Guitar CenterReviews 203

Man, what a heart breaking experience. I get an e-mail from Epiphone on Jan 8th about a Les Paul 1 out of 100 signed by Slash of "Guns N Roses" guitar and the very next day when the website and pre-orders are taken for this I am on the phone and paid in full with my credit card and assured I am going to get this beautiful and one of a kind guitars. So for two weeks I'm jumping for joy and dreaming about getting this. Only to get an e-mail on Jan 19th while I am at work by Product Specialist Mark Lund "Sorry for the news but we got slammed with orders on the Limited edition Epiphone Slash guitar You ordered. Unfortunately we had to cancel your order because we sold out before your order completed processing. We regret that we cannot send you that guitar so as a one time only offer, we will give you $100 off an alternate guitar over $500. This is an agent only exclusive deal I am offering you"... REALLY? So on January 9th when all my information and my credit card information and the $1275 I was putting down for this... that wasn't a completed process? If I call this store ASAP on the very first day of pre-orders and I am assured after giving all my information to get one, I get an e-mail almost two weeks later that the order is cancelled to only be offered $100 off my next guitar of $500+ which is exactly the same deal all Guitar Center customers were offered from Christmas to New Years Day and be told it's an agent only exclusive deal? Is that suppose to make up for losing out on a 1 out of 100 guitars signed by Slash of "Guns N Roses"? Man, what a heart breaking experience. It's like packing your bags and being allowed to board the plane and just when you are about to take off to paradise and see the person you love you are told to get off, sorry your money isn't good enough and here's a free pack of peanuts to eat on the way home. Man, what a heart breaking experience.

I took my guitar in for a broken knob and the guy who fixes things hooked me up with a matching knob within minutes of arriving. I could have paid him $10 to install the knob for me, but opted to install myself.
Besides their fix it center, I love guitar center because they let me play whatever I want, from drums to banjos, for however long I want, no questions asked. Plus, the staff is knowledgeable on their guitars, ukuleles, and equipment. I've bought ukulele's and electric guitars from Guitar Center and for a couple extra $, you can get a 2 or 4 year warranty on your product.

I filtered my search results by "in stock within 5 miles of me" and picked out a nice new Gretsch and some picks which the website said I could pick up the same day from my local store. I place the order, and it is stuck on 'processing' after a few hours, so I call the store to make sure they have what I ordered. The guy on the phone says "yep, we have the Gretsch and picks in stock on our system, just wait until tomorrow for the system to process payment." A bit odd considering I used my PayPal balance, but sure.

Fast forward to tomorrow, still 'processing.' I try calling customer service but get no answer, and wait 10 minutes to get online chat help. The guy then says only the store can cancel the order, whilst trying to brush me off. I call the store, get put through to the manager, and the manager says he can only cancel the order if the online rep calls him. I say this to the online rep, he then says that he could only cancel the picks coming from the warehouse (I thought they were in stock?!) and the store would have to cancel the guitar. The manager at the store then says he cannot cancel the guitar, the order has actually been sent to another Guitar Center across the state (why?!). He says I have to call this other store 130 miles away from me and cancel the order myself.

I call the other store, and the manager says the store only received the order 2 hours ago - even though I ordered it 24 hours ago - and the only model they had was the display model (how is it acceptable to sell a display model as new without informing your customer automatically?). He offered to redirect the order again to a store with several models, and I told him I was beyond done with this headache and ask him to cancel the guitar. He says "sure, I will cancel this for you, the money should go back to your PayPal shortly."

Fast forward a few hours, my transaction is still pending on PayPal, and I don't have my funds. I call PayPal, and they say it is on Guitar Center's end, and if they have cancelled it can actually take a few days to get the money back.

Stay away at all costs. I am a patient man, but this pushed my boundaries a bit. I chose Guitar Center over a cheaper online alternative so I could have my items the same day, and now I am without my money for a week. Everything in this company seems disorganised, and employees seem clueless.

I ordered a set of bongos from guitar center two weeks ago and am still waiting for them. Customer service has blown me off twice now saying they are on their way. I will never again purchasing anything from guitar center, Amazon.com has such better customer service and shipping times. Same products at Amazon with considerate customer service. Guitar center has lost my business forever. Amazon.com is where I will be ordering all my music supplies from now on.

The management, make you very comfortable at first. Then after i made a few returns the second manager, told me this is your last return, even if something is wrong with it. Before that, i was telling them how sorry i am for the returns, and they always used to tell me not to worry about it, 'this is what we do so as long as you return before 45 days, all we care about is your satisfaction' i used to hear that until my last return, when the manager said, NO MORE RETURNS!, thats after talking on phone with management, they said ' no problem, just bring it in and we will take care of your problem' but when i took my guitar in, they had a hole different
Attitude about it, and told me NO MORE RETURNS! Now do you people get it, build someones hopes up and then drop those hopes, that is what guitar center
Does, trust me, not what i thought it was. Please if anyone is going through this s***
Write a review. Plus like mark b. Said about the emails is true that happened to me
Where i had to call them, because when my order came in it had already been 2 days without an email, a few times they did that. The Bakersfield guitar center.

In the last week, I purchase a used guitar from online at a Guitar Centers San Jose store. The listing stated... Guitar in stock, ready to ship. I purchased with credit card. I get a confirmation, my credit card is charged, the email states I will get tracking # once item is shipped. 3 days go by, no follow up email, no phone call. I check the status of my order on line... it's shows "processing".

I call a GC customer service. They say they will investigate. Hours later, I receive email stating... Time sold, no longer available. They have my money, I have order confirmation, they sold the guitar.

Ok, so... a few days later, I show the guitar is available again. I suspect it's the same guitar because it's the same location, same used instrument, same price.
I order it again online. Guitar in stock, ready to ship. Get confirmation, my card is charged, email says I will get tracking #. I call San Jose store explain that I want to make sure Guitar is taken off floor, get out on eternal hold and call drops off. So, I call my local store and ask them to contact San Jose store to make sure Guitar is held for me to ship next day. Jeremy in Alpharetta says he will. Hours later, no phone call... just an email that says my item is on Bacorder and they don't have it yet, but the manufacturer is sending them more.the item in question is a USED ITEM AT A PRICE CLOSE TO HALF OFF RETAIL. Are they really getting more Used items straight from the manufacturer? Hour later, I get an email that my order is cancelled because the item is no longer available.

I have yet to receive refund on the first order and now they have my money for two guitars. They say that neither on is available.

So... after taking in all that is transpired the only conclusion I can come up with is GUITAR CENTER IS RUNNING AN ONLINE SCAM WHERE THEY TAKE YOUR MONEY FOR ITEMS THEY DONT HAVE IN STOCK. THAT IS FACT.

I went in knowing what I needed, wanted. I called ahead. No wait, they directed me back to guitar area. Travel Guitar (came recommended by friend so could take on vacations to practice for upcoming gig)--Price was as mentioned on web site; case as well--not overbearing on trying to sell me something extra. I was in store for 10 minutes max.
Item is HIGHLY recommended --fits in overhead bin on airline and pocket of case large enough for tuner, capo, my miniVOX headphone / distortion/ amp and even a short cable if you want. Can play acoustic and fret board feels not a ton different from my Strat. Allows me to work on riffs from Cancun, Florida, wherever! Can plug in headphones and link to my mp3 and play along without disturbing others. I have even amped this little guy up and sounds pretty damn good. I've read others who actually gig with it? I don't think that's the best purpose as no eq /volume/ tone knobs, but for travel practice and taking up no space---awesome! Really helps when playing to have the little metal weight bar attachment for balance and easier if I stand when playing rather than sitting b/c of weight distribution. Has attachment for guitar straps. Highly recommend. Already did, actually, and another friend bought one and loves it, too.

I biuy a new guitar once a year with my safety bonus from workng all year so they have a bit of my money in thier pockets
Anyway i did the buy it online for sameday pickup they offer
Got the conformation purchase email instantly wich also said we will email you when its ready
Ok so hours went by no email not a damn thing so i sent a email asking when will it be ready or is there a problem with my order ok
Several more hours go by still nothing
Finalky i drove to the store and they didnt even have order yet at thier store say what? Luckily i got a great employee who knew how to get it handled and boom walked out the door with my new les paul in hand... ok great but here is what gets me
10 days later they finally replied to my email yes im not lying 10 days later
So i sent a reply to that email asking if it always takes ten days to get a reply
Ok so 8 days later they replied to my question about slow customer service
Eight freakin days later what a joke
So to finalize this they have great deals good in store service but the worst email service ever and i never did get a its ready email from them
Guitar center you need some restringing and a good tune up too

Beware that even though when you purchase an item that is no longer in stock and says it will be back ordered, and even if it says right there in your face, on the item's page that you will NOT be charged until the item ships (usually 2-3 months in the future), when you make the purchase, the funds will immediately be taken from your bank (i. E. for Wells Fargo, it showed up as "Pending" and the funds were no longer available for any other use - which of course if you are purchasing a $3,000 keyboard or are low on funds, will immediately open you to a negative balance and therefore NSF fees). It takes about a week for the funds to be returned and in my case, Wells Fargo to remove the "pending" transaction from history. 1 Lowered star for that.

Other than that, 1 lowered star for high prices too.

At the beginning of the 2015-2016 school year my grandson wanted to join beginner band and learn the clarinet. I ordered him the Student Clarinet Model ECL-100 Standard from guitarcenter.com, it seemed like a great deal as the list price was $399.00 and it was on sale for $159.00. At first everything seemed fine until my grandson had to learn the more complicated keys, it was at this point we found that some of the keys on the Student Clarinet Model ECL-100 Standard did not function. As I had purchased the clarinet new in September of 2015 and this was January of 2016, I was sure that guitar center would offer to repair or replace the clarinet. Boy was I ever wrong. They refused to do anything, sorry you can only return an instrument for the first 45 days. To add insult to injury, in an email to me, they admit that the Student Clarinet Model ECL-100 Standard is a cheap piece of rubbish but then offer to sell me a more expensive model at full price. Here is a quote from their email "these models do incur a bit of defects, due to their inexpensive build." I for one will never do business with Guitar Center again and I would highly recommend that everyone avoid this horrible company. On the bright side, I did find another company, Instrumental Savings, that offered a reasonably priced clarinet with a 3 year warranty included, unlike guitar centers 45 days.

So you and your buddys just started a Band! How EXCITING! You busted out the pen and paper and you guys are theorizing your first few songs, hammering out riffs on your first act guitar and moms pots and pans when it dawns on you guys... You need better gear! How are you supposed to shred like jimmy, james, brad or even Hendrix without a better guitar right? So you hop on Google search music store and there is GUITAR CENTER! You hop in your car, you drive down there and walk right through those doors and you are captivated by a face tightening wall of guitars! You walk up to the wall grab a guitar and before you even select an amp you will be confronted by an employee. After this youll play for a few minutes and want to grab another sweet axe to try out! But before you do, that same employee is going to start asking questions. WHO WHAT WHEN WHERE WHY HOW IF MAYBE... Everything about you and your mama. Now that's all well and good. BUT... As a musician, I like to be left the $#*! alone to my the things stirring around in the brain space. When a salesman ruins my flow with sales jargon and product coverage jargon. I simply cant think straight about what I want to buy. If I want to know something ill ask and so will anyone else. I used to work there. And I was hated by management for leaving people to their own adventures without confrontation, no sales pitches, no product coverage pitches. And guess what?! I had better results! I sold more product coverage's without selling it. I sold more items without making it seem like there was a catch. I had more surveys filled out in my favor that anyone else. I don't toot my own Horn... In your face Corporate America.

Guitar Center like all good stores is admired by its strong points of business, but these good points are commonly outshined by its poor business choices. The store itself has a great variety of products such as, amps, drums, recording software, pianos, microphones, sheet music, various stringed instruments, etc. Guitar Center can meet practically any of your needs. They are not at a loss of various styles to fit your need or preference. They carry top brand names like Fender, Gibson, Epiphone, Music Man, Taylor, Yamaha, and many others. They have great low prices and almost always have promotional sales. Each month they choose a specific brand on sale. This is very convenient and helpful to customers.
However, their costumer's service leaves much for improvement. In order to get any help you have to be that annoying costumer. It regularly is shown that they do not know the product that they are selling and may not even know how to play or the proper use. They normally only have one person that truly knows what they are doing in the department. If that person is not there for whatever reason then, good luck getting any decent help.