BEWARE OF GUITAR CENTER

[Beakybird]

Call WWBW and ask for Jeff. They also have a 5% rewards program and free financing.
I just got 25% off two brand new, in demand Yamaha keyboards. This guy is a new employee, and he seemed really eager to move merchandise. Musiciansfriend would have cost $440 more, but I would have gotten $70 more in merchandise credit.

[Ralph124C41]

Originally Posted by Beakybird

Call WWBW and ask for Jeff. They also have a 5% rewards program and free financing.
I just got 25% off two brand new, in demand Yamaha keyboards. This guy is a new employee, and he seemed really eager to move merchandise. Musiciansfriend would have cost $440 more, but I would have gotten $70 more in merchandise credit.

WWBW, Musician's Friend and Music123 are all part of the same company, and AFAIK draws from the same inventory. For example, you can find a returned guitar on clearance at MF and also find it at the other sites. I don't know if Jeff is assigned only to WWBW or if he shares duties with the other companies as the need arises.

I've bought one electric guitar from WWBW but I've been dealing with Musician's Friend since 2001. I've also ordered from 123Music but I think just small things such as strings and other accessories.

And as for financing, I've said it before and I will say it again. For me a guitar is something to have fun with but if I can't afford to buy it outright I won't buy it. I can see financing it if I was a pro musician or had plans to become one.

[Bear Davis]

Originally Posted by DenverSteve

financing, with no financial penalty, makes perfect sense.

Zero interest is great, no doubt about it. What concerned me is this is a guitar. 4 years is a long time to make payments on a car, or a furnace, or a new roof for your house. I can't fathom financing a guitar for 4 years regardless of the interest terms. If a friend came to me with this I would advise them to consider a different guitar.

[SprintBob]

Originally Posted by Bear Davis

Definitely bad service, but the idea of financing 1500 bucks for 4 years made my head hurt... O.o

I’ll share the aspirin!

[hilts]

Originally Posted by stevecuss

Whoa. Thanks, I had no idea. But I just checked and it only brings up 20 total used guitars for me. Wonder what I'm missing.

Like Ralph, I'm seeing tons of used guitars available. Did you click on the link called "Used Gear Marketplace" first? It's at the very top in the black banner. Then click "Guitar" under the Shop by Category. I'm seeing 365 acoustics and 894 electric.

[Wade Hampton]

I like Guitar Center just fine for what it is. I don't have a quarrel with their company. What I have found is that some of their locations are better than others, and I assume that some of their managers are more helpful and (quite possibly) smarter than others.


whm

[dwasifar]

Originally Posted by Bear Davis

Zero interest is great, no doubt about it. What concerned me is this is a guitar. 4 years is a long time to make payments on a car, or a furnace, or a new roof for your house. I can't fathom financing a guitar for 4 years regardless of the interest terms. If a friend came to me with this I would advise them to consider a different guitar.

I'm guessing this is a "because he can" situation rather than "because he must." OP tells us (repeatedly) that his FICO is 800+. This does not usually indicate someone in financial straits. My impression was that he just wanted to enjoy a free loan for a longer period because why not.

That said, I personally would not take a four year note on a $1500 purchase. I wouldn't want to fuss with payments for all that time on such a small amount. Instead, I'd look around to see if someplace would take $1400 in cash for the same instrument.

[gerardo1000]

It looks to me like an administrative mistake probably made by some no-clue employee at the local store. But it does not look like a scam to me.

[TJNies]

Originally Posted by personatech

Exactly. If, instead of taking the 0% deal, you pulled that $1500 out of savings, you'd end up losing whatever interest you otherwise would have earned.

$1,500 for 4 years at 0.5% (current savings account rate) is all of $30.23.

Personally I hate to carry a "nuisance balance" that might be forgotten and negatively affect credit rating.

Many companies will give a better cash discount to forego a low or zero percentage loan. Just get the best price and avoid the issues.

[fuman]

I wouldn't call it a "scam" necessarily. GC plainly states its exclusions to percent-off coupons, which almost always list Martin as not eligible. It may be that your local GC approved a waiver of this (I've had that done for me), and the price was changed upstream, and your credit card company noted a discrepancy. Or that the waiver was vetoed upstream and your GC doesn't know that or is not being straight with you. If you have documentation of their agreement to sell to you at the discounted price, you could file a complaint with the BBB, and maybe with your state consumer protection agency or the FTC. Maybe. But get all your facts together and make a clear-headed decision.

[619TF]

It might not be a "scam" per se but GC/MF have a history of this type of activity with me. Most recently I had a 25% off coupon and placed a case order with them online. Everything went through fine and then I received the "shipment delayed" notice saying the case was out of stock and would ship in a month. I wasn't in a hurry and the coupon was going to expire in a few days from the order date anyway so I just accepted the delay and waited. Well, almost a month to the day I received an "order cancelled" email. When I inquired as to why they said my CC company had cancelled the order (sound familiar to the OPs story?). I told them that wasn't possible (we all know that's true if you've talked to the cc) and they said they'd be happy to re-order the case but "couldn't" give me that 25% discount as my coupon was now expired (they offered me 15 and then 20% off max but had also raised the price on the item in the meantime). Seriously? After trying to argue my side for a little while I just gave up on them AND the case. So yes, mistakes certainly happen but this sounds like the type of mistake that only benefits the seller and seems to repeat itself.

[Guildman]

Doubt it was intentional. I have had them recently have pic of one guitar in place of another. Have guitars out of stock yet still posted. Its like Lowes, Home Depot, Wal-mart. Big chain and breakdowns. JMHO. Went to the one in Nashville last week and hated every minute of it. Sorry setups, scratchy pots. On the other hand have bought a couple and fairly pleasant experience.

[Ralph124C41]

Originally Posted by 619TF

It might not be a "scam" per se but GC/MF have a history of this type of activity with me. Most recently I had a 25% off coupon and placed a case order with them online. Everything went through fine and then I received the "shipment delayed" notice saying the case was out of stock and would ship in a month. I wasn't in a hurry and the coupon was going to expire in a few days from the order date anyway so I just accepted the delay and waited. Well, almost a month to the day I received an "order cancelled" email. When I inquired as to why they said my CC company had cancelled the order (sound familiar to the OPs story?). I told them that wasn't possible (we all know that's true if you've talked to the cc) and they said they'd be happy to re-order the case but "couldn't" give me that 25% discount as my coupon was now expired (they offered me 15 and then 20% off max but had also raised the price on the item in the meantime). Seriously? After trying to argue my side for a little while I just gave up on them AND the case. So yes, mistakes certainly happen but this sounds like the type of mistake that only benefits the seller and seems to repeat itself.

I'm sorry you went through that. On the theory of "misery loves company" here's my story.

At another site I ordered a case for my Squier Jaguar; the guitar was too large for my cases. I found a great deal on a sale item, ordered it ... and was then told it was sold out but I would get the next one in about a month. I waited and no case. I called and was told it was back ordered again for at least another month. I thought about cancelling but I was promised ... PROMISED ... I would get the thing and that I was among the "first in line" to get it. So I waited.

More than a month passed and I called on a Saturday and talked to a salesman who checked the inventory and the cases were in and should be mailed to me on Monday and that I was one of the first to sign up so nothing to worry about. Me? I worry.

So I called the next day ... talked to the same guy who remembered me ... who then looked up my order ... and it had vanished! No joke. He said he didn't know what happened but my order was gone, gone, gone.

And to make matters worse he said because all of the cases had been "spoken for" by other buyers ... most of them who ordered after me ... I had more or less lost my place in line and I would have to reorder and wait ANOTHER two to three months. I didn't even get into if the price would have been honored or not as I told the guy I had passed up in the meantime another chance to buy the case, although not at such a great price, at a rival. Now those cases were back to the regular price.

Btw, I made a file pic of my original order which supposedly never existed and I've kept it on my computer to teach me a lesson about ordering stuff online.

To this day I still have not gotten any explanation about how my order was not only cancelled ... it was deleted. There was not even an order to show it had been cancelled.

[fitness1]

Sounds to me like the two in the warehouse were either 1) not both there to begin with, or 2) one sold right as you were making your deal. Hundreds of stores satisfying Holiday shoppers and only two of the model you were interested in.

[wguitar]

Varying views on 0% financing but it really does depend on your personal finances. Given the chose between taking $1,500 out of savings (or checking) vs. 0% for 1 year or more, I'd take the latter all day. For $1,500 I'd do the 4 year deal but pay $100/month until it's totally paid off in 14 months. Then be sure to call bank and cancel your line of credit. This way you can be playing the guitar you want now with only modest ($100/mo. in this example) impact on the household budget. Opinions will vary, but that's the great thing about the USA.