Monday, March 31, 2008

Guitar faux-pa (or however you spell it)

So we loaded the kids up Saturday for the two hour trek to Guitar Center in Arlington (Dallas metroplex). I went to pick up a sweet guitar that has been on order for me since December. This was GC's second attempt to get the exact model and color that I wanted. They called me about a month ago and told me my guitar was in. I asked the guy to open the box and verify that everything was ok. I'm glad I did, because it was the wrong color.

The guy told me that he could have the right guitar in a week or two. So he calls in the middle of last week and left a voice mail saying the right guitar was in. I returned his call, but he was tied up, so I left a message for him to check everything out and call me if there were any problems. The guy I left the message with typed an email as I was talking, and notified me he sent it. I didn't receive any further messages so I assumed everything was ok.

So we trekked 2 hrs down and once I got there, waited about 15-20 for my guy. He suddenly appears with a box and we go over to a counter. He opens the box and the guitar inside has NO wrap or packaging. It's just a guitar in a box. Wait...there's more. It's the wrong friggen guitar. I ordered this guitar in December for $700. and have been making payments on a guitar I don't even have.

The guy was upset and so was I. I said look, we're gonna get this squared away right now or I want my money refunded on the payments I've made. The guy apologizes and says that instead of shuffling guitars between stores, he is going to order the guitar directly from the manufacturer and drop ship it to my house. I say ok, but what if it arrives damaged, etc. He says no worries, just call him when it gets in either way. So today I received an email confirming the order has been placed and my guitar should arrive at my door Thursday.

Guitar Center has a very bad rap for poor customer service. They are known to make multiple mistakes and sometimes leave the customer hanging. Not so this time. Although there have been multiple mistake, I am a patient man and as long as the end result is a good one, I will continue to support GC. For those of you not familiar with Guitar Center, it is the equivalent of a Wal-Mart for musicians. It literally has every guitar in every color you could ever want. Same for drums and most instruments. GC has driven many mom and pop music stores out of business. I try to support my local shops, but if they are very much higher, I will order off the Internet.

hang tight for pics on Thursday....

2 comments:

MPD said...

Im here my friend. Just a lotta life stuff goin on the last few months...we'll talk soon MPD

Phil said...

Wow, I can't believe the hassle you are having Paul. I got my Strat and my Epiphone from GC (they have 2 stores close to my work - 15 minutes) and have only had good experiences. I did order my 12 sting without even playing it because of the name brand and also a buddy of mine had played one and thought it was great. I had one small problem with the Strat which they remedied right away and the Epiphone was delivered in good shape with the exception of a buzzing fret which when I brought it in the guitar guy (Merv) gave it a whack with a mallet and it was OK (as opposed to a whack with a mullet).

Looking forward to photos, glad to hear you picked up a guitar too. They should throw in a free case or a bunch of sets of strings or something.