Guitar Center

I've read the other reviews of GC. Frankly I am now learning that the employees at some of GC are in fact dishonest. I purchased an amp online at GC.com. They listed the amp as "In Stock". They then charged me forthe amp. Only to find out the amp was not in stock, then GC claimed they never charged me. I sent GC employee the print out from my checking account. He disputed it, lied. I believe that many of the employes at GC have some mental issues. I then got a bizarre letter from a local GC telling me they had that amp, rest assured it's new, but it wasn't in the original packaging. Red flag. I called and they confirmed it was a floor model. Which means the amp is not new. When I spoke to manager of that store, he was way crazy. He was differentiating between something being 'actually new' and his version of new. New is new. Used is not new.

The employees at GC are for real criminals, frauds, and mentally incompetant. Of the handful who are decent people I feel sorry for them, they are in minority. The rest of them are proven crooks.

I agree with the other reviews. Your storys sound different but similar to my experiences. GC is run by crooks.

Music staff knows very little about music... Bunch of kids teaching kids.

Can't believe I wasted my time and money at this corporate piece of junk.

I came in to buy guitar picks and as I was leaving I decided to look at amps. The salesman came over and demo'd a Peavey that I loved... He asked what amp I had... A Line 6 Spyder 2q2... The salesman jumped on it and offered me the Peavey amp if I would bring in the Line 6 Spyder... They "WOULD BUY MY AMP FOR MORE THAN THE PEAVEY COST". Salesman said I would get the Peavey for. Free wiith the price they would give me for my Line 6... Next day I, with my hurt back loaded my huge amp up and hurried from Moxee all the way into town only to have the v::: vvnntSame salesman who told me to bring it in they'd buy it for sure tell me they couldn't now...: I am here to tell you, this amp is in perfect shape, A total WASTE IF MY TIME! WHY LIE.TO ME? WHY?

Bought two items online for a birthday present adding up to about $1,100. Both items were listed as "in stock" and we're expected well before the birthday. The day after, I got confirmation of the amplifier getting sent, but was informed that the instrument would take an extra 4 days to send. Ok, should still come in time. After 4 days, no word, no update. I had to call in to find it had been delayed another week, after the birthday. Unfortunate, and I was again very angry it told me it was in stock and ready to ship when I ordered, but so it goes. They told me when I brought up my concern about not being able to test this amp with the delayed instrument until well after the return window, that I would a be able to to return it whenever the instrument arrived since this was a unique issue due to their errors.

More than 9 increasingly long delays later, all of which I got no notice about and had to call to obtain the disappointment each time, it is now "expected" at a date more than one year after it's original estimated delivery date, and I of course wonder how concrete even that date could possibly be. They also decided that I now cannot return the unopened amp I bought with this item that never came and obviously don't want without the instrument.

Personally, I have spent thousands on instruments and tens of thousands building a studio via GC and musiciansfriend, and they still treat me like this. So don't expect to be treated with priority nor respect just because you are a big spender or a loyal customer. The very least they could do would be to allow me to return the cheap $200 amp, and yet, no.

The company is clearly struggling and is hurting its customer base in its desperation to appear otherwise. I had no idea before ordering this last time, but I was so baffled at being treated like this I did a little research and things aren't looking good for both customers and employees at GuitarCenter/MusiciansFriend—I encourage everyone to do the same and look elsewhere.

Store 761 in Atlanta and the Alpharetta store are hands down the two best. Knowledgeable, engaging, and a lot of fun to work with.

If your looking for guitars, ask for Chris Crump. Very knowledgeable knowledgeable and isn't pushy. He'll get you right

They $#*!ing suck $#*! and can't figure out how to send a power cable with a goddam amp. They can suck it

Music teachers there don't know anything. I took lessons for 1 year and I only know 1 note. Teachers rarely show up for scheduled lessons.

My complain about guitar center doesn't quite focus on the fact that when you buy almost any piece of gear or guitar it'll have loose knobs, damaged wood, or dented material. But the HORRIBLE 'repair' or 'technician' department, the repair man who seems to work at most guitar centers seems to always be unavailable even if you call them a day earlier and when mentioning that you'd notified them the day before they'll simply say 'oh sorry I don't do appointments' which only makes you question how stupid they are when going through thought process, second of all the fact that they even keep you on the phone explaining why they can't repair your guitar no matter how simple it is, and how they have something to do and aren't sure when they're around. GUITAR CENTER, WHO THE HELL ARE YOU HIRING? Do a better job and stop hiring autists who can't even remember what they had for breakfast, please. I can't even get a repair done for something that shouldn't be so hard to fix if you have the materials, the only hindrance is the fact that your technicians are immensely unreliable and probably don't know what the hell they are doing. Great job 2/10, lol. Also, maintain things tidier, it'll probably make most of your workers seem a tad less lazier than they really are.

My orders this year
Roland kxv 1899 plus tax
Yamaha monitors 800+
American strat 1499+
Fender mustang 300+
2 mackie 12a thumps 800
Axe fx 1500+
Axe fx mfc 101 mark 3 400+
Random sticks picks strings cables 200-300+
This is one year ive been a GC customer for 20 plus years i will most likly be a sweetwater.com customer now i ordered the axe fx mfc monday night paid extra for over night shipping to be sure to have it when i needed it by it arrives Wednesday complete pile of junk looked like it was dropped from the plane screen was damaged and the eithernet cable hook up was broken clearly yet they sent it anyways. I call in they tell me to deliver to local store for refund i asked if i could get a discount on a replacement for the inconvenience no dice but i ordered one any way again running out of time for when i need this i paid to over night it again this is friday sunday im still waiting for a confirmation so i call in the jerk on the phone acted like he was concerned put me on hold to talk to his supervisor only to come back and tell me it prolly wont ship until Tuesday i said thats unacceptable and before i could finish the sentence he jumped over the top of me to tell me i could look at their shipping rules and that i ordered to late on friday and he could do nothing for me as that was not their fault. Apparently i mailed myself the first one damaged idk how that could be my fault? And somehow the last guy forgot to tell me that paying for overnighting on friday was dumb because guitar center can't figure out how to mail anything on the weekend.

So you and your buddys just started a Band! How EXCITING! You busted out the pen and paper and you guys are theorizing your first few songs, hammering out riffs on your first act guitar and moms pots and pans when it dawns on you guys... You need better gear! How are you supposed to shred like jimmy, james, brad or even Hendrix without a better guitar right? So you hop on Google search music store and there is GUITAR CENTER! You hop in your car, you drive down there and walk right through those doors and you are captivated by a face tightening wall of guitars! You walk up to the wall grab a guitar and before you even select an amp you will be confronted by an employee. After this youll play for a few minutes and want to grab another sweet axe to try out! But before you do, that same employee is going to start asking questions. WHO WHAT WHEN WHERE WHY HOW IF MAYBE... Everything about you and your mama. Now that's all well and good. BUT... As a musician, I like to be left the $#*! alone to my the things stirring around in the brain space. When a salesman ruins my flow with sales jargon and product coverage jargon. I simply cant think straight about what I want to buy. If I want to know something ill ask and so will anyone else. I used to work there. And I was hated by management for leaving people to their own adventures without confrontation, no sales pitches, no product coverage pitches. And guess what?! I had better results! I sold more product coverage's without selling it. I sold more items without making it seem like there was a catch. I had more surveys filled out in my favor that anyone else. I don't toot my own Horn... In your face Corporate America.

I biuy a new guitar once a year with my safety bonus from workng all year so they have a bit of my money in thier pockets
Anyway i did the buy it online for sameday pickup they offer
Got the conformation purchase email instantly wich also said we will email you when its ready
Ok so hours went by no email not a damn thing so i sent a email asking when will it be ready or is there a problem with my order ok
Several more hours go by still nothing
Finalky i drove to the store and they didnt even have order yet at thier store say what? Luckily i got a great employee who knew how to get it handled and boom walked out the door with my new les paul in hand... ok great but here is what gets me
10 days later they finally replied to my email yes im not lying 10 days later
So i sent a reply to that email asking if it always takes ten days to get a reply
Ok so 8 days later they replied to my question about slow customer service
Eight freakin days later what a joke
So to finalize this they have great deals good in store service but the worst email service ever and i never did get a its ready email from them
Guitar center you need some restringing and a good tune up too

Beware of online service... I ordered and paid for a new Epiphone J45 guitar, through Guitar Center and it came from LV store. I was absolutely disgusted. I had never seen an item packed so poorly. Firstly it came in damaged ripped FENDER box, so no original packing. On opening I find a partial bubble wrapped guitar (loose bubble wrapped head, and loose bubble wrapped base, nothing else), no other protection, no inner box etc. It was clear from the onset this was not a new item but one off of the display shelf. The strings were loose and stretched. The battery cable was just hanging and the battery pooch was missing. I had to take to my local Mam and Pop guitar center to be setup and they found a pooch for me from an old Gibson. I contact CS and they had the Store Ops Manager call me. He was very apologetic and told me he was very new to the position. He asked and was sent pictures. He also confirmed this was indeed a display model and also told me he could not understand why a new one wasnt sent, when they had two boxed and in stock, or why it should be packed as it was. I was offered a new guitar but would have to send the original back first. I cant do that because the packaging was poor and damaged... I would be help responsible. So I asked if he could send and I would resend in the new packaging, or I could drop off at the Tampa store. I was told unfortunately this wasn't an option. So what I have, is a display guitar, that was sent with no warrantee, no sign off check list and not even any of the unwanted Promo. There is only one loser here... the Customer. In my mind its clear that for online sales the ethos of Guitar Center or at least the Vegas store is to clear old inventory and replace with new. I also contacted senior management but as expected recieved no reply...

After visiting Guitar Center today I certainly will most likely never be going back. I went in today to purchase a Fender CD100 Left Handed Guitar. I left with the guitar, but everything in between that was beyond ridiculous. I walked in with an electric guitar (Maestro Gibson) to be exact. It was just a guitar I had sitting around for a couple of years that I had received when I was younger that I never really played because the guitar was meant for right handed people. So after asking to trade it for credit Kevin the cashier (*******) went and tested out the guitar to see if it functions correctly. After waiting for 25 minutes I see Kevin walk over to his coworker and start to giggle and they both giggle with each other and Kevin approaches me saying they don't want the guitar because the neck is bent. Them not wanting the guitar didn't upset me (it had no cosmetic damage and worked fine, but the neck was bent so I understood), but the behavior of the both of them was highly unprofessional and I will most certainly be posting this review onto various sites to let others know. I play piano and have played for years and if someone were to try and sell me a piano/keyboard that perhaps wasn't in the best quality and had some type of damage I certainly wouldn't laugh in their face, I would respectfully decline their offer, but Kevin decides to be a douche and laugh literally 2 feet away from me. I certainly won't be going back and I did purchase the guitar today, but I will never be purchasing anything else from here. I'd rather go to a place that's more professional and doesn't hire 25 year old kids that are cocky and $#*!s.

Man, what a heart breaking experience. I get an e-mail from Epiphone on Jan 8th about a Les Paul 1 out of 100 signed by Slash of "Guns N Roses" guitar and the very next day when the website and pre-orders are taken for this I am on the phone and paid in full with my credit card and assured I am going to get this beautiful and one of a kind guitars. So for two weeks I'm jumping for joy and dreaming about getting this. Only to get an e-mail on Jan 19th while I am at work by Product Specialist Mark Lund "Sorry for the news but we got slammed with orders on the Limited edition Epiphone Slash guitar You ordered. Unfortunately we had to cancel your order because we sold out before your order completed processing. We regret that we cannot send you that guitar so as a one time only offer, we will give you $100 off an alternate guitar over $500. This is an agent only exclusive deal I am offering you"... REALLY? So on January 9th when all my information and my credit card information and the $1275 I was putting down for this... that wasn't a completed process? If I call this store ASAP on the very first day of pre-orders and I am assured after giving all my information to get one, I get an e-mail almost two weeks later that the order is cancelled to only be offered $100 off my next guitar of $500+ which is exactly the same deal all Guitar Center customers were offered from Christmas to New Years Day and be told it's an agent only exclusive deal? Is that suppose to make up for losing out on a 1 out of 100 guitars signed by Slash of "Guns N Roses"? Man, what a heart breaking experience. It's like packing your bags and being allowed to board the plane and just when you are about to take off to paradise and see the person you love you are told to get off, sorry your money isn't good enough and here's a free pack of peanuts to eat on the way home. Man, what a heart breaking experience.

I ordered a Jackson guitar on the 6th of April, 2022. The guitar didn't ship out until the 11th for whatever reason even though it was in stock and it said it was being delivered the next day. The next day rolls around and it says it's "out for delivery" and I wait all day(I work from home) and no one showed up. I figured it would be delivered the next day. It didn't and each day it continued to say "out for delivery" and that someone "attempted to deliver" it at 10:41 PM each night. I called UPS and they told me that was weird since they don't even drive that late, let alone it being the same time every night. So eventually a few days passes of this mess and I go into the actual UPS center it's supposed to be at since I can't get anywhere with the guitar center people or UPS on the phone. They straight up tell me they do not have the guitar and they cannot find it in the warehouse or on any of the trucks. I told guitar center this and they opened a claim, and they told me if nothing was found by Monday, April 18th, they would refund me. Well, Monday rolls around and no one calls me or anything. So I jump on the chat with them and they tell me they cannot refund me until they look into it further, even though I went on UPS's website and put return to sender on the package so it can stop with the "out for deliver" infinite loop, so that was proof I didn't have the guitar nor was it going to be coming to me. I showed them the tracking and told them what the previous reps said and they wouldn't budge. So I finally went through my bank and filed a claim because this was getting ridiculous. Every guitar center rep would cut me off saying they understood, but would give me no information and would just say we're looking into it. It is now Friday, April 22nd, still no guitar, and finally got a refund THROUGH MY BANK. I will NEVER order through this company again. It's been an absolute nightmare. They lost my package, and there was proof in the tracking and they still wouldn't refund me. Worst customer service I've ever dealt with. My bank even said the whole process they put me through was very sketchy and they were shocked they hadn't refunded my money.

I was purchasing a pair of headphones and placed my order online through the Guitar Center website. It did not let me know that the item was on backorder until I put my payment information in and I should have taken that as the first red flag. However, I was in no rush to receive the order. It informed me that it would take longer than expected but I did not mind and placed my order on September 12 and I should expect it September 20. September 14, I got an email saying the item was still on backorder and I would get a shipping notification when the gear is on the way. No problem I was already told it would be late. However, September 20 came and went. I waited until a week later, September 28, to see if I would receive any more updates, and when I didn't I reached out to customer service wondering where my order was after seeing the price charge pending on my card. I was upset that there was no more updates on my order or no one had reached out to me that I had almost forgotten I placed it until I saw the statement on my card. They informed me then that "It looks likes this model amp is on back order until the date of 10/05.20" then offered to find me a different item which I appreciate but it not what I wanted. I had already waited this long, what is a few more days? Plus the order was not for me but a gift so personally I did not need the item right away. October 5th, came and went with no new email or update. I waited a few more days to see then I received an email on October 12 that my order was still on backorder but no other expected shipment dates or information besides "we don't have it". I was livid. I wish they had just put "Out of Stock" on their website and I could have just avoided ordering it at all. I called October 20 after no further updates or contact from Guitar Center. All they said was "Ok" to me wanting to cancel my order after I explained the situation of not receiving my product or updates. I felt that at least a more sympathetic ear to my situation would have at least made me feel better about the situation. This was such a easy situation to avoid with either an "Out of Stock" marker on their website or prompt updates from them instead of having to reach out them about what is going on with my product. That same day I placed an order on SweetWater and I could not be more impressed with their customer service. They called me that night to ask if there was anything else I needed or if I had any trouble ordering. The next day they shipped it out and called ahead to let me know. The packaging was great and included some candy to thank me for placing my order. It was such a 180 degree turn around experience from guitar center. I can not talk about their customer service in person but the online experience has made me wary of ever ordering from them in the future.

I filtered my search results by "in stock within 5 miles of me" and picked out a nice new Gretsch and some picks which the website said I could pick up the same day from my local store. I place the order, and it is stuck on 'processing' after a few hours, so I call the store to make sure they have what I ordered. The guy on the phone says "yep, we have the Gretsch and picks in stock on our system, just wait until tomorrow for the system to process payment." A bit odd considering I used my PayPal balance, but sure.

Fast forward to tomorrow, still 'processing.' I try calling customer service but get no answer, and wait 10 minutes to get online chat help. The guy then says only the store can cancel the order, whilst trying to brush me off. I call the store, get put through to the manager, and the manager says he can only cancel the order if the online rep calls him. I say this to the online rep, he then says that he could only cancel the picks coming from the warehouse (I thought they were in stock?!) and the store would have to cancel the guitar. The manager at the store then says he cannot cancel the guitar, the order has actually been sent to another Guitar Center across the state (why?!). He says I have to call this other store 130 miles away from me and cancel the order myself.

I call the other store, and the manager says the store only received the order 2 hours ago - even though I ordered it 24 hours ago - and the only model they had was the display model (how is it acceptable to sell a display model as new without informing your customer automatically?). He offered to redirect the order again to a store with several models, and I told him I was beyond done with this headache and ask him to cancel the guitar. He says "sure, I will cancel this for you, the money should go back to your PayPal shortly."

Fast forward a few hours, my transaction is still pending on PayPal, and I don't have my funds. I call PayPal, and they say it is on Guitar Center's end, and if they have cancelled it can actually take a few days to get the money back.

Stay away at all costs. I am a patient man, but this pushed my boundaries a bit. I chose Guitar Center over a cheaper online alternative so I could have my items the same day, and now I am without my money for a week. Everything in this company seems disorganised, and employees seem clueless.

I called Twice to cancel a online order. I even got a confirmation number, Yet it was shipped out!

In the last week, I purchase a used guitar from online at a Guitar Centers San Jose store. The listing stated... Guitar in stock, ready to ship. I purchased with credit card. I get a confirmation, my credit card is charged, the email states I will get tracking # once item is shipped. 3 days go by, no follow up email, no phone call. I check the status of my order on line... it's shows "processing".

I call a GC customer service. They say they will investigate. Hours later, I receive email stating... Time sold, no longer available. They have my money, I have order confirmation, they sold the guitar.

Ok, so... a few days later, I show the guitar is available again. I suspect it's the same guitar because it's the same location, same used instrument, same price.
I order it again online. Guitar in stock, ready to ship. Get confirmation, my card is charged, email says I will get tracking #. I call San Jose store explain that I want to make sure Guitar is taken off floor, get out on eternal hold and call drops off. So, I call my local store and ask them to contact San Jose store to make sure Guitar is held for me to ship next day. Jeremy in Alpharetta says he will. Hours later, no phone call... just an email that says my item is on Bacorder and they don't have it yet, but the manufacturer is sending them more.the item in question is a USED ITEM AT A PRICE CLOSE TO HALF OFF RETAIL. Are they really getting more Used items straight from the manufacturer? Hour later, I get an email that my order is cancelled because the item is no longer available.

I have yet to receive refund on the first order and now they have my money for two guitars. They say that neither on is available.

So... after taking in all that is transpired the only conclusion I can come up with is GUITAR CENTER IS RUNNING AN ONLINE SCAM WHERE THEY TAKE YOUR MONEY FOR ITEMS THEY DONT HAVE IN STOCK. THAT IS FACT.

DO NOT BUY FROM GUITAR CENTER. THEY ARE PASSING OFF USED/OPEN BOXES AS NEW GUITARS WITHOUT ANY DISCLOSURE. JUST SHAMEFUL.