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2.5 86 Reviews

Guitar Center Complaints Summary

32 Resolved
54 Unresolved
Our verdict: Engaging with Guitar Center, which has a below-average resolution rate, demands caution. Thoroughly assess their service reviews and explore how they handle unresolved complaints. If you encounter issues, document your experiences meticulously and be persistent in seeking resolutions.
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Guitar Center reviews & complaints 86

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4:38 pm EDT
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Guitar Center customer service

Today, April 23rd, I called my local Guitar Center in Chattanooga to ask about a Digital Voice Recorder adapter cable. I'm a frequent shopper and former employee of the store.

My boyfriend I called to ask about a 1/8 inch cable unto USB. Once we were transferred over to Pro-Audio a man named "Jonathan" answered and we asked him about the cable. He started to laugh and say "Cmon man, what is this a joke?" and continued to be oblivious to the fact that we were good customers, and nothing else. We told him, "No, I need a cable" and he explained "Oh, no I don't think we have it". By the time my boyfriend hung up the phone, 'Jonathan' had been rude to us, disrespectful and displayed no customer service skills what-so-over. We were asking a legitimate question, and he had scoffed at us like we were so below 'his level'.

I don't think anyone deserves to be treated like this. Especially not two good customers (and former employees).

Congratulations, Guitar Center.

You just lost two more customers.

And I will be contacting Guitar Center corporate.

We'll be shopping at Humbucker Music and Picker's Exchange from now on. :)

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Jason Ewton
Hixson, US
Jul 14, 2010 2:17 pm EDT

That's because 1/8" to usb doesn't exist. But I do agree that GC sucks. In fact, I was the other Assistant Manager at that store and I worked with Johnathan Mark.

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3:28 pm EDT
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Guitar Center worst customer service

Bought a drum kit there. Found when replacing the coated batter heads the shells were delaminating. Brought it back but because it was clearance they explained how great of a deal it was and how I'm the jerk. So no returns on clearance items even if they are junk. Talked to managers and everything. 100% satisfaction my butt. They gave me a performance guarantee but that doesn't kick in till 2 months, then it will take 6 weeks to repair the kit and then I will have working kit after 5-6 months of waiting. I hope this company goes out of business. Absolutely the worst customer service I've EVER had the displeasure of dealing with.

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hereattherock
Youngstown, US
Mar 22, 2010 11:51 am EDT

it's your fault for buying clearance gear bro...sell the kit and go buy something new.

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ferdzman
Overland Park, US
Apr 02, 2009 3:41 pm EDT

Three times I've visited Guitar Center in 119th Lee Summit KC, I've had to drive back to get the rigth product that they've "accidentally" given me. One of them is the shipping so I totally uinderstand. But they would never say simple words like "we're so sorry that you had to drive back here again" or "sorry, it's our fault", but they'll argue with you and not take the blame of their own company. Only if I had other option where to buy near our location with a better customer service, I won't even think of going back there.

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6:08 am EST
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Guitar Center its a con

Do not use this company/Outfit. I ordered an Epiphone dot 335 ($399) and a case ($80) by credit card. I got an email a few days later saying there was a 3 month backorder on the guitar but they have sent the case? I mean what idiot in their right mind would send a guitar case without a guitar? Its all about getting your money!

Eddie

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Guitar Center Sucks
North Hollywood, US
Dec 15, 2009 8:39 pm EST

I HATE Guitar Center! They can kiss my ### along with your ###!

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1:33 pm EDT
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Guitar Center awful company

Guitar center just wants to sell you *** guitars, they don't care about quality. All they want is money. They pay low wage dumb monkey turds to try to sell you a guitar, that is messed up.

Then they'll never admit they're mistake and try to convince you that nothing is wrong.

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G.C.Sales.
Portland, US
Oct 20, 2010 5:02 pm EDT
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

Let me tell you as a Guitar Center employee myself. ( working in the guitar Department. ) That the quality of G.C.'s guitars are the same as any other shop. Sans custom shop guitars.
That said, Guitar Center employees get paid [censored]. Minimum wage, plus commission. Now one might think that sounds like allot. But wait.. If your commissions = more than what they pay you in minimum wage, then before you see any money you have to pay back that minimum wage. (It's called working on a fade. ) The minimum wage is there incase you don't sell enough, you will never make less than minimum wage. Now, essentially what that means is by working at guitar center most employees ( unless you are in a major metropolitan city ) cost the company barely nothing. Many employees ( excluding myself ) will sell people only the guitars, amps etc... that make them the most in profit. In our store the guy who is always on top of the "ranker" sells people what he wants and not what they need or ask for. Do yourself a favor, do your own research, ask friends, other guitar players, etc... if you have only been playing a short while bring someone who has been playing guitar longer than you, to help guide you. And the best advise I can give you other than " shop with the local Mom and Pop stores " is don't let the Guitar Center clerk talk you into something else.

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guitarcenterisasham
, US
Aug 25, 2009 10:28 pm EDT

I am sorry I have to agree that they only want the money. I know someone who works for the company and they are paid like waitresses! Some are scam artists who just steal and should work for the government or the IRS, since the company is owned by not a musician but Mitt Romney! Check it out on wickipedia under Guitar Center and Bain Financial! The real employees who have no clue that the company is a sham until boom! They receive their first commissions check and mind you they do want to help you find the best deal, they receive below minimum wage and the hours they work are deducted from their commissions. So you know how much these poor saps make. After taxes and their deductions..um well lets just say they still live with Mom and Dad and still have no money to even buy the equipment from F...g Guitar Center after their commissions check, not even enough to by a power cord! Damn now you see why some of these guys either don't care, hoping to get fired, or just want to feel superior by taking your money! My thoughts are buy online and not from Guitar Center they may lure you into their store for more MONEY!

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glydian
Laguna Hills, US
Mar 31, 2009 10:22 am EDT

Why does everyone think that poor quality has to do with the stores. You can buy a bad guitar anywhere. How many luthiers do you know. Are there enough of them to hire for every store.How many of these complaints are actually a stores fault. I can say that every guitar center employee is a musician. So if you like insulting music store employees then you like insulting musicians. Your also saying that your average musician can't tell if the instrument he has is a piece of junk.

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1:23 pm EDT
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Guitar Center terrible experience

Guitar center is a music store so you all who work there quit treating people like *** and trying to rip them off theres enough *** going on in this *** up planet and if a guitar is worth more then what ever in trade or so... them give that person credit on that and quit being and *** hole about it... that goes four all you courpret *** also... so help out every one that loves music and not money you are suppose to help music get better four us all so quit fooling around and get your *** together.

Read full review of Guitar Center and 1 comment
Update by Valerie
Sep 15, 2008 8:30 am EDT

I went to the Guitar Center store in Allen Park to buy a BC Rich Virgin. The asst mgr was the one who was helping me out, and he told me that they didn't have one at the store. He did, however, try to upsell me to a $600 used guitar. I explained to him that I was just starting out, wanted something cheaper, and was going to order the virgin from their website (their website had them in stock). He assured me that I didn't want to do that and that I should put an order in with him in case it came in damaged, had a defect, etc to make it easier to return. He gave me a runaround BS story as to how long it would take to come in (couple days, week) so I decided to go ahead and have him order it. BIG MISTAKE. First off, they made me pay IN FULL up front. Not really a big deal, but most places only require 10-20% down and the balance when the item arrives. Then I called them a week after placing the order to find out what the status was. After getting shuffled around on the phone to 5, yes 5, different employees, I learned that the asst mgr had placed my order with BC Rich themselves and that my order still had the "order received" status. Essentially that meant BC Rich got the order but hadn't done anything with it. I was also told that it could be up to six weeks before I got it! After the call, I immediately called up the guitar center website, ordered the guitar myself, and was assured that the guitar was in stock and would be at my door in less than a week! I then went back to guitar center, spoke to the mgr, and got a full refund on the special order. The mgr couldn't understand why the asst mgr didn't place the order for me through their website and couldn't believe that he put the order through the manufacturer when their own website had stock. I'll tell you exactly why - the person I dealt with had no interest in helping out a guy starting out on guitar. He wanted credit for the sale so he could get his commission on it. All I got out of the situation was a half a**ed "sorry" for my inconvenience and the asst mgr's incompetence. It would have been nice to get a 10% off voucher, a set of free strings, or even a free pick for God's sake for the aggravation! I'll never go back there for anything again. It's not worth having to deal with a**holes that don't care about what the customer needs, just how much they're going to spend.

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glydian
Laguna Hills, US
Mar 31, 2009 10:35 am EDT

I'm guessing you had something to trade in and you didn't receive enough money for it in trade. Everyone always thinks their stuff is worth a ton of money because frankly its their gear. Everyone is told ahead of time, your much better off selling it on ebay or craigslist. If you decided to do a trade after that statement you most likely wanted the gear that day. Nobody is trying to rip anyone off. If someone gives you 600 dollars for something worth 300 dollars I would say your ripping them off. In these crazy times of economic collapse people tend to blame stores for trying to stay open and survive. I'm sorry if I told you I'm going to cut your wage down to exactly what it costs to pay your rent and you'll have to come up with the rest of the money to live, you would be pissed. Try bartering anywhere else.. Hey Mr. surgeon whats my price on this open heart surgery. He would be pretty insulted.

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6:58 am EDT
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Guitar Center thieves

Shopping online via Guitar Center was one of the most horrid experiences I ever had. I ordered from them before a Tama 8-piece drum set with no problems about 3 weeks ago. However, the problem began when I ordered 2 kick pedals and a Roland kick trigger. What a disappointment.

At first, everything seemed ok. I ordered from them on a Thursday, and then they left me a message saying there was a problem verifying my order.

I called their customer service number to see what the problem was. According to their representative, she said that the bank put an access block on them and that I needed to call the bank. She then put the bank representative on the line.

When they asked me my account number, something smelled fishy to me. When I asked why they needed to my bank account number, the GC rep said that Guitar Center wanted to verify the information did their own stop on the order. This was not what they originally told me along with the fact that the bank rep was dialed for me as opposed to letting me dial them on my own kept saying "SCAM!" in my mind. After asking why a $500 order needed verifying when my card went through just fine for an order that costs well over a grand, they couldn't get their story straight. Eventually, I got tired of the BS and asked them to cancel the order.

To top it off, they actually had the audacity of attempting to charge me a $34 sales tax despite the fact that in order to be charged a sales tax, I'd have to purchase something in the first place. I checked with the bank before they can attempt to bill me and reported it as a fraudulent charge.

My friends, do NOT order anything online from Guitar Center unless you want to run the risk of getting ripped off by an unscrupulous employee. Either go to one of their stores or backorder want you need at a local shop.

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Drum3matrix
Midvale, US
Jan 28, 2012 10:25 pm EST

Guitar center matches up name address and phone number on orders that get held up for flags. some flags are random. guitar center has so much fraud that they have to do this. it does not matter if the authorization went through or not if someone stole your card info the auth would still go through. this is just a big misunderstanding on your part. the reps at the call center have a high turn over rate so your always talking to someone who is new. why would the largest music company in the world worries about taking 35 dollars from you? This is the funniest post i have ever read!

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glydian
Laguna Hills, US
Mar 31, 2009 10:47 am EDT

All orders go through verification unless the credit card is in a rep's hands. Thats not a scam, it's not policy, it's the law. Call the company who's logo is on your card (Visa, MC, Amex) and the credit bureau. Unless the card is swiped during the transaction the company is forced to verify the billing address and your identity. Plus it sounds like your bank (mine does it too), put a remote (moto) purchase block on your account. This is basically a forced protection that you can ask your bank to remove if you make purchases online or over the phone. Guitar Center doesn't steal your info.

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