I did something I said I'd never do... Bought from GC used...?

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napalmdeath

napalmdeath

Well-known member
I bought an Engl Fireball 100 from GC used. I've read more nightmares than positive, but it was a great deal, and they were in Daytona Beach, so 1 day shipping...

So far, it's been pretty pleasant. They had no pics up yet, but I called and the guy I spoke to had pics to me within the hour, and it does indeed look mint. Let's hope its packaged well, it arrives in one piece, and works! But, I have to give them an A for effort to this point. Super responsive, helpful, and nice people... Fingers crossed ?. Delivery tomorrow.. Maybe I lucked out and found a store with their shit together!
 
I know I've ragged on GC used probably more than my fair share... but I have to say that I've probably had more positive experiences than I've had negative. That being said, when it's negative.. it's really negative. I think the thing that peeves me the most, is seeing a really nice guitar/amp/whatever get destroyed due to some really bad packing job that could have been avoided. The good thing is, that you can always return it.
 
Every amp I got from them was broken somehow.. they worked but something wasn't right. They always took it back without questions and refunded my money and paid for all the shipping. I hope yours is in great shape but if not they should take it back.

..actually they didn't refund the shipping until I called Customer Service and then they would refund the shipping.
 
War_in_D said:
I know I've ragged on GC used probably more than my fair share... but I have to say that I've probably had more positive experiences than I've had negative. That being said, when it's negative.. it's really negative. I think the thing that peeves me the most, is seeing a really nice guitar/amp/whatever get destroyed due to some really bad packing job that could have been avoided. The good thing is, that you can always return it.
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Yeah, the #1 complaint I've seen is shitty packing. #2 is no worky...
 
jchrisf said:
Every amp I got from them was broken somehow.. they worked but something wasn't right. They always took it back without questions and refunded my money and paid for all the shipping. I hope yours is in great shape but if not they should take it back.

..actually they didn't refund the shipping until I called Customer Service and then they would refund the shipping.
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Encouraging...

This one was listed "As new, with little to no signs of use". And they sent me multiple photos. It indeed looks brand new. That's not to say somebody didn't unload it there because it's fucked up, we'll see...

This is why I sometimes opt for the PayPal 4-pay. This way, if it's messed up, I'm only out my initial first payment of just over $350 and not out a big chunk. Waiting on a refund of just over $350 is better than being out and waiting for almost $1500. Saves some stress.
 
napalmdeath said:
Encouraging...

This one was listed "As new, with little to no signs of use". And they sent me multiple photos. It indeed looks brand new. That's not to say somebody didn't unload it there because it's fucked up, we'll see...

This is why I sometimes opt for the PayPal 4-pay. This way, if it's messed up, I'm only out my initial first payment of just over $350 and not out a big chunk. Waiting on a refund of just over $350 is better than being out and waiting for almost $1500. Saves some stress.
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Yeah, the Splawn Quick Rod I got looked brand new but something was messed up in the loop and would cut out when I would use it occasionally. Had a couple of other quirks too. I did keep a JetCity 22H BHG modded amp because I liked the sound.. .they said it was just serviced by their outside amp tech but one of the mods didn't work. I was ok with that even though I would really like to hear that mod.

I will say they all worked well enough for me to get to know the amp and know whether or not I would want to have a fully working one... which made it worth the trouble.
 
jchrisf said:
Yeah, the Splawn Quick Rod I got looked brand new but something was messed up in the loop and would cut out when I would use it occasionally. Had a couple of other quirks too. I did keep a JetCity 22H BHG modded amp because I liked the sound.. .they said it was just serviced by their outside amp tech but one of the mods didn't work. I was ok with that even though I would really like to hear that mod.

I will say they all worked well enough for me to get to know the amp and know whether or not I would want to have a fully working one... which made it worth the trouble.
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You're killing me! ?
 
Hope they pack it well! 1 super shitty packed amp was enough for me. Hope it works out for you.
 
Well I guess one positive of buying from GC is the ease of return. It's not like buying from Joe Blow in a parking lot and he dissapears into the night.
 
GC used varies a lot. I just got a 2x12 cab from their Nashville store and it was packed very well. There must have been 200' of bubble wrap in the package. I've also gotten amps lovingly packed with tubes removed and numbered, double boxing, etc.

On the other hand, many stores don't pack well, and on top of that quite a few items on their site have been previously returned (sometimes multiple times—watch out for the "Top-Seller" tag). This means there's a chance they've been banged up in shipping by a previous store's pack job, and this is never reflected in the images or description on the site.

Usually when I return something for being damaged or defective, it's back on their site by the end of the day. 99% of the time, management doesn't care. They'll keep shipping busted gear until someone keeps it.

On the whole, private sellers aren't much better so I still roll the dice if something cool pops up. I just expect I'll be making the trip to GC to return it more often than not.
 
napalmdeath said:
I bought an Engl Fireball 100 from GC used. I've read more nightmares than positive, but it was a great deal, and they were in Daytona Beach, so 1 day shipping...

So far, it's been pretty pleasant. They had no pics up yet, but I called and the guy I spoke to had pics to me within the hour, and it does indeed look mint. Let's hope its packaged well, it arrives in one piece, and works! But, I have to give them an A for effort to this point. Super responsive, helpful, and nice people... Fingers crossed ?. Delivery tomorrow.. Maybe I lucked out and found a store with their shit together!
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Engl fireball and powerball are super underrated . I have a powerball. Perfect lead tone. I have the older one with smaller transformer so yours will better than mine for riffs. Fireball 100 is a beast now
 
Many horror stories from guitar center used due to the guys lack of proper packaging.
 
Snave said:
GC used varies a lot. I just got a 2x12 cab from their Nashville store and it was packed very well. There must have been 200' of bubble wrap in the package. I've also gotten amps lovingly packed with tubes removed and numbered, double boxing, etc.

On the other hand, many stores don't pack well, and on top of that quite a few items on their site have been previously returned (sometimes multiple times—watch out for the "Top-Seller" tag). This means there's a chance they've been banged up in shipping by a previous store's pack job, and this is never reflected in the images or description on the site.

Usually when I return something for being damaged or defective, it's back on their site by the end of the day. 99% of the time, management doesn't care. They'll keep shipping busted gear until someone keeps it.

On the whole, private sellers aren't much better so I still roll the dice if something cool pops up. I just expect I'll be making the trip to GC to return it more often than not.
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Hate to say this OP but the only bad packing jobs from all my GC purchases over the years, came out of Florida. No other state/store ever packed badly. Last one was a 1960 Classic cab out of Ft Lauderdale. It was on a pallet; no bubble wrap and just the plastic Saran Wrap over the top (partially) of the cab. Left it that way, mostly uncovered in front of my garage. And, it started raining right before I got home. They must've put another pallet on top of the cab because the tolex was torn and ripped. The pics showed a mint cab when I bought it.
 
I bought a PRS CU22 off the GC used site and really lucked out. Was a great price and the guitar was in almost mint condition.

Hope your amp comes in safe and sound.
 
back when it was "insturment exchange" i bought a few amps from them, and the packing was horrid. a vintage traynor head came with smashed power tubes, another combo came with the cabinet cracked and seperated. the deals were great though. i got a mark III coli black stripe for 900 on there once, and that showed up in one piece.

Those gc dudes aren't always the brightest, or most knowledgeable. Certainly not tech savy enough to put an amp through a full test and inspection before taking them in, let alone packing them correctly for a journey through the shipping gauntlet. I'm convinced they don't even pop the backs off of sealed speaker cabinets to check what speakers are in them. 2 times i bought a 4x12 used from them, only to get it home and find some shit ball cheap speakers that were not stock, and ended up having to take it back because i didn't make them pop it open before i left the store.
 
Aren't you in Tampa? You could have driven there and picked it up.
 
War_in_D said:
I know I've ragged on GC used probably more than my fair share... but I have to say that I've probably had more positive experiences than I've had negative. That being said, when it's negative.. it's really negative. I think the thing that peeves me the most, is seeing a really nice guitar/amp/whatever get destroyed due to some really bad packing job that could have been avoided. The good thing is, that you can always return it.
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Exactly my experiences.. I've had some great ;luck and found some great deals... but I've also had nightmare experiences. last nightmare, a fairly rare Peavey Odyssey got to me with the headstock cracked off.

To the OP - hope you got a good deal.
 
I wish you the best of luck and hope the amp gets to you safely.

My experiences with GC has been hit or miss. I think it comes down to 50% the store and 50% the person packing it.

Taking in gear the most I've seen is they'll make sure an amp powers on or pickups work on a guitar. maybe look around for blemishes. Outside of that who knows the actual condition.

I once bought a pricey 4x12 cab that looked in good condition and should have had V30's in it. Packing was complete shit that might as well have just slapped a shipping label on the cab itself and sent it on it's merry way. Couldn't even put it in a form fitting box. When I opened it there were scuffs on it that weren't in the pictures. Something didn't sound right when I played through it. Turns out someone pulled the V30s out and put cheap ass Behringer speakers in it. Top it off it was wired at 2 ohms instead of 16 like it should have been. Lucky I didn't blow my amp. Returned it to the local GC, told and showed pictures of the speakers. Yes, no issues with the refund, but it was back on the sales floor and back listed online that afternoon.

On the flip side I ordered a new bass. A sales guy called me to say they had put it out as a floor model earlier that day, no one had touched it yet, but they had already thrown the boxes away. He wanted to know if I still wanted it and if I was okay with non original packing. I said it was fine. It arrived with zero issues, packed and boxed twice as secure as it would have come from the factory.

I guess when it comes down to it, it's the luck of the draw between the store it's at and who's packing it up.
 
I only buy used from GC. They have a return policy, which is better than eBay. I've bought some guitars that needed major setups, but the price was amazing (due to the crap setup).
 
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