BEWARE OF GUITAR CENTER

[epevets1]

BEWARE OF GUITAR CENTER and their HOLIDAY SCAM – Well, I won’t be getting my new guitar this week. I was excited about the prospect of receiving it, but the scam artists at Guitar Center put a damper on that. On Wednesday, November 27 I visited GC to inquire about the a new a Martin 000-17e Black Smoke guitar. It was advertised for $1759 on sale, with 36 months zero interest financing. I told the salesman I had the same deal elsewhere for 48 months zero interest financing, and he responded that he could match that and offer me an additional 15 percent off the price when the black Friday coupon hit the internet. So I agreed. He signed me up for the financing, which was APPROVED, and made the deal. I’m not surprised it was approved as my credit score is well over 800. He said there were two in stock at the main warehouse, and it should be receiving it about Tuesday. On Friday I checked the account online. The order had been accepted but the guitar had not yet been shipped as I was told it would be. Upon further checking, there appeared to be something wrong with the order. I called the local store, and they said they could not help me. They said i had to call the main warehouse number. I called that number and got the same story – call the store. BTW – they told me there were NONE in stock and they wouldn’t have any until the end of february. So the next day, I called a manager at the local store. The manager there said he would look into it. A while later he called me back and asked me if I had cancelled the order, because that’s what he was coming up with. I said no, that was crazy. So he said he’d investigate further and call me the next day. He said it looked like the guitar would be coming wednesday. That call never came. Today (Wednesday) I received a call from ANOTHER local manager, this time telling me that the order had been cancelled by the credit card company. He said they did not approve the purchase – which HAD ALREADY BEEN APPROVED LAST WEDNESDAY!!. I know this is total bull because, as I said, my credit score is well above 800. In fact, I just verified that with the credit issuer. They told me they approved the charge on the 27th, it is not their practice to go back and reverse an approval, and that it was cancelled by Guitar Center

[RalphH]

Mistakes happen. Not owning your mistakes sucks. Very poor.

But how was it a scam though? Have they kept your money, or delivered you a Chinese fake?

[Brent Hahn]

Odd and confusing. But usually when you get scammed, the scammer winds up with at least some of your money.

[wooglins]

Call Stuart Niven. Tell him what happened, I would be shocked if he did not take excellent care of you. They don’t have the model you are looking for in stock but will quickly.

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/det...E&gclsrc=aw.ds

[Dwight]

I'm sure you're very disappointed. Sometimes the big box stores don't know what they have in stock. You might have lost a few points on your excellent credit score by opening a new account. Oh well, I don't think we have to BEWARE in all caps because something was out of stock, but thanks for the warning anyway. PS: You said they were matching another offer, maybe buy it there.

[agfsteve]

How is this a scam?

It was hard to read the original post with no paragraphs, so I'm not going to read it again, but it sounds like there was just a mistake, like maybe an administrative screw-up, but it doesn't sound like a scam.

But maybe I missed something.

[srick]

Epevets - if you want to pursue this, I suggest that you put all of the relevant docs together with a timeline and pay a personal visit to the manager of that store. Make your case calmly and then ask, "Can you make this right?"

If the manager says, "No" and you still want to pursue this deal, try their corporate HQ.

A lot of this depends on how much energy you want to expend to get that deal. Just make sure that charges have not been made to your card or that revolving credit account. And if so, protest them immediately to the credit card company.

Good luck with this. I'm thinking that you might want to walk away from this deal and find another place to do business with. Our AGF sponsors might just fill the bill.

[Denny B]

Sounds like a hot mess of poor information/communication, but hardly a scam...

If someone there won't cut thru the red tape, and make you happy, just clear up your credit info there and look elsewhere.

It's not worth blowing a gasket...

[mattwood]

It sounds like to me that the salesman gave you a discount that was later denied by management, and then they came up with this cockamamie story to renege on it. I would contact corporate and see what they will do. Let them know the results of this transaction will be public.

[raysachs]

That’s a screw up, not a scam. There was no ill intent, certainly no attempt to rip you off, just a mistake that can happen when you’re dealing with a big organization. I’ve had a lot of dealings with Guitar Center, most of them have been good, a few of them involved errors. None of them cost me any money, one of them came out almost $800 in my favor despite alerting them to their mistake and giving them every opportunity to correct the mistake.

It’s a big company - they haven’t lasted this long by scamming people. But they do screw up on occasion...

-Ray

[varmonter]

I get it.Your mad.. I dont blame you.
Could be they couldnt do the deal
After all..profit margins and the like.
So they lied to you. Could be it's just
Corporate beauracracy. And an honest
Inventory screw up. Happens
All the time in box store land.
I would wager that link to sweetwaters would extend the
Same 15% if you called your rep and asked..couldn't hurt to try..

[L20A]

No scam but a big screw up.

I agree that calling Sweetwater and explaining what happened to you may be a good idea.
They may not offer the discount because they have no way to know it that actually happened, but they may honor the sale price.
Worth a try.

[Rev Roy]

Bummer. Sounds like GC messed up and if so they should make it right...or at least admit their mistake. But a “scam”? Nope. Nobody got swindled here. In fact, GC lost money by botching a sale. Nobody but losers in this mess...

[_zedagive]

Originally Posted by agfsteve

How is this a scam?

It was hard to read the original post with no paragraphs, so I'm not going to read it again, but it sounds like there was just a mistake, like maybe an administrative screw-up, but it doesn't sound like a scam.

I can't read posts without paragraphs too. I usually stop at the first sentence.

[Ralph124C41]

I have had items cancelled like that by GC with no explanation. The worst is when I get the canned email saying, "We're sorry you have decided to cancel the order." I didn't cancel it; the store did or the inventory 'bots did.

Once I ordered a small used guitar amp and I got an email at 3 a.m. saying the item had been cancelled. Really? At 3 a.m.?

The next meeting I called the store and spoke to the manager who told me nobody at the store had cancelled the order because nobody was in the store at that time to cancel the order. The item, in fact, was still sitting in the store. I reordered it and I got it. And I think I may have gotten 10 percent off but I don't remember.

That doesn't help you but like others I don't think it was intentional ... but it happens too often.