Looking for a new bass.   Trying to look around for different scale lengths, shapes and stuff. Not a lot of guitar shops in the area, but there's a guitar center I never went to.   I have never seen a lousier selection of gear in my life. The place was filthy too.  I'd rather Play a 2x4 with rusty nails for tuners than that selection of 200 dollar trash.   Online here I come.  And thank you guitar center sucks!   You don't suck!

One must find the courier services company with the best customer support service because it might be needed to contact the customer care executives meanwhile your package is on the way. The courier services Dallas company that I am considering to hire for my business needs is also offering this service.

Sounds about right.  I've ended up fixing some GC messes in our shop here.   Sam Ash is kind of a drive from where I am,  but I don't really have too much bad to say about them.    Most of the time,  I'm at our indie shops around the city.

We had a few great indie stores...  one had  Gibson/Epiphone and Vox.   The other was a drum shop with Ludwig, Tama, Zildjian, etc.   It's truly possible to exist.

Unfortunately,  those owners are retiring,  so the future is unknown for their shops...  the drum shop sold out to a dealer a bit further away that is also a drum specialist.   Great indie stores do exist,  but you need to hunt around a bit.   Many times it's worth the drive.

I wanted a Ric bass,  and I ended up finding an indie dealer a state over...  so I went that route.   Nothing beats a good indie shop...   a few we have really close to home are indeed "junk shops".... but I still support them for the small stuff.

Problem is, Indie dealers carry more or less the stuff that nobody wants.

No Fender, no Gibson, no Martin, no Taylor...   They don't qualify for dealerships.   

So they're left trying to sell Aria, Washburn and Seagull, and whatever they can take in as used.

Not that the brands mentioned don't have some better models, but they're not the wall-of-fame stuff either.

Just my 2c

Well, here goes, and I'm glad I found this site.

Me: about 60 years young.  That's right, an old fart, but... I still play my guitars!

Guitar Center:  a band of idiots

So here's what went down...

I went to GC, looking for an SG, or Les Paul... not top of the line, just a player for me right now, since I lost a lot of items to the ex.

Ended up playing a LP Tribuite, it was ok, but I can do all my setups and minor fixes myself (aka nut slots, soldering, etc etc). 

Here's where the fun started. 

They were having a sale - got the Tribute for $749 - a good price, yeah, I know, don't complain

So at the point of sale, the sales dweeb says "give me a second, I'll be back with the right gig bag and paperwork"... and he takes the guitar to the back someplace.  A few minutes later, he comes out, with a guitar in a gig bag, opens the bag on the counter for me to have a look.  Then he says, wait that switch tip isn't right... takes it off, goes to the wall, grabs another and installs it. 

I'm like WTF?  He said it was cracked (BS), but wouldn't show me.   I didn't make a big deal out of it.  I should have.

So I get home, play the guitar... somethings not right. 

Switched 'em in the back!  The guitar I got was obviously not right.  The pickup covers were dented, and when I tried to adjust a pole piece, found out they had been unsoldered and replaced by just pressing them in place.  In fact.... they were not Gibson covers, but Epi (or far east) covers that didn't match the pole spacing.  Strings were not a correct set either, something like .010, .010, .012, .026, .036, .036 ... two doubled up sizes, one oddball size.

Checked the bill - he did it after the switch, the serial number was correct.   

So, I go back to the store, and say "this aint right", and lo... the guitar I played, and  remembered the two swirls in the wood by... up on the wall.

I complain.  No good, the guitar I'm bringing back is not right, its been altered.  I get the person who said "they could speak for the manager", same story.

Well.... I left pissed, was gonna contact my card company in the AM.   

The next day, I get a call... the case I ordered was in.  I ordered a Gator hard shell for the guitar.  It came in.  Since it was paid for, I went down and picked it up. 

As it goes, there were TWO gator cases, in a master box.  The sales dweeb gets "my box".  I open it while he's busy, two cases.  Hmm.  I closed the box.  He says "we're all set".   I left the store.

Anyone want a brand new Gator case?

So sitting down, I asked myself, how bad is this really.

The guitar had the wrong tailpiece (chrome, with nickel adjusters), wrong bridge (ABR-1 that somehow was on Nashville thimble adjusters), and the wrong bs covers.  Went back to GC, as a glutton for punishment... asked about covers.  See the tech.  I go to the tech.  He hands me two chrome covers for Epi.  I told him... no, Nickel for USA spacing 490R/490T.   Tech says... "they all fit".  No, I explain I want nickel, not chrome and USA spacing.  Tech says... "nickel is really hard to get, we had to take a set off a guitar on the wall last week".   Mystery solved.

So then as I ask him, "you took the tailpiece too", and his reply - was that you who wanted the nickel parts?

I walked out.

Ended up getting parts - at a discount without asking - from Sam Ash locally.  And the dweebs are a bit less dweebie, more professional, or at least seemingly more caring about my desires as a customer.  So, I got a extra case (screw you GC, like you screwed me!).  Had to spend half the price of the free case to get the correct parts.  Strings are a wash anyway, and I did get the obligatory "free set" with the guitar.

And the LP plays great now, looks great too with the right parts on it.

I'm not too upset about the deal, I could have backed out via card company.  Its a good guitar. 

ITS THE BS TACTICS, THE BLATENT LIES, THE "SCREW THE CUSTOMER" attitude and actions that have me never, ever, going back to GC.

I wouldn't buy a pick from 'em (hey I play with my fingers anyway!)

OH. My. Guard, this company is so hosed up.1. Ordered an Alesis Nitro drum set (Drums, rack, headphones, throne and drum sticks) on 12/19/2017. Did not notice the item would not be available until 1/23/2018. Finally noticed when it would be available. Ok, thats on me. So called up around 19 Jan, as the available date showed that it was available. Now, order tracking showed order was made, and accepted. (BTW, their website sucks when it comes to after they get your money.      ...more on that later.) Anyhow, I called and much to my surprise, they saw my order, and after much looking etc, they found out that the reason they hadn't shipped my bunder was that the pair of drumsticks wasn't at the warehouse yet. More on hold time and the CSR said that he got the warehouse to ship the set anyway, and it would go out that day or the next. Ok, fine. 7 days later (Not having faith in the 3 day express shipping that they said they gave me) no drums . Called up. Checking this and that, all while I am on hold. This time its some variation on left hand not speaking to right. finally get to 'Mr H, found issue, going out today or tomorrow' This all around 5 feb. GUESS WHAT!?!?!?!? Still a problem, and its on back order...AGAIN. And they cannot explain why I can go on ebay and the same.exact.set will ship  TODAY!!!. and GC cannot find its ass with both hands. Called today and finally find out the problem. a. the order is.....stuck....in their system.  To make it worse, for reasons they cannot figure out, or won't share with me, they don't know WHY it didn't let them or me know that there was an issue (oh, and as far as emails go, it appears that they DON'T have a problem sending me at least one email per day advertising one thing or another  ) and WHY did my order get 'stuck'? Well, apparently they don't know how to bill paypal. Paypal never sent me anything saying that there was an issue. GC never sent me an email saying there was an issue. I guess Im supposed to ESP the computer to know whats going on. GC, apparently, doesn't seem to know. So, canxd the order, went on ebay, got same system,cheaper, better warrenty, and they said it'll be here friday. And I got an email later on that said it shipped.

One thing I want to make clear. The CSRs were all uniformly polite, and seemed to do everything they could to fix the issue. It wasn't until I forced the issue to management that I found out what the problem really was.

That's weird...  My new Gibsons and my Gretsch all use that truss tool.   I got one with each of those guitars.   I'd suggest looking for a local shop that does repair/setups... they are bound to have one.

According to the parts counter at my closest Guitar Center they don’t carry a 5/16 truss rod tool for Gibson, nor can I get one on line from them...Yes, they are a Gibson dealer, yes they sell guitars for a living, no, they don’t have truss rod wrenches available. Either someone needs to be fired for being incompetent or Guitar Center deserves its eminent demise....Isn’t a wrench part of the Gibson case candy? Don’t they have 50 Gibsons on the wall? Unbelievable. Why do I even bother with them? Complete waste of time!

I don't get deals at indie stores nor do I want them, honestly. I'm happy to support them.