Another 'I hate Guitar Center' thread.

[Outlaws]

I go in there and ask for a GT 12ax7m and I get this...

"Here you go."

I reply, "Whats this?"

"Its a 12ax7."

I go back with, "Yes, I can see, but I asked for the 'M' version."

"Oh thats just to distinguish production runs. They are both 12ax7."

"So do you have an 'M' in stock?" I continue.

"No."

5 fucking minutes wasted and I could have gotten that simple "no" when he looked up '12ax7m' in his computer.


FUCKING MORONS.

I applied there a long time ago and didn't get hired. I thinkits because I might tell people to stay the fuck away if they care about thier sound.

UGH!

 

[XLR]

I had a different experience there.

Last week I called the Guitar Center in Seattle trying to find an iLock dongle to transfer my Waves software authorization from my laptop to moveable format. I had called 3 other stores first with no luck, only unfulfilled promises to find one and call me back. Anyway, they searched their computer-listed inventory, found one, then at my request agreed to do a physical search to confirm, since I'd be driving for a ways to get there. Said they'd call me back. They did, 10 minutes later. Then had it waiting for me when I arrived. Called me a day later to THANK ME for shopping there. Jeez.

Tim

 

[Rokket]

I don't like them because they carry instruments that have flaws and irregularities in them so that they can sell them cheap. Plus they don't carry vary many left-handed instruments.


But they do have some decent gear there that is reasonably priced. I just won't buy a guitar from them...

 

[Milkfaj]

guitar center is great if you know someone who works there and will sell you things for cost....

 

[hixmix]

I've gotten some of the best deals ever at GC. You just gotta to know how to play the game.

 

[Rokket]

I've gotten some of the best deals ever at GC. You just gotta to know how to play the game.

I got some great cables, and some pedals (an original Crybaby Wah!) from them. You can get good deals. I just won't buy their guitars...

 

[pdadda]

I was looking for a 72' RI Telecaster Deluxe about 6 months ago. I called GC, and they said they didn't have any, but would order one that would be in after about a week. I called back a month later, and they said to keep waiting. Meanwhile, I shopped around and found one that played really well at Sam Ash. That was my first experience there, and they were great.
So I get a call 2 weeks ago from GC. The guys says, "I'm just returning your call from the other day. We have your guitar in." I told him the story, and he acted like he was pissed. Moron.

 

[bigwillz24]

I only deal with one person in GC.

He knows before I even get in the store what I'm looking for and I already know what its going to cost me.

I never pay what the sticker says in the store.

Doesn't hurt to go to school with the GC guy does it

 

[XLR]

So I get a call 2 weeks ago from GC. The guys says, "I'm just returning your call from the other day. We have your guitar in." I told him the story, and he acted like he was pissed. Moron.

Noticed that you're in North Carolina. Maybe it's an east coast/west coast thing. I recently moved from CT to WA and there's a night and day difference in everything related to customer service and politeness between the two areas. I've also lived in VA, FL, and RI, and CA and think the same thing generally if I include those areas too. For instance with driving on the east coast the attitude is "get out of my way or I'll run you over"; on the west coast it's more a matter of mutual cooperation, and in Seattle specifically it's, "no, I insist, YOU go first."

In fact, after living in CT, the extremely polite ambiance of Seattle makes me kind of nervous.

Tim

 

[Unsprung]

I don't know what to think about GC now, after some experiences related here, and my own "they must have morons working for them" experience. In my case, I'd called them to inquire about if they had an Squier Bullet Specials. The guy tells me that "they have four in stock, but they're currently unavailable." Probably a week after that, I start hearing radio ads, for one of Guitar Center's sales, and in the ad was mentioned "Squier Bullet Specials, only $99 bucks!"

The last time I was in Indianapolis, I stopped at GC, and after having looked around for a bit, didn't see any Squier Bullet specials. Figuring maybe I hadn't looked thouroughly enough, myself, I asked one of the sales people. He walks around for like 5 minutes, before he finally shows me a Squier Bullet hanging on the wall..."I believe that's the last one we have in stock, right now," was what he told me. When I explained to him what a Bullet Special is - just a volume knob and bridge position humbucker - his reply was "oh, we haven't had any of those for months."

So, would I do any better trying to order a Squier Bullet Special from Musician's Friend (the online presence of GC), or should I try Sam Ash - either their online store, or their brick & mortar Indy store - instead?

Matt

 

[Henri Devill]

I've had good luck with them for the most part..I don't buy audio gear from them except for a couple of inexpensive mics here and there..I did just buy a Gibson R7 from them and they haggeled.Guitar was in excellent cond..they keep them in a locked glass case,so no snot on it or anything Most of the kids who work there don't know shit..you just got to find a salesman who isn't fresh outta the womb..

 

[Rokket]

Most of the kids who work there don't know shit..you just got to find a salesman who isn't fresh outta the womb..

I think that is the biggest problem I've found. They only require their salemen to know how to work the cash register, not to have any knowledge what-so-ever of the products they sell. I had to ask around in a GC in San Diego for 20 minutes before I could find someone with enough knowledge of Dean basses before I could get my questions answered. I ended up not buying it, and got an ESP B-205 from a smaller store later that month.

And I got a better deal all around.

 

[ibanezrocks]

Well in Canada we have Long & McQuade stores, which I guess is the equivalent of your Guitar Centres. And the people there aren't that much smarter, it took my friend 20 minutes to explain to a guy what a low B string was for a 7 string guitar, only to have the guy get all confused and tell him that they dont have them, even though he got them there before.

 

[Unsprung]

Ya know, it's usually true with most coast-to-coast big chain stores, though. Like, how many 'puter geeks here, when perusing at CompUSA, end up realizing they know more about 'puters than the kid trying to sell you something other than what you went there for? I came very very close, in one of those experiences, to asking if they carried muffler bearings.

Matt

 

[Easto]

I've gotten some of the best deals ever at GC. You just gotta to know how to play the game.

Exactly.

What I don't understand is that if so many people hate it why do they keep going back? You don't hear me complaining about McDonalds. I just stopped going there becuase their food sucks. That's the best way to let your wallet be heard.

 

[gusfinley]

So, I've been lusting for a Vox AC30 custom classic. I walk inot guitar center and the salesman asks if he can help me. I ask him if he has any of the Vox Ac30 custom classics. He proceeds to walk to the "Vox" section and look around. "We have AD30's" he says. I tell him thats not what I am looking for, and so he decids to go play on the computer for a while. He repeatedly has to ask me what it was I was looking for again while typing away....

To Kill some time, he calls over the other guy who is always in there when I go in and is always not very helpful and looks at me like I'm crazy when I tell him what I am looking for. So the salesman #1 asks salesman #2 "What sounds like a Vox AC30?" The other salesman says something that I've never heard before and I look dissatisfied.....

In the meantime the other guy finds the Vox AC30 in the computer. "Nope we don't have one, let me check the other store..... No, it looks like those are special order only..." Then they start to tell me about the Vox AD30, the second salesman tells me that the AD30 is a modelling amp and comes "pretty close" and salesman #1 aks me if I want to try it out. I flat out told them "NO." At this point I am thinking to myself "How do you even know if it comes close, have you ever heard a real AC30?"

Then the first salesman asks me "is the AC30 all-tube or something? And so I gave him the spill about how the AC30 was the "Beatles amp" and one of the classic rock and roll amps.

I gave up and went and played on some acoustics and then on my way out the door salesman #2 asks me "Why don't you just get a TSL? It's a pretty nice amp." I told him that I already have a DSL, and didn't bother to explain to him my love for the AC30 and how the TSL and the AC30 are not only different tonewise but circuit wise also....

Special order only on the AC30 - This guitar center place is REALLY starting to loose its luster......... even from a gear perspective. I tell ya I get no joy from guitar shops anymore!!!

 

[Outlaws]

So, I've been lusting for a Vox AC30 custom classic. I walk inot guitar center and the salesman asks if he can help me. I ask him if he has any of the Vox Ac30 custom classics. He proceeds to walk to the "Vox" section and look around. "We have AD30's" he says. I tell him thats not what I am looking for, and so he decids to go play on the computer for a while. He repeatedly has to ask me what it was I was looking for again while typing away....

To Kill some time, he calls over the other guy who is always in there when I go in and is always not very helpful and looks at me like I'm crazy when I tell him what I am looking for. So the salesman #1 asks salesman #2 "What sounds like a Vox AC30?" The other salesman says something that I've never heard before and I look dissatisfied.....

In the meantime the other guy finds the Vox AC30 in the computer. "Nope we don't have one, let me check the other store..... No, it looks like those are special order only..." Then they start to tell me about the Vox AD30, the second salesman tells me that the AD30 is a modelling amp and comes "pretty close" and salesman #1 aks me if I want to try it out. I flat out told them "NO." At this point I am thinking to myself "How do you even know if it comes close, have you ever heard a real AC30?"

Then the first salesman asks me "is the AC30 all-tube or something? And so I gave him the spill about how the AC30 was the "Beatles amp" and one of the classic rock and roll amps.

I gave up and went and played on some acoustics and then on my way out the door salesman #2 asks me "Why don't you just get a TSL? It's a pretty nice amp." I told him that I already have a DSL, and didn't bother to explain to him my love for the AC30 and how the TSL and the AC30 are not only different tonewise but circuit wise also....

Special order only on the AC30 - This guitar center place is REALLY starting to loose its luster......... even from a gear perspective. I tell ya I get no joy from guitar shops anymore!!!

That sounds about right.

I just traded in a SuperReverb that was in better condition than the one on the floor being sold as new.

Why you ask would I do that....well because I needed this

and they had a used one and I needed it.

And yes, I not only bargined UP what I was going to get trade money wise, but I bargined down what the sticker said. So I do respect that aspect of GC, but the 9/10 sales people are fucking morons. Its like they have the one head guy who actually plays the guitar and likes gear, and then 10 college kids that got guitars when they were 15 played them once or twice a year and thought wtf, I'll work at guitar center.

But the only reason I had to go to guitar center in the first place is because my beloved Bizzare Guitar sells SUperReverbs for $975. ($1190 at GC) How? Beats the hell out of me. But when they sell them that cheap new I cant get much money for a trade.

 

[acorec]

Exactly.

What I don't understand is that if so many people hate it why do they keep going back? You don't hear me complaining about McDonalds. I just stopped going there becuase their food sucks. That's the best way to let your wallet be heard.

SO true. How about this as a common example:

"I got ripped off on eBay! The guy took my money and I never got my whatever!
Thank god I found another one on eBay and the seller sent it out immediately!"

I see these all the time. People just cannot resist what they think is a great deal.

 

[gitrguy87]

The GC in my town is prettygood. I never seem to have trouble with the store. But there is this one salesman that feels the need to always play (show of is more like it) when helping a customer.
Example: A customer comes in looking for a descent amp to play some mello rock. The guy says "ok". Then he proceeds to grab a guitar and goes over to an amp and starts playing heavy metal. Anybody see anything else wrong with that?
I dont know about you guys, but heavy metal isnt mello rock last time i checked.

 

[WERNER 1]

You just have to know what you want and how much you are willing to pay for it.............Do your research!

Of course most of the GC's have "kids" working for them who's experience and knowledge is very limited, but the stores have lots of gear, and if you know what you're looking for you can get it there or order it...........you just have to put up with all of the "in between" stuff.......and if you can do that, you'll come out with a pretty good deal.......most of the time.

Rick