1 sucky experience but mostly good. I find most of the salespeople are either FOS or just doing what they're told.
Nice cab at a good price.
Nice cab at a good price.
Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Guitar center say what you will
- Thread starter farmertom
- Start date
JeezyMcNuggles
Inactive
- Feb 23, 2018
- 14,723
- 20,970
- Disclosures
- I suck, but nobody really notices
Dope! Haven't tried the pf410, but I had two 210HEs with an 800, and it was a great set up. I'd recommend it anyone.
I have limited experience with GC and Sam Ash; they are both 50 miles one way from my home, so it takes a special reason to go there. I have purchased some sound gear from them and found their staff in that department to be knowledgeable and helpful. Seems like that is often not the case in their guitar/bass department.
Maybe it has more to do with expectations than actual experience, but I have had more negative feelings at the local Music Go Round stores than at GC. Their employees are mostly helpful, but the same guy owns both local stores and he's a real butt head. He wants a premium price for his used gear and doesn't care if you buy it or don't. He must treat his employees much better than he treats customers, because otherwise they wouldn't stay very long. From what I hear about GC's return policy it's pretty customer friendly, and that is a positive in their favor.
Thump on,
One_Dude
Maybe it has more to do with expectations than actual experience, but I have had more negative feelings at the local Music Go Round stores than at GC. Their employees are mostly helpful, but the same guy owns both local stores and he's a real butt head. He wants a premium price for his used gear and doesn't care if you buy it or don't. He must treat his employees much better than he treats customers, because otherwise they wouldn't stay very long. From what I hear about GC's return policy it's pretty customer friendly, and that is a positive in their favor.
Thump on,
One_Dude
I feel the same about Daddy's Junky Music. I miss that place.
My local GC has several employees who are local pros on the music scene. It makes a difference when you can tell someone something about what you want and they understand. I've been impressed. I use Sweetwater and then a small locally owned place for major purchases too. I also use Musician's Friend but so far only strings, cases, other accessories. Have heard too many horror stories about "B" stock slipping out the door at "A" stock prices with them.
i've been buying from GC since the '70s, my husband's been buying from them since the '80s, we've both sold stuff to them since the '90s. never had a bad experience.
Your answer is simple, the pay for floor walkers at GC sucks unless you are a sales whiz, but so is any sales job that pays a minimum salary and commission on sales. If you can move inventory you can earn, if not, you better have more than one source of income. Given the low base pay, GC cannot be too choosy and still expect to have adequate staff. There is also the big box retail concept to consider.
If you want knowledgeable, competent help, go to a shop that offers those services, and pay more for your purchase. If OTOH you know what you want when you walk in, the ever present GC minions can tell you how to find the department you need to be in to find what you are looking for. It’s really no different than shopping any of the many other big box concept stores. Do your homework so you know what you are after before you go, and a trip to GC is no different than a trip to your local Home Labyrinth. The only real difference is the wood at GC is finished to a higher degree than what you find at the local hardware mega mart.
Yeah, that I understand, but do they all need to be such condescending, self entitled, know nothing pricks? No polite people? No, "let me ask someone who knows"?
I'd be happy if the condescending wasn't there.
I have made incredible deals with GC’s used gear buying and selling. The trick is to know what you want, and be patient to wait for it to come along at a good price. Also, if something arrives in a condition less than advertised, you can negotiate further discounts.
For instance, I got a 2006 MIG Active Warwick Corvette 5 string for a net $575. Advertised as excellent, but arrived in good condition, just needed a truss rod adjustment and a new set of lighter gauge strings and a tighten a few loose screws. It was listed @ $675 + $60 shipping. This bass retailed in 2006 at over $2,000.
A second example was an Eden 210 combo that was advertised at $250 plus shipping. It arrived and was a little more rough than what I thought. When I tried it out, the tweeter had a nasty buzz/ distortion as the diaphragm was shot. I offered them $125 for it and they signed off on it. When I got it home, I disconnected the tweeter, and it worked fine. Not sure why they put those in there anyway. The speakers are full range.
A year or so later, they had another unit just like it, but in excellent condition for $400. It arrived in perfect condition. They gave me a $300 trade in allowance for my original purchase.
I've been to a lot of GCs in many states, and I've not encountered very much condescension. Maybe it's just how I act around the salesguys; I dunno.
Generally, the most annoying GC employees are the ones who are clearly in a band (or a lot of bands) themselves, especially if they're middle-aged and Never Made It Big. The guys who insist on playing the instruments themselves as a sales technique. But then, they're easy to avoid; it's not hard at all to just say, "No thanks" with a smile when the staff asks if you need help. Pretty soon, they'll leave you alone while you play.
I guess that varies a lot as I’ve never encountered any such behavior in any of the many GC’s i’ve been in over the years. The closest i’ve seen to what you describe was a bass playing employee go in the bass room and start playing the guitar part to Jimi Hendrix’s Fire on a bass after about 20 minutes of listening to the same 8 note slap routine at ear bleed volume. Had it been me I’d have tried to engage the slapper in conversation so as to distract him from the bass while feeling him out for how to best steer him to a purchase. Not that the killing rendition of Fire didn’t shut down Mr. slap happy like flipping a light switch, but any potential sale opportunity was also squandered in the process.
I have purchased alot of used gear from GC. I always buy on line, pick up in store and return in store if needed. My local GC is chronically understaffed and has a crappy collection of bass gear on hand. That said, I have found the used gear ratings to accurate and been very satisfied with my purchases. I also have traded guitars and amps (I'm too lazy to sell privately) and have been fairly treated. Oh, and the pay over time(with GC card) with no interest is cool too.
Like some others. my only issue with the GC/MF consortium is mainly the knowledge/helpfulness (or lack thereof) in their staff. If you've educated yourself and know what you are looking for, you'll be okay. If you have any sort of technical question, it's a crapshoot. In the 15 or so years we've had a GC here in Jacksonville. I've only dealt with 3 or 4 folks that I would call truly knowledgable, and just a couple more that actually went out of their way to be helpful.
i mostly see that at sam ash stores, and i see it a LOT at sam ash stores - i went to sam ash in the valley, and there was a sales guy in his twenties loudly playing a trumpet where i was trying out amps when i needed a new head. i ended up buying my head somewhere else where i could actually hear it. and seems like for a couple decades there's often an employee (20s or 30s) in the hollywood store playing guitar at almost concert level when i'm quietly trying out livingroom amps or cabs.
