I'm officially boycotting Guitar Center

[Spirit of Ox]

I called them last week to see if they had any rack ears for my amp. The guy I talked to on the phone assured me that they had something for my amp.
So I went to the Boston store over by Fenway which is a real PITA to get to at 4:30 due to traffic but I had the time so I went for it.
So I go in the store and nobody greets me or asks if I need any help. All the employees were just standing around talking amongst themselves.
I ask about the rack ears and the first guy didn't really know what they were so he sent me upstairs to their sound reinforcement department.
The clerk there didn't seem to knowledgeable either. He told me that rack ears are manufacture specific.
They don't have rack ears in stock!! Thanks for wasting my time!
Anyways, this was the worst customer service experience I've dealt with. I'm done with this store. I don't even like shopping there to begin with, they've destroyed so many mom and pop shops and are just a greedy corporate entity.
I am sorry if I offended anyone who works or shops there. I'm sharing my experience and this is not the first time I've had a bad experience with this company.
End Rant. Thanks for reading and sharing your experiences if you have any. Oh, and it's Friday, enjoy the weekend!

 

[mellowinman]

I called them last week to see if they had any rack ears for my amp. The guy I talked to on the phone assured me that they had something for my amp.
So I went to the Boston store over by Fenway which is a real PITA to get to at 4:30 due to traffic but I had the time so I went for it.
So I go in the store and nobody greets me or asks if I need any help. All the employees were just standing around talking amongst themselves.
I ask about the rack ears and the first guy didn't really know what they were so he sent me upstairs to their sound reinforcement department.
The clerk there didn't seem to knowledgeable either. He told me that rack ears are manufacture specific.
They don't have rack ears in stock!! Thanks for wasting my time!
Anyways, this was the worst customer service experience I've dealt with. I'm done with this store. I don't even like shopping there to begin with, they've destroyed so many mom and pop shops and are just a greedy corporate entity.
I am sorry if I offended anyone who works or shops there. I'm sharing my experience and this is not the first time I've had a bad experience with this company.
End Rant. Thanks for reading and sharing your experiences if you have any. Oh, and it's Friday, enjoy the weekend!

Rack Ears? This isn't Rack Ear Center, boy! Buy a $2,000.00 guitar, or get lost!

 

[Alan Ace Cooper]

Wow! That's no good. I deal with them because I have personal friends and/or bandmates that work at the 2 Northern Virginia based stores. I've ordered a few items from their used website, only to return them to the store because of their condition. Thankfully, the 2 stores here don't entertain none working and filthy gear. Any time I've had a bad experience, I've written the Corp office in California. People do respond.

 

[dtsamples]

Not to mention if you don't want Fender/EB/Ibanez/MarkBass/Ampeg/Acoustic you're SOL.

 

[Geekydad]

I get all my stuff either through Amazon or my local music shop. Guitar Center seems, to me, like the Home Depot of music stores.

 

[Gougedeye]

You should have asked for the sales associates name who helped you in the first place and maybe a product number. Then there would be no confusion.

 

[Haji]

The Nashville location has some smart guys (not all of 'em, but where does that ever happen?) but if an employee is within greeting distance, they'll almost always ask if you need anything or if they can help with something. That's not typical in retail, and is apparently location specific. I've only been to the Brentwood store once; the Nashvegas location is much more central to where I go when I'm in that town.

For the most part I pick up little stuff from them. I don't recall ever buying an instrument from them, and the amp I bought there was near 20 years ago and long gone. The more I go to the local music store the more impressed I am with them. They don't have tons of stuff, but they can get it and the amount of useful knowledge among the staff is impressive. I still like visiting GC because they're a big store, but its not my go to most of the time.

 

[Sixgunn]

I'm amazed that they can even sell guitars. They set them up so that they're more suited to archery than to music. Even the higher end stuff they have plays like crap!!!

 

[hdracer]

Go to the Pro Sound department and look in the corner. There should be a rack full of rack ears, screws and other rack stuff.
All the GC's around here have them.
You just have to be smarter than the people you are dealing with.

 

[29A]

So you didn't dig the service you got there? Ha ha, that's easy - give it a couple weeks and go back. Chances are good that you won't see any familiar faces since their turnover is so high.

The real problem with GC, as I see it, is that they put pressure on their staff not commensurate with the pay so it's a never-ending revolving door where sometimes the guys there are knowledgeable and great, and other times not so much. That and because you remember the lame ones long after you've forgotten the good ones. Plus, you can never predict what you're gonna get when you go there.

Agreed though, not the ideal model for a good business, and especially bad for the smaller shops with consistently good staff that compete with their pricing.

 

[xgator4u]

So you didn't dig the service you got there? Ha ha, that's easy - give it a couple weeks and go back. Chances are good that you won't see any familiar faces since their turnover is so high.

Except for that nasty un bathed Goth pin cushion babe at the front door.

 

[TMARK]

The New York and LA stores are aweful. Richmond VA store is fantastic.

 

[FenderJazz1989]

I have said it before. They do usually suck unless you are friends with a specific employee that is an assistant manager or manager. For me, an assistant manager. I email him what I want, he ALWAYS discounts it further, even if it's from another store and used.

Got my AVRI '64 from the one in Fountain Valley, CA for a great price, and it still had the pickguard plastic on it. He even looked up exactly when and where the original owner got it (GC in Lake Forest) so I knew he barely had it before trading it in.

Ordered a used Spector P/J for only $350 and it came with a hard case, EMG's and in perfect condition.

To me, their used site and return policy cannot be beat.

Their employees can be less than knowledgeable or intelligent, but if you find a good one with some power to adjust pricing and a willingness to help, it is totally worth it. There are exceptions of course, but in general it can be hard to beat their prices.

They are all different. Boycott it if you wish.

 

[Gilmourisgod]

I called them last week to see if they had any rack ears for my amp. The guy I talked to on the phone assured me that they had something for my amp.
So I went to the Boston store over by Fenway which is a real PITA to get to at 4:30 due to traffic but I had the time so I went for it.
So I go in the store and nobody greets me or asks if I need any help. All the employees were just standing around talking amongst themselves.
I ask about the rack ears and the first guy didn't really know what they were so he sent me upstairs to their sound reinforcement department.
The clerk there didn't seem to knowledgeable either. He told me that rack ears are manufacture specific.
They don't have rack ears in stock!! Thanks for wasting my time!
Anyways, this was the worst customer service experience I've dealt with. I'm done with this store. I don't even like shopping there to begin with, they've destroyed so many mom and pop shops and are just a greedy corporate entity.
I am sorry if I offended anyone who works or shops there. I'm sharing my experience and this is not the first time I've had a bad experience with this company.
End Rant. Thanks for reading and sharing your experiences if you have any. Oh, and it's Friday, enjoy the weekend!

Yeah, the Comm. Ave GC is bad, full of rock star wannabees who dropped out of Berklee. The one in Braintree is actually alright. I bought an amp through their used gear system, they screwed up and sent it to a store in Danvers. They had a guy drive it down to Braintree, and gave me a couple sets of bass strings as recompense for the delay. They have some great deals if you know exactly what you are looking for, forget counting on the staff to know much about the gear. It's like Walmart, go in on a Mission From God, buy what you need, and split.

 

[Coolhandjjl]

Roto's? Never heard of 'em.
Me wanting to back to GC? Never heard of it.

 

[The_Janitor]

Yeah, I would just order that kind of thing online.

You should have seen the confused, confounded looks on people's faces when I tried to sell my Sunn Concert Slave there:

"So it's a power amp? You need to take that to Pro Audio."

"No, it's like a power amp, but you use it for guitar."

"... you should probably take it to pro audio"

Before that I was in there wanting to sell my HA2500 head, I needed cash and didn't have time to wait around for it to sell on CL so I went to GC. While I was waiting to be helped (over an hour) a sales guy helped a mom buy an amp and guitar for her kid. On their way out the door mom noticed that the amp didn't have a power cord (the normal IEC 3-pin kind) so sales guy grabbed mine off of the top of the HA2500 and tried to give it to her. I stopped him with a loud "WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?" and took back my cord. Then when I finally got someone to help me they couldn't be convinced that the HA2500 wasn't "vintage". They had to call HQ to get a price for the "vintage" HA2500 that I got new less than two years earlier and was still in pristine shape.

I was already bummed about having to sell my stuff for less than it was worth to GC, but that just added insult to injury. Terrible place.

 

[Spirit of Ox]

You should have asked for the sales associates name who helped you in the first place and maybe a product number. Then there would be no confusion.

It was just some guy on the phone who said they had something for my amp. There is no confusion, I was lied to. I wanted universal rack ears or a rack shelf. I explained what I needed, they didn't have it.

 

[Spirit of Ox]

Go to the Pro Sound department and look in the corner. There should be a rack full of rack ears, screws and other rack stuff.
All the GC's around here have them.
You just have to be smarter than the people you are dealing with.

I did. They didn't have 2u Rack ears or shelves.

 

[tjh]

.. where these rack ears for your Hartke 3500 or your Carvin BX500?

 

[BassGoblin]

I go to guitar center just to try out stuff... sometimes buy cables and things like that. I know the guitars aren't set up the best but it gives me a feel for the body/neck. I then go online and order from American Musical for a fraction of the price. Tax free. Free shipping. I did this just the other day before buying my SR1405E. I went in the store to compare the string spacing of an SR1605 and BTB1605. When I told the kid I was done, he said 'Which one do you want'. I told him I'll be getting the SR1405. He started walking towards the counter... I had to stop him and quite loudly say "No, no, no... I don't buy guitars from you guys. They are overpriced, technically in 'used' condition, and poorly set up. I'll order from American Musical Supply where i'll get an unused instrument, tax and shipping free for probably 10-20% less than you have it marked."

They didn't hesitate to ban me from the store for "trying to take business away from them". Like someone said earlier. I'll go back and they'll have a new crew working there in no time. This 'ban' should only last a few weeks. Thats ok. Besides. I'm in Phoenix. More than enough music stores here. GC just happens to be 2 miles away from my house. Just bought a new $1250 bass... The missus won't let me buy again until this one is paid off anyway.