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My Guitar Center Experience

bassguitarthund

bassguitarthund

Jun 4, 2010
945
53
Michigan
#1
I see a lot of negative things posted on here quite a bit on GC. Yes I realize that they are the Walmart of music stores. I have always had good luck in the past buying things at GC, never any issues with any of my purchases ;) Today I picked up a new "blemished" B450 acoustic amp. The grill cloth had a large tear in it. I tried it before putting it in layaway, also inspecting the speaker. When loading it into my car. I happened to notice a tear in the lower speaker!! Now there policy on cleanernce items is no returns or some thing like that. I went back in and explained what I saw in the speaker. They exchanged it for a brand new in the box B450 amp!!! :hyper: They were very profesional and curtious! This experience makes me want to continue shopping there! This is the one in Grand Rapids, MI! I just wanted to share this so that you know not all the stores are bad. Between this one and the one in Canton MI (near Detroit) I have never ever had an issue till today and was profesionally handled. Way to go GC! Now can't wait for work to end so I can go home and JAM!!
 
#6
The salesmen at mine *will* try to talk you into buying stuff. But they're salesmen. When I go in knowing what I want and with my deals all lined up, they are nothing but cool with me.

--Bomb :bassist:

p.s. In contrast, the local "Mom & Pop" music shops all seem to provide inconsistent CS at best ...
 
#9
GC is what it is. If you know how to deal with them, your experiences don't have to be anything but positive. Of course salesmen are there to sell. If they don't, they don't make any money. Some of them don't know what they are talking about. You just deal with it as it comes along. The guy in the Walmart electronics section doesn't know how the LED TV's work either.
 
#13
The trick is going in there knowing what you want to buy, they won't hassle you.

In fact, I went in to try an amp, and couldn't find anyone to grab me a jazz bass, so I went and got it myself...

I snatched up an LMII for $350 out the door last Friday. Great deal IMO. They told me I had 30 days to return it if anything was wrong with it, and it was on clearance...
 
#17
We don't even have a GC where I live, but on a recent trip to Houston I was on a mission for another amp. I made some calls, talked to some sales people. Ended up getting a good amount on my trade in and bought a barely used Line 6 LD150 for less than half of new price. When you factored in my trade, it was about 75% of what a new one goes for. I'd been wanting something with more oomph but had NO budget for it, so it worked out great for me. As for the sales staff, nothing but good things to say. The sales guy asked me what I play, then got out a ladder and pulled a MIA Jazz off the wall for me to try it out. After I noodled around for a bit, I asked for a little demo (still a noob here) which he obliged by playing a few different riffs on each of the different amp settings as the LD150 is a modeling amp. The store was moderately busy, but not like a weekend, so perhaps he had more time to spare than normal, but I felt like I got great service.

Would I go back? Absolutely. Worth the trip? Absolutely. When my son saves up for a decent wah pedal for his guitar this summer, we'll head down there again. Not that the local shop can't help, but there's definitely more equipment to test drive at GC.

YMMV, but I'm giving them a thumbs up.
 
#19
As an employee of a "Mom & Pop" store, I do have my bias. There are pros and cons to both GC and local stores. The selection that the local stores have is definately our biggest drawback. My store I know really only carries Ernie Ball, ghs, Fender and D'Aquisto strings. As far as basses, we are a Peavy, Ibanez and Lakeland dealer and also carry a few student level bass lines. Amps, we carry GK, Peavy and other random student stuff. We do have Fender, SWR, Ampeg and even Edens stuff once in a while, but only cause we accept trade in.
However, cause there are only 4 employees (one being the amp tech), we kind of all need to know a little bit about everything. Three of the four employees are bassists, but the owner (the only one who doesn't play) has been in the biz for over 30 years so he knows whats up as far as bass. So we all have what I guess i can call passion for bass (or guitar, drums, live sound, whatever), which is more of a drive than actually making a sale (we don't make commission either).
GC in Chicago, as far as what my buddy tells me (who works there) is more motivated by simply making the sales and filling there quota, which is not really a bad thing cause its their job and you do what you gotta do. Their selection is far better than most local stores, however, i feel that to shop here you kind have to already know what you're looking for because not every employee is going to be very knowledgable (sp?). I can't say that their prices are better because there are certain items which they mark up and sell it for about four times their cost, while most locals will try to give a more affordable price (sometimes at their expense cause we don't get the same cuts as GC). So yea, those are my two cents on the matter.
 
#20
I go to GC for one reason only. To put my hands all over what I'm considering buying from my mom and pop shop. The thing about GC is you know everything has been, fondled molested, and generally mishandled by every NOOB who can't afford or doesn't deserve to play a really nice instrument. Not to mention that I've seen several employees of GC handle gear in a way that I would deem unacceptable if it were the piece that I were going to purchase. Most of the employees I see are just kids so you can't blame them for their lack of experience, but I won't buy anything expensive from GC. Strings are about it for me or maybe some magazines.
 

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