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GUITAR CENTER Scheme's
- Thread starter cbassman55
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If it's still working for you, then I'm glad it worked out the way it did. Hope you continue to enjoy it!
You seem to have learned nothing from this thread. GC is under no obligation to cater to your convenience or sense of entitlement. They did nothing wrong here. Play by their rules or sell you stuff elsewhere. It's pretty simple.
Customer comes first went out the door! Yes I learned not to waists my time reading your post! Drop the mic!!
Hate to say this, but customer comes first comes with expectations that the customer is making reasonable demands of the business. Your salesperson has rules that have to be followed and he doesn't get to deviate from those just because you decide you want $50 more than his managers have told him he can offer. So you drove several hours up and back and spent your time and your gas and other vehicle expenses, only to return home without making a sale.
The store has no reasonable expectation that you are actually going to purchase anything from them until they are ringing you up at the register. How many times when I was in sales did I demo something only to be told "I'll be back" and see that person go off and purchase online? More than I can say, and it sure wasn't just me.
The potential sale of whatever you wanted to buy there is a thing that exists completely separate from them buying something from you. They are YOUR customer when you are selling them something.
I get what the posters are getting across. It's heavy, and people won't pay much for them. In the same sentence I could say why are people still using old Ampeg 8-10 cabs? Because they sound great and can handle what you throw at it. I have a classic Mesa that in my own personal opinion is worth keeping .
I appreciate your opinion. When I need it, it will be there. Have a good one!
Agree! I just wish I would have known what the most they were willing to offer, a estimate would have saved me the trouble of loading and unloading 4 times. I was planning on going. And the sales person was very nice. I understand he has guidelines to go by. I did inform him how heavy it was, I was hoping he could give me an estimate. Lesson learned! Don't sell heavy outdated equipment to GC. LOL Thank you for your insight!
that's not the lesson that should be learned here - the lesson is to look up the most recent sales of the item you want to sell and go from there. it's almost impossible to sell big heavy anything except ampeg 8x10s, and prices are low because so few want to lug those big older cabs.
doesn't the subway weigh less than the deisel?
What? You are going to have to clarify your response as it makes no sense given the context.
Rant over! GC rocks! Lesson learned! Don't load and and unload a heavy duty outdated Mesa Power House road ready 2-15 EV loaded anvil cased bass cab, 4 times driving 2-1/2 hours one way expecting $300 to put down towards a $999.99 35LB 800watt 2-10 Chinese made bass combo! And have a smile when you can't make a deal! Priceless!!!
What? You are going to have to clarify your response as it makes no sense given the context
No, it's not - sorry. It's called failure to acknowledge reality.
no, although some of our local GCs (we live by 7 of them) do, in fact, rock. others, not so much.
the lesson is don't ask GC employees, who are often clueless (again, most make minimum wage), for pricing. the internet is your friend. price the same model on reverb and ebay, and only look for sold prices. then you can smile because you don't have to drive to guitar center.
There is one of those cabs on Reverb in acceptable condition that is down to $250 and still sitting there. I could likely offer the guy $200 and pick it up this afternoon...
If there was any scheme, it was that they were trying to make it seem like it wasn't working right so they could just say "Sorry, we can't buy gear not working correctly" Did it all the time with stuff we knew was going to sit around forever killing the used gear numbers.
The reason that no one will give you any numbers over the phone, even with 8x10 color glossy photos with circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one is because there is a company policy against it. There's a couple of reasons... Firstly, pictures can be manipulated and fudged and can't be verified and don't tell anything about the working condition of the gear. When you're given a range of value it can be considered an offer to buy, which only a manager can make to start, and could trigger lawsuits in some instances. Not worth doing in light of that, and when I was at GC 20+ years ago I had to fire someone for doing it.
The main reason (and it IS a bit manipulative) for not giving estimates over the phone (or email or text) is that you are more likely to accept an offer after you've lugged your gear all the way to the store. It used to be policy that you tested the gear with the customer and then put it where they could see it, but was behind a counter or just inside an office on the sales floor because the buyer has a psychological advantage in that it seems as though they've already got the gear.
In this case, though, they made a more than reasonable offer to someone who didn't take any time to do homework on the deal.
Just a touch of advice... It is not the store's responsibility to educate their customers. Be a well educated customer or be a target. Sales people are not there to help no matter what they say. They are there to make money.
FWIW, I sell stuff I'm no longer using to GC 95% of the time because, unless it's something very desirable, it's not worth the hassle of dealing with buyers. Every time I sell to GC I get what I ask for, and sometimes my price is too low and I get more. Here's the equation - you get 60% of the average price the item sells for. If it's something that is still available new, they will list the used item for 60% of the new price as long as it's in good or better condition.
If there was any scheme, it was that they were trying to make it seem like it wasn't working right so they could just say "Sorry, we can't buy gear not working correctly" Did it all the time with stuff we knew was going to sit around forever killing the used gear numbers.
The reason that no one will give you any numbers over the phone, even with 8x10 color glossy photos with circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one is because there is a company policy against it. There's a couple of reasons... Firstly, pictures can be manipulated and fudged and can't be verified and don't tell anything about the working condition of the gear. When you're given a range of value it can be considered an offer to buy, which only a manager can make to start, and could trigger lawsuits in some instances. Not worth doing in light of that, and when I was at GC 20+ years ago I had to fire someone for doing it.
The main reason (and it IS a bit manipulative) for not giving estimates over the phone (or email or text) is that you are more likely to accept an offer after you've lugged your gear all the way to the store. It used to be policy that you tested the gear with the customer and then put it where they could see it, but was behind a counter or just inside an office on the sales floor because the buyer has a psychological advantage in that it seems as though they've already got the gear.
In this case, though, they made a more than reasonable offer to someone who didn't take any time to do homework on the deal.
Just a touch of advice... It is not the store's responsibility to educate their customers. Be a well educated customer or be a target. Sales people are not there to help no matter what they say. They are there to make money.
FWIW, I sell stuff I'm no longer using to GC 95% of the time because, unless it's something very desirable, it's not worth the hassle of dealing with buyers. Every time I sell to GC I get what I ask for, and sometimes my price is too low and I get more. Here's the equation - you get 60% of the average price the item sells for. If it's something that is still available new, they will list the used item for 60% of the new price as long as it's in good or better condition.
Honestly, it doesn't look like any lesson was learned. You still maintain that they should have given you your price simply because it's "cool gear" and because you drove so far. If you really wanted to help yourself in the future, the lesson you should have learned is that doing a mere five minutes worth of homework would have told you everything you needed to know in order to negotiate the best deal for yourself - and also that "best deal" does NOT mean getting you what you want. The "best deal" is getting a deal that's as favorable to you as possible given the market.
Price has nothing to do with what how cool the gear is, how much inconvenience you went through to bring your gear to them, what it cost new, or the advanced aircraft production techniques that went into making it. It's based solely on what the market will bear and what GC can afford to offer you based on what their costs are. That's not GC out to screw you with some kind of scam/scheme. It Business 101, plain and simple.
Price has nothing to do with what how cool the gear is, how much inconvenience you went through to bring your gear to them, what it cost new, or the advanced aircraft production techniques that went into making it. It's based solely on what the market will bear and what GC can afford to offer you based on what their costs are. That's not GC out to screw you with some kind of scam/scheme. It Business 101, plain and simple.
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Which explains a lot. Add entitlement in there as well.
Dead horse thread, but I've managed two music stores and if any of my employees had offered someone 60% of the NEW price for a piece of used gear I would have fired them on the spot.
If they had offered me $250-300 for that cab I would have taken it on the spot. There is just no market for them now and probably never will be. (I had one, all four of my current cabs combined weigh only thirty pounds more than your 2x15 does).
You re correct about looking up market price. I actually done that and knowing it is at around $400, 60% of that is why they offered only $250. But I called previously and inquired about the estimate. I was informed 60% of the going price new. That was the first misunderstanding. My first thoughts were "dam that's good". It wasn't the same salesperson. I did accept the fact he couldn't give an estimated quote over the phone, thinking it was company policy so I took it upon myself to load and go. So a GC phone rep misinformed me from the get go.
The other subject you brought up.Company practices:
Your words:.
If there was any scheme, it was that they were trying to make it seem like it wasn't working right so they could just say "Sorry, we can't buy gear not working correctly" Did it all the time with stuff we knew was going to sit around forever killing the used gear numbers.
So maybe the gut feeling I had was correct knowing it happens all the time. That's why I asked a head of time about a estimate, so I didn't have to waists time and money for both parties. He could have been up front and said I would be better to sell it outright by other means because.......
I actually did look online "eBay/reverb" the market price is around $400. But like I stated, I called previously and spoke with a GC rep. He said they would pay 60% of the price of new towards new gear. Misinformation from the start.
Not my fault. I wish he would have been upfront and say I would be better to sell it by other means because they don't sell and say the most they could pay for a good condition working cab is!!! If someone accepts the estimate and brings it in, it should be in good condition, working with no issues. If they don't match pictures sent then they should be offered a low ball offer or no sale.
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