No Wonder Guitar Center is going down the tubes????

[Treblefree]

One of the reasons I love bass shopping at Sweetwater.

Yup, picked out my Schecter in my avatar photo from 3 of them. Looked at every picture, like this paint and inlays the best and it happened to also be the lightest of the 3.

 

[LBS-bass]

I read this type of post frequently here on TB.
I've bought about a dozen items from Sweetwater over as many years. When I started getting emails and phone calls (12 years ago) I politely asked them to not call or email me and that I would contact them when/if I had questions or needs. That was all I had to do and they've never pestered me since.

It's funny. In a thread about poor customer service, people are complaining about receiving good customer service

 

[Seashore]

Gosh, it's a wonder Guitar Center hasn't caved already under the pressure of TB threads alone. I feel like I'm on Yelp.

I don't love them, but sometimes they're the best or only option in the area. Sometimes they have stuff the other places don't. I've bought stuff from quite a few locations as well as online over the past 20+ years and I've never had a reason to complain about either the products or the service. I ordered a guitar from them a couple weeks ago and it showed up on time in brand new condition. I wonder what the real proportion of good to bad experiences is.

 

[bmusic]

I just popped in to share my utter lack of any Guitar Center horror stories. And I've bought A LOT of stuff there.

 

[gln1955]

They must be doing something right it's been going out of business for many years already but they're still in business...

They only survive because they are passed around from one investment group to another who prop them up for a while in hopes of makeing money by selling to the next group. GC itself does little right to build or improve their business.

 

[JeezyMcNuggles]

I keep hearing about the possible upcoming demise of Guitar Center. Sad. But I can share a reason why.

Been trying to deal on a used 2019 Rickenbacker 4003 with a store in Winter Park Fl. They finally gave me a sort of decent price, not the best, but decent.

I bought it on Monday morning June 15th with my Mastercard. Paid for taxes, shipping, and etc. I have the sales receipt.

So far no shipping date, no tracking number, no nothing. Call there, and get some kids on the phone, after the phone is on hold for over 20 minutes. And that the phone rang for over 10 minutes before it was answered.

They have no idea of shipping, and don't seem to care. You can't talk to a person that knows or even cares. And this is during regular business hours.

Guess my over $1700 purchase is not important to the kids that work there. Guess they'd rather sell $30 strings and talk on their cell phones to their friends.

In the midst of this COVID crisis, I kinda doubt there is a land-office business going on in Winter Park, Fl. And after they get your money, maybe no one cares.

I am sad that Guitar Center has allowed such careless business practices to take place in it's franchises.

And sad to say, Musician's Friend is the online partner with GC.....

Kind of makes one wonder.

It took two weeks to get my amp from musician's friend. It took a week and a half to get any shipping info on it. As it turned out, it was because of the "protests." UPS was unable to pick it up, so it was just sitting in the rialto warehouse waiting for them. After a week and a half, they ended up shipping it from Oregon instead. Crazy right? Got here 5 days later...yesterday to be exact.

Free 2 day shipping right?

 

[wmhill]

Yeah, it's guitar center- were you expecting anything different?

 

[40Hz]

You should try calling the main office.

Yep. Whenever you have a problem like that call the mothership. It’ll definitely get resolved. Has a similar problem once with a car dealership. Phone call to the company that made it got things straightened out pronto. You betcha!

 

[Spectrum]

And that the phone rang for over 10 minutes before it was answered.

It's even more annoying when you're the one trying to ignore that stupid phone and it just keeps ringing! Customers are worse than telemarketers.

 

[Goat of Ball St]

Just call and cancel your order, it's an off the shelf Rickenbacker you're not tied to this one seller.

 

[Ellery]

Another GC bashing thread? Why not right? It has been a few days since the last one.

They earned it.

 

[The Deep]

I think a lot of the problems are poor store management. My local GC has a great floor manager with whom I have a good business relationship. There have been a few problems along the way, but he has always come through with the right solution to keep me happy. Absent his involvement, it would have been a different story altogether.

I agree there are seemingly a large portion of disinterested, half hearted, half knowledgeable salespeople there. Entry level employment will always be rife with this type of personal characteristic. I always escalate any matter of importance straight to the manager. It’s the only way to get results. If your GC has a poor manager, you may just be out of luck.

Ultimately, I still say you just can’t beat a 45 day, no questions asked return policy (even on used gear). If nothing else, that one policy alone will keep GC on my radar for future purchase transactions.

 

[Element Zero]

And that sucks, especially when purchasing a $1700 plus instrument. It doesn't matter so much buying a set of strings or a damn guitar strap. But a Rickenbacker 4003 bass ought to be looked at in a different light. Just saying. You dump a lump of cash, you ought to be payed attention too. That has been the way business has been conducted for centuries. It ain't a new idea folks.

But youngster millennials don't care. They only want to text on their cell phones, or jam with their buds. Pitiful. I'd fire all of them, if I was the owner.

You REALLY need to chill with the young adult bashing buddy. For the life of me, I can’t figure out why you haven’t called corporate instead of complaining on the internet like a child.

 

[SidNitzerglobin]

I keep hearing about the possible upcoming demise of Guitar Center. Sad. But I can share a reason why.

Been trying to deal on a used 2019 Rickenbacker 4003 with a store in Winter Park Fl. They finally gave me a sort of decent price, not the best, but decent.

I bought it on Monday morning June 15th with my Mastercard. Paid for taxes, shipping, and etc. I have the sales receipt.

So far no shipping date, no tracking number, no nothing. Call there, and get some kids on the phone, after the phone is on hold for over 20 minutes. And that the phone rang for over 10 minutes before it was answered.

They have no idea of shipping, and don't seem to care. You can't talk to a person that knows or even cares. And this is during regular business hours.

Guess my over $1700 purchase is not important to the kids that work there. Guess they'd rather sell $30 strings and talk on their cell phones to their friends.

In the midst of this COVID crisis, I kinda doubt there is a land-office business going on in Winter Park, Fl. And after they get your money, maybe no one cares.

I am sad that Guitar Center has allowed such careless business practices to take place in it's franchises.

And sad to say, Musician's Friend is the online partner with GC.....

Kind of makes one wonder.

My experience at the localest one leads me to believe most of the problem there stems out of a good cross section of the younger employees who don't know nearly enough about what they are ostensibly trying to sell & could care even less about customer service. Probably slightly more of the problem is corporate & management seeming to care just as little about the customers & their employees & scheduling half as many people as they actually ought to have. At least half the time under normal circumstance they'd have 3 or 4 people working in the entire store split between front register, guitars/basses/amps, keyboard/pro audio, & percussion & at least 2 of them would be nowhere in sight for 15-30 minutes at a time.

I haven't been back since they reopened just based on the complete lack of any kind of functional processes they seemed to be able to come up w/ for operating under the restrictions currently in place, whether trying to purchase in store or via the interwebs. You shouldn't need to go stand in line outside the store for a completely unpredictable period of time while they trickle people in to stay below their self designated 5 person at a time restricted capacity (normal official capacity of the store is 150 & state restriction was to reduce to half...) when all you want to do is pick up a set of strings you really ought to have been able to pay for online but the site won't let you, even though they are in stock & offer the option of in store pickup. I guess I shouldn't complain too much as I likely wouldn't have wound up running into my 4003S at the Sam Ash in the same mall area if I'd been able to accomplish that fairly simple task at GC last month.

I've picked up some pretty cool used stuff there & got to check out & occasionally purchase a decent selection of new but I dunno if I'll be going back again.

That likely sounds a lot more ranty & entitled than it ought to, but the dysfunction gets to me I guess

 

[Wesley R]

And there it is.

No, they are not owned by "Bains". Nor are they owned by Bain, nor have they been owned by Bain for 7 years. Please get your facts straight before you post. I'm in no way defending Bain's business practices or GC, but I'm sick of the same misinformation being thrown around every time GC comes up.

Well sure, if you want to bring facts into it.
Thanks gor your response I had promised myself no reading of GC posts or P Bas Vs anything posts.

 

[BC Blackmur]

Return policy is up to 180 days now. I just ordered a used bass from a NY GC. Got the order confirmation right away. Didn't see another email after a week, thought yeah things are probably going to be slow.

Called the 800 number and got a helpful CS rep. Said the store had just re-opened a week earlier and were probably backlogged with shipping. The next day I got a shipping notice email with tracking number, and it was only the usual $20 for shipping charges which is a steal nowadays. Took a few days to get it and it was wrapped to survive an earthquake, took a while to get all the bubble wrap off it.

I was quite happy with the service and didn't fret waiting a week to call. There was a charge on my credit card right away but it was pending until I got the shipping notice.

I think some of this just depends on your attitude going in and expecting things to be different now.
But that's just my opinion.

 

[Spupilup]

What a name Bain is. It means burden. The bain of my existence

For what it’s worth, the word you’re thinking of is not bain, it’s bane.

 

[Phaenomenal]

I will say that their customer service can be lacking, depending on where you are. I stopped going to one of my local stores (NYC) years ago because a few of the sales reps there only paid attention to people buying high ticket items and flat out ignored everyone else.

The one in queens is ok but I stopped going to the union square store for that very reason.

 

[lyonaudio]

...Been trying to deal on a used 2019 Rickenbacker 4003 with a store in Winter Park Fl...
...I bought it on Monday morning June 15th with my Mastercard...
...In the midst of this COVID crisis...

There ya go.

 

[Hawaii Islander]

Lots of online music store sales say processing and shipping may be delayed due to the "Pandemic".