Ok, GC does it again

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jmpman

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Ok, here I go. Bought a used Marshall PowerBrake from a Guitar Center in Independence,MO and had it shipped to my house. Package arrived, when I pulled it out I had a bad feeling, and sure enough it had been damaged by UPS, usually they would be to blame but this time around this was not the case. GC just threw it in a box that was too big for it with some popcorn shells and bubble wrap, they did not take the take to wrap the bubble wrap around it. The damage done was a bent front handle, slight front indention. Tried it out and it made a nasty knarly/high pitch sound……..needless to say, I would now have to take it to my local GC for a return, lucky me. This made 3 out of 5 items that I have bought used from GC that were shipped damaged, not a great track record, huh? You’d think I would have learned my lesson.

It gets even better. So, I take it for a refund, no problem, they were cool about taking it back. They immediately saw it as damaged, no further questions asked. Now comes the good part, a buddy of mine knew I’d been looking for a PB, so he told me that he saw one at GC….hmmm, what are the chances it’s the same one, right? I called them and spoke to a sales rep, and when I asked about it, sure enough he did say that it was a used customer return with some damage to it, but here is the good part, he said the customer that returned it, thought it was an amp head and that was the reason for the return. I about fell out of my seat, I quickly cut him off and told him I was the customer that returned it and that at no time did I state that it was an amp head, give me a break. He quickly backed off and said that was what he was told. Oh and btw, they were selling it for the same price I paid, $199. Unbelievable.

Bottom line is, in general I think GC has some good stuff, but their honesty/integrity to say the least is questionable. My friend and I were talking about it, man to we miss the good ‘ole days when you could go to a good music store and not worry about being manipulated and lied to and even though they were in business to make money, they still looked out for their customers. My friends, those days are over (no big secret I know). As of today, they have it for sale on their website, under used items. I won’t hold my breath for them to take it off, unless it sells.

End of rant.
 
GC/Musician's Friend are horrible. If you're shopping form a big name store, Sweetwater has some of the best customer service out there and will go out of the way to make things right. You don't get the convenience of going to a local branch when needed, though. I hardly even find anything in GC that I care about playing these days, it's all shoddy Line 6, Peavey Valvekings, maybe some Mesa Rectifiers, etc.
 
after working in retail for 10 years, i can't say i'm surprised to hear any of this. additionally, knowing the caliber of employees they have working in those stores who think they know anything and everything about ALL equipment because they attend a local music college, it's a wonder places like guitar center are even still in business. their selection is terrible, their prices are even worse, and their customer service is almost non-existent (every time i go in there to purchase a pack of strings or some picks or something when i'm in a bind, it takes me forever to find someone who can help me - even though there are always like 3 idiots behind the counter who claim they're 'busy'). and don't even get me started on their trade offers - they once offered me $90 for a gibson gothic explorer because it had a lot of belt rash (and they likely would have re-sold it for about $800).
 
i just got my Ultra Plus in last night, from a GC in Ohio. the box was HUGE, and the packing was horrendous. 4 plastic covered foam pillow things, the amp in a garbage bag...floating around with the pillows every which way. seriously horrible. box had a hole in it and was obviously abused. thankfully, the amp did make it in one piece and does work fine, except for the Reverb tank that basically came loose. i just took it out, i dont need no reverb! im lucky the tubes werent smashed to bits. i know i didnt pay much for the head but damn...you could pack the thing at least halfway decently! duct tape the foam pillows onto the thing, then maybe, while its rolling around in the way oversized box it wont just land flat on its back on concrete.

good thing the amp is built like a tank...it made it. i dont know how, but it made it!
 
I just made a $1,500 profit in less than 24 hours on a used guitar from GC. They're OK by me!
 
Ive really never had too bad of an experience at GC. They usually always have new people working there all the time but the one I like to visit has a couple guys that have been working there since I started patronizing it a few years ago. If i need help with something I usually wait for one of them to free up since they dont seem too be in a hurry to make a sale.
 
i never go to gc anymore, every time i do some jackass salesman tries to weasel me into buying something else. "yo, you dont want that, dis da shiznit" im not some stupid 16 year old that you can sucker, this is what i want.

of course there are plenty of products that are better than others for different people but he doesnt know me. it feels almost as if.....walking into an ice cream parlor and ordering a chocolate cone and the clerk saying "nah nah, dude, you want vanilla dawg"
 
marvcus":6g5ukih3 said:
Sometimes ignorance is bliss.

Last year, I bought from GC a 1969 Marshall Plexi 100w (SL/A 10xxx) formerly owned by Eric Johnson (verified by his management),...
Click to expand...
I know this manager and it's well known across the board that he's a meth head.
 
King Crimson":26bil6kz said:
marvcus":26bil6kz said:
Sometimes ignorance is bliss.

Last year, I bought from GC a 1969 Marshall Plexi 100w (SL/A 10xxx) formerly owned by Eric Johnson (verified by his management),...
Click to expand...
I know this manager and it's well known across the board that he's a meth head.
Click to expand...

Hey, he gave me a head claiming it to be the same for drugs :(
 
Bah, and I freaking work at my local GC... :doh:

But there's probably a reason I'm ranked with full time employees even though I only work Fri-Sat....

On topic to your post... As an employee for this Company ( I'm no spokes person, I'm not the "word" of GC, nor are any of the opinions or statements I make the definitive word or opinion of GC) I am disgusted to hear about your experience. As a company, as individual stores in cities across the nation, and as individuals that are supposed to pride themselves on being the "go-to" guy for musicians, we are never going to make the cut if we continue to make/allow mistakes of this sort to happen. One at a time, we will piss off our bread and butter, eventually selling nothing but $100 dollar acoustics and Squire strat starter packs. The sad but true is that we lead the industry in competitive pricing. We feel so strongly about our pricing, we offer internet access to customers to attain better pricing before they leave that we'll match and beat with an additional 10% of the difference off the price. IE: Find it $100 cheaper? We'll give you $110 off. We have buying power to get really awesome special run gear, carry the nicest gear and reach most distant customers yet.... There's a dumb ass somewhere within our company who honestly thought packing your item that way was sufficient...... I digress.

I will say thank you for your attempt at patronage. I am truly sorry for your troubles. Being that I'm probably overstepping my bounds of employment by speaking outside of what's considered "correct context" by my employers, I unfortunately cannot offer anything but my apologies.

Don't send this post to my management alright? :lol: :LOL:

Read on......




If you happen to have to go to GC, there's only one type of salesperson you need to talk to. It's the guy that's actually walking around and just asking if you're doing alright, offering you cables and/or to get you anything that may be out of reach. There are real gear guys in SOME of the GCs. We are usually the guy that's talking about anything other than gear, complimenting your playing (in a non d-bag way) and the guy that only makes a recommendation when asked for one. As an actual gear head that works for GC ( it funds my crippling GAS ), I know when and when not to talk to some one. IE: If I'm tweaking an amp and trying to see if it's going to work for me, don't bother me, don't recommend settings unless I ask you, and don't ask me if I'm going to take it home. I have to figure out if the fucking thing is capable of a tone worth paying stupid money for. * end rant *
 
GC is the ultimate in buyer beware. With a used piece of gear I shut out the salesperson and check it out as thoroughly as I can and then decide, if the price is right. If there's something up, I'll return it. My local has an older Rivera K100 that I would love to check out but it's never worked. It's been in there for many months, more than six. I've told numerous salespeople that it doesn't make a squeak and they all do the typical "Oh really, I'll definitely get someone to look at that" :lol: :LOL: I know it's not the greatest paying job, but if you said you would do the job show some pride in what you do and give a shit, even if it's just a small one. They had Japanese Charvels from the 80's tagged as American made. That one they did change when I told them. It's weird, Used gear is such a crapshoot there. They'll have something interesting stupidly overpriced and then the next week you'll see something underpriced. No uniformity at all.
 
marvcus":2s2o5hh8 said:
Sometimes ignorance is bliss.

Last year, I bought from GC a 1969 Marshall Plexi 100w (SL/A 10xxx) formerly owned by Eric Johnson (verified by his management), clean, original iron, no mods, and lots of red dye for WELL under its value.

The guys at the store thought it had a reversed mod because it had the extra preamp hole in the chassis. Turns out they used the same
chassis for the PA heads back then, which hade 4 preamp tubes.

True story.

Like I said, sometimes ignorance is bliss.
Click to expand...

You're obviously living in Dreamland or something.
 
Update, it is still for sale on their website......incredible :no: And at the same price, they could have least lowered the price to reflect the damage done and the fact it does not work correctly.
 
I bought a pedal at my local guitar center last week. I brought it back the next day because it would not pass signal when engaged. I tried everything I could to get it work, checking connections, resoldering connections, jumping the switch, jumping the battery clip... everthing. It was DOA. I brought it back and I see today it's still on the store's website. WTF? :thumbsdown:
 
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