Guitar Center — Attraction in Totowa

My family and I have been customers at this specific guitar center for the past couple of years and usually have a great experience with good information and help from employees. However, a recent incident with their previous guitar tech, Igor, almost kept me from coming to this location forever. In June 2022, I brought in my Slash edition les Paul for some an overall tune-up after I noticed buzzing/ action issues. I was greeted by Igor who info bombed me with an insane amount of detail about what he recommended for my guitar. I TRUSTED this technician because he seemed very knowledgeable and we agreed on a platinum service, which he assured me included a string change, complete fret finish, and adjustment of volume knobs. I was (gladly) paying for this service out of pocket because my guitar did not have the insurance from guitar center. After receiving the guitar from Igor when he was done with it I found that one of the volume knobs got stuck when you cranked it all the way which was not the case before I handled the guitar to Igor. After paying so much money for a “premium” service I was unable to even turn my guitar up all the way. This specific guitar was my backup because it is a special edition and I prefer to keep it in good condition. I was unable to bring it back to guitar center for awhile as my college semester began. Once I got the chance to bring it in, I called Igor before hand to let him know that there was an issue with the knob. This was about 3 months after I had brought it in. Igor assured me these he NEVER touched a special edition slash les Paul and that he would never give me back a broken knob if he worked on it. I was shocked. He honestly almost convinced that I had never come into the store in the first place. I did not even want to follow up with coming in anymore because he gave so much attitude about a simple volume knob. I avoided coming into guitar center because of Igor and his attitude and considered going to another shop for the rest of my guitar tech needs. I did come into the store without the guitar to see if there was another technician I could speak to. I was able to speak to Lauren who was much nicer and approachable when it came to questions about the possible costs to replace the knob if necessary. Unfortunately, I could not follow up with her due to my schedule. I finally decided that I needed to bring my gibson SG for a string change and ONLY decided to go back because my insurance would cover the costs. I brought my les paul with me to see what they could do. I was happy to find an employee/technician named Ollie who was MORE than helpful with my les paul and SG. He was informative and got the job done without patronizing me for my lack of guitar mods/tech knowledge. He quickly located the issue with the knob and replaced it for no charge after the way I was treated by Igor. I was told that Igor no longer works at the location but I am giving 4/5 stars because Guitar Center as a company NEEDS to review their hiring process for guitar technicians. I was horrified to see my slash edition les paul given back to me like that. This location should be grateful for Lauren and Ollie who are clearly gems as...

I wanted to take a little time to express my experience with The Guitar Center in Totowa. I couldn't even imagine a better experience than what I had. The reason why I say that is because I had some bad experiences with other locations in the past. Since that was years ago, I felt that it's now the right time to give them another shot, so glad that I have. I had a couple of guitars that I wanted to trade in thinking I should go down there with one to start out with and see what they can do. I am sometimes pessimistic and thought they would low ball me and I would just say thanks for your time and leave. Well, that didn't happen. I came in with one trade like I said and I have been told to deal with Ken. While he was looking at the trade I didn't want to stand over his shoulder and let him do his thing. I asked Ken if he can show me a New Gibson ES-335 one of my dream guitars or a ES 345. In the store they only had a ES-335 dot 60s cherry. I played it and fell in love with it. When Ken came back to me he offered me more than fair value for the Trade. I said hold on to my trade I will be back with more. When I got back we were ready to make a deal in which we did. I'm not easy but I'm reasonable. Ken knows what he's doing and shows you patience into finding what you want. That's the key to everything. It was a very pleasurable experience that I won't forget and Ken is now my guy and I will only go to him. So I had decided to go with a New Gibson ES-345 60s cherry that they had to ship to the store for me to pick up. It came in today, I played it and the action needed some minor adjustment for action that I prefer and Ken did that. I went home with my new baby lol and it sounded and played even better with my own gear. I Just love my new ES-345 and she's a keeper. I would also like to give a shout out to Ollie he works very well on guitars and that should be your other guy who knows more than a basic set up. The guys are pro's and I mean that. I had brought in my custom made Fender Strat parts caster that he did an excellent set up and worked on the bone nut. The Strat now feels and sounds perfect. For those who will read my comment here, don't hesitate, see Ken for any Guitars and Gear and see Ollie for your setups and other work you might want to get done. Since my ES-345 is brandy new I will up load some photos of her very soon. The guitar can really do anything and do it very well. Thanks guys, I really appreciate what you guys have...

so I bought a used amp @ a different store. It started making crazy noises (after 1 week). I brought it to the totowa store since that is the one closest to me. I told the dude (some young guy with a mustache), at the help desk (right by guitars) the problem. He say let me see if he can fix it. He proceeded to grill me asking me if i dropped it or spilled something (mind you the amp is in like new condition). plugs it in grabs a guitar (i stop him and say that its a bass amp) he grabs a bass and says did you try a different cable? did you just a different speaker cable (i tell him that if he looks he would notice that it is soldered on the back. Did I spray the knobs. I tell him that if it was a knob issue the sound would be different sound. A couple of other question then goes "yep you're right it makes that noise, that's weird". This other person comes over. This girl that works in the bass area (she is too cool for everyone, and gives a big huff when she hears that there is a problem). She comes over and grills me about what did I do to this amp and says the same thing. So he goes to the manager and he was too busy to come out (he was on his computer) and what they say is that they can reimburse me for the amp or I can wait the 30 days until my pro coverage kicks in to get it fixed. They wont fix it. I then tell them I have about gigs every other night for the next three weeks. Then the girl informs me of a place that will fix it for a price. I ask her why I would I pay someone else to fix it when I could just get it fixed for free from the pro coverage. I mean that is the point of the coverage right? Then they tell me that it sucks and to have a good day and there is nothing they can do. The best part is I call a different store when I get out of there, they tell me to bring it there and they shipped it out that day to get fixed. I spend alot of money in GC so I am skipping this place and going to Paramus which is 20 minutes farther when I am purchasing any...