Guitar Center — Local services in North Attleborough

I am displeased with Guitar Center in many ways. They often have well-stocked stores; but their staff is questionable at best. Service quality and employee knowledge is hit or miss. Some workers are sharp, on-the-ball, and helpful; others have me shaking my head and leaving in disappointment and disgust. Three weeks ago, i went in to purchase a set of pickups and i walked by a worker playing a guitar to the counter. I looked at the pickups available but realized what i wanted may require ordering them. The worker kept playing -- ignoring the Pavlovian response to put down the guitar and assist the gentleman at the counter. I began shouting questions to him and he played on. Ten minutes passed and he continued to play and sorta respond to my queries. Finally, i left..as i walked past him - ever trying to be helpful and leave people in a better situation than i met them - i said "one word, man: metronome." I do hope he heeded my suggestion, as his timing was all over the place. Guitar Centers sprouted up everywhere many years ago and sadly forced mom-and-pop stores to either experience hard times or go the way of the Dodo. Their prices incite fierce competition -- often the mom-and-pops stores can't beat them. However, the little stores most often can offer significantly better service and more practical advice -- which is often MUCH BETTER than the few dollars one might save on an inappropriate purchase. Trading in a guitar or amp at a GC is an exercise in self-loathing. They really offer you a pittance and the mark-up on a piece of gear you want should, if you are the least bit practical, should nix the deal. You would do better at a mom-and- pops store. Also, if you are looking to purchase a used instrument you will find better product at a mom-and-pops store. They tend to beat people up less on trade-ins so often their stock of used instruments are better quality especially if they are older models. Shopping at Guitar Center can often be disappointing and tougher on your wallet than it should be - you can do better. I admit i pop in once in a great while but each visit generates greater and greater spans of time between.

UPDATE: 12/18/18 A friend asked me to give him a ride to Guitar Center. Enroute to the place, I did what I usually do - try to discourage him from going and opting to visit a mom and pop's shop. the purpose of his visit was to get some lemon oil for his guitars' necks, and, true-to-form, they didnt have it. Wait - not entirely true - it was available if he bought 3 bottle kit for about $30. But he already had the other items in the kit and only needed lemon oil. We drove down the street .. Hit up a non-franchised music store and, by gum, he was able to buy his item. Once again: Mom & Pop's Store 1 Guitar Center ...

Pretty disappointed with tonight's visit to the North Attleboro, MA store. I had made many, many purchases at this store in the past. It's been about 10 years since I have been there. I used to deal with a tall guy Fred with a ponytail in Live Sound. He was a really good guy and super helpful. Sadly, things seemed to have gone downhill at this store. Store had a going out of business vibe to it, messy store and the inventory wasn't well stocked at all.

I am getting back into my music and was in the market to purchase a condenser microphone and some accessories. I was looking at the ones setup against the wall. One of the headphones to listen to the mics was broken and just hanging down. No employee every came over to ask me if I needed help and I did have several questions. One guy, who I remember from the days of Fred being there came in the Live Sound area, but he went to help a couple looking at the PAs. I kept browsing and then after 15 minutes, walked over again and made eye contact with that sales associate, smiled and nodded, showing I was waiting. He continued helping them and then they walked off to the front desk. He never acknowledged me or at least said, "I'll be right with you.". While I waited another 5 or 10 minutes, I looked on Amazon and they had the AKG P220 mics cheaper. I really try to support my local businesses, but when you go in and get ignored it doesn't give you much incentive to stick around. I gave up and just walked out the door, right by the desk where the sales guy was and he just watched me leave, still said nothing.

It's really too bad, I used to like shopping at this store. I will probably give the Warwick store a chance, and if that store is the same I'll just buy from Amazon. It just leaves me thinking, if I can't get attention making the initial purchase, what will happen if something is defective and I need to...

Never expected to have to write this but by far astonished at the lies and headaches I’ve had with this store and don’t know how there store has a 4.2 rating. Bought a used American standard Stratocaster 2014 with two day express shipping on Tuesday a few weeks ago. They never sent it out on time until late Thursday making my shipping I paid for worthless as the item would now take 7.5 days to arrive being over the weekend. They lied multiple times and finally had to speak to the gerneral manager as the store manager I apparently couldn’t reach. Derek assured and sent the guitar out next day air. To my surprise when it arrived it was the wrong guitar and there was a hole in the back of the neck! They listed the wrong strat and sent me the wrong one. On top of that they didn’t even ship the case that was “supposed” to come with it. The store went as far as lying to guitar center Bellingham as well about the issues. Again the manager assured and found the case and said they were going to ship it. I decided to keep the guitar they sent wrong. Well one week later I walk in on Black Friday to see if my case came into Bellingham. They never shipped the case!! After a Bellingham lead employee spent 20 minutes on hold whoever he spoke to finally sent the case out next day air. Not Saturday delivery nothing so I’m waiting over the weekend. It has been a 3 week nightmare. Don’t know if they will send the right case. I encourage anyone not so musically inclined to not buy from this store or any store online without calling asking for pictures and never listen to employees who sound inexperienced. This North Attleboro store needs a stern warning because this is the reason guitar center won’t make it. Will never order from this...