Ghostman
Ambassador of the SuperNatural
Ugh. Guitar Center. Oh how you continue to suck a dead man's toes.
I don't get to visit here for a purchase very often. For the most part I peruse the used gear from time to time, or I'm picking up some minor accessory at the last minute for either work or my setup at home. However, this weekend my son wanted to pick up a nice digital piano since our MIDI keyboards are not standalone, he'd prefer a different setup. He wanted to head to Guitar Center. With a heavy heart, I obliged. The big reason for going into the box store, is he wants instant gratification and a toy in his hands, immediately. Else, he is more than happy ordering from decent shops like Sweetwater.
You would think a place of such rotten reviews and a bad reputation, would want to right the ship. That was a resounding "no." Friday afternoon, around 3pm, we step inside with several GC employees all in a state of doing "work" wandering around. A few manning the front counters, one in the guitar repair booth, and more importantly, two in the Keyboard section. We walk past several and not one "Welcome to GC," or "hello" or acknowledgement.
My son spent about twenty minutes checking out some keyboards all by himself, again, not one person recognized him or spoke, except for one employee, who kept telling him to move so he could move some boxes from the back room to somewhere out on the floor.
He nails down the model he wants, a nice Roland FP-10, and I proceed to the counter. A woman standing behind the counter focused on her computer screen, I stand directly in front of her. She raises her eyes like she's annoyed and I tell her, "yeah, my son wants to pick up a keyboard."
"which one?"
"The Roland FP-10." I turn to check with my son to make sure that's the one, and turn back and she's a ghost. I'm staring at no one. A few minutes later she comes back with the keyboard in a huge shipping box on a dolly. I sit down at one of the displays while he does his thing. It's his purchase, he can deal with her. She asks the boilerplate question about service, he asks what it's all about, and she can't give an explanation. "It's service, so if it breaks it can be fixed."
"and that differs from the warranty how?"
"well, nothing really."
"then no, I'm good."
He pays, she gives the receipt and then, "Have a nice day." end of transaction. End of any indication that two humans are standing in front of this woman. My son asks me, "should we use the dolly?"
"Yeah, and then take it home with us." looking at the woman. She's totally ignoring us.
We take the keyboard, load up and go home. It irks me to no end that we just gave this rotten egg of a place any type of money.
We really need more music shops in town that aren't manned by the most incompetent people in the music industry.
I don't get to visit here for a purchase very often. For the most part I peruse the used gear from time to time, or I'm picking up some minor accessory at the last minute for either work or my setup at home. However, this weekend my son wanted to pick up a nice digital piano since our MIDI keyboards are not standalone, he'd prefer a different setup. He wanted to head to Guitar Center. With a heavy heart, I obliged. The big reason for going into the box store, is he wants instant gratification and a toy in his hands, immediately. Else, he is more than happy ordering from decent shops like Sweetwater.
You would think a place of such rotten reviews and a bad reputation, would want to right the ship. That was a resounding "no." Friday afternoon, around 3pm, we step inside with several GC employees all in a state of doing "work" wandering around. A few manning the front counters, one in the guitar repair booth, and more importantly, two in the Keyboard section. We walk past several and not one "Welcome to GC," or "hello" or acknowledgement.
My son spent about twenty minutes checking out some keyboards all by himself, again, not one person recognized him or spoke, except for one employee, who kept telling him to move so he could move some boxes from the back room to somewhere out on the floor.
He nails down the model he wants, a nice Roland FP-10, and I proceed to the counter. A woman standing behind the counter focused on her computer screen, I stand directly in front of her. She raises her eyes like she's annoyed and I tell her, "yeah, my son wants to pick up a keyboard."
"which one?"
"The Roland FP-10." I turn to check with my son to make sure that's the one, and turn back and she's a ghost. I'm staring at no one. A few minutes later she comes back with the keyboard in a huge shipping box on a dolly. I sit down at one of the displays while he does his thing. It's his purchase, he can deal with her. She asks the boilerplate question about service, he asks what it's all about, and she can't give an explanation. "It's service, so if it breaks it can be fixed."
"and that differs from the warranty how?"
"well, nothing really."
"then no, I'm good."
He pays, she gives the receipt and then, "Have a nice day." end of transaction. End of any indication that two humans are standing in front of this woman. My son asks me, "should we use the dolly?"
"Yeah, and then take it home with us." looking at the woman. She's totally ignoring us.
We take the keyboard, load up and go home. It irks me to no end that we just gave this rotten egg of a place any type of money.
We really need more music shops in town that aren't manned by the most incompetent people in the music industry.
