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Guitar Center Screwed Me Again
- Thread starter rogerbmiller
- Start date
I'm sorry, but do you really think this executive is going to take the call of some guy who's annoyed that he missed out on a low end bass?
See airline ticketing protocols... Maybe, United is getting into 'selling' guitars, online...
"There you are, sir... One MM Sub, with a bag of peanuts... minus the Sub, that'll be $500.". Serious, sorry about your luck... all I can say is all of us have probably experienced something close to this... never been more true that, 'timing is everything'.
On a side note, I was in GC the other day, and things are so bad with them (IMO), I walked the store for an hour and couldn't get rid of a couple of gift cards... from 2014.[/QUOTE]
"There you are, sir... One MM Sub, with a bag of peanuts... minus the Sub, that'll be $500.". Serious, sorry about your luck... all I can say is all of us have probably experienced something close to this... never been more true that, 'timing is everything'.
On a side note, I was in GC the other day, and things are so bad with them (IMO), I walked the store for an hour and couldn't get rid of a couple of gift cards... from 2014.[/QUOTE]
The great thing about being a big company is you have buying power - you buy in such bulk, you get huge discounts and can control what the manufacturers are even making! But there comes a cost at being big - you can't react quickly.
A small business can change quick to meet customer demands. Going online sales with a single POS system is easy. Switchover can be done in a weekend - instead of being a 3 year project costing $30M and needing a full team of employees and managers to implement it.
GC's "big" characteristics forced a lot if small mom and pop stores out of business. They attracted buyers with their huge selection and low prices. The M&P stores had to adapt to stay alive. Now that same big business issue is starting to work against them. Money is tight, and they can't just switch up their business model overnight.
We might someday see the return of the local mom and pop stores.
(As an aside, I had a business plan about 10 years ago to form a music instrument retail company - as a consortium of local mom and pop stores. So the mom and pop stores would join my company, like "Bob's Music - an Ashtray Company", and then I'd have 100+ small shops joined and can get them bulk discount pricing and selections they couldn't get on their own. It was an idea to level the playing fields so all the small businesses would have the same buying power as GC. Obviously it was more project than I was willing to take on, but it would have been interesting!)
A small business can change quick to meet customer demands. Going online sales with a single POS system is easy. Switchover can be done in a weekend - instead of being a 3 year project costing $30M and needing a full team of employees and managers to implement it.
GC's "big" characteristics forced a lot if small mom and pop stores out of business. They attracted buyers with their huge selection and low prices. The M&P stores had to adapt to stay alive. Now that same big business issue is starting to work against them. Money is tight, and they can't just switch up their business model overnight.
We might someday see the return of the local mom and pop stores.
(As an aside, I had a business plan about 10 years ago to form a music instrument retail company - as a consortium of local mom and pop stores. So the mom and pop stores would join my company, like "Bob's Music - an Ashtray Company", and then I'd have 100+ small shops joined and can get them bulk discount pricing and selections they couldn't get on their own. It was an idea to level the playing fields so all the small businesses would have the same buying power as GC. Obviously it was more project than I was willing to take on, but it would have been interesting!)
I usually see big businesses roll out such changes little by little. So one or two of their most popular stores will make the change, and over a couple years more and more of their small stores will make the changes as well.
I've bought three used basses from them and this is how I do it. Not intentionally, but that's just how it's always worked out. My reason for calling was to get feedback on the instrument. I've not been disappointed yet.
I used to be GC customer service at their call center. Technically Musician's Friend but GC owns MF so they are the same. Anyway, while I was under their employment, there were a lot of technical errors that went on. Mainly because they had some outdated software and equipment. That definitely made things complicated. That type of thing would happen from time to time but not very often. We were however trained to handle it appropriately and make sure you get your money back.
My guess is since you used a credit card, you will get a full refund or that can be used towards In House Credit. It might take a day or two depending on the type of card and your bank. It is also into the weekend so that may or may not effect that amount of time for your funds to be returned. I would just call them back tomorrow about it.
All that being said, I prefer to shop local and avoid actually going into the GC stores at almost all costs. Maybe for a used gem find but that would probably be it. That is a bummer man. Hope everything works out.
My guess is since you used a credit card, you will get a full refund or that can be used towards In House Credit. It might take a day or two depending on the type of card and your bank. It is also into the weekend so that may or may not effect that amount of time for your funds to be returned. I would just call them back tomorrow about it.
All that being said, I prefer to shop local and avoid actually going into the GC stores at almost all costs. Maybe for a used gem find but that would probably be it. That is a bummer man. Hope everything works out.
My local GC's have updated to CRT's to display green and black ASCII.It is 2016 and they are still using those monitors.
200 bases bought? At my local GC that would be every used bass they had in inventory for about 8 or 9 years. Thatsa lotta basses. Did you keep any for yourself?
My local GC's have updated to CRT's to display green and black ASCII.
It's a 3270 terminal emulator.
I always call the store before placing order just to confirm said item is instock. It works wonders.
First off, sorry for not reading the entire thread…all 120+ posts!
Second, I can understand your frustration. I've been there too, so you have my sympathy. However, my sympathy for your situation is tempered by my knowledge of the iniquities of technology and my understanding that not everything works like some magically-foolproof and well-oiled machine. It sucks, but that's the reality of the situation.
Third, here's my advice, which I'm sure more than a few fellow TB'ers have already suggested, but here it goes anyway…call the store first.
Because of my run-ins with those aforementioned "technological iniquities", I always call a store to confirm they still have what I'm looking at. Then, while I have someone on the line, I ask for a rundown of their impressions of the instrument and the state of certain aspects (neck condition, etc…) that aren't immediately apparent from one or two, dinky web-pics. In fact, the last time I bought something that was halfway across the continent, which also ended up being the most expensive instrument I've ever purchased, I made damn sure I got a bunch more pictures taken and emailed to me first.
On a side-note, if I'm not sure if I really-and-for-truly want to make an instrument mine, but I'd like some security while deciding upon it, I call the store and put a 25% layaway payment down to make sure I get first pick.
