I'm constantly amazed at how bad GC service is...

a friend and i use Guitar Center BlowoutMart as the "bad" analogy and a running sarcasticly humorous joke. WalMart of Music stores. IMO.

Ex#1:
my friend went in to GC the other day, beyond his better common sense, and asked for a 10 thousandths electric guitar string.

the GC pro- said "whoooa!! wait a minute I'll get someone who knows ALL ABOUT that stuff! i just sell whats on the wall behind me!!!!" (which was guitar strings etc..:eek:

the 2nd pro-salesmen came over, as if to help a cripple, proud and confident, arrogant, but didn't understand what string gauges were either, but he did know E-B-G, etc... and recommended buying a "full set" as they would match better. :rolleyes:

by then a 3rd Pro-sales staff member came over to help, and all three of them didn't understand the gauge terminolgy of the guitar strings they were selling (apparently not required knoweldge to be a PRO STAFF in the Electric Guitar string Dept. at GC). They just sell those "things" on the shelf behind DUDE!!

after some explanation, of thousandths, .010, steel is a material used to make strings....my buddy said somehow they laughed at him for using terminology of 9's, 9 thousandths, or 10's and 11 thousandths, or .010....etc....like he was some frkn wiredo from 1965??

he said
the three GC PRO STAFF laughed at him and said "DAMN DUDE!!! WE SELL ROCK HERE MAN!!! NOT ROCKET SCIENCE!!! duh huh huh huh"

he said he won't be back..he's had really good luck with Musicians Friend.

I think he summarized like " I'm through dealing with those crack monkeys.."

hehehe, fhkng funny...i'm laughing thinking about it
 
The best thing about guitar center is the fuck ups to me. Like the Lucid DA converter I bought for $99. It was 2 weeks old and in an open box. They told me they could not find the power supply though. Of course after I paid for it the guy to take one last look in the back and what do you know... he found it. Thge real screw up here though is not that they could not find the power supply. It's that they let me walk out of the stor with a basically brand new fully warrantied Lucid D/A 2496 for $99:D
 
I've been relatively satisfied with my local GC since the manager of the Technology area and the manager of the Guitar Dept. both worked with me at Mars - they actually know their stuff and treat me well both because they know me and because I spend plenty o' bucks.

I have found on the rare occasion when these guys aren't around most of other "sales reps" know little more than where to find something on a shelf (and often, they can't even do that).

I found it interesting that djhead mentions the fact that they don't get paid well as justification that they don't do thier job well and that they are not allowed "paid time" to learn the gear.

I agree the pay is not very good even for the best producers - but that does not justify poor service. Pride in a job well done and an honest work ethic should dictate how well the job is done. If they don't feel they are paid enough - they can quit!. I agree they are not allowed time to learn gear (and certainly in the technology/recording area that can be a real challenge - even if paid time is allowed). I think that is a major management error in any big box store - the people should be given opportunity to learn the product - however, given the turn-over of both employees and gear - it simply would not be fiscally practical.

All I know is when I worked at Mars, I did it more because I enjoyed working around gear and interacting continuously with musicians (and for the great discount on gear) than for the pay (which does indeed suck)- the joy of the job, and my own pride in a job well done was enough to assure that I provided great service (and I was always one of the top sales people - customers asked for me because I knew my stuff and I always went the extra mile). I took my own time to learn the gear. I would come in early or stay late and pull out a manuel for a new piece of gear and learn my way around it.

Even though I ran the drum area - and I knew my gear (drums being my main axe) I knew more about the technology (other than the DJ crap) than most of the guys in that area - simply because I wanted to and I took the time to learn (maybe I did not get paid to learn - but the additional knowledge was pay in itself). I often found it sad that I knew more technology than they did (given that they were trying to earn a living selling gear) - but Mars suffered from many of the same turnover/lack of training issues that we all see at GC.

If GC has bad service - it's because of the lack of motivation and failure to take pride in the job of the individuals working there. Once in a while you can find a gem amounst the crap - and when you do, direct all your business to that person.

The old saying will always be true - "buyer beware"
 
xstatic said:
The best thing about guitar center is the fuck ups to me. Like the Lucid DA converter I bought for $99. It was 2 weeks old and in an open box. They told me they could not find the power supply though. Of course after I paid for it the guy to take one last look in the back and what do you know... he found it. Thge real screw up here though is not that they could not find the power supply. It's that they let me walk out of the stor with a basically brand new fully warrantied Lucid D/A 2496 for $99:D
Click to expand...

See, now this is the kind of thing that NEVER happens to me. As far as I'm concerned, you are a witch and we should see if you sink in a pond. :mad:

...OK there was this one time that I was in a gas station buying some Coors and a Coors employee ahead of me in line at the register bought it for me. And that was my run of good luck.
 
its not a justification as opposed to an ex-planation. Worked there for 18 months, top seller for the month 9 times. My attitude was always "if I don't know the answer, I will find out". If I would have stayed in Arizona, I would have had such a huge client base for working in a studio, not because I was the smartest or the best, but because I worked hard, and was not afraid to admit when i was wrong/didn't know.
 
djhead said:
its not a justification as opposed to an ex-planation. Worked there for 18 months, top seller for the month 9 times. My attitude was always "if I don't know the answer, I will find out". If I would have stayed in Arizona, I would have had such a huge client base for working in a studio, not because I was the smartest or the best, but because I worked hard, and was not afraid to admit when i was wrong/didn't know.
Click to expand...

I wish you worked at my GC!!! GREAT attitude man!
 
Reggie said:
See, now this is the kind of thing that NEVER happens to me. As far as I'm concerned, you are a witch and we should see if you sink in a pond. :mad:
Click to expand...

I guarantee, if you throw me in a pond I will flail for a while and then sink:D
 
djhead,

That can do attitude is exactly what is missing in so many people at GC (and most big box stores) - If that's how you approached the job I have no doubt you stood out, had people seek you out to buy from and would certainly explain why you were top sales person so many times. Attitude is everything!!!
 
Sacramento GC is pretty good...

I have only gone about a dozen times (45 minute drive), bur every time except once, I was impressed by how helpful the kids were. No problems with returns either when I changed my mind...

Also, MF is awsome in the cust service department. They seem to always have the "customer is always right" atitude...

YMMV....
 
thats not to say I haven't been that shit-job of an employee either. But will my work ethic might be strong, my penchant for putting i up with egotistical know it alls isn't. Its one thing to admit you're wrong, and another for the customer to shove it up your ass with a cactus while demanding a deeper discount than YOU get, like his shit don't stink. :mad:

I was fired for smashing that condecending prick in the face with an MC909.
 
I like GC ok. I like it better than samash. The guys who work there knwo more than the dumbasses as s.a. I don't pick one over the other much, though. Their prices are the same mostly and they have the same stuff. I have a rule to not spend all my money at one vendor. I know it's stupid since you don't get that loyal customer treatment. The fact is, the economy needs us to scatter our money around. Don't buy from the same businesses regularly. Go to a different grocery, buy different gas, pick up a streetwalker in a different neighborhood. Keeps the economy in chaos.
 
Welp....today is the day where i say no more...

Walked in to get a HP4 headphone amp. Turns out the unit wasnt wrapped in anything it was jsut sitting in there stains on the knobs and i later found out that the first 2 channels were crap and clipped at volume 1. I am through with guitar center they shouldnt be selling used pieces of crap items at retail price if 2 channels dont wrok tha means it should be half off
 
that headphone amp is more or less dookie anyway. They gave it away free with Firepods, and mine is very tinny.
 
What a dillhole!

My special order was supposed to come in today, so I call GC to see if it arrived; I get put on hold; I wait 10 minutes, listening to 100% compressed advertisements/"music"; get pissed off and hang up. I call again an hour later and the same thing happens. I call a third time; get put on hold for five minutes; someone picks up the line and asks if I've been helped yet, and I say NO; i get put on hold again for a few minutes, and finally someone in Pro Audio picks up the phone. I tell him I want to confirm that my special order has arrived; he asks what the item is and I tell him; he says "oh... Mr. X helped you with that... he's helping a customer, can you hold?"... GRRRRRR...
Eventually, Mr. X picks up, I tell him who I am and asked if my order came in, and he says " oh yeah... it came in yesterday, but I didn't come in so I couldn't call you, you can come and get it"... I tell him I'll be in around 8:00pm; he says he leaves at 6:00pm, "but someone else can help you"...

Mr. X is a lucky guy, since he won't be there when I get there...

* grinds teeth * :mad:
 
I think the St.Louis GCs are pretty cool. The one near my house has some pretty knowlegeable guys although their HD rig is always down so I never get to test out the Control 24 like I want. I do most of my ordering through Mark Magdich at Sweetwater though. The guy at my GC who is my "sales rep" always comes true with his phone calls and is almost allways in and willing to help me out.
 
thinking more on this..
we do have 3-4 GC stores, in Dallas area here and one of them is pretty decent, IMO. I'll give GC that much.
Maybe its the on-site manager that keeps the studio room in sharp order and organized somewhat, i'm guessing? Maybe this is the difference between stores..the manager?

why else would one be a complete fhkng mess with crack-monkeys and another organized and well staffed?
 
based off the studio-monitor room, the LBJ/635 GC was well done.
all monitors orgainized, all the left and right speakers wiring was correct, enjoyable....sounds simple huh?

hopefully they can maintain it. the GC plano/75 is a fhkng anxiety-box, dysfunctional mess.

I mean fhk, you have 10 zipper heads running around...yet its a mess.
the speakers are all fhkd up, left doesn't match the right, the back settings are all different, the fhkng monitors aren't even plugged in on some...and godforbid if a crack monkey trys to come in and help!! count on another 45 minutes of pain.

same store as the Guitar string dept. staff that doesn't have a clue what a electric .010, or 10, or 10thousandths means...

though it could change its like a new staff everytme I go in. its the closest to the house unfortunately.
 
I work at the Tempe AZ. store. Our top sellers are from 50,000 to 85,000 a year. You cant judge the chain cause of one store. Go look at their stock. I thinks its around 48.00 dollars a share. there's i think 175 stores now. They are also going international. They will open stoes in England, Germany, Japan. Point is they are doing something right. And in most cases it's user error when it comes to the pro audio stuff. I had a guy buy a small interface for his laptop, after a few phone calls to the store, and admiting not reading the manuel. I said bring you laptop in and we will set it up. He did, we did, and he left smiling asking me if he could fill out something to tell the manager what awesome service he got. He was in today to pick up some more stuff. Tips on buying musical gear: Do the research so you know what you need and how it works. Then go in a work with someone you can tell is competent.
Peace
 
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