Guitar Center Selling Questionable Used Fender

#22
I was interested in a used transparent blue Moon 5 string J style bass.

When I asked them to send me more pictures of the bass, I noticed the pickups lacked pole pieces on the new pics, compared to the original pics from the website.

So when I called the store and asked if this particular instrument had been sold and then returned, the salesperson said 'yes, as a matter of fact it was sold and returned.'

When I informed the salesperson that I have strong evidence the pickups of this bass were swapped out by someone, ie STOLEN, the salesperson was like "ummm, so...?" I then asked to speak to the store manager, waited on hold for 5 or 6 minutes, then was told the manager was "busy, can I take a message?"
 
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#23
That's a cool Geddy. Probably refinished as I'm not sure that color was even offered by Fender.

Item should be priced around $400 or $450 because of refin. Salesperson who bought the instrument was in should have done due diligence and noted the refin anomaly. Item will now sit on the shelves for months and months, get a price reduction before it sells ... And GC loses more money. And they wonder why the company is doing so poorly.
 
#24
I actually called a GC about this Fender 100T (https://www.guitarcenter.com/Used/In-Store-Used/Used-Bassman-100t-Tube-Bass-Amp-Head.gc) that they list in the used section as "excellent". Per their description, that means "like new". I asked some questions about it, talked to the guy for 10 minutes, was satisfied and about to start putting my money together to buy it.

Then, right at the tail end of the conversation, just before I hung up, the guy says, "Hey, just to let you know, a guy came in to look at that head yesterday, and we figured out that the overdrive channel doesn't work. That's why its listed at a discount." I thanked him for his time, then hung up pretty pissed at their BS. Someone will likely buy that head and find out the bad news later.
 
#25
Guitar Center Selling Questionable Used... everything

I bought an $1900 Warwick streamer from GC online (with awful pictures) after calling the store that had it and being told it had normal wear from use but worked perfectly. I got it to find an awful refinish job with deep sanding scratches, the original red finish still stuck in the hard to sand spots, and the whole thing feeling like a tack clothe when you touched It! On top of that the electronics hummed like no tomorrow!

They've had a 5 string, rock bass, fortress listed for a while as a corvette that they want $700 for. I wrote a polite message explaining what it was and it still sat there wrong.

Some poor sap will probably buy it. I think they rely on buyer ignorance to move stuff they overpaid for. At least they have the a lengthy return period and my local GC is understanding about the online listings and always returns my shipping when I take a shot and end up with a lemon.
 
#28
I may be in the minority but I actually LIKE GC its one of the LAST places around that you can actually sit and play a bass & be around other musicians. The staff is actually pretty nice & knowledgeable at least the ones I go to. Sad so many people sit and complain about how bad they are but offer no alternative place to go. Online sites like ebay and reverb are KILLING brick and mortar stores which is VERY important for your average musician and the folk that actually work there...... just sayin:cautious:
 
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#29
This is one side of the coin when it comes to GC's used selection. I see plenty of times when basses are mislabeled or overpriced, but there have been just as many, maybe more times I've scored stuff for way under the going rate, due to them either not caring or not knowing. With credit and the 45 day return policy, you aren't going to lose anything if you buy something and it's not right or in worse condition than advertised. I simply see stuff like this, have a laugh, and move on, because the less time I spend focusing on this, the more time I can focus on finding the next deal.
 
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#30
I am grateful that GC still exists as a brick-and-mortar store but I have no illusions about how they care for their inventory and customers. I’ve certainly encountered some employees who were nice and fairly knowledgeable, though often they can’t answer basic questions about the items they sell without Googling. Also, if I hear “we can order that for you” one more time....

News flash: I can order items online and Google stuff from the comfort of my own phone or home. I don’t need some overly tattooed kid to do those things for me.
 
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#33
ModuMan said:
It isn't just the pricier stuff. A friend told me his wife was buying a "purple Fender Jazz bass".

My theory: they just don't care.

I'm not all that sure this is is even a MIM Fender neck (that logo?) but hey, his wife is happy.

View attachment 2974837 View attachment 2974838
Click to expand...

This looks like the old Mexico fender logos from the late 90’s thru like 2007.
 
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#34
MordBass said:
I made them aware of a mistagged item that was used and they did nothing. They it tagged as the much more desirable version and did nothing when I told the guy in the department.... and the store manager..... and the customer service messenger on the site....and the customer service phone line. Months went by and they never did a single thing about it.
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True dat. I've experienced the same thing before. Instruments that were advertised as something entirely different. I recently had to return an instrument because the instrument had been significantly modified and was different from the photos on the website. It was also listed as "Excellent" condition - which according to them means no blemishes, or damage, basically mint condition. Needless to say, it was not. There were multiple finish cracks, and some chipping in the finish on the body and the pickups had been removed and swapped out for cheaper ones - even installed upside down.

After returning it, they put up the same exact ad with the same old photos and same description.

It's still cool to shop guitar center as long as you are there and can inspect the instrument in person. And they still offer the best value for trade-ins from my experience, but I'd never buy anything from them sight-unseen without the guarantee of their return policy. And, by the way, their return policy now states that they can deny a return if you have used it too often. Not sure what the definition of "too often" is.
 
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#35
phillipkregg said:
True dat. I've experienced the same thing before. Instruments that were advertised as something entirely different. I recently had to return an instrument because the instrument had been significantly modified and was different from the photos on the website. It was also listed as "Excellent" condition - which according to them means not blemishes, or damage, basically mint condition. Needless to say, it was not. There were multiple finish cracks, and some chipping in the finish on the body and the pickups had been removed and swapped out for cheaper ones - even installed upside down.

After returning it, they put up the same exact ad with the same old photos and same description.

It's still cool to shop guitar center as long as you are there and can inspect the instrument in person. And they still offer the best value for trade-ins from my experience, but I'd never buy anything from them sight-unseen without the guarantee of their return policy. And, by the way, their return policy now states that they can deny a return if you have used it too often. Not sure what the definition of "too often" is.
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Yet they sit around at board meetings and wonder why their company is defaulting....
 
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#38
Admiral Akbar said:
I was interested in a used transparent blue Moon 5 string J style bass.

When I asked them to send me more pictures of the bass, I noticed the pickups lacked pole pieces on the new pics, compared to the original pics from the website.

So when I called the store and asked if this particular instrument had been sold and then returned, the salesperson said 'yes, as a matter of fact it was sold and returned.'

When I informed the salesperson that I have strong evidence the pickups of this bass were swapped out by someone, ie STOLEN, the salesperson was like "ummm, so...?" I then asked to speak to the store manager, waited on hold for 5 or 6 minutes, then was told the manager was "busy, can I take a message?"
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Yup, that sounds right.
I used to work for GC and have friends that have been with Sam Ash for a long time. There's a guy in the chicagoland area that has been pulling shady stuff with G&L basses for like 10 years now. He buys them on gc.com and has them shipped in and then returns them almost 100% of the time. We opened a few up and found that he was basically stealing the guts out of them and then returning. One of them was missing the truss rod when it came back. Mostly they would come back with generic tuners or generic pickups.

Interestingly enough this happened a bunch when the xbox360 came out. People figured out that a copy of the yellow pages fit perfectly inside the shell of the console and weighed almost exactly the same. They were smart too.... they'd buy a console and then return it unopened...... then have a friend buy it from the store a day or two later, swap out the guts and return it saying "yea, I think i got a dud. It doesnt even power on." Since it had been bought/returned already, we couldnt prove which buyer had done it so we were just out of luck. We figured out that theyd use a heat gun to cleanly open the box and then apply some glue to re-seal it before returning.
 
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#39
Alex Bass said:
I may be in the minority but I actually LIKE GC its one of the LAST places around that you can actually sit and play a bass & be around other musicians. The staff is actually pretty nice & knowledgeable at least the ones I go to. Sad so many people sit and complain about how bad they are but offer no alternative place to go. Online sites like ebay and reverb are KILLING brick and mortar stores which is VERY important for your average musician and the folk that actually work there...... just sayin:cautious:
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Each location is VERY different. The store manager has a lot to do with what goes on. Now they're owned by a capital gains asset liquidation company, so music, is no longer their focus. Still... they are continuing to change, so who knows where it'll go.

There's good and bad to say about everything. You can get some screaming deals too if you play your cards right... The same idiots that don't know what mid grade stuff is, don't know high end either. I bought my 2 month old Heritage SVT 810 e cabinet there 2 weeks ago for $325!
 
#40
Alex Bass said:
I may be in the minority but I actually LIKE GC its one of the LAST places around that you can actually sit and play a bass & be around other musicians. The staff is actually pretty nice & knowledgeable at least the ones I go to. Sad so many people sit and complain about how bad they are but offer no alternative place to go. Online sites like ebay and reverb are KILLING brick and mortar stores which is VERY important for your average musician and the folk that actually work there...... just sayin:cautious:
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I get that you like to be able to sit that and play a bass but that doesnt change that this is all their own fault. I worked there and saw them tag used gear wrong all the time and then not care to fix it. None of the guitars or basses were set up and most of the amps didnt turn on. They would buy in something that was broken just so they could get the commission on what the customer was going to buy with the store credit....because they needed to pay their rent. They'd mistag used stuff because they'd buy it in wrong for personal gain and then nobody would fix because nobody cared. Just the other day I stopped at a gc while out of town and they had an american lakland fretless. The strings were at least 2 years old and a mile off the fretboard.... I glance across the store and all 4 employees are chatting and playing on their phones by the front desk. Like, seriously? Its $2000 and you guys couldnt slap a set of ernie balls on it and tweak the truss rod? But then they complain when they arent grossing enough money. These are the things that people hate about them.

Dont blame ebay and reverb... they didnt tell guitar center to cut commission in the late 90's and cause all the good workers to leave... ebay and reverb didnt tell guitar center to cut all the commission again around 04 and force salesmen into desperation.... ebay and reverb didnt tell guitar center to pay wages that people couldnt live on and then try to bully the commissioned salesmen into setting up and maintaining the entire stock of equipment for literally no pay. Guitar center is the reason that guitar center sucks.
 
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