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Guitar Center - no complaints from me

#42
There's one in Houston that I've taken my guitarist nephew to a few times. Everyone time I've gone, I've gotten zero acknowledgement from the staff while checking out basses. Not really complaining cause I'm not in the market for a new bass, but if I happened to play one that blew me away, there's a good chance I'd buy it.

Went into the same store with my brother. While my nephew was checking out a few things, my brother was looking at amps for my nephew. Same thing. No one helped him or asked if he had any questions. Weird deal, because my brother is a pretty easy sale and would have bought an amp if they cared to sell him one.
 
#43
What astounds me about GC is how poorly trained their sales staff are. I don't mean being able to explain a Class D amp or knowing what years the "Blacktop" Fenders were available. No, I mean the absolute basics of opening a dialog, getting enough information to meet the customers needs and then overcoming their objections to close a sale (without be such a duck that you turn them off). How does such a big organization let customers go un-greeted? Or let the sales force still open with the awful (from a sales point of view) "Can I help you?" You NEVER open with a yes no question. You always open with a question that has to elicit information. "What kind of bass do you have at home?" or "If you could buy any amp in this room, which would it be?" Now he's talking and if you're an actual sales professional you will use the information he freely gives you to lead to a sale that makes both of you happy.

Mugre
 
#45
Personally I'm glad they are still around and I hope they get out from under the financial mismanagement of their corporate masters. I like going in and fondling the high end gear that I'll probably never buy but it's interesting to compare what I think I want vs what I already have.
 
#46
lfmn16 said:
Somebody goes into guitar center 20 times without a problem, they don't post anything. They go in the 21st time and there's a problem all of a sudden guitar center sucks and they feel a need to tell the world.
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Nope, repeatedly and consistently bad experiences at my local GC. Again, that's not a knock on ALL GC's, this one used to be good. All the good sales staff are long gone. They don't set up any of the basses whatsoever out of the box either, so it's hard to judge the action on the latest flavor of the month bass when it has a 1/2" string height, needs a truss rod adjustment, and the intonation is out. I just treat it like Walmart, low prices in exchange for poor service and clueless staff, that's cool, I do my homework ahead of time and make my own informed decisions. They can still be a great place to get used equipment, got a great deal on a used guitar amp that looks and plays brand new.
 
#47
Gilmourisgod said:
Nope, repeatedly and consistently bad experiences at my local GC. Again, that's not a knock on ALL GC's, this one used to be good. All the good sales staff are long gone. They don't set up any of the basses whatsoever out of the box either, so it's hard to judge the action on the latest flavor of the month bass when it has a 1/2" string height, needs a truss rod adjustment, and the intonation is out. I just treat it like Walmart, low prices in exchange for poor service and clueless staff, that's cool, I do my homework ahead of time and make my own informed decisions. They can still be a great place to get used equipment, got a great deal on a used guitar amp that looks and plays brand new.
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It would be as inaccurate to say my scenario NEVER happens as to imply that it happens in every single case. ;)
 
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#50
smile.amazon.com. Nearly everything short of a Semi Mack truck to haul everything musical I've bought from them! On Guitar Center, I've never had a bad experience with them, their return policy includes free shipping if their product is defective. Only Amazon and Walmart do that.

Special recognition to all those who can't contain themselves with snarky comments about this thread or the store. :thumbsup:
 
#51
My entire gigging rig: 4 basses, 2 heads, 4 cabinets (all Golight!). All used from GC.com, bought over a period of a couple of years. Some I had to return, which is absolutely not a problem. The stores get deservedly slagged on for employing people who are paid the minimum required by law, ensuring they won't stay and don't care about anything, but they take returns just fine and that's all I need them for.
Rigosaurus.jpg
 
#52
I briefly worked at a GC after working in a mom 'n pop music store for a few years back in my 20's. What struck me was just how different the two stores' cultures were. GC was essentially run like your average mall department store. Staff had no clue what they were doing, they worked for low wages, and turnover rate was quite high. In contrast, the mom 'n pop I worked for had employees that valued expertise and experience in music, were paid well, and worked there for years.

It was apparent pretty quickly that I didn't belong at GC; the "GC way" and its extreme department store approach nearly killed my ambition to sell instruments. I quit and happily went back to the mom 'n pop and worked a few more years there.

I've only been back to a GC a small handful of times since then. Every time it's the same thing:

Me: "Excuse me. Do you have product XYZ?"
GC Employee: "Uhh, what's that?"
Me: "It does (insert product description here)"
GC Employee: "Oh yeah! I know what you mean! It's over here."
GC Employee: [takes me to a product ABC)
GC Employee: "Here you go!"
Me: "This is not product XYZ."
GC Employee: "Sure it is. I sell a TON of these. They're on sale, too."
Me: [pulls up picture of product XYZ on my phone and shows employee]
Me: "THIS is product XYZ"
GC Employee: "Oh.....but have you tried this?" [Points to product ABC] "It's on sale!"
Me: (leaves the store)
​
 
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#53
My local GC is always worth a visit. As others have said, if I go in knowing what I want, I will get it and get a decent deal. The new stuff generally is in tune, but set up is always peculiar. They do not mind if I plonk around on stuff but I never abuse that as I am typically not impulse shopping. Their used stuff is all over the place, and often over priced, but sometimes they have really great stuff priced far below what I would expect.

Having worked for them years back, it is ideally a high volume high turnover operation. They don't sell guitars or basses - they sell stuff. Made by companies that want them to sell more stuff. As a sales guy I would put whatever you like in your hands, and give you a very honest description of it and why it is great for you, and I would work my arse off to give you the best deal and at terms that worked for you and your credit or lack of it. I would not tell you that you could get a really great instrument for half the price 5 feet over from you, and chances are most musicians would not believe me if I told them anyway. The great part of working there was I would get to play, inspect, tweak and tune and have fun with lots of great stuff. GC sold wonderful stuff that people on line would tell you all day long was crap, and I got to play crap that people on line say was wonderful. The GC brain trust never was fond of Peavey stuff. Until they started selling Peavey. By the way, I always liked what Peavey offered - good stuff for a great price. Also, when you buy from MF, you are buying from GC.
 
#55
Warpeg said:
I briefly worked at a GC after working in a mom 'n pop music store for a few years back in my 20's. What struck me was just how different the two stores' cultures were. GC was essentially run like your average mall department store. Staff had no clue what they were doing, they worked for low wages, and turnover rate was quite high. In contrast, the mom 'n pop I worked for had employees that valued expertise and experience in music, were paid well, and worked there for years.

It was apparent pretty quickly that I didn't belong at GC; the "GC way" and its extreme department store approach nearly killed my ambition to sell instruments. I quit and happily went back to the mom 'n pop and worked a few more years there.

I've only been back to a GC a small handful of times since then. Every time it's the same thing:

Me: "Excuse me. Do you have product XYZ?"
GC Employee: "Uhh, what's that?"
Me: "It does (insert product description here)"
GC Employee: "Oh yeah! I know what you mean! It's over here."
GC Employee: [takes me to a product ABC)
GC Employee: "Here you go!"
Me: "This is not product XYZ."
GC Employee: "Sure it is. I sell a TON of these. They're on sale, too."
Me: [pulls up picture of product XYZ on my phone and shows employee]
Me: "THIS is product XYZ"
GC Employee: "Oh.....but have you tried this?" [Points to product ABC] "It's on sale!"
Me: (leaves the store)
​
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But, it goes to eleven...
 
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#56
I purchased a new Markbass CMD102P combo through Guitar Center. I had to deal with them on the phone because their website wasn't able to process the sale correctly. The sale was supposed to include free shipping. The lady on the phone inadvertently charged me for shipping. You'd think this would be an easy thing to resolve. Nope. It took several phone calls over a period of about TWO MONTHS, plus a complaint registration though the Better Business Bureau to get the issue resolved.

I will never buy anything from Guitar Center again. :rollno:
 
#57
There was a time - about a decade back, when the manager of the local GC had the kids there trained to let us older folks alone. The manager would give me some time to look, and would then come over and chat without any sales pressure. It was great.

Now, we're back to kids talking to me like I'm 16. And the inventory - GC still has many more basses than me, But I have more good basses than they do - they've got nothing I'd buy in terms of instruments.
 
#59
Smooth_bass88 said:
The last several times I've gone to my local Guitar Center, I've had absolutely positive experiences. I needed a small mixer for my in-ears, the salesperson found me exactly what I needed and it was cheaper than expected. The other day I stopped in there to buy a new cable. I was about to purchase a nice BOSS right angle, but the salesperson recommended I check out their store brand because if there's ever a problem you can exchange it for a brand new one, no questions asked. I was impressed with the quality of the cable so I bought it. They also had the correct battery for my Snark tuner. Aaaaaaand I almost waked out of there with an SVT! They had a used SVT 2-PRO head (all tube) for $749!!! If I didn't already have one, I would have grabbed this one. I was thinking it would be cool to have a second one as a back up... but I just couldn't justify spending the money so close to the holidays. I know GC gets ragged on alot around here, but it's really not fair. They're not all bad!!
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Our local store has a great staff as well and will go out of their way to helpful. They've also been flexible dealing with them on used gear as well. The only thing they don't have is an over abundance of top quality gear, unless it's used.
 
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#60
My Local GC is a joke...No one there can be bothered to help you at all for any reason...employees couldn't find their collective backsides with GPS and a road map. Selection is a joke unless you want Fender or Ibanez...Bass section is even worse. Amp selection is also a joke (Unless you want a small combo), live sound section also a joke. only thing decent in the store is the drum section...unless you want something other than Sabian cymbals...
 

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