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Post subject: guitar center
Posted: Tue Sep 04, 2007 10:47 am
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Aspiring Musician
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hey do some of the people that work at guitar center bug you? mine's manager will try to sell you something before you even walk in the door! i like most of the employees but the manager is rude (in more ways than one!)


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Posted: Tue Sep 04, 2007 10:51 am
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I would rather not even talk to most GC employees. They start to say something to me, I look them right in the face and say "Just Looking", then I walk away.

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Posted: Tue Sep 04, 2007 10:56 am
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ya i know. you have to practically yell at them that you are just looking! i'd go somewhere else but they're the only guitar store in my area that i know of.


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Posted: Tue Sep 04, 2007 11:07 am
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we dont have guitar centre's over here in england, but in my local guitar shop PMT, the staff are really alright, but i think its because i worked there for a while for Work Experience. but once you get to know them u go in there and have a proper good chat bout guitars and stuff and they dont try and sell you things haha.

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Posted: Tue Sep 04, 2007 11:20 am
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It's tougher to bargain them down to the metal now that they're bought. According to the new guidelines, if they sell anything below their cost (which they used to a lot on odd pieces they couldn't move or B-stock stuff) they have to compensate the corp out of their pockets. So I find they'll get down to their cost pretty quick, but that's where you hit a stonewall. Not nearly as much fun as the old days.

In terms of being hassled--just tell em to go away, what's the problem? Know your products before you go in the door. Use the net, not some 17-year old GC dildo. Know what you want to hear, know the net discount prices, establish a strategic battle plan before you enter the store, or you'll end up in, dare I say it, an endless and expensive quagmire! hehehe


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Posted: Tue Sep 04, 2007 11:31 am
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This is why I visit small guitar shops in my area - the staff tend to be friendly and prefer a good chat to a hard line sales pitch to anyone that walks through the door.

In one of my favourite shops you're more likely to be asked 'wanna try a guitar?' than 'want to buy this guitar?' :D


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Posted: Tue Sep 04, 2007 11:40 am
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If I would just tell them I'm Left Handed (I really am) I bet they would disappear quick. GC never has anything decent Left Handed in stock.

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I didn't Lose my mind, I traded it for this guitar.


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Posted: Tue Sep 04, 2007 11:47 am
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Joined: Tue Jul 10, 2007 8:19 am
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Location: Santa Fe, NM 87505
The Guitar Center I go to is about an hour away. I always go in and play a John Mayer Signature Strat which I hope to buy some day. They let me play they dont bother me. Sometimes I will buy something but not too often. I have never had a bad experience there. Im glad I hate pushy sales people.


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Posted: Tue Sep 04, 2007 1:20 pm
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Location: Bloomfield, NJ
I go to 2 or 3 different guitar centers to check out the inventory. Lucky me as there is even a 4th not that far away. It seems I have my own personal saleperson at each venue. One is the store manager and another is a drummer who works the accessories shop. believe it or not, he talked me out of buying a few things. There is one guy I have dealt with tell me I shouldn't buy a certain amp or set of pickups because frankly, they didn't sell them there and he wanted me to buy what they had in stock (which I didn't). So it goes both ways. I have had some luck, but as I have said on other postings, I use the GC to play the guitars I think I want to buy and then get them somewhere cheaper or on ebay. I guess that is one of the good things about living in the NYC Metro area, more stores to shop things. I have found in the past that if you just let them know your looking and if there is something you may need, they will keep an eye on you, but not bother you. to death. It is also good to make friends with one of the nice guys. Talk with him, spend a few minutes because it always helps in the end.


Last edited by vcartier on Wed Sep 05, 2007 9:59 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Posted: Tue Sep 04, 2007 1:53 pm
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the guitar salesman is the new car salesman :lol:


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Posted: Tue Sep 04, 2007 2:43 pm
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Joined: Tue Jun 12, 2007 4:18 pm
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Location: Upstate, NY
Wow...do i have a GC story for you guys.

So this past Sunday I wanted to try out some American P basses. I wouldn't dare to dream that anyone in the toilet of CNY would stock an AVS, so I figured I'd call around and see what anyone had. I'm really happy with my P basses (MIM's), but it was more of a trip for me, my old lady and my drummer to go and check out some gear.

So thinking I was a step ahead I called all of the GC's in my area, and by area I mean within a 2 hour drive. So of the three only one claimed to have a new American Series P bass. The rest had some used basses and a HWY1 or two, a couple of CIJ's and the obligatory Standards.

So we set out thinking to make an afternoon out of it. The store was an hour and a half away, a fact which I informed the person of on the phone. After getting there I spend a half an hour looking around the bass room, which is pitifully small, and see no sing of the American Series P the employee assured me was there. So I went up to the desk and asked if I could see it thinking it might be in the back, and the guy goes and pulls down a CIJ 51' RI. (which btw is an amazing bass, but not what I was looking for.) When I questioned the guy, he said "Oh, someone must have made a mistake...but we can order one if you like."


At that point I was ready to stab the guy. They flat out lied to me just to get me to come down there. How in the heck could anyone who is supposed to sell instruments for a living confuse a SCPB RI, with a brand new AS P? I told the guy to "F" off and die, and left. lol

I'll never spend a dime there again. Though I am tempted to go every now and then and let them spend hours trying to pitch me on a bass trying to get the commission and then laugh and walk out. lol

Sorry that was so long...i'm still pretty PO'd.



D

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Posted: Tue Sep 04, 2007 4:42 pm
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the employees generally try to give you the most expensive things... make sure you specify picks, strings and such so that they don't have the choice to pick. a friend of mine asked for acoustic strings, and they gave him the most expensive nylon strings they had... good thing he noticed before he left or he would have gotten ripped out


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Posted: Wed Sep 05, 2007 9:37 am
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Amazing.

Everybody hates Guitar Center.

Yet they grow and grow.

In my business, I have to get people to like me to keep the doors open.

GC has discovered the magic formula: they've figured out how to FORCE people to buy from them even though we all hate them.


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Post subject:
Posted: Wed Sep 05, 2007 10:29 am
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I always just say that I'm just looking. Then its like, "okay buddy! let me know if you need anything!" I like the guitar center in hollywood its like a museum there with all those vintage guitars. I have a friend who I've known forever since we were really little kids who works at the guitar center I go to so I should watch what I say. Ha ha.

One time I was buying a tuner and the girl who was ringing me up asked if I wanted the performance warranty extended service thing and I said no because I figured I wouldn't need it for a tuner (which still works just fine) then she said she'd hook me up or whatever.

I forget exactly what she said, like half off or something so I said yeah okay give it to me and I didn't look at the receipt right away then when I did I noticed that she didn't give me any discount at all she just charged me full price for something I didn't even want and have never used.


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Posted: Wed Sep 05, 2007 10:34 am
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lucky! i was trying to buy an acoustic and i decided to e-mail them first before driving up there and they said they had it in stock. so i went up there and they didn't have any! so they said they'd call me when they got some in. okay i wait a week and a half and they call me - it's in. i drive up there and they bring it out. they've got one all right but it is flattened! they try ordering it in again and it comes in. for all my trouble the dock 20 bucks off it! :evil: ahhhhh! i don't like it but it's the only place around me and there prices can't really be beat (for my area at least)


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