Guitar Center
reviews and complaints

The lack of service is incredible. I'm a loyal Guitar Center customer and have spent thousands of dollars there over the years.

I dropped a guitar off over a month ago. All I had wrong was a toggle switch getting stuck on my electric guitar (American Hamer, Archtop Custom - $2500 guitar). After two weeks of not hearing back, I called the store to inquire. I was told that I gave them a bad phone number (yeah right...I know how to write my ph# down) and that's why they didn't call. I gave them the benefit of the doubt. PROBLEM #1 - Nobody ever called me back.

I picked up my guitar, paid for the repair, got home and plugged it in and NOTHING. No sound coming out of the guitar. Did they even TEST IT before telling me it was ready for pick up? PROBLEM #2 - Guitar not working (and it was working fine before dropping it off - just needed a new toggle switch which kept getting stuck in the middle position).

I took the guitar back to have it fixed...going out of my way (30 min drive) to take it back. "Dino, " the guitar tech, is polite and apologizes but ends up wanting to keep it for a few days to fix it. TWO WEEKS PASS and I hear nothing. PROBLEM #3 - Nobody calls me back, AGAIN.

I call this past Saturday to inquire about the delay. I'm told that Dino needs to talk to me but didn't have my phone number (HUH? I gave it to him in person when I dropped the guitar off). I'm told that he's with a customer and will call me back within 10 minutes. PROBLEM #4 - 6 hours pass and nobody calls me.

So I call AGAIN that evening, explain the issue to the guy who answered the phone (name Ivan, I think). He apologizes, said he'll personally give my message to Dino to have him call me. Five days later, I've heard nothing.

How the HELL do you NOT call a customer back 4 times? My guitar has been there for a month total, still isn't repaired, apparently has something wrong with it but I have no idea what that is because nobody at Guitar Center is able to pick up a damn phone and return their customer's phone call, despite FOUR chances.

Whatever is wrong with my guitar was NOT wrong with it when I dropped it off.

Pathetic customer service. No excuse. I'm willing to post this wherever I can...they have earned this criticism.

I went to the guitar center to buy a Yamaha keyboard for my daughter. Then I was told that it doesn't come with a power supply and I need to buy it separately. So I said ok, I will buy one. Then the sales person told me that they don't have it in the store but he can order it online for me. But he didn't mention to me that I need to pay the shipping cost. Then he took one hour to make the order. A few days later I changed my mind because I don't want to wait any more and I went to Costco to buy a keyboard which comes with a power supply. Then I went back to the Guitar Center to return the keyboard and the power supply. Then I was told that I cannot return the supply because it hasn't arrived to the store yet (they seem to only ship to store). So I waited it to arrive the store and I went there one more time to return it. The entire process I didn't get to touch the power supply. But the sales person told me that they cannot refund me the money because they are using different system. So I have to wait for the item to reach when it came from and then get my refund. After waiting for another 10 days, I still didn't get my refund so I called the customer service to check whether they have received the item. Surprisingly, the customer service told me that the store should refund me the day I returned the item because the online store should have return the money to the store. So I have to make another trip to the store to argue about my refund. This has been a very unpleasant shopping experience to me. I would never go to this store to buy any stuff no matter how appealing the price it, neither will I recommend this store to any of my friends.

Guitar Center of SF practices Bait-and-Switch. I contacted Guitar Center SF on 9-19-10 asking if they had any yamaha 12 string guitars in stock and associate Ben informed me they had 2 of them. I asked if he could hold one and he stated he needed 10% down. I told him I had two amps I wanted to trade in and requested how much they usually pay on trade in's. Ben informed me that they don't like giving trade in prices on the phone but stated they usually pay 80% used market value based on google pricing. The next day I arrived to the store only to find they had no yamaha 12 string guitars in stock however, they tried to sell me 2 different more expensive guitars. Their trade in price changed from 80% used market value based on google down to 50% used market based on e-bay. Guitar center uses bad business tactis which are illegal in order to get customers to come into their store. In my case it required a 110 mile round trip, $6 in bridge fare and $15 in fuel just to get to the store. When I arrived there was no parking and I had to lug two large amps up Van Ness Street only to find out they were lying to me on the phone. Not a good store to shop at. Corporate did nothing to rectify the situation and I had to file a complaint with The Better Business Buerau.

I had to deal with the worst Guitar Center SalesPerson at the Country Club Hills store in Illinois. He is a white male around 45 years old an about 5 foot 6 inches tall with gray hair on the sides of his head. He was very sarcastic and rude with me, even in front of the store manager who ignored it. This rude salesperson is lucky he still has a job and obviously is disgruntled with his job. Well I have one thing to say, be careful what you say to people because you never know if that customer is related to the District Manager or Store Manger of Guitar Center or someone else that can get you fired. If you hate your job so much then get out and leave the customers alone because they didn't put you in that job you hate so much, YOU DID!

I would like to tell my fellow musicians my esperiance in guitar center.I put a bass in layaway for only 2 days the store manager Doug was very rude and when I asked him to put in back so it didnt get dented he yellad at me and said I told you I would and when I went back to pick up my bass from layaway .The store manager Doug was there and started I asked for someone eles to help me and he blew up so I did call him a ### but he was .And then I tried to say Im sorry he told me to get out of his face and to get out of his store and told me to never come in his store again and he made me leave and would not let me have my bass this store manager should not be manager he dosnt even plat an instument I hope some body from guitar center customer service would check tuis out I am telling all my friends to stay away from GC as long as store manager DOUG is there Thank You Bobobass

I HAVE SPENT A VERY LARGE AMOUNT OF MONEY AT THIS STORE AND WITH THIS COMPANY! could not even begin to tell you how many times I have had a problem in this store but since my options of music stores here are low, well you catch my drift!Bought a new Yamaha drum set(1299.99) witch is already paid for, and was told it was out of stock and not any in their system have to get it from Yamaha . Salesmen said about 5-7 days i said ok well it is what it is! I was really hoping to get it as soon as posible because of plans to record, but im easy to get along with and said o.k . Five days later i called just to check and the salesmen i delt with was of for 4 days so the guy that aswered the phone said he would check on it for me. I was on hold for about 5 mins or so(no big deal i know how it is to be busy) then he told me he didn't see it nor could he see where it had ever been ordered! said i could call and talk to the guy that sold it to me when he came back to work (i about 4 days lol) or i could call him on his cell phone. Haven't heard back still...lol so by this time i am a little well pissed but not rude. Called back and asked for the manager, he told me it LOOKED like it was ordered but he would checl and call me back! that was at 1:30 in the afternoon i didn't hear back from him till the next day around the same time. He told me that Yamaha did not have any to ship and said we shoul cancel the order...WTF are you serious? I said thats crazy i could have got it from another company on the internet( and clearly should have)in 2-3 days. he said he would see what he could do. Then he called me back and said that they had some at their warehouse(that i was told at first was OUT OF STOCK) and could have it in another 5-7 days...I said can you help me out and get it for me any faster, and in a calm voice he told me that there just wasn't enough profit in the sale! I was so shocked i didn't even know what to say! Looked through my reciepts i have spent over 12k at that store... I will never drop another dime at that store again!

DO NOT purchase anything from Guitar Center via on-line as They appear to have no intention of order fulfillment. Since the beginning of January 2010, I have been awaiting for a pair of Beyerdynamic DT 770 PRO-80 headphones I purchased. After numerous and lengthy conversations with the Guitar Center AND Beyerdynamics the facts are presented as follows: My order was placed on 1/4/2010 via GC on-line. An order confirmation was received and soon after a backorder notification. Following up with GC regarding the B/O status, they stated their shipment was due around 1/15/2010. After a week following this date, I again contacted GC for a status update. They then stated the shipment in question would not be in until 2/1/2010. On 2/5/2010, I again contacted GC for a status update upon which they replied "we are still awaiting shipment". I also obtained the following from GC: 1. Customer orders they receive do not require a minimum order quantity for a purchase order number to be submitted to the manufacturer. Therefore, an order can be placed w/o having to wait for a certain quantity of sales to be generated before an order is submitted to the manufacturer. 2. That the actual PO for MY order was not placed until 1/12/2010, eight days after I received my order confirmation from GC. 3. That the B/O status has been on-going since December 2009 based on the fact that they are also awaiting fulfillment of a prior P/O submitted in December. 4. In contacting the manufacture on 2/5/2010 they stated that they do not have any PO's outstanding for these headsets and that two shipments in January were shipped to GC's distribution center. On 2/10/2010 I again contacted GC for a status update which they now stated my order can not be fulfilled until 4/23/2010. About two weeks ago I received in the mail there recent catalog. in this catalog they are advertising for sale the DT 770 Pro-80 headsets at a reduced price for $169.00. Its seems very interesting that the GC can advertise this item for sale, now at a reduced price knowing that they can not produce this item until at least 4/23/2010 AND with the knowledge that this item has not been available since December 2009. I've been a loyal GC customer for years now and have spent quite a bit money supporting them. However, I'm not so sure that I will be dealing with them in the future especially dealing with ANY ON-LINE purchase or any store item that is not in stock.

I was given a Guitar Center credit card about two years ago with a $1000 credit limit. I purchased about $300 worth of stuff, made several minimum payments and finally paid off the last $100 in one payment. I put the card away for about 9 months, and then just recently pulled it out to purchase my girlfriend a keyboard for Hanukkah only to find that these a-holes lowered the credit limit to $300 without even telling me! I never missed a payment, never even returned anything I bought and these ### lowered my limit for no reason other than I wasn't using the credit enough for them. ###s! The keyboard I wanted for my girl was well over $300 but well below the $1000 I had and they wouldn’t raise the limit back up to where it was and I have perfect credit.

F U Guitar Center! I will NEVER EVER buy anything from Guitar Center again, I will never even set foot in Guitar Center again, I will not even accompany someone to Guitar Center and wait in the car!

Guitar Center can kiss my ###!

Don't buy at Guitar Center! I bought a DW 5000 series bass drum pedal from the Guitar Center in Ft. Myers Fl. My chain broke on the pedal a few months after buying it. I went back to the store to get a replacement chain. They did not have the part in stock. Instead of ordering the part. The stupid sales guy told me to go to a near by
Harley Davidson Motorcycle Dealer and have them fabricate a chain for me. I thought this was kind of weird but I went to see if what he told me to do would work. When I explained my problem to the motorcycle dealer and told him what the Guitar Center employee had told me to do. I got laughed out of the building. So... I went to another
music store in town called Brent's Music ( which by the way, was my first experience there). The drum dept. sales guy not only knew what the part number was but also had the part in stock. I showed him my DW pedal and he not only sold me the part at a good price but also installed the part on my pedal for me with NO EXTRA CHARGE to do so. He simply called it customer service. How do you like that.

I purchased a new guitar from their online store and when it arrived it was obviously a previously damaged and repaired item. The body of the guitar had been dropped, filled in and then painted over with matching paint. I sent it back promptly using their return process and have yet to receive a replacement. Customer service keeps telling me it is in the system and I will be notified when they ship.

If you shop, I would suggest a visit to their store versus going online. Their online business is not as responsive as the local store and if you deal with them online you can't work with the local store to resolve an issue. That is just dumb as a business practice.

Ok well after deciding to expand my ddrum amx kit by adding a kick drum... I wanted the blue burst 22x20...

I call in they said it was in stock, being A SUNDAY they said it would ship tomorrow (monday)... so I called in monday night to confirm because I recieved no email.. they said what they always say. (yea there was a problem today in the warehouse). any ways they said it will be shipped out tuesday.. LOL nope.. and they used they same thing about warehouse problems.. then wednesday around 3p. m. I get a BACKORDER NOTICE so I call tell them they've been telling me it will ship out the next day so they give me a 20 dollar credit and next day air shipping! great right (wrong) they said thursday it will ship out because of the shipping choice nope they shipping it on friday... the billing info I come to find out was shipped on wednesday... wow I don't know who they have answering there phones and working there warehouse but i'm gonna say there all #ed... not to menchin I got one guy on the phone who told me that there product specialist know nothing about musicial equipment! he told me this and I was blow away so remember that when you order from them and they recommend a certant product lol. haha. anyways... it is monday the 12th my delivery date for this kick drum that will probably show up a zildjian t sirt and a note say gottcha! so I guess we will see but my advice to you is stay away from guitar center... AND MUSICIANS FRIEND ran by the same company and did this same crap to me a week before I ordered to blue toms they sent a red one and orange one so avoid but.

I use Guitar Center regularly through thier website, and I'm always e-mailed "limited time" coupons and offers. Today I was sent a coupon for "Dad's and Grads Get 20% Off of Qualifying Merchandise". They give you a list of brand names that qualify when you go to the site. As I browsed, I noticed something wierd. I don't know if this applies to ALL of the couponed merchandise, but everything that I was interesed in possibly purchasing had been marked up in price. I price checked with Musiciansfriend.com and music123.com just to be sure, because thier web sites are almost always identical with prices. Also for example, I wantd to buy this half stack I found a few weeks ago that was $400. During the special coupon sale, it was listed at $500 before the 20% off coupon. That's only $20 off, not the $80 it would have been if they kept the price where it should be. So what's up Guitar Center?

Also, if you cancel an order because after waiting a week you finally get a notice that your item is out of stock, make sure they add the balance back onto your card. Afterwards, make sure they refund the tax! Every time I had to cancel n order, they still charged me tax. I didn't know it either untill I did some digging.

Nude DJ, dude, what you describe in your response is a "same day return policy." Guitar Center sold a "30 day return policy." In fact, they brag about their 30 day return policy so that customers feel comfortable with making a purchase, even if they have reservations at the time. The trouble is, they failed to say anything about a restocking fee, whether the box was opened or not. That is deceptive and misleading and therefore it is a rip off. Furthermore, if you can't open the box, it's difficult to know whether or not the purchase is satisfactory. Your point of returning the speakers the same day versus after being "used" for a week is weak. My point of making the complaint is simply to warn other potential customers of the deception they practice at Guitar Center with respect to 30 day returns. As for the microphone, I understand now what the law is. My point is that they should have stated the law when I made my purchase, i.e. "It is against the law for us to accept returned microphones once they are purchased, so your purchase is final." To tell me afterward is deceptive and a rip off.

I doubt this will change your opinion since I noticed that you responded in favor of the Guitar Center on another complaint. You must have some sort of interest in supporting them.