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Rep your local Guitar Center experience

edith headedith head 5,106 Posts
edited February 2011 in Strut Central
the last time i went in there, some guy was playing seinfeld bass for the entire hour was in which felt like repeated punches to my stomach and i had to shout over him to tell the clerk what i was looking for

this morning called in to buy their last copy of pro tools over the phone and walked over to pick it up on his lunch break and they couldn't find it and they already ran the card.

i truly hate this store

  Comments

  • spivyspivy 866 Posts
    edith head said:
    the last time i went in there, some guy was playing seinfeld bass for the entire hour was in which felt like repeated punches to my stomach and i had to shout over him to tell the clerk what i was looking for

    this morning my boyfriend called in to buy their last copy of pro tools over the phone and walked over to pick it up on his lunch break and they couldn't find it and they already ran his card.

    i truly hate this store
    the wal mart of musician supplies. they undercut mom and pop shops and generally hire the lamest-most inept faux metal terd burglers to harass you during your entire visit. i despise being asked for help every five fucking feet i walk. not to mention the seinfeld bass slapping-sweet child o' mine guitar riffing that pervades in every one of their stores. used mom and pop stores often are pricier but better in almost every other way!
  • pickwick33pickwick33 8,946 Posts
    The one difference I've noticed about Guitar Center after shopping there (or having to shop there) off and on for over twenty years is that after Nirvana and the 1990's alt-rock explosion, I probably see more female customers than I used to.

    Sure wasn't like that when I first started going there in the hair-metal days and all the salesmen looked like Nikki Sixx.
  • RockadelicRockadelic Out Digging 13,993 Posts
    When my kid was about 12 she sat behind a drum kit at the local Guitar Center and started playing.

    The drum tech came over and asked "How long has your son been playing, he's really good".

    I said "For about a year but he's been my daughter for about 12 years"

    Dude just gave me a puzzled look and walked away.
  • RAJRAJ tenacious local 7,782 Posts
    edith head said:


    i truly hate this store

    I LOVE the Plymouth Meeting Guitar Center outside Philly. It's basically a great place to go in and test shit out before buying. You can walk in and help yourself to $4,000 Martin Guitars and $3,000 Les Pauls and the clerks could give two shits. At any other music store, you have to ask to play the golden guitar behind the counter while the clerk breathes down your neck. Once I find what I like, I usually buy it off some liquidator on eBay for 1/2 the price, no tax, free shipping.

    With that being said, yes, the worst part about GC are the customers. Ca't stand all this nu-metal bullshit these days kids are into -- double bass speed metal bullshit. The discord of all the competing instruments make me feel uneasy. I go on a Sunday at noon when these dudes are hungover in bed.
  • RAJRAJ tenacious local 7,782 Posts
    No I do not want to take part in the replacement program.
  • CousinLarryCousinLarry 4,618 Posts
    I have made a few big purchase and had no problems. About a year ago my mother in law and wife bought me a guitar from the local store, they said the sales person was really helpful and I like the guitar they bought me, so I have no beef with the local shop. I do like smaller Mom and Pop shops in theory, but ultimately I want the lowest price.
  • BrianBrian 7,618 Posts
    i wish we had one here
  • jjfad027jjfad027 1,594 Posts
    I bought a Numark portable from GC. The belt was slipping on the first one so I exchanged it. Then a few years later I went on a state controller website that's tells you if anyone owes you money. To my suprise my name was in there under a claim for GC in the amount of the turntable. I filled out the form and got a check a few months later. So I basically got a free turntable due to what I can only assume was an error on their part.

    Other than that, they suck ass.
  • CousinLarryCousinLarry 4,618 Posts
    RAJ said:
    No I do not want to take part in the replacement program.

    Especially not on a $20 capo.
  • edith headedith head 5,106 Posts
    spivy said:
    edith head said:
    the last time i went in there, some guy was playing seinfeld bass for the entire hour was in which felt like repeated punches to my stomach and i had to shout over him to tell the clerk what i was looking for

    this morning my boyfriend called in to buy their last copy of pro tools over the phone and walked over to pick it up on his lunch break and they couldn't find it and they already ran his card.

    i truly hate this store
    the wal mart of musician supplies. they undercut mom and pop shops and generally hire the lamest-most inept faux metal terd burglers to harass you during your entire visit. i despise being asked for help every five fucking feet i walk. not to mention the seinfeld bass slapping-sweet child o' mine guitar riffing that pervades in every one of their stores. used mom and pop stores often are pricier but better in almost every other way!

    our favorite mom and pop guitar shop called Real Guitars is within walking distance from our place and price their guitars pretty fairly. it's a godsend and every time i go in there, i feel like i need to close my eyes. they don't have any cables or accessories though, so we have to put up with Guitar Center.
  • cookbookcookbook 783 Posts
    they just opened a GC in our town. it is fucking annoying to the tenth power. atleast there is a local spot to get needles now...
  • The_NonThe_Non 5,691 Posts
    I find it fascinating that everyone I know hates this place, yet still goes. I guess it truly is the Walmart of music equipment.
  • breadwinnerbreadwinner 535 Posts
    No complaints here. I was at the Albany GC a few weeks ago and was able to fuck around for about an hour before anybody even asked me if I needed help -- it was great.
  • RAJRAJ tenacious local 7,782 Posts
    I don't know which music store started this business model, but must I fucking be put and / or looked up in a database every time I purchase something? There's a store near me that started doing this and I refused to be put in their database. Every time I would go in, dude would ask me my name when I wanted to buy a set of strings. I would give them my name and there would be 9000 Rick Smiths... In which I would have to go through the rigamarole of explaining that I'm not in the system and why I don't want to be. I want to buy a set of 7 dollar strings and be done with it.

    Another spot, I made the mistake of being put in the system and would get weekly hand written love letters from the guy who sold me a crash cymbal.
  • edith headedith head 5,106 Posts
    this is one yelp review at our local spot that is spot on

    Good lord. Where to begin? Let's start with the layout. Don't put the frikkin' pedal boards in with the sheet music. It encourages kids to tie up the pedals and multi-effect units while trying to teach themselves Metallica. Now let's split off to two categories.

    Effects Land: Why would you only carry two decent multi-effects pedals? Now I wouldn't expect you to carry 108 of them like...oh...say http://musiciansfriend..., but you should have four or five of them.

    Sheet Music Land: Some of us are over 20 and under 50. I'm just sayin' is all. To jump from whatever is the band of the day over to Rolling Stones is just wrong. Plus, some of us are actually studying guitars which don't require electricity...how about a little classical or acoustic music thrown in that doesn't involve wedding tunes or christmas songs?

    Amps: DON'T. BUY. AMPS. from them. They jacked 12ax7s out of my Marshall and replaced them with cheap chinese-made knock offs. Then denied it and accused me of doing it. WTF? Then my friend said they did the same thing to him.

    Guitars: Okay...this is why they get that single star up there. I mean, hell, it's right there in the name. Decent selection. Same thing with keyboards. Same thing with....dj lighting?
  • YNOTYNOT in a studio apt mixing tuna with the ramen 417 Posts
    It's really a love/hate relationship with GC. When I was starting to DJ our local store had a demo 1200 setup and a crate of records you could play with. My friends and I would spend hours instore cutting and scratching before we could afford a decent setup. I used to live for those spinoff battles they did. The dudes in there I have a relationship with know me and have are always willing to price match and knock a few bucks off. If they start sweating me I give em the "I'm gonna check Sam Ash and be back." One time when they rightfully refused to return a cordless mic I used due to it being opened. All I had to do was get loud enough they budged. I'm always down to get my sales registered in the data base. This way at tax time I can get a print out with my purchases for the year. Recently my local store has really started to suck tho, the people working there aren't the brightest.
  • pcmrpcmr 5,591 Posts
    they sound like a POS store but i think some of you may be interested to know they are having a protools sale
    49$ (instead of 129)
  • Manduro3000Manduro3000 265 Posts
    Guitar Center is the last place you want to buy items from. My local store rarely stocks items. Everything is always overpriced and the sales people don't seem to have a clue or just don't care.

    My last experience with this place... They announced they would have a big sale on a certain day. Went to the store on that day an hour after it opened to buy a $50 item. It was sold out and all similar items cost 4 times more. I suspect the old bait and switch trick.
  • RaystarRaystar 1,106 Posts
    YNOT said:
    "I'm gonna check Sam Ash and be back."
  • soulmarcosasoulmarcosa 4,296 Posts
    In the valley:
    - Cashiers who joke around with each other for 10 minutes before even noticing you at the counter, then once they do they call you "bro" at the end of every other sentence.
    - Roaming bands of longhaired Mexican highschool metalheads playing deathmetal tunes while their buds watch. Also known as a rent-free practice session.
    - Asian girls looking at pianos and the odd Mexican family buying a small ukelele-looking guitar for their daughter
    - Staff rigidly enforcing a 30-day police hold on used equipment so you can't take home your purchase that day, even if it's just an $80 bass.

    In Hollywood:
    - DJ section shut down because Quincy Jones was doing a book signing.
  • kalakala 3,362 Posts
    The discord of all the competing instruments make me feel uneasy.


    got your Metamucil ready and your AARP subscription paid for?
  • ageage 1,131 Posts
    I really have to agree what was stated earlier about not only the employee's being for the most part social inept, but the overrall battle with the patrons playing is the one that takes it for me. Honestly, I'd rather just order shit online (as far as accessories for my recording equiptment and dj gear). For the most part you'll find a better deal online, and not have to cope with the incompetence of the staff (not to hate on all of them, some can be helpful). There are a couple of shops I deal with when I need strings for both my upright and electric bass, but I avoid at all cost just on the noise polution alone.
  • hcrinkhcrink 8,729 Posts
    I think this basically sums it up

  • ageage 1,131 Posts
    yeah..haha..that and half ass attempts of Anesthesia-Pulling Teeth either on bass or guitar.(or any metallica song at that).

    I'd say the run that rules supreme is..




  • RAJRAJ tenacious local 7,782 Posts
  • mannybolonemannybolone Los Angeles, CA 15,025 Posts
    RAJ said:
    I don't know which music store started this business model, but must I fucking be put and / or looked up in a database every time I purchase something?

    Radio Shack. Since going way back
  • AlmondAlmond 1,427 Posts
    I called my local GC to see if they had a certain product in stock. I found the salespeople (I talked to two) to be very friendly and helpful. I'll probably make a purchase there sometime in the future due to my positive phone experience.
  • p_gunnp_gunn 2,284 Posts
    mannybolone said:
    RAJ said:
    I don't know which music store started this business model, but must I fucking be put and / or looked up in a database every time I purchase something?

    Radio Shack. Since going way back



    I PIONEERED THIS!

    yeah, i remember them asking for my info when i was like 13 and buying rechargable batteries for a remote control car or something.... relentless...

    i don't think i have done more than an IN/OUT to buy strings or cables at GC for years, just b/c the atmosphere sucks... it has always sucked... dudes jamming is whatever, that's ALL guitar stores... it's more the used car salesman tactics to bully people into buying a mexican strat....

    sadly, most of the smaller shops have gone out of business. so even in larger cities, GC is often yr only choice... like in Boston, i bought most of shit growing up at EU Wurlitzer's, or the Cambridge Music in Boston or the one in Cambridge... all are gone now... which is sad, b/c smaller locals stores actually had cool people working there who knew music, didn't gouge on used stuff, and were fun places to hang out in as a kid... oh well,,,

    now i buy all my gear from Sweetwater or ZZounds, so maybe what goes around comes around and they'll chase out GC...
  • smoking_robotsmoking_robot 346 Posts
    i was just out in LA and the WeHo guitar center hooked it up since we needed some last minute supplies as my friends and i got hooked up w/ a quicky gig last minute. had to purchase some needles and slip mats, dude hooked us up with a 15%ish discount etc, so my last GC experience was actually decent. im sure we coulda found those prices online but in a crunch, i'll take it.
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