retrosurfer1959 Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 Unlike a lot of people on the forum I really don't have issue with Guitar Center while I wouldn't buy a guitar from them from anything other than the locked cases in the high end room just because of the amount of damage they get hanging on GC walls and I'm not a fan of the scratch and dent method of guitar testing I still buy strings, Straps and little misc stuff from them fairly often they are close, fast and easy which are three of the important factors when I need to shop (or date, now that I think about it) Anyway I swung by to grab a cheap 1Spot plug for a mini pedal board I was putting together with the Love brand micro pedals. I found one on the sale table for 10 dollars which was cool so I paid for it and took it out to the car. Now I said I don't mind shopping at GC but i'm not stupid so when I got to the car I opened it just to make sure some little peckerhead hadn't stolen the cables, which was what I needed most. Well lo and behold the box had all the cables but not the 1Spot transformer instead someone had wedged what looks like a new Dunlop DC Brick into the box with all the ISpot cables and other stuff so I went back inside to tell them. As soon as I showed up at the counter The kid that had helped me said that all sales from the final clearance table were final unless it didn't work. I tried to explain the swap and he looked blankly at me and said no they changed the shape of the 1Spot last year and that's what they look like now. I just smiled shook my head and said nope they didn't change the 1Spot and they sure didn't change it into a Dunlop brand DC-Brick which sells for about 4x the price of the 1Spot! The kid behind the counter was adamant that I was mistaken and that that was what the 1Spot looked like now, and it didn't matter because unless it was broken I couldn't return it anyway. I just shook my head again and told him I was just trying to be honest and that I'd be happy to take the DC-Brick for $9.00 if that was what he wanted, He said it was and that he hoped I enjoyed it. Oh well seems to work well and is probably a hell of a lot better than a 1Spot so it's all good I guess but it was pretty funny how adamant he was that it was a 1Spot even though they sell the DC-Brick right next to the 1Spot for $ 119.00 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dem00n Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 Hmm...this is intresting... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bowdiddley Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 Kewl! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrNylon Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 Just say thank you, and go home. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riffster Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 I bet whoever was trying to sneak out that brick in a cheaper box is going to be looking for it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sparky scott 29 Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 Another horror story from G.C.Man, there's a lot of them flying around these days.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thundergod Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 Now imagine the look in the face of the guy who bought the dunlop brick and after opening the box found "the new model" (the one spot) HAve you tried the Godlyke power-all? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tman5293 Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 The stupidity of the people that work at Guitar Center makes me laugh. The fact that he insisted it was a 1-spot is hilarious! You got lucky man! I feel the same way about Guitar Center. I have no problem buying gear from them, but I would never buy a guitar from them. Although, I did get my Schecter from them, only because the guy was willing to give me 20% off because of damage from being used by swarms of dumb@ss little kids. Even though the damage was just a few scratches on the back and a very small nick in the paint on the headstock. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dem00n Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 You can get some good deals on the used guitars at GC, ive seen people score those odd ball gibbys for really low. Also theres always something diffrent in the used section. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milod Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 I hate to sound as cynical as stiffhand but... I've a hunch he nailed it. The nearest GC is a day's drive. I doubt that I'll visit there soon. m Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrNylon Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 I've never been in a GC. I can't say I'm in any big hurry to go to one either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tman5293 Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 I've never been in a GC. I can't say I'm in any big hurry to go to one either. It's actually really cool the first few times you go there. You walk in and they have like a 2 story wall filled floor to ceiling with guitars. If you ever have a day with nothing to do you could go to GC and just sit and play every guitar on the wall. They also a very nice selection of basses to choose from. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeoConMan Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 Mostly imports... Yeah, I'm with Retro on the GC for knick-knacks. I regularly pick up odds and ends there as well - and try not to laugh at their goofiness. I was looking at pedalboards the other day, went to Sam Ash and two different GUITAR CENTERS. Sam Ash guy I know well - he shows me what he has and asks if I'm interested. Both GUITAR CENTERS were the same young-Sales-Dude-tries-hard-sell antics. "No... I TOLD you what I'm looking for, so I guess I'll keep looking. I'm in no hurry. Thanks." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
46 and 2 Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 Unlike a lot of people on the forum I really don't have issue with Guitar Center while I wouldn't buy a guitar from them from anything other than the locked cases in the high end room just because of the amount of damage they get hanging on GC walls and I'm not a fan of the scratch and dent method of guitar testing I still buy strings, Straps and little misc stuff from them fairly often they are close, fast and easy which are three of the important factors when I need to shop (or date, now that I think about it) Anyway I swung by to grab a cheap 1Spot plug for a mini pedal board I was putting together with the Love brand micro pedals. I found one on the sale table for 10 dollars which was cool so I paid for it and took it out to the car. Now I said I don't mind shopping at GC but i'm not stupid so when I got to the car I opened it just to make sure some little peckerhead hadn't stolen the cables, which was what I needed most. Well lo and behold the box had all the cables but not the 1Spot transformer instead someone had wedged what looks like a new Dunlop DC Brick into the box with all the ISpot cables and other stuff so I went back inside to tell them. As soon as I showed up at the counter The kid that had helped me said that all sales from the final clearance table were final unless it didn't work. I tried to explain the swap and he looked blankly at me and said no they changed the shape of the 1Spot last year and that's what they look like now. I just smiled shook my head and said nope they didn't change the 1Spot and they sure didn't change it into a Dunlop brand DC-Brick which sells for about 4x the price of the 1Spot! The kid behind the counter was adamant that I was mistaken and that that was what the 1Spot looked like now, and it didn't matter because unless it was broken I couldn't return it anyway. I just shook my head again and told him I was just trying to be honest and that I'd be happy to take the DC-Brick for $9.00 if that was what he wanted, He said it was and that he hoped I enjoyed it. Oh well seems to work well and is probably a hell of a lot better than a 1Spot so it's all good I guess but it was pretty funny how adamant he was that it was a 1Spot even though they sell the DC-Brick right next to the 1Spot for $ 119.00 Haha, sweet score for you good job. GC is ok sometimes but I always leave there feeling a little "dirty" like its a used car lot where honesty is in short supply or something. I have picked up a few things and have had generally good luck but I feel better spending my $$ at my local place which is big enough they can usually price match but the owners live right here in town. I am sure some of you have but if not, if you are ever in the Los Angeles area hit the GC on Sunset sometime. Its pretty incredible. The vintage room alone is worth the trip, and the Rock-Walk is something to see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milod Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 One of our forum members works at the gc in Vegas and sounds as if he knows what he's doing and such. That would make sense because there's a lot of music in Vegas and if he's survived, he's probably good at the biz and has a good personal rep at the store. My own issue with any big corporate entity is that a lot of employees don't even know where the bathrooms are and are too dumb to admit it. Also, as we've noted, any big store will have a lot of people trying to scam them - as perhaps happened with this particular situation with a dumb kid and a very possible scam attempt. You can find the same thing at any large chain store, I think, and probably the more traffic, the more likely the problems too. J.C. Penney or Walmart, makes little diff, I think. Demoon's comment about awesome used bargains also makes sense but, as I said, with the nearest gc a day's drive, I ain't going. Mail order strings is my fate. But... if our Vegas guy has a used Epi A-E at an incredible low price and no shipping, he can IM me any time. <grin> I've a hunch he's monitoring this thread anyway. Also, for what it's worth, working for a big corp, perhaps especially in retail, can be difficult at times. I'm a firm believer that long term an honest, knowledgeable sales person who really is interested in customers will have much better sales and will aid in the local reputation of the store. We have a regional wal-mart type of small town retailer in my town that enjoys a better reputation than others of the same company simply because the locally-hired employees truly care. The store's sales show it. The problem comes when sometimes "long term" numbers are not the goal of a particular system. m Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SG FAN Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 I've had pretty good luck with the Memphis and Nashville GCs. That being said, I wouldn't buy anything over 400 dollars from them. Usually, I go there to demo something and then buy it somewhere else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neilpanda Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 I guess you got your moneys worth for 10 bucks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TommyK Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 The problem with retail, especially big boxes, is high employee turn over rate. Either the work is lousy, the boss is a jerk, the pay is paltry, or benefits non-existent, or any and all of the above. If you can't keep an employee over a year, you'll never have knowledgeable staff. For some retailers, like Wallmutts, this is the plan. About the only thing you can get out of the staff is where the bathroom is, and not much else... if you can find them. Until enough of us stop voting with our dollars, the customer service malaise will continue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Franzi Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 Just say thank you, and go home. You did what you could. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LPguitarman Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 I'm with Retro also. I usually purchase misc. items from GC because they are close, convenient and you can go there and jam all day if you want. I've bought many pedals from them but I would never buy a high end guitar there. My sons bought their recent amps from them, one used and one new. The used one we tested extensively and the new one came in a sealed box after we tested the floor model. I also bought their guitar starter paks 7-years ago from them, but that was Squier Starter Strats. Then later on, the kids bought their Epiphones from GC, but still all low end guitars. You get the point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
awel Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 Haha, sweet score for you good job. GC is ok sometimes but I always leave there feeling a little "dirty" like its a used car lot where honesty is in short supply or something. I have picked up a few things and have had generally good luck but I feel better spending my $$ at my local place which is big enough they can usually price match but the owners live right here in town. I am sure some of you have but if not, if you are ever in the Los Angeles area hit the GC on Sunset sometime. Its pretty incredible. The vintage room alone is worth the trip, and the Rock-Walk is something to see. I am from Europe and during a trip, I went to GC on Sunset Bld; First, I saw the rock-walk, and I was thinking woawww! then I entered and my head was doing 360° never seen so many guitars in one place! I was looking for a strat, and I saw that S.R.V model on the wall, I asked is it a new one and a guy told me yes, so I asked to try ... scratches everywhere fretboard used, ... I said it is not a new one and the guy told me first yes it is SRV specifications :D The guitar was sounding really really good so I asked if there is the case with it? no!!! I told the guy I am not interested and he began to deal with choose a gig bag, then choose a case, and finally choose the gib bag and the case you want, it is free. Don't like that kind of trade, so I cross the road and went to SamAsh and buy a hotrod 62 vintage (new this time). It seems that GC are very fairytales tellers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrNylon Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 I do a lot with a local Sam Ash in Margate FL. A couple of smaller shops also. The Sam Ash is up front and the people in there are good to work with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jnastynebr Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 GC is a great place to get killer deals on guitars. If they have a discontinued model that's been on the wall for a while, you can get a deal on it. They cant sell new stuff online, so they keep dropping the price until somebody buys it. I purchased my 2007 LP Standard Plus after the 08s came out for around $1500 out the door. It had a couple of minor scratches, but for $800 off the sticker, its fine by me. Its half way to beat up now, anyway. I bought a new 08 Stratocaster for $600 because it had a small dent on the back. Turns out the microtilt was broken so I brought it back, and got one that had not even been taken out of the box yet for the same price, just because it wasn't the color I wanted. In all, I saved over $1200 on two American made "scratch and dent" guitars. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrNylon Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 I'm glad somebody's happy with GC. Mostly everybody that goes in one complains on how terrible GC's are. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjay777 Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 I used to know a couple of the staff guys at the original GC in Roseville, MN. They'd ring me if there was any cool new gear coming in. The store was so small and congested you nearly had to climb over an amp to get through an aisle. lol But it still had that Ma & Pa shop atmosphere to it, and you could get some sweet deals in that place. It was unique. Now almost every city in the metro has a GC, and they're all carbon copies. Impressive, but uninspiring. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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