Guitar Center — Local services in Bridgeton

After months of no communication from the Guitar Center concerning an incident at this store, I feel compelled to share my experience. "Good morning Mr. Bracken, Please let me introduce myself to you.  I am B Fuller, paternal grandmother of xxxx Fuller. Xxxxx is an acoustic  guitar student at your Bridgeton Store under the excellent tutelage of Ryan Beck. Xxxxx is Autistic and has some challenges. Mr. Beck has exceeded  our expectations with his excellent musicianship and sensitive handling of our grandson. This email is to share with you an interaction that occurred  approximately 2 weeks ago with your store manager , Sarah. First of all, I realize I am not the boss of Guitar Center. I also, realize that every organization has rules and regulations.  However, I feel, we were not treated fairly by Sarah. On  Saturday  morning 2 weeks ago, xxxxx was scheduled  for his regular 10:30 lesson with Ryan. I called the store prior to its opening to inform someone that xxxxx would not be available for his lesson. When I called his Mom to pick him up for  his lesson, I was told she preferred he not go on such a cold day , probably one of the coldest this year. As only the grandparent trying to protect my grandparent rights, I try to " stay in my lane". I was told by Sarah because it was not 24hrs I would not be able to get credit and lose the money/ session. My son then called xxxxx 's mother, his Ex, and thru tense negotiations , she allowed me to pick him up. When we made it to the lesson, I shared with Sarah, I felt she was not fair about the lesson . After discussion,  we agreed to disagree and I asked for your contact information. I was told I could not get your contact information but my information  would be given to you for contact. When I went to this Saturday's lesson , I was told you "would not talk to me". I was sadden to realize that all the "core values" Guitar Center espouses  for their workplace doesn't extend to the community/ customer who accepts your services.  It appears the slogan " to be seen and heard"  does not apply to the community/ customer. My grandson deals with some mutism issues and I know how painful it can be not to have a voice.  Guitar Center denied me a voice. Mr. Bracken , I only wanted to share with you my/our view about this matter. I only wanted to share with someone in authority who could clarify policy and hopefully enfluence policy in the future to be more inclusive of the different dynamics of families. As I shared with Sarah, sometimes a customers definition  of an emergency may not meet Guitar Centers textbook definition of an " emergency". Most retailers feel the customer is an important voice that helps to give incite to those functioning  at the managerial  and administrative level about the " day to day" perspective of the business  by the customer. Most retailers make us, the customer, feel an important part of the business. To be told, I cannot talk or communicate with you was disheartening.  I feel I am worthy of the opportunity  to express my views to you , someone  who is a filter for policy at the Bridgeton Store. You say " different voices working in harmony" but you deny me a voice. You say " access to all " but deny access to have a conversation with you , the District Manager. You say a culture " that cares" but you don't  care enough to listen to a customer. Also, Sarah shared with me you said I must have a debit/ credit card on file. I explained to Sarah that my husband and I had been the victims of identity theft . It's  not as easy as it is on TV to get your identity and financial life back in order. This is the reason we were paying for our grandson's  lessons with Guitar Center Gift Cards and preload  VISA.  Overall, I think your on file card policy contributes to the systemic issues our country faces that deny access to individuals who don't  have access to traditional banking methods or individuals  who wish to assert control over their finances. I know You see me as unworthy of a conversation but three fifths of...

I've taken vocal lessons with Ryan Beck every Tuesday for almost a year and my singing has improved phenomenally!!!

I've been self taught for 10 years and singing in a metal band that requires me to be able to seamlessly transition between cleans, distortion, belting, and opera. I needed a teacher who could understand these styles and uniquely help me personally with learning the best ways to sing them, and implement them in the most efficient and impactful ways - Ryan was the most qualified and perfect fit for this, and even with 10 years under my belt, after not even a year of working with Ryan every week it's like I'm a whole new singer.

He broke down each process and helped me reinvent it better. I was so floored by how thoroughly he explained and taught me not just how to do these amazing things, but actually what I'm doing and how the body works with resonance and how to get the best sounds. It was like relearning to sing but my god I got so, so much better, and I can actually understand what's happening now instead of just guessing and expirmenting. When singing I can understand how to get the best tones and note accuracy and that's something I never thought I'd be able to do!

I came in to improve singing and have come back with so much knowledge on music theory, ear training, detailed understanding of how vocal techniques are implemented and what's going on inside your body with vocal chords and muscular structure, frequency and how you can use that to your advantage, music history, style flexibility, and a deep understanding why certain vocal styles evoke certain emotions and how to accent everything I sing to perfectly fit the mood of a song - I came out such a better musician and I am so grateful to this absolute gem of an instructor. He goes so far beyond what you would expect from a vocal coach.

He's insanely flexible and knows so many different styles, any singer I could reference he understood and could break down exactly what they're doing, and any problem I was having he could trouble shoot and help me through. I've never seen anyone with these unique approaches and would recommend Ryan to the ends of the earth for anyone seeking to master their craft, he'll turn you into a professional musician!

Ryan genuinely cares and puts his all into teaching and the proof is in the results, he himself is also an amazing musician, frontman of Arkangela - which I discovered after meeting him and was totally blown away by. Go check them out too, absolutely amazing music, production, and stage presence!

He also teaches everything too not just vocals but guitar, drums, production, you name it! Super inspiring and makes me want to pick up instruments too! Also he's absolutely hilarious and will leave you in stitches at the drop of a hat. Really awesome person:)

Also wanted to mention everyone who works at this guitar center is super sweet, grounded, and all absolutely work their butts off to genuinely help musicians be better musicians! They all deserve a mention and sincerely care about you and want to see you thrive which is just incredible and they all deserve so...

So here is the issue... I purchased a product from Guitar Center right before COVID-19 broke out and shut down all of the stores in my area and the next city over. I wanted to return the product that I purchased well within the return policy because of a poor quality product. Now that all of the stores are closed I was not able to return the product. I contacted online sales and customer service to make the return but they are not able to process in store purchase returns. I was then told by customer service that when store open back up that they will be honoring full returns including warranty’s and services. Now that stores are open I go in to make the return and they will not refund the warranty that I purchased on the product. Not only will they not return the money issued for the warranty they will not honor any type of store credit or make it right. I was told more than once that the full return would be issued once stores are reopen. The store did nothing to make this right and as a customer I am not satisfied. You get pressured into purchasing a warranty that come to find out is not even issued through the store you purchase it from just some average third party insurance company. Other mainstream retailers have much better policy’s in place and are doing a much better taking care of their customers. I will never purchase from Guitar Center again because of the poor service that was received in addition to the miss information that was given. DO NOT BUY and Warranty from this merchant you will be highly disappointed as am I. Guitar Center you need to do better and take care of your customers at any cost I understand that some things can’t be done but in those situations you do right by the customer and offer a discount or store credit. Come up with some type of solution versus just offering nothing and just let the customer loose a good deal of money. People are suffering enough with a Global pandemic taking money from them in addition to that is in extremely disrespectful. Offer something versus a blank look and shrugged shoulders saying there’s nothing you can do... Poor Service, Poor Quality, Unacceptable...