I meet the clueless guys periosically. But for the most part I have had good experiences at my local GC.
In fact, out of all the Dallas/Fort Worth GC's I would say the Arlington store is the best one. It's certainly the biggest one.
That being said, it sure is easier to remember the less positive experiences than the more positive ones.
I needed a body for the Jazz Bass project that I keep babbling about, Out of the ones I had seen online, AllParts had the most promising loolking one, but it was listed for something like $385 MSRP.
GC had an existing contract with AllParts. so that was the easiest one to order. But I was sure I could get a better price than that. The first sales guy wouldn't budge on the price and even said I should buy it for full price and then maybe they could work a bargain after it came in.
I refrained from ordering it from him. The next time I came in, I found a different salesguy and got him to call up the cheapest one I had seen on the internet. It was $250. I was hoping to get the AllParts body for around $300. He told the manager I could order it for $250 online, so the manager said "Charge him 250." They did. I paid on the spot. It came in two weeks later. So the next time I go into the store I see the first salesguy again. I said I'm here to get my Jazz Bass body. He remembered me and went to set up a sale to order it for full price. You could see the little $$$$'s floating above his head.
Then I told him another salesguy had made a better deal than him and I was just there to pick it up.
He looked pretty sad at the loos of an unnecessarily inflated comission. So that made me even happier than getting the body I wanted.
Moral for salesguys: If you're clueless and try to screw your customers, you get diddly. If you fairly on the ball ans work to make them happy, you'll get the commission and they'll come back to you later to buy straplocks, strings and a dreadnaught case and whatever other accessories I end up getting.
