Guitar Center is a big store. They sell things, lots of things. They don't want to be your hangout or "third place," they don't want to be your buddy. They exist only to provide an outlet for a huge variety of products a mail order prices, which they do real well.

It seems from reading guitar forums (not just this one) that complaints about GC come down to three major concerns:

1. They didn't treat me like a rock star;

2. They didn't offer me enough for my trade;

3. It's too loud and filled with bad guitar players.

Allow me to address each of these:

1. You're not a rock star. In fact, from reading a lot of these complaints, it seems most complaints in this area come from guys who don't even want to buy anything: they want to hang out and try out guitars and repeat a bunch of Cool Guy things they read online and have someone praise them for their acuity. I have a great relationship with the local GC guys, because when they see me at the door they know I came in to spend money and I have a pretty good idea what I want. I don't wanna hang out: I want to get the gear I need efficiently and get out.

2. Trade-ins are for suckers. Like any retailer, GC will offer you about half what they think they can sell your stuf for. If you think you can get a thousand bucks for some gear you want to unload and GC offers you 250 bucks, then that 1K estimate is probably a little high. Why not just sell it? I'm redoing my studio right now and put about $1,100 worth of pro audio gear up for sale late yesterday. It's priced right, so four pieces - $750 worth - sold in less than 24 hours, all at BIN prices. Any retailer would have offered me five bills for the pile.

3. It's a guitar store. You used to annoy the crap out of salespeople and other players in guitar stores, too. I know I did.

As always, it comes down to expectation. If you don't expect GC to be anything but what it is, then you'll probably like them just fine.

This may be the case with a few people, maybe kids with unrealistic expectations or people that have not dealt with business much.

1. I have a hard time believing people expect to be treated like a rock star when they go there. I have never gone in expecting not to buy something or hang out. If I want my questions answered it's to spend money and support the business.

2. Your trade-in points are good.

3. They could get rid of the punks that don't have any money. Maybe then they would not treat everyone like it's a bother. It's all about the attitude of the manager and if he demands his employes give good customer service. I once believed that if a manager was nice and fair with his employes, they in turn would do a good job. I was naive. I'm going off topic now.

seems that only the managers are not and usually don't even play an instrument.

Everybody that works at GC plays music. It's a pre-requisite to getting a job there.

I've been visiting our local GC on a pretty regular basis since it opened in 2007. The employee turnover rate is high - most employees get paid minimum wage and commission, plus get a good discount on gear they buy (part of why many of them work there). At my GC most of the employees are gigging musicians - seems that only the managers are not and usually don't even play an instrument.

Whenever I visit it seems that I am more often bothered by the employees, not ignored. I know what I am looking for (or want to look at) when I go in, so I usually don't require assistance. When I am ready to buy, I try to deal with my regular sales person (a guy who gigs almost every weekend) as he treats me well and always figures out a way to get me a discount, even if it cuts into his commission. He's also one of only two employees who has been there since the store opened.

As far as taking gear in to trade or sell, I think everyone who goes in there thinks their stuff is worth more than it is, myself included. When trading in used equipment the rule of thumb is - they are going to offer you 25% of original purchase price. Then they are going to mark it up 100% and TRY to double their money, selling your gear for roughly HALF of its original purchase price. It's a very simple system

Some gear will get a better offer - high end guitars and amps and gear that is obviously almost new are usually offered 30-35% of original price and GC will try to get 2/3 of the original value - allowing them to double their money and still give prospective buyers a good discount over brand new gear. Guitars that hang on the wall in the Trade-In Corner for more than a few months are ripe for discounting - sometimes even GC is happy just to break even.

If you think your gear is worth more than GC will give you, then sell it somewhere else - eBay or CL or on consignment at Music-Go-Round. Assume, realistically, that you are not going to get what you paid for your gear. Guitar Center exists for just one simple reason - to make take over the world of music and rape it for all its worth.

The Guitar Center I go to in North Attleboro, Mass., has improved in the last few months as far as customer service is concerned. Probably because they now have a manager who does know what he's doing and is concerned about the customer and has gotten rid of the dead weight that used to work there.