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Guitar Center would sell more basses if....

#82
smcd said:
On the other hand, outside of waiting too long for help at the accessories counter, I don't think I've ever had a bad GC experience. My biggest complaint with GC is that I'm sick of looking at the same brands (Fender, Warwick, EBMM, Schecter) over and over again.
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I keep trying to give GC a chance. Every couple of years I will find myself near one and wander in to check out some gear. Or sometimes they are just teh only guitar store open on sundays in certain areas.
But everytime I go in to a GC, I always get
  • terrible customer service. Notice the no kids in tow? Notice that I have $400 glasses and pretty spiffy kicks on. I am your ideal customer, seriously, middle aged guy with disposable income.
  • over the top hard sell treatment
  • sick of waiting for something that Iwould have been out the door already at a regular guitar store. Buying strings shouldn't take 15 minutes! And NO I wont change brands for your ______ special sale!
 
#85
sawzalot said:
...they changed the strings on them when they went dead. Seriously, my two local GC's have a few nice basses on the walls, but absolutely none of them have anything close to good strings on them. I mean, they are dead. As a doornail. It makes the basses sound terrible. If they'd just put some decent strings on their basses once in a while, I bet they'd sell a lot more.

End of rant.

Tom
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I like the sound of dead strings.
 
#86
Unless the bass has substantial visual damage out of the box it's going on the wall right out of the box. At the local GC many of the salesmen are good friends of mine and if I Try something and it needs whatever, they will usually walk it over to the tech at that point and attempt to correct the problem. A big problem in our local GC which is not one of their larger stores, most of the basses have been hanging on the wall for years. Usually when I walk in I glance at the bass wall and then proceed to the used section hoping to find a decent used bass priced properly. And yes bass is an extremely small part of their business compaired to say pro audio. All that being said, I will start working at that store Saturday or Monday and see what I can do with the bass section. Hope I get enough old guys like me that have money and want to spend some and oh yes all those kiddies buying the $149 basses, hope to see tons of them too.
 
#90
My turn. I live in NE and recently found an old Ibanez RB885 for sale in the Towson MA. Called the store and had a Manager evaluate it for me. I asked all the right questions, strings, nicks, dings, neck, action, scratchy pots, does it have a case. In his opinion, it was "SOLID 7.9 out of 10" condition. "Came from a local studio and had seen little play time". It would have a brand new battery, the strings were like new, action was great, but had no case with it, but he could sell me a gig bag. No thanks. Wouldn't budge on price but I bought it any way. I received the bass, in an original case. +1. Strings - dead, battery - dead (vol knob left on), major discoloration through out, action was horrible. I called my local GC to B!tch. They told me to bring it in. G-Tech said it needed a full set up plus a new jack. FML. However, he did it all on the spot for me at cost of parts complete with and apology for the hack that sold it to me, less new strings of coarse. I ended up walking out of there less $25 in my pocket. Not bad, but still felt like I had been had by GC.

Thanks for letting me rant.
 
#92
STRINGSLINGER said:
My turn. I live in NE and recently found an old Ibanez RB885 for sale in the Towson MA. Called the store and had a Manager evaluate it for me. I asked all the right questions, strings, nicks, dings, neck, action, scratchy pots, does it have a case. In his opinion, it was "SOLID 7.9 out of 10" condition. "Came from a local studio and had seen little play time". It would have a brand new battery, the strings were like new, action was great, but had no case with it, but he could sell me a gig bag. No thanks. Wouldn't budge on price but I bought it any way. I received the bass, in an original case. +1. Strings - dead, battery - dead (vol knob left on), major discoloration through out, action was horrible. I called my local GC to B!tch. They told me to bring it in. G-Tech said it needed a full set up plus a new jack. FML. However, he did it all on the spot for me at cost of parts complete with and apology for the hack that sold it to me, less new strings of coarse. I ended up walking out of there less $25 in my pocket. Not bad, but still felt like I had been had by GC.
Thanks for letting me rant.
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You still feel like you were had? You could have returned it for a refund. What more do you expect??
 
#94
You have to understand they probably have 200 instruments hanging up for grabs, loads of customers, and only so many employees. It's not like a small store where they have 5 basses on the wall and enough time to make it perfect.
 
#95
I usually don't have a problem. If I am ready to buy something, before I enter the store, I make sure I have a very stern and tough look on my face upon entering. That usually stops the sales' pitches from the non-bass salesmen. Then, I walk directly to the bass I want. When a salesman comes by, I sternly, but very politely tell him or her: "Hi. How are you doing? I am interested in buying this [insert bass] today and I will be paying in cash." Then, I ask them to fix the intonation if needed. If they are too busy to do that, I usually just ask them, off the bat, to give me a $100 or so off because it has worn out strings and such (and because I am paying in cash).

It has worked in my favor every time. I do not want to portray that I am mean to the salesmen. I just don't BS around with them. Most of the time, they realize I am not someone starting out and I often end up having a good conversation with the person, as, many times, real musicians work there to make some extra cash.

And, trust me, they know the bass needs a set-up, and they don't mind discounting it by a little bit to get me out of the store without having to get their (probably quite logged-back) technician to help out. I just try to go in the store thinking "I'll just treat them like I would want to be treated," which means NO BS.
 
#96
STRINGSLINGER said:
Had the salesman been strait with me, or had a clue what he was talking about, I wouldn't have made the purchase. What more do I expect.... Honesty. A virtue not many have anymore. Do you work for Guitar Center?:hiding:
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So you ordered a bass, unseen, over the phone. When you got it, you were unhappy. So you brought it to your local branch, where the problems were fixed at no cost to you. You also had the option of getting a full refund. Yet that still didn't satisfy you. What do you think would have happened if you ordered a bass from another retailer? You'd have gotten the sole option of returning the bass - at your expense. If you were LUCKY.

You want honesty? Don't order sight unseen over the phone. No way do I work at GC. There's no way I could put up with the clientele.
 
#97
smcd said:
So you ordered a bass, unseen, over the phone. When you got it, you were unhappy. So you brought it to your local branch, where the problems were fixed at no cost to you. You also had the option of getting a full refund. Yet that still didn't satisfy you. What do you think would have happened if you ordered a bass from another retailer? You'd have gotten the sole option of returning the bass - at your expense. If you were LUCKY.

You want honesty? Don't order sight unseen over the phone. No way do I work at GC. There's no way I could put up with the clientele.
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Yes I bought sight unseen over the phone. Big whoop, I do it all the time. In my experiance you can generally trust someone in a management position to shoot strait with you. It was at a cost to me. $25 plus the cost of string to replace the "like new" strings that were DOA. Yes I could have returned it to GC minus the shipping, not to mention my time is worth a lot to me. Thats why I get paid the big bucks.;) My local GC has been very good to me and I still (even today) take alot of my business there.

Point of my rant is.. Guitar Center would sell more bass's if they could gain the trust of their clientele. In a market that doesn't have much in the order of on hand merchandise one must go abroad to acuire the things they need. In my case, vintage Roadstars, as well as some others. Are you sure you don't work for GC? You sure did seem affended by my post in a GC Slapping thread.:rollno:
 
#98
smcd said:
So you ordered a bass, unseen, over the phone. When you got it, you were unhappy. So you brought it to your local branch, where the problems were fixed at no cost to you. You also had the option of getting a full refund. Yet that still didn't satisfy you. What do you think would have happened if you ordered a bass from another retailer? You'd have gotten the sole option of returning the bass - at your expense. If you were LUCKY.

You want honesty? Don't order sight unseen over the phone. No way do I work at GC. There's no way I could put up with the clientele.
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http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f34/p...ays-policy-towards-sellers-592011/?highlight=

Honestly?:rollno: You even started this thread ^^^
 
#100
Bass is purchased sight unseen by the word of a guy at GC #1. Bass arrives not quite in described condition. GC #2 makes the instrument right.

This, to me, sounds like a happy ending. The buyer was a bit mislead at first, but GC made it right. The buyer ends up with a cheaply-purchased bass and a major company has shown good service.

What exactly was the problem?
 

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