GUITAR CENTER Scheme's

[CoffeeLove]

If someone calls Guitar Center with questions and you get a answer that you believe there sale reps are experienced and knowledgable in there department. I am not one to complain but after my trip to GC and experience, I am no longer a customer of Guitar Center. (Little Rock, AR). I called Guitar Center in Little Rock. I asked a rep about appraising my equipment. I was told they will pay cash to the seller at 60% of the price of new equipment, providing the equipment is in good to excellent, good condition.
I asked if I could take good quality pictures to send to GC for a close quote as to what I could expect for a quote.
He told me no, that I would have to bring it in. I explained I had a
2 hr:45 min trip to Little Rock with my Mesa Boggie Power House Desiel 2-15 EV road ready (anvil high quality) bass cab, and other equipment to sell. My in tensions were to purchase a 800W Mark Bass combo. $999.99/$1200.99 while I was there. Well I get there, we unloaded my cab. Two sales men right away made comments " wow this is the road read bad boy! They seem very interested. "First Scheme"
One sale rep said we need to test it!. So we headed to the bass section of the store. He placed a Ampeg SVT porta Bass 500 on top, plugged it in. I let him know this cab was in perfect working order and was a bad ass rig. He grabbed a bass but he seem to look for a certain one. He plugged it in and turned up the master full and the gain at 3. Right away it was distorting, I looked at all his knobs and adjusted to all straight up. It was still sounding distorted. Right away, he tells me me speakers were blown! .I told him no way. I asked him if it was a active bass. He said yep. I told him to use a passive bass to try because I told him it sounded like the battery was dead. He grabbed another to plug in, I seen he grabbed another active bass. I said dude, just try a passive bass so we know the battery is not dead. He picked out a passive bass, he plugged it in and it sounded totally awesome. At that point I had second thoughts about trading it in. I told him he should always use a passive to test. But I believe he was trying to use a bass he knew the battery was dead that would cause the speakers to sound blown.
Once he put it through the paces my cabs passed hands down. He rolled it back to the main room to get a price. Those cabs sold for $1800 + for the anvil road ready Desiel Power house model.
Can be biamped or full range. The sales man came to me and said he could only give me $250.00 for my Mesa Boggie hand made in the USA made of aircraft construction techniques. I was like man, you got to be kidding me!
He said he would sell it for $300/$400. He told me that they need to make a profit margin. I told him Guitar Center's profit margins has already took a lost, knowing it took 1 hr 30 minutes for both of them to do everything possible to cut my quote.
I explain to one of the reps that I seen other used equipment that was Chinese cheap built junk for more money compared to my American made Mesa Boggie 2-15 power house. He decided he would not even go up $50 to $300.00
I then replaced the front panel anvil case , locked it down and started to roll it back to my van. He said to me, " I thought you wanted to buy a bass rig?". I said yes, I was very interested in a $999.99 Mark Bass but that $50 you could not come up cost you a big time sale. I could see the look on his face.
I told him I'm done with Guitar Center.
Years ago, I once went to another music store that I had to drive 3 hours. The manager gave me a $30 cut on the price knowing I had to travel that far. Customers always look for deals knowing most of us are just weekend warriors and won't get rich.
Sweet Water has a customer satisfication policy. Guitar Center has a customer screw over policy. And finally my rant is over.
Has any one had a similar experience?

Sorry to hear of your crappy experience. It is true what people are saying on the resale of those RR cabs. There is a RR Powerhouse 2x15 on my local Craigslist, which has EV speakers and the original front door. It still sits there after 5 months (repeatedly relisted) and only $350.

I do hope you find a good buyer. Best of luck

 

[tradernick]

Guitar Center has a customer screw over policy. And finally my rant is over.
Has any one had a similar experience?

As you've figured out by now, this isn't an issue with GC, it's an issue with your misguided expectations about

a) what your gear is actually worth (way less than you thought), and

b) how shops like GC feel about trade-ins.

I have no idea of the guy was trying to scam you by plugging in a bass that had a dead battery. If so, that sucks, but I seriously doubt it. The fact is that your cab is worth very little to them.

 

[alaskaleftybass]

They understand selling used equipment. Sadly probably more than you. Also, you were emotionally attached to your equipment and proud of it-- which in your mind increased the value. And your pride was hurt when they made what you considered a lowball offer.

Advertise on CL. Go to local music stores and see if they're interested in consigning it for you. Also, 95% of bass players are dumping heavy "roadworthy" gear as fast as the plague. What took a 129 pound cabinet 20 years ago can now be done with a 5 pound micro head and a 40 pound cab. And that's for loud shows! Good luck on selling your cab.

 

[sflajimmy]

Well, that's 6 pages worth of lecturing the OP in how wrong he was. Is that good enough or do we need more?

Agreed. I'm sure by now he understands the error's of his ways and is grateful for all the valuable, insightful FB he received on here.

 

[fivestringdan]

I know most of the folks at that GC. They are nice people who know me by name. I love their used section, find gems all the time. Also sell to that store often when something won't move local that I don't want to ship.
Sounds like they were doing their job. If I worked there I would never take in a beast like your Mesa.

I would have no interest in that cab. Sorry you drove all that way. Hopefully it was a good lesson learned.

 

[fivestringdan]

Well, that's 6 pages worth of lecturing the OP in how wrong he was. Is that good enough or do we need more?

Just wanted to share my experiences at that particular GC.

 

[cbassman55]

I know most of the folks at that GC. They are nice people who know me by name. I love their used section, find gems all the time. Also sell to that store often when something won't move local that I don't want to ship.
Sounds like they were doing their job. If I worked there I would never take in a beast like your Mesa.

I would have no interest in that cab. Sorry you drove all that way. Hopefully it was a good lesson learned.

Yep lesson learned! They were very nice, but knowing someone gave me wrong information before hand about the price quotes, I had my expectations higher than I received, driving that far for nothing. He offered $250.00, I only asked he would go to $300. I explained that he could sell it easily for $400 to some young musicians. He agreed also but he said it was about profit margins. I'll keep it for outdoor gigs.

 

[cbassman55]

Total BS that said they will pay 60% of new price. I don't think they would give you 60% on a mint, current model speaker. Other than that, nothing you wrote seems unusual or out of place.

Totally agree that the Diesels were awesome cabs, but they are really old and really heavy, so I don't find the low ball offer they made surprising. There are some Diesels on Reverb that were listed two months ago. Chances are they will still be there two months from now. Sometimes you can't even give old cabs away.

Maybe you can get more than $250 if you sell the cab yourself, but then you have to deal with the hassle and wait for a buyer to come along. The only reason to sell to Guitar Center IMHO is for the speed and convenience. It's the same thing when you trade in a car or truck. The dealer typically will pay you less than you can get on the open market. But it's fast and easy transaction.

Yep totally agree!! But I wanted to send them good quality pics and get a ball park offer, I was more pissed that I drove all the way over there for nothing! They could have easily said we won't pay more than $x amount! If I had an idea of the max they would pay, I could have made my decision before going! I would have most likely still would have went to purchase an amp!

 

[cbassman55]

Yep lesson learned! They were very nice, but knowing someone gave me wrong information before hand about the price quotes, I had my expectations higher than I received, driving that far for nothing. He offered $250.00, I only asked he would go to $300. I explained that he could sell it easily for $400 to some young musicians. He agreed also but he said it was about profit margins. I'll keep it for outdoor gigs.

Yep totally agree!! But I wanted to send them good quality pics and get a ball park offer, I was more pissed that I drove all the way over there for nothing! They could have easily said we won't pay more than $x amount! If I had an idea of the max they would pay, I could have made my decision before going! I would have most likely still would have went to purchase an amp

 

[cbassman55]

GC gives you 60% lf what they will try & sell it for, not of what it cost new.
A lot of times if your trading in, you get a 10% off of the new item as well.

Things depreciate and arent as valuable after a while. I doubt anywhere can commit to giving you 60% of new cost, lots of stuff wont sell for that. I think some stuff goes on closeout at over 60% sometimes?

Yep totally agree!! But I wanted to send them good quality pics and get a ball park offer, I was more pissed that I drove all the way over there for nothing! They could have easily said we won't pay more than $x amount! If I had an idea of the max they would pay, I could have made my decision before going! I would have most likely still would have went to purchase an amp. But I don't like to make decisions buying equipment when I'm not in a good frame of mind! I just felt like they could have easily given me a ball park quote.

 

[cbassman55]

Yep lesson learned! They were very nice, but knowing someone gave me wrong information before hand about the price quotes, I had my expectations higher than I received, driving that far for nothing. He offered $250.00, I only asked he would go to $300. I explained that he could sell it easily for $400 to some young musicians. He agreed also but he said it was about profit margins. I'll keep it for outdoor gigs.

Yep totally agree!! But I wanted to send them good quality pics and get a ball park offer, I was more pissed that I drove all the way over there for nothing! They could have easily said we won't pay more than $x amount! If I had an idea of the max they would pay, I could have made my decision before going! I would have most likely still would have went to purchase an amp

 

[AboutSweetSue]

 

[cbassman55]

Yep lesson learned! They were very nice, but knowing someone gave me wrong information before hand about the price quotes, I had my expectations higher than I received, driving that far for nothing. He offered $250.00, I only asked he would go to $300. I explained that he could sell it easily for $400 to some young musicians. He agreed also but he said it was about profit margins. I'll keep it for outdoor gigs.

They could have easily said we won't pay more than $x amount for my cab. If they would If I had an idea of the max they would pay, I could have made my decision before driving the distance! I would have most likely still would have went to purchase an amp but

Sorry to hear of your crappy experience. It is true what people are saying on the resale of those RR cabs. There is a RR Powerhouse 2x15 on my local Craigslist, which has EV speakers and the original front door. It still sits there after 5 months (repeatedly relisted) and only $350.

I do hope you find a good buyer. Best of luck

Yep totally agree!! But I wanted to send them good quality pics and let them give me a ball park quote before I loaded everything and drive that far. I was more pissed that I drove all the way over there for nothing! They could have easily said we won't pay more than $x amount! If I had an idea of the max they would pay, I could have made my decision before going! I would have most likely still would have went to purchase an amp! I'm sure they don't make much but maybe the employees are only following directions to get customers to go there!

 

[Element Zero]

Welp... looks like I lost 20 bucks.

 

[cbassman55]

Just wanted to share my experiences at that particular GC.

I just wonder if it's against company policy for sales reps to give a ball park quote over the phone knowing they would receive high quality photos and the working condition of equipment! I explained I had a long drive. That is my main question?

 

[cbassman55]

Welp... looks like I lost 20 bucks.

Do explain!

 

[cbassman55]

They could have easily said we won't pay more than $x amount for my cab. If they would If I had an idea of the max they would pay, I could have made my decision before driving the distance! I would have most likely still would have went to purchase an amp but

Yep totally agree!! But I wanted to send them good quality pics and let them give me a ball park quote before I loaded everything and drive that far. I was more pissed that I drove all the way over there for nothing! They could have easily said we won't pay more than $x amount! If I had an idea of the max they would pay, I could have made my decision before going! I would have most likely still would have went to purchase an amp! I'm sure they don't make much but maybe the employees are only following directions to get customers to go there!

I did tell them I would send them good quality pics. But the sales man made it clear to me I had to bring it in for them to give me a quote!

 

[cbassman55]

Shops loathe 2nd hand gear.
It has hazards over which they have little control and must provide a warrant on they own, since the manufacturer won't do it.
It wastes a lot of employee time, they take a bet at resale value trying to avoid scams and in the end make way less margin than over brand new products.

It's a bad business practice. They need to cover these risks and discourage you at the same time.

True!

 

[cbassman55]

It’s possible you misheard, they give at most 60% of what they think they can sell it for, but it’ll be more likely closer to 40%.

Many times paying 60% of what something cost new would be charity.

Finally if they offer $250 for your heavy USA Mesa cab, don’t think they offer that for some piece of junk made in China gear, they just would’ve offered about $25. For your edification this was a shoddy negotiation tactic on your part. You stated you saw totally unrelated products made in China for sale (presumably new? Who knows) for more than $250 they were offering you. That says nothing about your deal or the product you’re negotiating over, so how could they increase their offer? You need to keep it focused, “I see these comparable items are selling for X amount of money, so I think you could pay X.

In other words it doesn’t matter what a different product is worth so bringing it up as a negotiation point shows you’ve got nothing else which will cause them to dig in on their offer. Not a good technique for this, but would maybe be a fine retail sales technique when you already “own” both products


Road ready cabs are still awesome and you can sell it locally I bet. But why would you replace that bad boy with some mark bass stuff? Just keep it what amp you rockin?

True on the above but the bottom line is that they could have easily given me a ball park quote over the phone knowing I offered to send high quality photos and the working condition of my cab! If he would have said no more than an x amount I would have made a decision to load it or not before going shop! And that is why I started this post! This wasn't meant to cut down all employees or all stores but to make others aware of my experience. It's to know if the sales reps are told to conduct themselves that way? JS

 

[cbassman55]

As you've figured out by now, this isn't an issue with GC, it's an issue with your misguided expectations about

a) what your gear is actually worth (way less than you thought), and

b) how shops like GC feel about trade-ins.

I have no idea of the guy was trying to scam you by plugging in a bass that had a dead battery. If so, that sucks, but I seriously doubt it. The fact is that your cab is worth very little to them.

That's why I called before hand to get a ball park quote before loading the beast! Again, I offered to send good pics, and explained the working condition. I would have considered his offer and decided.
And as far as the possibility of sales tactics to drop the value of equipment? Who knows? That was just my gut feeling when he told me my speakers were blown in less than 10 seconds! I told him no way, I know my equipment, that I've been at it since 81! Other customers looking and listening making me feel like I was trying to sell them crap. So it was the whole ordeal that put me in a bad frame of mind!