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Original message:359 days 15 hours 38 minutes ago
+ 3  
Member: johnny cox
561
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Guitar Center is an impressive store. It is big and has a huge inventory. But once you get over the initial shock of walking through the door, you will find that it is an average store at best. The staff and sales people claim to know more than they do. They are aggressive and claim to own an instrument just like the one you are interested in buying. But the worst thing is service and repair of instruments,amps,mixers,ect. They dont offer this service and will not recommend a place that will help you. Their response is always the same. "Call the manufacturer". They are all smiles at the time of purchase but when you call with a problem,they will drop you like a hot potato.
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Plug in, turn up and spank the plank
Reply:359 days 13 hours 39 minutes ago
Member: The Muzzler
    0  
2
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Yeah, I agree. I only go to GC to buy and try stuff out. I never really ask questions cause I usually just find myself unanswered from their staff. I usually just experiment with their equipment, research the stuff online, and/or just buy and try it on my rig and then return it if it doesn't work out for me. I just might be one of their more annoying customers because I have bought so much equipment and have returned a lot of it just for the sake of getting that perfect tone I'm lookin' for.
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Reply:359 days 13 hours 15 minutes ago
Member: Xarkzila
    + 2  
2178
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Ah... Guitar Center, the Wal-Mart of music equipment.

You're best bet is finding a local music store. You may pay a little more, but usually they have a guitar tech on-site. Have more knowledge. Better service all around. Remember Guitar Center is a clearing house for mass produced guitars and anything else assembly line, and every wanna be musician works there. It amazes me how much they don't know about what they're selling. They're especially bad when it comes to recording equipment. Sure, they might use some of the stuff they sell, but even then it's questionable what they actually KNOW about it!

There are some guys, who know their stuff, but they're in short supply. Guitar Center pushes their sales people harder than Best Buy. They work on commission, so getting something, ANYTHING, sold is more important to them than selling the right thing.
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"The music industry is a cruel and shallow money trench. A long plastic hallway where theives and pimps run free and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side..."
http://www.cleargravy.com
Reply:359 days 12 hours 54 minutes ago
Member: inablackout
    + 1  
478
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theres no local shops around me worth the trouble of dealing with. 1 shop inparticular i used to go to, after spending a few thousand dollars in there, wouldn't give me a good trade on an amp that i purchased new from said shop. i paid 700 for the unit brand new went to trade it 4 months later they offered me 100 for it on trade. now i under stand they have to give less than what they can sell it for, but if you have a customer that spends money at the store on a fairly regular basis you should treat them right, when i come to something like this. most of the local shops around here are like this. I mainly used guitar center to get stuff cause they always have the stuff instock or can get it with in a day or 2. the local shops if you want a particular piece they have to order it and then you wait for weeks for it to come in.

Now adays i use american musical supply or ebay for most of my gear. only thing i buy at guitar center is strings cause they are cheaper than anywhere else round here, by about 2 bucks a set.
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...the final swing is not a drill, its how many people i can killlllllll
Reply:359 days 11 hours 53 minutes ago
Member: dianna
    + 3  
214
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Guitar Center is not very girl-friendly either (although it seems like most guitar shops are not). If I go in there by myself, I'm mostly ignored or treated like an idiot! If I go in with my husband, I'm still ignored and they give him all kinds of attention - and he doesn't even play guitar! For some reason, the only guys who will talk to me there are the nerdier ones, and I will say in their defense that those that have talked to me are awesome. Everyone else there seems too "cool" to be bothered with.

Any other girls out there have this experience? Or is it just me?
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The only cure for the suck is practice, practice, and more practice!!
Reply:359 days 11 hours 48 minutes ago
Member: Prowler
    0  
33
WebCred
I think it depends on the store...there's 2 near me and I know one of them doesn't even have employees that claim to be musicians. The other I'm sure has a few that actually play the instruments that they show off on hehe. Working there would be the dream job for me though, playing guitar, talking about music all day...I wouldn't mind that.
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Reply:359 days 11 hours 46 minutes ago
Member: dianna
    0  
214
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Oh, I'd love to work there! If only they'd give me the time of day....
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The only cure for the suck is practice, practice, and more practice!!
Reply:359 days 10 hours 44 minutes ago
Member: Richey
    + 1  
795
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The problem is that the work the hell out of you. You get paid minimum wage + commission and you have to pay your wage back to the store in commission before the proceeds you get from commission are added to your check. For example, if you work 6 hours one day you would make $30.90. I think you either get 3% commission or 3% commissoin just on the profit the store made from the sell (sell price - cost). So you would have to sell enough to make $30.90 in commission in order for your commission to start increasing what you got paid that day.
So, when I bought my LP from GC for $1850 a few months back, the salesman made $55.50 in commission. He didn't get his $5.15/hr. plus $55.50 commision. He got $55.50 if that was the only sale he made that day.
Also if you are working closing, get ready, because once the store closes, it's time to break out the vacuumes, brooms, and toilet brushes.
I heard that they have staff meetings and tell you what to push to the customers and the training involves educating employees about which products have the highest profit margin and it is those items that are pushed the most.
Upside to working there: If you get enough merit points (earned by achieving certan goals such as learning the profit margins of all the guitars, drums, etc.) you will not only be promoted but they will send you to manufacturor seminars, instructional seminars (how to use the equipment), and things like that.
I have heard that if you work at GC, get ready because they work you so much and so hard that GC will be your life. I have heard of guys whose wives have threatened to divorce them if they didn't find another job...and that is just what they did. All this for a minimum wage job?
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Reply:359 days 10 hours 47 minutes ago
Member: dcunning30
    + 2  
2103
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GC has INVENTORY!!!! That's what it's good for. Do your research online. Visit manufacture's websites. Download instructions manuals and read them. Read opinions here or places like harmony central, then go to GC already having done your homework, and chances are GC will have the gear onsite for you to try out more than local ma and pa shops would. Then after you've decided on what you want, unless you need it right away, go with the best price for the gear, whether on-line or at a brick and mortar shop. The exception is, of course, instruments. I'd buy the guitar that I've played and I like.
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Reply:359 days 10 hours 17 minutes ago
Member: Daniel Watson
    0  
0
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GC has the inventory, and god forbid any one walking into GC wanting to buy a guitar with out doing research 1st, there job is to sell , and they will . know what you want 1st they are the 1 stop shop , they have the mfg,s Webb sites listed In the musicians friend Webb page you can go to it and pull up PDF files for your equipment
Reply:359 days 10 hours 6 minutes ago
Member: Prowler
    0  
33
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The over working sounds harsh, I had thought it was an easy going job, just talking to customers about music, playing some pieces for them, getting them to understand and review what they were buying. I guess I was dead wrong haha.
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Reply:359 days 9 hours 56 minutes ago
Member: Richey
    0  
795
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I did a little research because I was considering leaving my corporate job for "the good life" and when I found all this out, I said forget it!
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Reply:359 days 9 hours 25 minutes ago
Member: Kenny Baccus
    + 1  
56
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People who work at guitar center need sales, so they'll say whatever is needed to get someone to buy something. When I was there only one guy could answer my questions, everyone else were just a-holes.
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Reply:359 days 8 hours 54 minutes ago
Member: dianna
    + 1  
214
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Thanks for the heads-up Richey! I'd love to work at a guitar shop, but not for the expense of my soul! But seriously, I don't mind working hard if I'm learning something. I put in an application there and I haven't heard anything yet, so we'll see...I guess posting sh*t on the internet isn't the best way to get job though. :-(
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The only cure for the suck is practice, practice, and more practice!!
Reply:359 days 7 hours 16 minutes ago
Member: johnny cox
    + 2  
561
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What ever happened to customer service and support after the sale? It's just like I said. Get your money and get you out the door and who's next. There is a wonderful independent store that I get most of my gear from. They will bend over backwards to help you before and after the sale.

As for the guys working at GC having to work hard.

I did constr