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Yet another GC thread

jefff100

jefff100

Supporting Member
Jan 23, 2010
3,938
13,623
Jersey Pine Barrens
#1
I almost hate to type this. Long post as I vent - I apologize.

Maybe I shouldn't. Post. It.

So I go i to my local GC this afternoon with full intent to buy a set of straplocks. I'm looking for a specific type of straplock, and I've only seen one brand like this. For reference, I'm looking for the Dunlop recessed straplocks.

Anyway, like most GC's; they remodeled the store about a year or two ago. Took the accessories department and scattered it throughout the store with bits and pieces here and there. I'm sure some corporate think-tank committie decided this was a grand Idea, but it's annoying when you are trying to find something.

So after a few minutes of trapsing around the store fruitlessly I went to the mid store cashier island and asked them about it.

The guy at the counter had an attitude and indicated that they were in the "service counter". Mind you I looked at this sevice counter clunter previously, its not staffed & the floor was strewn with about 4 guitar cases on the floor (some open), along with hand tools & a cordless drill on the floor, intstruments in pieces; generally a cluttered mess.

I told mr attitude that things were simpler before the re-model and he got offended.

Lets see. Removed the bass room (technically a bass concentration - there were at least 8 guitars in the area).
The acoustic guitar room had drums in there. Albeit hand drums, but if I were of a mind to check out a $2k plus Matrin or Taylor, I've got to deal with some guy beating the skins on congo drums?

Ahhh - this is why we are shopping online. Less hassle. Turns out they dont stock the straplocks I wanted.

I should have stayed home and ordered them from Sweetwater.

Am I just being a crumrudgeon here? Or am I just too dang old?

I made a good faith effort to support the brick & mortar store & I'm still having to order online.
FWIW - after I left GC I went to Best Buy - looking for an unrelated item. They didnt have it either.

I'll probably just purchae both items from Amazon and the combined dollar amout will get me free shipping.
 
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#4
stop going to GC & buy some over-sized strap buttons online

AP-0684-010.jpg


but not Sweetwater, they'll call you every month after asking if the buttons worked out for you :roflmao:
 
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#10
Brick and mortar is getting on my nerves, especially with this bum leg. A few days ago, I went to Wall*martt for some medication and shampoo. I parked close on the pharmacy side, grabbed the nearest cart, and hobbled in. When I got my few items, I hobbled out to the registers, and not a single one was open on this side of the store. I would have to go all the way to the grocery side to check out - that's literally like a football field away. Well, I didn't. I was in damn near extreme pain already. So I left the stuff, hobbled back to my car, went home, and ordered everything on Amazon.
 
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#12
Funny, I went to my local GC yesterday for the first time in a month or so, and same thing with the remodeling... the room that had housed all strings, pedals, cables and other accessories (nice & convenient) now has 3 iso booths in it for lessons and nothing else. Now all pedals are in cases around the central cashier station, so if you want to look at pedals you need to try to work around anyone in line to pay or just trying to talk to an associate; all other accessories are randomly stocked throughout the store. The main room isn't large to begin with, so with the register island and randomly placed shelf units holding all the accessories, if you're claustrophobic, you will take one look and walk out.
I know it's a minor thing in the grand scheme, i just find it amazing that someone is probably getting paid BIG $$ to make decisions that make the shopping experience so much more inconvenient & uncomfortable..
*End rant*
 
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#13
jefff100 said:
I almost hate to type this. Long post as I vent - I apologize.

Maybe I shouldn't. Post. It.

So I go i to my local GC this afternoon with full intent to buy a set of straplocks. I'm looking for a specific type of straplock, and I've only seen one brand like this. For reference, I'm looking for the Dunlop recessed straplocks.

Anyway, like most GC's; they remodeled the store about a year or two ago. Took the accessories department and scattered it throughout the store with bits and pieces here and there. I'm sure some corporate think-tank committie decided this was a grand Idea, but it's annoying when you are trying to find something.

So after a few minutes of trapsing around the store fruitlessly I went to the mid store cashier island and asked them about it.

The guy at the counter had an attitude and indicated that they were in the "service counter". Mind you I looked at this sevice counter clunter previously, its not staffed & the floor was strewn with about 4 guitar cases on the floor (some open), along with hand tools & a cordless drill on the floor, intstruments in pieces; generally a cluttered mess.

I told mr attitude that things were simpler before the re-model and he got offended.

Lets see. Removed the bass room (technically a bass concentration - there were at least 8 guitars in the area).
The acoustic guitar room had drums in there. Albeit hand drums, but if I were of a mind to check out a $2k plus Matrin or Taylor, I've got to deal with some guy beating the skins on congo drums?

Ahhh - this is why we are shopping online. Less hassle. Turns out they dont stock the straplocks I wanted.

I should have stayed home and ordered them from Sweetwater.

Am I just being a crumrudgeon here? Or am I just too dang old?

I made a good faith effort to support the brick & mortar store & I'm still having to order online.
FWIW - after I left GC I went to Best Buy - looking for an unrelated item. They didnt have it either.

I'll probably just purchae both items from Amazon and the combined dollar amout will get me free shipping.
Click to expand...
Curmudgeon? Yep.
Reason.
You didn't explain what you meant by attitude.
What/how did the guy do/say/act to win the Attitude Award from you?

You didn't explain how the guy became offended.
What did you say/do that was offensive to him and what was the nature of his offensive response.

This is all the written version of "pics or it did happen."

You could gave looked on line to see if GC still carries the strap locks.
You could have called the store and asked.
And if they said they had them and drove all of 20 minutes to find out they were sums of bitchen liars, then you'd have a non-curmudgeon case to rant.

I think you were just upset about the store moving stuff around and channeled it onto the first clerk you found.
Nice job of jumping on the "Lets see if we can find the tiniest fault about GC and blow it way out of proportion" bandwagon.

You hit curmudgeon right out of the ballpark on this one. :yawn:
 
Last edited:
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#15
For what it's worth......I've never seen the recessed model StrapLoks in any brick & morter store. Typically special order or stocked at an online entity. As for the store being a mess...........we have a local store that looks like a pig sty. I bought a cable, paid cash and dude had to go next door to rumble up some change. SMDH! Guitar Center is over 30 miles away and the other non commercial spot is about 20 miles away but you have to cross a bridge with a toll.

Take the good with the bad. The life of a musician.
 
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#17
Old Garage-Bander said:
Curmudgeon? Yep.
Reason.
You didn't explain what you meant by attitude.
What/how did the guy do/say/act to win the Attitude Award from you?

You didn't explain how the guy became offended.
What did you say/do that was offensive to him and what was the nature of his offensive response.

This is all the written version of "pics or it did happen."

You could gave looked on line to see if GC still carries the strap locks.
You could have called the store and asked.
And if they said they had them and drove all of 20 minutes to find out they were sums of bitchen liars, then you'd have a non-curmudgeon case to rant.

I think you were just upset about the store moving stuff around and channeled it onto the first clerk you found.
Nice job of jumping on the "Lets see if we can find the tiniest fault about GC and blow it way out of proportion" bandwagon.

You hit curmudgeon right out if the ballpark on this one. :yawn:
Click to expand...
I could have done all these things, IE what the guy got offended about, but - it would made my excessively long original post even longer.

I didn't think I needed to call, just figured I'd go to the store and buy them - if they had the ones i wanted. I sort of figured they may not have that particular model / style, that's not really what's annoying.
Local GC is only about 2 miles away. I can practically drive there in the amount of time it takes them to round up someone to respond to a phone inquiry in the appropriate department and then hopefully get a knowledgable answer.
As it is when they pulled the Dunlop straplock off the wall (behind the service counter) the guy handed me the wrong ones. he gave me the Dunlop "original straplock". I pointed out that these were not the recessed units, so he then got the "universal" straplocks. They don't know their products and they are not knowledgable of what's currently available on market

The guy got offended when I was simply honest with him and said that the store was easier to shop in before the remodel. He took it personal. I then said that I understood that this is a corporate decision, not his personal decision; but that as a customer I'm just stating my opinion that the store is now frustrating to shop in.
 
#18
jefff100 said:
Am I just being a crumrudgeon here?
Click to expand...

maybe.

i like having brick and mortar stores to check out gear in person, and stores do remodel.

our target, which remodeled fully last year, is doing it again - their spiffy starbucks is going to share more space with their pizza hut express, and hopefully will get more chairs. they moved their less than one-year-old customer service section into the lady's clothes - which i expect they'll soon realize was a mistake. they're moving lots of stuff. it's what stores do.

and you can still always order online when you're in a rush and don't feel like looking for stuff.

btw, the techs at our local GCs probably know less than i do about where things are located in the stores as it's not their jobs to work with stock. that being said, the techs in our stores seem maybe nicer than the one you talked to.
 
#19
Regarding the Dunlop strap locks: I have flush mounted the "original" version on three different basses now. While this is primarily due to having no idea there was a "flush mount" version, it seems to work just as well.
 

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