Guitar Center Visit: Lying or just Stupid?

[Bob from Brooklyn]

Originally Posted by Jeff Scott

… Turns out, both of those droids were lying, or at least, coming up with a couple of pretty tall tales about the guitar. Oh yeah, did I mention they had no idea what it really was they had.

This is the thing. If they had no idea what they had how were they lying?

[Jeff Scott]

Originally Posted by Brooklyn Bob

This is the thing. If they had no idea what they had how were they lying?

They both made up fictitious stories of how the guitar ended up in their store (the two did not even come close to being similar). How is that not lying?

[RustyAxe]

Originally Posted by Dirk Hofman

I wonder if young know-it-alls are worse than old know-it-alls.

The difference being experience.

[RustyAxe]

Originally Posted by ManyMartinMan

I wish everyone who feels like you, those who would never buy a guitar at GC, would stay away so those of us who actually purchase there had fewer people to wait for.

I'm doing the best I can to accommodate ya ...

[Slothead56]

I’ve come to expect that retail sales folks, generally speaking, don’t have enough skin in the game to really know and understand their product. Not a condemnation—God bless those who are working—but I rely solely on my own knowledge or my ability to investigate/gain knowledge through outside sources.

It is frustrating but I always approach retail with low expectations.

[rstaight]

When I go to make a large purchase at a big box store I do some research before I go. Then I will ask some questions that I already have an idea to what the answer is to see if the sales person I'm dealing with really knows what they are talking about.

Who knows, you may be in one of the big X-Marts talking to a kid about their best car battery and he was stocking underwear 20 minutes ago.

[jlklein]

Glen Burnie peeps represent!
(Seriously, I'm surprised to see a number of folks who've been to my little corner GC...where you don't park by the highway as you might get your window smashed in...ask me how I know).

Anyway, yeah, the GB GC store has never much impressed me. I was in there recently trying out used 12 strings and yes, the outer area is a mess and some of the guitars on the wall are missing batteries and even strings. I was quite surprised to see the inner "climate controlled" areas actually had the cheaper used guitars in there while the new ones were out in the common area on the wall...you'd think it'd be the other way around.


Honestly, I only go to GC if I have to, like for quick parts or maybe a good used deal (ha!). And not a visit goes by where I don't find myself educating a salesperson and/or steering a confused customer to the right (and usually cheaper and simpler) answer. All 3 of my boys tried to get jobs there as teens, as they were all musicians like Dad and Dad had dutifully taught them a bit about instruments, amps, live sound, etc. They took the "knowledge test" and considered they'd done well (as was I when they discussed the questions and their answers with me), yet they weren't hired. However, their clueless friends who applied did get hired (nothing against their friends, they just didn't know about this stuff). Said friends basically confirmed over time that it's not what you know as a salesperson there, it's how well you can move product per the management's desires for the week, and the only product training they get is the manufacturer brochures that they're given. Again, not slamming the sales folks, they're just trying to do a job with little to no actual training.

GC serves a purpose for the general masses, but if you want expertise, go to Bill's Music House or Appalachian Bluegrass Shoppe in Catonsville, and Garret Park Guitars or Bay Tunes Guitars in Annapolis (I'm sure there are more as well).

Hope this helps,
Jeff

[jlklein]

Originally Posted by mdshax

That said, there's an African-American female manager named Nicki who works at that store. If you call her, she is pretty good about trying to work out anything. She also came from the Towson store originally. She also shreds metal on an electric, but that's another story.

Ah yes Nikki Stacy. She's one of the better ones I've seen there, and is usually the one running around doing stuff while most of the rest are lounging around. I'm hoping others pick up on her enthusiasm. In addition to electric, she's also a regular solo acoustic act around Anne Arundel, Baltimore and Howard Counties.

Jeff

[cdkrugjr]

Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence

[donlyn]

Originally Posted by Wade Hampton

I thought EVERYONE had a doddering old great-aunt in their early childhood who called umbrellas "bumbershoots!"

Of course, it could just be that I come from a background where my family - on both sides - loved old-fashioned words and expressions and who cherished and burnished them like fine old sterling silver.

Or maybe it's just a Southern thing, I don't know.

whm

Wade,

I'm quite far north of the Mason-Dixon Line, but I can attest it's not just a Southern thing. It's just one of those things.

I spent many formative years with my grandfather who was born in 1888. I didn't hear 'pixilated' but there were a whole lot more anachronistic words freely flowing, including 'bumbershoot'. Probably my favorite was that without exception, the refrigerator was always referred to as the 'icebox'. And so I ended up calling it that for many years, even sometimes in these more modern times.

I feel this is part of the charm of knowing my grandfather, who was universally regarded as a very fine person.

And my young granddaughter has been known on occasion to explain words and things to her 'grampa'. (That's me in case you didn't guess.) She even explained how to pronounce 'tetrahedron' to me, who read the Odyssey in ancient Greek back in high school. Before she was three, she explained to an attendant at the Museum of Fine Arts that she was going in to look at a 'sarcophagus' in the Egyptian department. She is a true treasure, who is just starting second grade.

Don
.

[donlyn]

Since I didn't mention Guitar Center in my last post, I figured to throw a quick 2 cents in.

Totally agree they have an agenda about what products to sell. Surprise. All retail operations do.

I think the quality of the employees depends greatly on the quality of a given store manager and the culture s/he espouses. I have met some very nice GC employees, but they are usually all clustered in one store instead of being spread out. I actually feel kind of sorry for some of them because the chain lets them down. A lot. They are human, and capable of expressing opinions, even if off the record. And at least they get to work in the music industry, which is something they like. And they do make a difference when they can.

Don
.

[CylinderBear]

Originally Posted by Wade Hampton

Telling a lower ranked employee that his manager is either lying or stupid is not a helpful or positive way to register a complaint, TwoMM. The clerk has no way to implement any changes or to help you, either one. It’s a conversational dead end, and it doesn’t serve any purpose other than to let you vent.

As I wrote in my earlier post, had you made that statement to me when I was working in retail I would have made polite murmurations of some sort, then immediately remembered something in back that I needed to attend to.

It’s that simple.


whm

This is the best reply for this post.

[hairpuller]

Originally Posted by CylinderBear

This is the best reply for this post.

Well, that settles it. Close it up!

[AZLiberty]

Manager is ignorant.

I find most GC employees are fairly ignorant. Then there are the 10-15% who are very knowledgable. *shrug*

Bought my son a Casio Digital Piano this weekend during their Labor Day sale. Neither the sales guy nor the manager knew if it came with a sustain pedal and music stand.

I looked it up online. Yeah, it's supposed to ship with both of those.
"Ok we'll price match that and give you a free pedal."
I think it's in the box.
"No way"
Tell you what, we can open the box, and if it does not have a pedal you can find one for me and discount it to 0%.
"yeah we can do that"

Pedal is of course in the box.

[Kerbie]

I think that's enough.