Guitar Center — Local services in Hoover

I recently bought a guitar from Guitar Center Chattanooga, and could not be more pleased with the guitar and with the great service I received. They even offered me a military discount, seeing my Army hat. Then, thinking i would receive the same level of product quality and service at the Hoover store, I made the mistake of buying a guitar that retails for $699.00 with action so high it was not playable (0.16" at fret 12). This guitar was ordered new, because the demo model they had in stock was also unplayable due to very high action, and I was told this would not be the case with one they ordered for me. No true. So, their solution was to charge me another $50+ dollars for a set-up. I took it to a luthier I trust and had it repaired. Then, "Once more into the breech", I made a second mistake in asking Hoover Guitar Center to order a case for me. I asked my wife to call them to order it, and she was given a hassle, trying to charge her $30 more than their website advertised. Determined, she did not relent, and they grudgingly met their own company's advertised price. Once it arrived, i went to pick it up, and asked of they met Musician's Friend price, which was 10% off that day, or would my military 10% discount apply. The "manager", a filthy-looking tattoo-riddled Dave Grohl wanna-be asked if i was active duty, and i said no, but that their Chattanooga branch offered me a military discount, telling me it was their company's policy to offer current and former military members a discount. He, apparently incensed, wanders off and comes back a few minutes later to show me something written and taped on the back of a box that stated the discount was for active military. He did not offer to meet Musician's Friends price. I've encountered others like him (anti-military FNG's that couldn't hack) so I told him I would take a refund and not darken his doorstep again. There are much better music shops in this area, with professional staff that are a pleasure to do business with. My advice is to spend your hard-earned money at one of...

We haven't visited guitar center on a good while because of the customer service that we had the last time we were there. We decided to call before we went to see if they carried an end for a cable that my husband needed for a power amp. We knew that they made them and we wanted to find out if it was in stock before we drove that far. My husband called and they got the sales rep on the phone when my husband explained that he needed a speakon adapter cable connector for the end of his speaker cable wire. The associate told him that not only did they not have it but they did not make such an adapter. My husband just said ok and we decided to go up there because we k ew that made them and we also knew that at one time guitar center had them in stock. When we got up there I was so shocked to see the store. It was a mess it looked like someone had went thru the store and just threw stuff down any where there was a space. The shelves were almost empty it lots of departments. In the department where the speaker cables and stuff was we could not find one thing that we was looking for. We did eventually find the speakon connectors we was looking for but we ultimately decided to buy 2 new speaker cables instead. I was so shocked to see that the store was such a mess. Not one time have I ever seen that store in shambles and everything out of place. You always knew when you went to that store that whatever you needed would be right where it was supposed to be if it was in stock. Not anymore we stayed in that store over an hour trying to find different things we wanted to look at. So if you go just allow yourself a little more time than normal. I'm not encouraging you not to shop there I'm just saying it may take you some time to find what you are looking for. The associates were friendly and ask us if we needed any thing to let them know and they did not stand over us as we looked around. I...

I just want to throw my hat in the ring here and say that I've visited and shopped this store many times. Specifically I want to comment on my most recent experience. Eric in guitars helped me have a fantastic buying experience as I was shopping for a Les Paul. He helped me tremendously to understand all the nuances between each and every model in their nice selection of beautiful Gibsons. I was pleasantly surprised to see numerous LP models on sale or clearance. I tried several models (with plenty of volume for a real test), and I felt like I had true demo experience working with Eric, to hear all the tonal subtleties between each guitar. Eric helped me really listen to each guitar's subtle (but evident) differences, and offered great commentary on what I should be looking and listening for with each model. In the end I came away with a gorgeous LP standard tobacco burst at a great clearance price, and a great Bassbreaker 15 amp to be its date (what an amp, by the way!) Eric's guidance really sealed the deal.

I am a decent guitarist, and have been searching for the right bluesy tone for a long time, and this experience at GC just really helped me find a perfect guitar-amp pair. I just want to point out my positive experience and customer attention that Eric was able to provide, and so I would encourage anyone looking for a nice electric to have no fear in working with these guys. As they are all seasoned gigging musicians, they do know their stuff. So listen to them, and let them help you have a great test drive and buying experience, as I did.

I will also add that in my last guitar purchase a few years ago, a Gibson SG standard, Dave was super helpful and even played the guitar a bit as well to help me hear what it could really do. Thanks again guys and GC for these positive buying...