Guitar'd Center - What would you do?

[whyachi]

I stopped by GC this morning to play with a fretless bass, really it just occurred to me I'd never really tried one and I had the day off, so whatever. It was fun, that's not the point.

The bass room is by the tech bench at this GC and this lady and her young daughter (who was busily playing with this plastic egg shaker thing) walked in with a thrashed BC Rich that was missing a few strings. She had picked up some Blackouts to upgrade the pickups too, which the guy told her would be $30. For the work, not the parts. Then he starts rambling about how the guitar has 500k in it and the Blackouts take 25k, talking about pots, but just throwing out numbers to confuse her. She got really concerned that her kid's Warlock didn't have any of the right parts in it, and the guy tells her finally, "$80, and it'll take me two weeks." She throws down a credit card happily and walks out of the store.

Having worked retail, one of my huge pet peeves is customers trying to do my job for me, so I try to treat others as I prefer to be treated and I didn't speak up. I didn't say that the small mom-and-pop shop two streets over would do it for $60 (considering going from passive to active) and have it for her by closing time. I didn't say that I'd take $50 and have it back to her in two hours. The guy hadn't even looked at the back of it, after she left he flipped it over and said to himself that he wasn't sure he could fit a 9V in that control cavity.

I did have a few words with the guy when she left about why it takes two weeks to get pickups changed, and he said he was really super busy and backlogged on repairs right now, blah blah. Then stood at his desk doing nothing for the next ten minutes while I was playing with Markbass cab combos, then told a customer who needed a single string changed she'd have to wait and ducked around the corner "into the back for parts," where I followed and found him playing with his cell phone by the back door. I left before I broke my own code and just changed the thing for her.


At what point does it become my responsibility to educate these people that they're being screwed? What would you do?

 

[Super Turbo Deluxe Custom]

What would you do?

Keep playing the fretless bass.

 

[whyachi]

What would you do?

Keep playing the fretless bass.

I did, I did. I was surprised by how much I like it. I was working on this Greenday bit the other day and there is a slide in the beginning of it that I just couldn't hit without buzzing like crazy on my bass so I thought I could do it without frets. I can. It sounds great. I'd be lost without lines on the board but I did really enjoy it. I spent a good ten minutes just sliding up and down the neck like an idiot. I'm going to be keeping an eye on Craigslist for a used one, just a Squier jazz.

 

[abandon_blink]

personally, i would have piped up. i HATE it when i witness people being taken advantage of.

 

[JaySwear]

i've worked retail for a few years, so i definitely know where you're coming from there. but before that i worked at a go kart track. it was hot and the people were annoying and really unappreciative. but it was our job to keep them safe. i mostly dealt with the 3 to 10 year old kids, so it was really to keep them safe. not just to sit on my ass and wait for the people who already had driver's licenses to finish wasting their money on fake cars (like the people working on the fast tracks did). it kind of taught me that there's a job, and then there's just being a good person. going a little out of your way to make sure that 4 year old girl is buckled in right, because if she crashes or gets hit from behind by another car i'm going to feel awful. i think i'd do what you did. plus it can really feel awesome to do the right thing. that lady you changed the one string for will remember that for a while, even if it only took 30 seconds of your time.

 

[whyachi]

i've worked retail for a few years, so i definitely know where you're coming from there. but before that i worked at a go kart track. it was hot and the people were annoying and really unappreciative. but it was our job to keep them safe. i mostly dealt with the 3 to 10 year old kids, so it was really to keep them safe. not just to sit on my ass and wait for the people who already had driver's licenses to finish wasting their money on fake cars (like the people working on the fast tracks did). it kind of taught me that there's a job, and then there's just being a good person. going a little out of your way to make sure that 4 year old girl is buckled in right, because if she crashes or gets hit from behind by another car i'm going to feel awful. i think i'd do what you did. plus it can really feel awesome to do the right thing. that lady you changed the one string for will remember that for a while, even if it only took 30 seconds of your time.

I didn't change the string. I left the building. I actively put effort into not interfering with other people as they work in hopes they'll do the same when I'm behind the counter. I guess I just left and hoped that I might be present when karma punches him in the face.

 

[tubby.twins]

Then stood at his desk doing nothing for the next ten minutes while I was playing with Markbass cab combos, then told a customer who needed a single string changed she'd have to wait and ducked around the corner "into the back for parts," where I followed and found him playing with his cell phone by the back door.

I think he's realized that his pay isn't linked to the quality of his work.  He doesn't get paid any extra to do a nicer job and meet the customers' needs.  Probably as simple as that.  I don't think he's malicious, just unmotivated.

 

[Super Turbo Deluxe Custom]

If he's a musician, wannabe or otherwise, this probably just pays the bills.  If you were to ask him and he were truthful, he might call or consider himself a "luthier" and say he works in the music business.

 

[Patrick]

better work leads to more loyal customers
if a manager recognizes the effort put into a job consistently by an employee, it may lead toa pay increase/promotion
thats the only motivation the guy had

 

[Return of Guitlouie]

While I don't approve of people getting screwed, I also feel that being a person in this world requires a certain level of personal resonsibility.  When I am getting something worked on, my car, my amp, whatever, I ask a billion questions.  If the person I'm talking to doesn't give satisfactory answers, or seems disinterested in informing me, his or her customer, I 'll find someone who does.  I try to learn from everything, and use my knowledge the next time.  It sounds like the first lady didn't really care if she got screwed over or not, so let her.  If she cared, she would have been more involved in not getting screwed.

 

[Alfang]

I'd love to work on people guitars like that GC guy,  If he's so backlogged, does he need you to help out a couple days a week?

You could get a few extra bucks and probably an employee discount, ( for strings and picks and pedals of course)

I know GC isn't popular on this forum, but they are everywhere and DO have some parts and pieces and other nick-nacks that are good quality.

 

[Superlizard]

I don't waste a dime or a minute of my time at GC.

 

[dNA]

While I don't approve of people getting screwed, I also feel that being a person in this world requires a certain level of personal resonsibility.  When I am getting something worked on, my car, my amp, whatever, I ask a billion questions.  If the person I'm talking to doesn't give satisfactory answers, or seems disinterested in informing me, his or her customer, I 'll find someone who does.  I try to learn from everything, and use my knowledge the next time.  It sounds like the first lady didn't really care if she got screwed over or not, so let her.  If she cared, she would have been more involved in not getting screwed.

I'm with this guy. It's as much (if not more so) the consumer's responsibility to demand good service. If you're willing to slap down eighty bux because you don't have the time or energy to learn more, then that's on you. And it's not just people being ignorant. If you really don't know jack about guitars and you have a life, it's probably not your priority to spend time learning about this and that or the other thing when you can just have it over and done with for eighty bucks. That's just business. Supply and demand, you know. For some people the time they spend looking for a better price is worth more to them than the difference in cost.

honestly, i would have told the lady I'd do it for 50. well. if i were you. I personally hate soldering guitars so much, I couldn't make myself do it even for $25 an hour.

 

[Alfang]

I don't waste a dime or a minute of my time at GC.

Your better than the rest of us I guess, what a chump

 

[Dan025]

i dont either, but if there was one near by id go there, play all the gear and never buy anything. i really have no reason to go though. i live near a Huge guitar store that used to be good but is getting more and more like GC. http://www.altomusic.com/altoweb/stores?location=Middletown

but even closer than that i have a local store that even caries some local products. it's not as good as it used to be either but still a good store, http://www.imperialguitar.com/lrr.html
they used to have the best vintage gear and the best instructors for lessons and the techies and sales guy were all long haired rockers left over from the eighties. they knew their gear and weren't douchy about it, well most of them.

 

[-CB-]

Thats one reason I take pains to avoid GC and SA and MS at all costs... it has to be a dire dire need for me to slip in there

 

[mullyman]

I would have followed her out of the store, filled in her, offered to do the job really cheap, and then sent her back in for a refund and to get her guitar out of there. No way I could sit there and let some guitar shop screw someone.

Every time I work on a guitar, mine or one of my students, they are always amazed that I do everything myself. The first thing I tell them is that a guitar shop, no matter which one you go to, is going to rip you. Even if they only charge 50 cents it's still free if you can do it yourself.
MULLY
Checking

 

[Nightclub Dwight]

I used to work as wholesaler of tropical fish.  We'd supply most of the pet stores in the Northeast with their fish.  I used to feel the same way when I'd be shopping in a pet store and overhear misinformation, or just plain wrong information being spouted by the retail "experts."  It hurts when you overhear this sort of thing.

But do keep in mind that we're enthusiasts here on this message board.  Most of us are obsessed with guitars.  The average person doesn't share our obsession.  If this was just some suburban mother laying out cash for her kid's guitar, she's probably just looking to get it done and over with.  For her, spending the extra money is worth it because she doesn't have the time or inclination to shop it around to where an enthusiast would end up going.    (Just like most people buy their groceries from a supermarket instead of direct from the farmer's market.)

In this case, she may well think that the extra $20 or so is worth it to get her work done at a legitimate retail store, rather than from some guy who offers to fix it for cheaper (no offense meant to you or anyone else who would offer).  I mean if you just pay some guy to do the work, it may or may not come with a warranty, you may or may not be able to find the guy to get the guitar back, the guy may or may not have insurance in case something happens while working on the guitar etc etc.

That being said, I am not defending GC in ANY way.  They suck, and the mom and pop shop is always preferable.

 

[BigBeard]

Personally I hate retail and everything that is stands for.

Someone mentioned that if the tech would do better work yada yada.  Retail doesn't work that way.  The Guitar center has a budget to keep concerning employee wages.  I have worked in these situations and given my 110%, thinking that good work would bring a raise.  But then you realize that the cheapskate manager you work for gets a bonus on keeping the budget down........... so he isn't gonna give anybody a raise if it is gonna cost him bonus money!  So where is the motovation for the tech to do a good job and to do it right and on time?  The tech's name isn't on the work, guitar center's name is.  The tech has nothing in it for him to do a good job, why would he?

Personally I like to go into a retail establishment and show other customers how big of an ass the employee is.  Do you really think the tech at GC is a 'luthier?'  I seriously doubt it if he is a 'luthier'  You know if GC actually paid the tech what they charged, maybe the tech would do a good job.  I hate that when a place like a mechanics garage or something that offers a service that is charged hourly charges a customer $50-75 an hour for labor, and pays the guy doing the labor $8 an hour for it.  I used to be a ski and snowboard instructor.  Why am I not an instructor anymore specifically?  Because the mountain I worked at charged $48 an hour for my services and paid me $15 of it!  So when I started doing freelance lessons and I was charging $30 an hour and keeping it all, I got fired. Now that is a little different situation... i had to pay professional dues monthly to be an accredited instructor, I had to buy my uniform, and I had to pay dues to the ski school.....  And they would skim off the top of the lessons I got from them.  I asked for raises and deserved them, I was a good instructor.  I had petitions signed by other instructors.  What the boss said?  He said that the FUN of being an instructor is pay enough, and that the money we received in our paychecks was not to compensate us for the job being done, it was to cover fuel and food to travel to the mountain!  He said that we essentially were paid a seasons ski pass and we should be happy not having to pay for or lift tickets to ski when we weren't working!  So I came back with, "Well then, I want to sell my season pass and pay some bills, he said I couldn't, so I started freelancing... It got to the point with my freelancing that on slow days, I made more money than the ski school did.... and I got fired for it.  They said I could schedule my own lessons, but if I wanted to teach them at their mountain, I had to pay the ski school thier cut!!!  What I ended up doing was taking a job at the mountain as a shuttle bus driver and cutting ties with the ski school.  I still had my uniform, so when I wasn't driving the shuttle, I was hanging out in the lobby of the ski school in my uniform, and I would offer people discounted lessons and there was really nothing the ski schoool could do about it, I wasn't a ski school employee anymore, I was in a different department, so I could freelance all the lessons I wanted!  The one month this went on I made like five grand in lessons because I would tell customers how the system worked with the instructors getting such a tiny cut of the lesson price, most felt that the instructors were getting screwed and would gladly take a lesson from me or one of my buddies, cheaper than the school offered, and they felt better that all of their money was going to the person who was teaching the lesson

 

[AprioriMark]

I don't waste a dime or a minute of my time at GC.

I finally arrived here a few months ago.  When it takes 30 minutes to ring up one pickup (that they would "price match" but only from their instore computer and not my blackberry, which was accessing THEIR WEBSITE), or whatever else I'm buying every single time I go in there, I'd rather order it online and wait a couple days.  I'm not a snob, but their service is horrible, and I told their CEO as much in an email explaining why I was boycotting their business.  He offered me a coupon code for a discount.  My response, "Why would i want a percentage off of dogsh*t?  Fix the way your stores are run.  My life has a certain value, which unfortunately for you exceeds the level of service in your establishment."

Hate if you want, but I'm not a snob.  I actually took the time to explain to someone who matters why they lost my business.

-Mark