"I visited the store in Seven Corners on May 10, 2020, shortly before 1:00 pm. There was a staff member monitoring the front door, and he informed me that I could not enter the store until another customer departed. I acknowledged and waited outside the store. When two customers exited shortly thereafter, I was allowed to enter the store. However, before letting me through, the staff member asked me what type of guitar I was purchasing today, as I had mentioned in our earlier conversation that I wanted to look at some classical guitars. I indicated that I wanted to browse and try a few out. He then said that I would only be allowed to enter the store if I was going to buy a guitar. I then asked what would happen if I could not find any guitar that I liked, and he responded that I would have to order one. At that point, I left. If, in fact, this is the store’s policy, I shall never shop at Guitar Center again, including their online website. While I understand the adjustments that must occur due to this national emergency, I cannot condone a store policy that mandates a purchase, even if a suitable product has not been found (nor tested, in the case of a required order). If this is the approach of Guitar Center, I would rather go farther and pay more than enter one of their stores again. I would have accepted a browsing time limit in order to accommodate the limited number of customers allowed in the store. I wrote this review on their website on May 10, 2020, to give them an opportunity to respond or clarify, but I have not heard from them as of today, May 13, 2020."
"screwed over extended warranty, a refund and a non working device
"Ordered a Bose S1 pro in store back in May of 2018, Called the store after few days and said item is ready. Two hours later got to the store item cannot be found, only to find out they sold they it to somebody else. So they reversed the transaction as a returned item even though i did not received anything. They went a head and ordered me a new one, ok cool. Today i tried to claim extended warranty only to find out they did not apply the extended warranty on the device and the saddest part i was also charged with the warranty that did not even exist. . I ended up having a non working device and lost another $99.99 for the extended warranty. They said they will give me the refund for the extended warranty, but i'm on my own on the broken device. If this is AMAZON they will help you to be satisfied on your purchase."
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"After ordering an item on here I had been searching for months to buy, I received the gig bag only to find it was not at all what I was hoping it to be as far as usage. I called customer service to follow through on their 45 Day customer satisfaction guarantee only to be told that "dissatisfaction" with the item ordered does not fall under their "Satisfaction" policy and I would have to pay return shipping. I could ONLY claim their satisfaction policy if the item was incorrectly shipped and/or damaged. So their customer satisfaction policy is complete garbage and only a shipping error can enact free returns. Very disappointing and frustrating."
"I had placed an order for in store pickup online and never received any confirmation email even though I was billed on my card for the purchase.
I went into the store several hours after having placed the order and they were not able to look up my order. The person at the counter told me I would have been better off coming in and purchasing it directly from the store. He stated that many other customers have the same issue. He was not able to give me what I had paid for and told me to try again later.
Upon contacting the online support, they wouldn't give me a time frame nor could they tell me if it was ready or not. I requested confirmation and they kept telling me one was sent even though there was nothing in my inbox or spam folder. They did not seem concerned at the least that their confirmation emails were not coming through. Also they gave me the store number and just told me to keep calling until my order was ready.
A customer should not have to call repeatedly to verify whether or not their order is able to be picked up. Especially if they already wasted time trying to acquire it earlier before contacting support. I had to practically beg them to contact the store for me.
After all this, I have yet to still go back and see if my order is in fact ready but this whole experience leaves a bad taste in my mouth and I will never shop at this establishment again. Customer service didn't seem to want to do anything to compensate for the hassle. I won't be surprised if they go the way of many other physical locations and close their doors after bankruptcy. Especially with this terrible customer service they provide.
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"Rusted hardware, badly dinged and scratched, damaged pickups, shabbily replaced 1/4" phono jack mounted in a random piece of white plastic, pickups floating Willy Billy, 22 fret when listed as 24, oh and it doesn't work at all when plugged in. They should sell fishing equipment with all that bait and switch they do. Different guitar from the picture also. "
"I went to the store in Virginia Beach VA to return an item that I bought from the website of guitar center. There was one lady ahead of me who was assisted by the one of the customer service. When it’s my turn to be served by the customer service, he asked how can he help me, I asked him if I can return the product and just buy a Marshall mini guitar amp. He told me that I can still return the product but they don’t have the Marshall mini guitar amp. Then one customer came to the line behind me with an item she bought. The customer service guy told me that he will serve the customer behind me since it will take longer to process my transaction. I was upset because I was in the line for a period of time then the lady behind me was assisted first. I felt I was being discriminated by that situation because of my accent and maybe of my race. In my own opinion those employees don’t threat people right if your accent and looks are differ from Americans. It is so disappointing."
"So, Searching the availability of particular instrument and I stumbled across it. Guitar Center, it says. The listing shows the item to be at a reduced price due to it being "blemished". So I sent an email to Customer Service asking if they might be able to be more specific as to the nature of the "blemish". I indicated that I was a serious buyer and would be ordering the item that very day, depending upon the actual condition. If there were photos of the actual instrument (as with Sweetwater, Zzounds and other outfits I have ordered product from). Didn't hear anything till the following day, but, I would have been surprised if I had received an immediate response, really. Anyway, rather than wait and risk losing a limited supply, discounted item I decided to go ahead and place my order. So, that's not the rub. But this is...The following morning I get an email stating my order had been cancelled, and, if I had questions to call a provided phone number. I called and got a pleasant CS Specialist, Bryce, to whom I let know I was very disappointed about the order being cancelled and wanted to know the specifics. He placed me on hold and came back a few minutes later. He said the company could not get verification from the bank the funds were available in the account (pre-loaded Mastercard). I let him know the card had $$$ and was a Rewards card from my work. So, I told him I could put the purchase on my regular bank card and he told me he could not even look up the availability of the item since it had been removed pending a purchase approval. And, there was no file in which he could process an order. Said he couldn't even look anything up. He said should the item re-appear in the coming days he would be happy to alert me and we could then process an order. I retreated after letting him know (pleasantly) I was disappointed and my initial elation, ordering and anticipating the item, had deflated. A bit later in the afternoon I got a reply to my request for more specific information as to the blemished condition of the item and possible photos of "blemishing". I was simply told the blemishing does not affect the play-ability of the instrument and there were no photos available. Later in the day I went to Guitar Center's site and looked to see whether the item had appeared as available...it was there! So, I was slightly ticked off and went to the site for my Rewards card commissions to see the balance. They (Guitar Center) certainly had no trouble posting the pending transaction amount leaving me to have to wait till they reimbursed my account before I could make a purchase. So, I sent an email to Bryce with a picture I snapped of the listing, and my account balance with the "pending transaction" amount indicated. He replied the pending amount would fall of in a few days...that was it, but, there's no mention by them of trying to trouble-shoot the best way to complete a sale. Seems they just have products listed they haven't the ability to fulfill, I guess. Otherwise, Bryce would have moved the process forward, and through. I don't know...Guess I'm just disappointed in the experience...enough that I have a bad taste in my mouth and won't take my hard earned money over to one of the local Guitar Center locations here in the Music Capitol of Austin. I definitely will not order anything on their web site. There's plenty of other organizations here in town and on the web that I can go to. Like I said, Sweetwater and ZZounds have been better than fantastic. Wish I could say the same for this place. Only reason I went to GC was due to the fact they had this particular instrument. Sad..."
" Drop off brand new (no damage ) $1700 Cordoba solista classical guitar for install LR Bagg pick up ( $199 ), over a week later it ready and when I pick up the guitar I discover the ding on top of sound board and back of the guitar is very rough look like he careless about his works I show it to the service guy name Shawn which he said he did not do it and also his manager try to offer me the free strings ( which I did not want ) and he demand pay for service. When I sign the receipt and wrote bad service on face of receipt , the guy name Shawn **** the paper from my hand and walk off . I ask the manager name and manager is walk away from me. This is Unprofessional services. I did spend a lots money in this store, not anymore . Anybody, if you love you product I am strongly recommend is do not use this guitar center ( University north Charlotte North Carolina ) …."
"I ordered a used microphone for a low price. They confirmed the order by E-mail. Five days and much telephoning laterlater, they said they had sold the microphone and would not honor the order at that price.
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"Placed an online order for a used guitar, sale went through I received an confirmation email from them that they were processing the order for shipment, Money was shown processed from my bank checking account. A couple days later I went on my Guitar Center account to see tracking information for the shipment of the guitar I ordered. It said backordered. Huuuh? I contacted them as to what was going on and how can a used guitar be backordered. They said it is just a system error. That they would check into it and get back with me.
WLL they got back with me to say that they sold it on the floor before they could ship it, so they cancelled my order, but my bank tells me that they have not stopped the withdrawal of the money from my checking account. Guitar center would not have told me anything if I hadn't contacted them about the backorder status showing on my Guitar Center account. Now it is going to take a week before I can have access to my money to purchase another guitar elsewhere. Guitar Center has not released the money from the order they cancelled on me. HORRIBLE place to buy from online. HORRIBLE system they have. I do not recommend them"
"2 seperate timespurchased 2 technics 1200...both advertised good condition...tonearm bad on one and it looked ok turned on .put it away in case i didnt have needles yet .second 1200 i just put in case looked fine didnt turn on...took to get led changed from dj henrey customa*best in the game*he called me and said they were in bad shape ...repair bill was 690.00 ..was not able to change leds...guitar center u **** will never purchase from u guys again"
"They've gone so far down hill that I will never shop online or in store with GC again!
No inventory in store even if web site says they have it "in-stock", online orders take too long to process so you can't pick-up in store same day when order placed, customer service in-store & online are lacking knowledge to help customers - just a terrible experience trying to order from them!
Tried to order on phone with store I was picking up in-stock item from but store personnel couldn't get order to process!
I placed order online to pick-up in-store but their system has not processed so I can't pick-up order until it does. Was told it usually takes 24-hours to process orders which defeats purpose of paying for online to pick-up in store same day. Now their system says 3-5 days to pick-up at store even though item is in-stock & I paid for it!
Called store Mgr told him to keep holding the item for me but if GC doesn't process order in 24-hours, I'll cancel it & order from Amazon Prime, Sweetwater or someplace else!
Last I read, GC was over $1 Billion in the hole!
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"Occasionally I will go into guitar center to see if they might possibly have a left handed guitar that I could try out. It’s very rare to see one folks. Lefty’s make up 10% of the population. 1 in 10 ? Even 1 in 20 guitars would be cool. The sad part is an employee told me that they don’t make them and to switch the strings out. WTF lol. "
"ordered a limited edition epiphone emperor. it arrived in a taylor box wrapped in bubble wrap. found out they sent me a blemished floor model with polish spilled down the tail piece. GCs only response was if your not happy take it back . no offer of a discount or anything. having wanting this guitar so much . I spent 4 hours clean the guitar up. my arm hides the blemished F hole . NO MORE GUITAR CENTER FOR THIS ROCKER ! PS no invoice or paperwork came with repacked guitar so how was I suppose return a guitar I have no proof of purchase for!"
"Purchased a used electric guitar online, it arrived quickly well packaged, however when opened I found missing parts and some of the electronics were not connected. Website description stated it was in "good usable condition showing normal use" It was not usable.
Upon contacting them I was told I would be contacted regarding the problem, that was more than a week ago, still no answer from them. I would (ADVISE) you to avoid this company at all cost. A complete rip-off outfit."