What would YOU like from Guitar Center?

[ButtUglyJeff]

I rarely go to GC, for the simple reason there's a superior locally owned store, that I prefer doing business with. My few experience there have been looking at basses that looked like they have been hammered on for eons. And the only one's for sale, are the ones on the sales floor.

The House of Guitars, manages to have displays and more, new in the box, basses in the back. I'll fiddle with an Olympic White model, then buy the Red one in the back. And they won't let it leave their store before getting the official once over by the luither.

 

[D.M.N.]

I big sign on the front door that says: N00BS NEED NOT APPLY

Also, another big sign reading: SHRED METAL GUITARIST WHO CRANK THE VOLUME TO 10 WILL ME SHOT ON SIGHT.

Other than that, I just want the instruments to be taken care of better. Last time I was in there I took 3 American precisions to the front desk for various problems. (Free-spinning tone knob, input jack pushed into body cavity, frozen volume pot, missing knobs). It hurts me to see instruments left to be abused in such a way.

 

[malthumb]

There is good and bad at any chain like this. Thankfully Scott Dailey at the Southfield, MI GC is one of the good ones. Stop in and see him and he will take really good care of you. He's a heck of a guitar player too.

Just spent some time with Scott earlier today. Looking for a guitar for my kid. Scott tried to help, but what we were looking for just wasn't there. For the record I'll also plug Stephen in Accessories. Now that Ryan is no longer there, I tend to work through Stephen or Scott when I go to Southfield.

We went to the Allen Park store and picked up a Michael Kelly Valor at a great price. Can't remember the salesman's name, but he was very helpful.

For the record, both stores have guitar techs on site. Have had for a while and at both stores when I've been there lately, they're busy.

 

[getBAK]

In general GC staff I've dealt with has been undertrained and unimpressive. I get the impression that employee turn-over is very high.

I can only assume that people are not paid well... I see local stores where (good) people have worked for 10 years.

In general I get annoyed with the noise level in the shop. There needs to be a series of demo rooms for amps.

 

[darkstorm]

With the claims GC makes about its employees receiving training on the various things they have, it be nice if there was some truth to the claims. Or at least do the training in a language spoken by the employees so they have some clue about what theyre supposedly being taught.

 

[Luckie]

I'd like to see more fretless basses. Lucky to find one at a store. Also more bass effects and bass strings selection. The GC near me had one brand of flat rounds.

+1 on the strings.
I was up at GC trying to pickup some tapewounds. They didn't have em.
Then I asked for tapered strings. Didn't have those either.
Then I asked for a pack of GHS flats. Didn't have those either, despite having 3 kinds of GHS rounds.
I have to buy everything online, my local GC never has what I want to buy!
Also, I don't know how it is at other GCs, but the cables at mine never work. I have to get 3 before I get one that works.

 

[SurferJoe46]

One more thing I forgot to add. I absolutely detest it when they ask me for my name when I'm cashing out when all I've bought is a package of picks or something cheap like that. GC, if I buy something worth big bucks then I'll tell you who I am. Otherwise it's none of your g-d business. Get it?

I understand GC asking this question and entering it in the computer.

It's for the possible need or a good reason to put another store in another location.

If people are traveling long distances to get to this store, then another one may be able to get a new customer base somewhere else.

RadioShack did/does this and they are everywhere - well, not quite like Starbucks, but almost.

Demographically, I would guess that a GC with a potential customer base of - say 5-7% of the population in a given area would make it monetarily feasible to build a new store in that locale if it had reports of people from that zip code coming to their current store.

I have no problem with that research.

Now --- about those donuts and coffee. Can it be GC's Own Blend for coffees (another marketing tool??? HUH?) and perhaps Krispy Kreme donuts. I'll set up a cot in the bass section and when you open the store in the morning, I'd have the coffee hot and waiting for you! Bring donuts.

 

[TheBassPreacher]

I get the impression that employee turn-over is very high.

I can only assume that people are not paid well... I see local stores where (good) people have worked for 10 years.

Turnover is very high, but it isn't because of good pay. As with a lot of sales based places, if you don't sell you don't stay. They'll hire a bunch of extra people for peak times, and let go the ones who aren't producing... if you've been working a while you'll get a warning, but you can't go too long before they fire you. Doesn't matter if you've been there 10 years, 2-3 bad months can find you on the unemployment line.

 

[4001]

Really, I'd like to see GC go belly up.

 

[champbassist]

i'd like to see GC in India

I second the motion

 

[Tommygunn]

+1 on the strings.
I was up at GC trying to pickup some tapewounds. They didn't have em.
Then I asked for tapered strings. Didn't have those either.
Then I asked for a pack of GHS flats. Didn't have those either, despite having 3 kinds of GHS rounds.
I have to buy everything online, my local GC never has what I want to buy!
Also, I don't know how it is at other GCs, but the cables at mine never work. I have to get 3 before I get one that works.

Funny cause I pick up $20 rotos at my GCs.

 

[twangman]

Take the employees off of commission.

I agree. I actually had a friend of mine get mad at me for buying a bass amp sold to me by another employee, I needed the amp badly, and I did not know he was also working there, he pretty much ignored me after that.

 

[TheBassPreacher]

I agree. I actually had a friend of mine get mad at me for buying a bass amp sold to me by another employee, I needed the amp badly, and I did not know he was also working there, he pretty much ignored me after that.

Heh you could have just told him "with all the turnover here I wasn't sure if you even worked here anymore."

 

[NecroticImbecil]

Free earplugs should be handed out at the door.

Seriously, they're a mass market chain. Can't expect them to start selling Fodera and Glockenklang. They will sell what sells - largely cheaper stuff aimed at teenagers, with a few more expensive name brands thrown in. I like to be acknowledged but not hovered over by sales staff, which I generally get but not always. Frustrating when you want to buy something but can't get anyone to take your money. I have more of a problem with the customers than the store or its staff.

 

[TheBassPreacher]

Frustrating when you want to buy something but can't get anyone to take your money.

That seems to only ever happen to me in the bass area. It never happens in the acoustic room or the pro audio areas. Though maybe a bunch of the sales guys go hide out in the acoustic area to take a break from the noise.

 

[Luckie]

I'd really like to work at GC, but my local one only hires full-timers.
Which is a drag, because I think I'd keep the bass section pretty straight.

 

[rapturebass]

Alot of the complaints in this thread are pissing me off. Can't find a cable for an amp? Ask a service desk! Can't get any help from anyone, ask! It's not hard.

 

[Luckie]

Alot of the complaints in this thread are pissing me off. Can't find a cable for an amp? Ask a service desk! Can't get any help from anyone, ask! It's not hard.

When there's no one behind the service desk and all of the salespeople are hiding in the acoustic corral, getting a cable is tough.
And it shouldn't be tough to try gear I might buy. It's in their interest to make things hassle free.
Now I agree that having to ask for a cable/help isn't a problem, but not having someone to ask is.

 

[stratovani]

I understand GC asking this question and entering it in the computer.

It's for the possible need or a good reason to put another store in another location.

If people are traveling long distances to get to this store, then another one may be able to get a new customer base somewhere else.

RadioShack did/does this and they are everywhere - well, not quite like Starbucks, but almost.

Demographically, I would guess that a GC with a potential customer base of - say 5-7% of the population in a given area would make it monetarily feasible to build a new store in that locale if it had reports of people from that zip code coming to their current store.

I have no problem with that research.

I swear that if they ever opened a GC here in Spencer I'd just about fall over in shock! Until then I'll continue being a hardass and not give them my name for something worth just a few bucks. And yes, I've got a bad temper, and yes, I will tell them it's none of their g-d business!

 

[SurferJoe46]

When there's no one behind the service desk and all of the salespeople are hiding in the acoustic corral, getting a cable is tough.

I find this interesting on a few different levels.

Whenever I ask someone to help - for whatever reason, and they are behind a counter, they have to get someone to relieve them before they can abandon or even walk out from behind the counter. What you say makes me wonder what's going on at the store you haunt.

Many times a floor manager takes the post until the original salesperson returns.

I don't usually go into the guitar amps section - but as I walk through I see all the cables physically attached to the shelves of the displays, and the one end can reach , what - maybe three amps and the other end goes where the noise comes from by the guitardists. I don't see any shortage of cables in any department.

And - I know you thought I was gonna forget this part: The acoustic area is all glass and even if you only went in there to scratch your nethers, everyone in the store would see, so hiding there is kinda out of the realm of possibilities I believe.

Your store may be different - but that's the way it is in GC/Murrietta.