Genuine cust. svc. at GC?!

[Richard Monroe]

So I dropped off the old Yamaha classical at my local Guitar Center to be transferred to a real Luthier, Becker Guitars, for minor salvage repair- a neck joint issue, but not a guitar worthy of a neck reset.. Shoot some glue in- clamp it down, hope for the best-Should take 20-30 min. Problems arise- two of them. First, I need the guitar for a session that involves a nylon string Celtic Lap Harp with a small voice. Secondly, some numb-nut put the axe on the wrong shelf, so the nice luthier never got it...Oops. OK, I feel an obligation to piss and moan. I meet the (relatively) new manager of the joint, Mark. He shows me to the nice humidified room and says- pick one. OK, I was good. I found a cheap Yamaha that played like my old cheapie, even if it will take 30 years to sound as good. In the $350 range- blonde Cypress sides and back, with the transparent bash plate- a flamenco guitar. Easy to play- I know only a little of this nylon string thing.

Anyway, I put a $100 100% reimburseable deposit on it, and a case, did my gig, and returned the guitar. I could've told him my dog ate it, and grabbed it for $100, but we are both playing the same game. Each of us wants to shake the other down for more in the future. I hear all the horror stories about the big chains, especially GC, so I feel obligated to post when they make a valid attempt to do the right thing. The manager admitted they fucked up. How cool is that?-Richie

Oh Yeah- why would I not just go to nice luthier myself? 40 miles worth of gas. Aren't these interesting times?

[eyema_believer]

That's cool.
I'm actually contemplating getting a job at my local GC.... I've been in customer service my whole life, and know how it's done. If I go to work there, it will be interesting to see if it really truly makes a difference in my paycheck.

[tom18222]

so what happened to your guitar? did they sell it or what?

[DrewPeterson7]

Originally Posted by eyema_believer

That's cool.
I'm actually contemplating getting a job at my local GC.... I've been in customer service my whole life, and know how it's done. If I go to work there, it will be interesting to see if it really truly makes a difference in my paycheck.

From everything I've heard, it won't. Minimum wage, and you only get commission (2% on your margin) if your commission paycheck would be larger than your hourly one.

That said, on occasion you run into someone who's pretty good. The last two times I bought amps, it was at a GC down a bit south from me. The first time I ended up chatting to this sales guy for the better part of an hour. He knew his shit, and surprisingly enough he was a big Tony Macalpine fan to boot, so we ended up talking about Macalpine and Lynch's lead breaks on "Maximum Security" for a while. It sort of surprised me, and he cut me a bit of a deal on the amp too.

The second time was the same store but a few years later so it was a different guy. Again, we ended up chatting for a while about a lot of other stuff other than the amp I was playing in, and he, get this, took down an Ibanez Jem7V (I was playing an Ibanez Universe, a PWH) for me to check it out because he thought it DIDN'T play well enough to warrant its price. He had no intention of trying to sell it to me or anything, he just wanted a second set of hands on it, lol. I ended up impulse-buying the amp I was playing partly because I was surprised how much I was enjoying it (a Rectoverb combo, and I've never really got on with Rectos before), and partly because they were clearing them out for the Express 5:50 so he was able to offer to knock a couple hundred off the price for me.

Of course, for those two guys, I can't count the number of guys who I've talked to in GC's that just weren't qualified to be selling gear, or were just trying to push me into a quick purchase. You never know who you'll end up with, when you walk in...

[antichef]

I do research here and other places on the web, buy stuff for cheap at GC, and have never had a bad experience with them -- I just don't rely on them for advice about stuff -- or even ask for it.