"I spent months looking for a very specific guitar - a 1970's Guild S300-D. I finally found one at guitar center - perfect - that's where I get most of my gear anyway (a month before this I bought a 2000$ Mesa amp and a bunch of recording gear). It seemed like no one could do anything right and everyone kept pushing me off to other people - no sense of customer service or even good salesmanship.

West Palm Beach: I called to order the guitar because there was no 'buy it now' link on the site for this vintage guitar. I spent over an hour talking to him while he tried to get the payment to go through. I had 190$ on a gift card and was paying the rest cash. He said that it was 'impossible to do because I was out of state' after trying for that long. He advised I call my local guitar store.

Oxford Valley: I called here and spoke with Keith - who tried with me for about 2 days on and off. I kept having to call back and remind him about me. I specifically said I didn't want someone else to buy the guitar and I just wanted him to hold it for me. He said he couldn't do that. After all of the confusion - he said there was an issue on the 'dot com side' but verified the guitar was available and then put it on hold for me. He advised me to wait until I got refunded (yes they charged my account but couldn't sell me the guitar) and that he would put it on hold in the meantime.

After the refund: I called back and Keith had no idea what was going on with the guitar - he called the store and it was not available. He said this may have been because he had it 'pulled off the shelf' for me. I was very upset. He said he would investigate and get back to me. He didn't until over a week later.
Customer Service: In the meantime, I called and spoke with Jordan Dimick and he said that the Guild S300-D was sold to another customer... TWO DAYS after I had it 'put on hold' for me. He said he would have someone who 'specializes' in these types of cases call me back. I had to remind him three times before anyone got back to me... It ended up being Keith from Oxford Valley... He was the specialist? He apologized and said he was going to 'make this right'. I haven't heard from him since.

Now - I just simply resent Guitar Center. Before this - my experiences were mediocre because of poor knowledge and customer service, but now they are completely soured after this mishap.

I hope this helps. Thank you."

"customer service starts at the top."

"I used my bank's VISA/debit card to place an order for a used Korg Kronos 88 keyboard. 1st the address was wrong when they ran my card so, we had to fix my info. After this happened, they said my card had insufficient funds and only $467 was available. Well GC put holds on the $2132 and the $467 and put my account at $0.0 balance. Since no transaction went through my card was suppose to be reimbursed, this is not the case. GC says it's the bank and the bank says it's GC. But this doesn't help me with a $0.0 balance. GC has no record of my transaction since it didn't go through and won't write the bank a letter stating I didn't receive any merchandise or that my card was run through twice. I have a gig coming up which is important that this keyboard is there for (had to be Oasys or Kronos) to handle the material. Gig is Labor Day and if no board, no play and I will have a lawsuit to deal with on top of GC not helping to straighten this mess out. Plus my plane fare was part of the money they drained from my account.. Never again will I put faith in this company.

The invoice number I used is made up as no transaction was made just my money gone and no keyboard!!!!!

Well another miserable experience with GC.. It keeps getting better..

10/15/2013

Once again GC has outdone itself.. I ordered a used set of Tascam VLS21 studio monitors with sub, they were inexpensive $49.99 but with shipping and everything came to $76.72. I received them on a Friday and hooked them up to my gear and nothing but distortion!!! Doesn't anyone test this stuff before it goes up for sale? I turned down a set of Fostex 40s for these due to reviews of the Tascams. But these monitors suck.. So I called customer service and asked for a refund, of the entire amount and they said shouldn't be a problem.

Returned the speakers to my not so local GC in Monroeville, PA, about 35 miles away, only to be told that they wouldn't refund shipping. Shipping was $23.73 and I wouldn't have purchased these speakers if I'd known they had issues.

I just checked GC in Monroeville, PA and they have these speakers listed for sale again for $49.99 with no mention of distortion or that the sub is not functioning correctly. (Think it's a crossover issue in the sub all frequencies are going to the 2 satellite speakers). So someone else is going to purchase these pieces of crap and be unhappy with them as well..

I am going back to shopping for gear on Ebay and Craigslist as the deals are better and the stuff usually works.

Tired of dealing with sales associates that don't know their gear, or test things correctly.

Once again they get 1 star cause it's the lowest score I can give them."

"I purchased a Seagull Entourage Rustic Dreadnaught guitar at their local Guitar Center Store in Oxnard, CA. I took it to my guitar expert the next day to put some new strings on it. He told me the guitar looked used because it had minor dings and pick marks near the pick guard and there were other marks on the face of the guitar. He also said that the rosewood fret board had been reconditioned. The strings were also very worn. I asked if that damage could have been caused by people trying out the guitar in the store. He assured me that customers trying out the guitar would not cause the kind of damage he was seeing. He replaced the strings and I love the way it sounds and plays. I am not sure if I want to hassle the store with trying to get my money back. I WILL NOT BUY FROM GUITAR CENTER AGAIN. I AM CONVINCED THAT THEY MISREPRESENTED THE GUITAR AND SOLD IT AS NEW WHEN IN FACT IT WAS A "USED" GUITAR!! STAY AWAY!

Update: When the manager of the store read my review, he telephoned me and told me he was sorry that I was dissatisfied with my purchase and wanted to make it right. He said he would gladly exchange the guitar for a brand new one right out of the box. He also said he would put the same strings on it for me. I now have a brand new Seagull Entourage Rustic Dreadnaught and I am very happy. If you give GC a chance, they will make sure you are happy with your purchase. Thanks PJ!!"

"I bought a Fender Telecaster online, the guitar shipped the next day and arrived quickly. Everyone involved was professional, polite and very helpful. The Guitar arrived securely packaged and in new condition the entire order couldn't have gone better. I am shopping more at Guitar Center and couldn't be more pleased. Thanks to everyone that helped with this order."

"I'm so upset I don't even know how to start. I just bought several items at the Arlington Tx. store and even after they adjusted the price to match the online price the total seemed a ittle high, then I noticed the fee for the warranty on the receipt even after I clearly told the clerk I didn't want the extended warranty. So now I have to make another trip to the store to get this fixed"

"Purchased a Black Taylor CE214 a few weeks ago from Guitar Center. I was trying the guitar out the night before and being in the Christmas season I went ahead and put money down to hold it till the following day and so I could trade in a PRS SE that just sat in the case for over a year. Arrived the next day and proceeded to pay the remainder of installment in full. Had a few complications according to the salesman so the manager took over to bring the plane in for the landing. I walked around the store looking for more trouble to get into or purchase as I usually do. He came to let me know alls I needed to do was sign the papers and we were ready to roll.

Lets catch up to speed 2 weeks later. I have thoroughly enjoyed playing the guitar as I have another one just like it. I recieve a phone call from the store manager. He tells me that they undercharged me by $200 and if I knew that had happened like I was being dishonest or something. He tells me its the right thing to do to go back and pay them the $200. I replied that I didn't watch what his employees were doing with the transaction and with the numbers. Thats not my job as a customer. I own a Oilfield Company myself and explained to him that you have to honor your mistakes and eat it and move on with it. You can not call someone 2 weeks after a deal and ask for the remainder they messed up on. Thats bad business practice and I sure as hell do not appreciate it considering the fact that I bought a guitar a week later over $1200 and all the other toys I buy from there. Maybe GC needs to interview,test, and train their personnel with more care. If my company messes up, we DO NOT call the client to ask for the difference nor even bring it up and treat them like they are my #1 Customer."

"had been looking for a classic old Sigma for a while saw one at guitar center in Buffalo NY online for 399.00 not a bad price but them they charged me shipping and tax from another state and told me because they had a guitar center in my city they had to charge tax, I looked into that and was told by a lawyer the only way they should charge tax is if the guitar was being shipped to that store, not to my home but they did it anyway and would not refund my shipping or tax, they are greedy rip-offs be very careful buying from these guys, from reading reviews I see I am not the only one that has been ripped off by them, they are also affiliates with musicians friend and music123 as well as several others, so take it as you will these guys SUCK "

"Guitar center tried to scam me by keeing a hold on my credit card after refund!

I Had purchased a used ART rack unit.However, never recieved email confirmation. Days went by and then I emailed Customer service. Finally, I get a reply that unit was broken. "sorry, the ART processor is non-functioning, we have to give you a refund back on your credit card".

In other words: they were going to remove the hold for the amount that was placed on my credit card, because they didn't have a rack unit to send me.

However, despite the fact the are the ones who flaked on their end of the deal and had to offer the refund, the wouldn't drop the hold for the amount on my card. In fact, they lied and told me that the hold on my credit card was the bank's fault, and I had to call them to get it removed. I call the bank, they told me that Guitar Center was full of it, becuase they're the ones who have the hold on my account, therefore they are the ones who need to give persmission to release it.

Long story short, I had to fight guitar center tooth and nail to get THEIR hold off MY card. In the end, the bank figured it out, who the scammer was. Dealing with guitar center was a total waste of time, in the process as I had to make NUMEROUS phone calls, explaining the story over and over to new people who had to get involved. GEE... THANKS ALOT GUITAR CENTER!!!!

This isn't the 1st time Ive had issues with Guitar center. I've placed orders and recieve items with missing parts. In fact, the order I placed prior to this one for a Behringer snr2000 denoiser, it had arrived with a missing power cable! I have to call and email SEVERAL times inorder to get one. Also, they tend to be flaky when it comes to taking returns in the realworld as well.
After this latest bout with GC, I'm not shopping at Guitar center or their sister company musiciansfriend EVER again!"

"I wish I would have read these reviews..... I ordered a gift and paid for expedited shipping. When they didn't ship it on time, they said it was because they got a "rash" of orders and told me to be patient.... sounds like these people had it way worse than me. I didn't get my order on time and a kid didn't get his gift on his birthday causing disappointment. I trusted the online site b/c I used to frequent one in a town in TX when I lived there and had a GREAT experience with the store (in Arlington TX on Collins). However, I DO NOT RECOMMEND shopping ON LINE. Broken promises and terrible customer service. What a disappointment."

"Very Disappointed with Guitar Center. I ordered a ESI Gigaport HD on May 21, 2012. The item was indicated as in stock. After Guitar Center processed my order and payment I received an email stating the item was backordered but they would ship the item as soon as it is back in stock. Guitar Center changed the order # from #100154078 to #S09757035. In fact, I received six backorder notification from Guitar Center respectively: 5/21/2012, 5/31/2012, 6/12/2012, 6/21/2012, 7/6/2012 and 7/25/2012.

Each email stated: "Thank you again for your order #S09757035. We have yet to receive the out of stock item(s) noted below, but we have more on order with the manufacturer. We will ship them to you as soon as we receive them. We sincerely appreciate your patience."

On 8/3/2012 Guitar Center cancelled my order and three days later issued a refund.

I tried to contact Guitar Center and finally reached a live person, who said since the order was cancelled there wasn't anything they could do.

I told him that I didn't cancel the order, Guitar Center did.

He offered several other weak excuses, but in the end said he'd look into the matter and they would get back to me.

TO DATE: No further contact regarding this matter has come from Guitar Center. However, they've been kind enough to send me several email flyers encouraging me to purchase from them.

Very Disappointed with Guitar Center.

They used my money for over 2 months and the best they can do is an impersonal email and ignore my attempts to resolve the matter.
"

"I placed an order on 7/24/12 for a used item from their Joliet store. Unfortunately I ordered the wrong thing and contacted guitarcenter to return the item.
They explained that I could return it to a store or they could send me a shipping label to return the item. I asked them send me a shipping label. Instead they dispatched a UPS driver to pick up the item to my address, which is a UPS store address, two times without notifying me they had for some reason chosen this option. I had no idea they done this and only found out when I called customer support to find out why I had not received my shipping label. Once again they said they would send a label, once again they instead dispatched a UPS driver to pick up an item from an address where they would not be possible. Unfortunately I do not have days and hours of time to chit chat on the phone with their useless customer support.
I will have to sell the item on eBay to regain something of a refund."

"On February 5th, when I ordered a set of congas, they were in stock as per website. A few days later, I got an email saying that the congas are on back-order. When I called in, the representative would tell me they will ship in 2 or 3 weeks. A month later, I called again. Same story.

I finally received the drums on May 2nd. That's 3 MONTHS later. This was quite unacceptable.

The packaging for the drums was very poor. 2 boxes were damaged badly enough to damage multiple shell protectors (rubber pieces on the side of the hardware) on the drums.

When I called in to have the shell protectors replaced, Guitar Center wouldn't do it. Overall, the representatives didn't seem to want to help resolve my issue. That's truly bad customer service.

I eventually bought some new shell protectors on another website ($20) and fixed the issue.

This is the worst online purchase experience I've ever had, and I buy a lot of stuff online.

Guitar Center just lost a customer."

"I avoid purchasing from Guitar Center because of their weird return policies. I ordered a bass guitar case that was on sale, it came with hidden damage. The second time I opened it, the whole top cracked. I had thrown away the box (which was just a plain cardboard shipping box not a product box) the day before. When I returned the case to the store (which is their policy), they told me they'd have to charge me a 15% restocking fee because I didn't have the box. I had used a GroupOn for part of the purchase price of this and several items on the same order. By the time they finished with all the rigamarole, I ended up paying about full price for the case. And it was a BIG hassle. So, I'll use them for price comparison and for research - and then I'll order from somewhere else."

"I placed an order for a used electronic drum kit on Saturday. I received the order confirmation about 8 hours later (odd). Then Monday, I received an email saying that my order was on backorder. How could a used drum set be on backorder? I called customer service and they said that it must have been bought in store at the same exact time that I ordered it. I tend to believe that they simply manage their inventory poorly. Anyway, rather than offering an alternative (sending me a new one instead), she said that canceling my order was the only option. Now, I'm headed to musiciansfriend.com to place an order. Never going to Guitar Center again."