Primitive place without care and oversight, so watch out. Sometimes the Luck is with you in such a place, sometimes they make mistakes that you benefit from. Someone at a local GC listed a beautiful cond., Great sounding Guild Pilot from the first month of their production for $250. and so I had to buy a bass I'd been looking for since they came out.
If I am in that market for something, GC is like one far away trap line I need to check where I might snag something, and even if I do it might be caught in the thickets and I better be careful extracting it without injury. In other words, it's a Primitive place without care and oversight, so watch out. Sometimes the Luck is with you in such a place, sometimes they make mistakes that you benefit from. Someone at a local GC listed a beautiful cond., Great sounding Guild Pilot from the first month of their production for $250. and so I had to buy a bass I'd been looking for since they came out.
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What if you tried to buy them through the web site?
I know your p.o'd right now and probably don't want to purchase anything from them.
But if the transaction goes through, and you don't get the speakers anyway, maybe you'll have some leverage for them to make it right. In a way they have your money. Harder for them to give up a sale in progress than to blow off one that hasn't really started. You can always cancel a credit card transaction if you don't get the merchadise.
I have purchased many things from GC online. I always try to call the store that has the item and purchase it direct from them over the phone. The one time I didn't do this I got an item that was no where near the listed condition. I call GC Customer Service and they hooked me up with a huge discount and I kept it. Two times I found items I liked in the closest store to me. I called to ask if they could hold them until I drove the hour and fifteen minutes to get there and they charged me a small refundable fee to do it. That ensured they couldn't be sold out from under me and since I purchased these items, I just paid the balance at checkout. I think each store maybe a little different in their individual policies. If the OP's store had this policy, all this wouldn't have happened.
Hells yeah the OP should seek out a district manager or someone higher up. I once ordered a 4x10 cabinet used from an ad of an Oklahoma GC, I paid for it and waited for it to be delivered to a Delaware GC. When it arrived it was the same name but not the ported version I ordered and believed I was going to receive. I fired off an email to the manager of that store in OK and CC'd it to GC central in Westlake CA. I kept the cab as my church was helping me pay for it but to this day I receive special coupons (from almost 5 years ago) It wasn't the OP's mistake or the clerk who was doing their job selling merch.
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I was also told by an employee over the phone that if an item that they are selling online sells, they can technically sell it in the store or over the phone and cancel the online order if it is the same day. I found a Telecaster I wanted and was unsure about the price. I decided to think about over my lunch break. After lunch I called to buy it and it had sold online about twenty minutes before I called. I could have pushed a little and gotten it easilly based on what the salesman said. Of course I didn't because that would be a scumbag move and good karma is a good thing. That is a shady policy and I don't know if it is standard practice.
I was thinking the same.
Those things are pretty cheap, but I can see where OP wouldn't want to have to pay for a pair. That would tarnish the deal a little.
Last time I bought something used at GC that required an IEC cable, they told me they don't keep the IEC cables out on the floor with the merch because people steal them. So they put them all in a big box. I bought a powered floor monitor and the sales rep dug my IEC cable out of a big box full of them.
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It appears that the final sale and which customer gets the item is completely at GC's discretion. I've heard it go both ways: Sometimes the on-line purchaser gets the item and the in-store customer standing at the counter ready to pay for it gets denied, sometimes vice-versa and the in-store customer gets the purchase and the on-line buyer gets denied. I have yet to hear a valid explanation from a GC employee to justify the inconsistency.
Someone already said it on this thread, but buying used at GC is catch-as-catch-can. Don't get your hopes up too high and feel lucky if the transaction actually goes your way without a hitch.
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One time I saw a Dunlop Crybaby wah special edition used online at my GC 10 minutes away. Good price, so I drive over.
I go in, I'm looking at the display case with all the used pedals, and I don't see it. I ask a rep what's up. He can't find the pedal.
I almost left. Then I checked the internet on my cell again, and I see it's still there. Now I'm a little pissed.
I walk over to the display case with the new pedals in it, and sure enough, someone had obviously tried to stuff the pedal way in the back where they thought it wouldn't be noticed. I point to the pedal and tell the sales rep, "There it is, I'll take it." He mumbles about serial numbers and such. I said I need to talk to a manager. The rep quickly rung me up at the listed used price and I went on my way.
Sorry for the long anecdote to get to the simple point: Music store employees sometimes play games with the gear, new and especially used. They try to hide stuff until payday. They hide stuff away for friends. They create their own unique unauthorized layaway payment plans. I know because I used to work in a music store. That, and worse, happened all the time.
It's unacceptable and wrong, but it's the game you play when you shop used gear at music stores. All music stores.
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After seeing a friend go through the process of recovering a stolen item from a GC, I'm pretty much 100% done doing business with them.
Took something like 6 months for the guy to get the stolen instrument back from them, despite the fact that it was located there two days after it was found missing, and he was there *that day* with a detective.
Corporate did basically everything it could to lose paperwork, drag its feet, etc. Since they have a pawnbroker's license they had a lot of red tape they could throw up. Which they did.
Just unacceptable. If I see something obviously overpriced I may pick it up, but otherwise I'm done with that place.
Took something like 6 months for the guy to get the stolen instrument back from them, despite the fact that it was located there two days after it was found missing, and he was there *that day* with a detective.
Corporate did basically everything it could to lose paperwork, drag its feet, etc. Since they have a pawnbroker's license they had a lot of red tape they could throw up. Which they did.
Just unacceptable. If I see something obviously overpriced I may pick it up, but otherwise I'm done with that place.
- Oct 7, 2000
- 18,619
- 38,939
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- Endorsing artist: Musicman basses
Ya know, I tell this to people all the time - yet they never listen...
DON'T EVER ASK FOR POWER CABLES!
It's really that simple.
DON'T EVER ASK FOR POWER CABLES!
It's really that simple.
When I run into that particular situation in my business, which happens, i find myself with a customer that has had a 100 mile drive to get an item that one of my colleagues just sold while i was talking to the customer. We do a lot of used stuff and trade ins, so lots of items are one of a kind that once sold, are gone for good.
Having someone in the shop who demands his requested item while said item is gone is a bad thing. The one thing i try to omit at (nearly) all costs is having him/her leave without a purchase and a grumpy feeling, maybe already mentally composing the next internet post about my business.
The handling is delicate and in every case unique, but the most common tool at hand is offering a better deal on the next best thing available. Sometimes the same item in better condition for the same price, or, if the vibe of the customer suggests it, something way better with a good discount.
The customer wants to spend money, has just spent two hours in the car, in joyful anticipation of the purchase to come, and certainly does not want to leave empty handed, so that mostly works.
I'd never sell something below cost, though. If i lose a bit of margin by selling something with a bigger discount than intended, i simply factor that as a) marketing cost (if the customer leaves happy with a good deal made, he might tell others) and b) damage control. We made a mistake by letting someone drive over to us by telling that the requested item is in stock while it is not. The damage in reputation may be a lot worse than selling something below price.
I have no clue how much power GC store managers hold in these matters. It might well be that the floor models are not to be sold by them for different legit reasons. But letting the OP drive over after he called and not getting him to leave store with a product or at least a huge apology and a set of strings seems like business done horribly wrong.
Having someone in the shop who demands his requested item while said item is gone is a bad thing. The one thing i try to omit at (nearly) all costs is having him/her leave without a purchase and a grumpy feeling, maybe already mentally composing the next internet post about my business.
The handling is delicate and in every case unique, but the most common tool at hand is offering a better deal on the next best thing available. Sometimes the same item in better condition for the same price, or, if the vibe of the customer suggests it, something way better with a good discount.
The customer wants to spend money, has just spent two hours in the car, in joyful anticipation of the purchase to come, and certainly does not want to leave empty handed, so that mostly works.
I'd never sell something below cost, though. If i lose a bit of margin by selling something with a bigger discount than intended, i simply factor that as a) marketing cost (if the customer leaves happy with a good deal made, he might tell others) and b) damage control. We made a mistake by letting someone drive over to us by telling that the requested item is in stock while it is not. The damage in reputation may be a lot worse than selling something below price.
I have no clue how much power GC store managers hold in these matters. It might well be that the floor models are not to be sold by them for different legit reasons. But letting the OP drive over after he called and not getting him to leave store with a product or at least a huge apology and a set of strings seems like business done horribly wrong.
This is how I'd do it as well. If the story can be substantiated and not just BS, it's better to offer a good deal to a customer and break even in a worse case scenario. I would never let a customer walk out unhappy unless whatever they're unhappy about is totally on them.
With regards to GC, I'd say they suck, but not always. I've had some GC managers pull some strings for me in the past. I brought back a G&L bass I purchased used about seven months after the fact (with the receipt). The truss rod was screwed and I couldn't straighten out the neck. I told him if he'd take it back, I'd buy a new Fender American Jazz V deluxe. He agreed.
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If you're on the unsatisfied customer side of things it's always good to come with the alternative plan.
Good shop managers are likely to agree, as long as it is reasonable.
This happened to me with Alto Music in NY, only they were really helpful about it. I saw a used EVH 5150 III guitar head online, bought it, paid for it, etc. Turns out the head had been sold. What did they do? They gave me a brand-new one for the same price! Excellent customer service.
