Guitar Center — Local services in Spring

Saddest service I have ever had won't be going back. This used to be my store not any more. Took my guitar in to be set up cleaned and the strings changed. The repair guy (good guy - good work) was not there. The guy that was there had been there he said for 6 months and he couldn't answer any of my questions about which program I needed he answer was always "I think it's ..." but when asked what it includes he had to walk over to someone else ... so I just would up asking that person all my questions so that I could instruct the other guy what to ring up. it still took him 30 minutes to process an online string order to be shipped to the store and I paid extra to expedite and he told me I needed to call and follow up with the repair tech to make sure he knew what was going on. I called the next day and asked to speak to the repair tech I was on hold for 15 minutes and then someone hung up on me. I called the next day again and asked for the tech and inquired if my over nighted strings came in and someone went to check and again 18 minutes later the line went dead. I was told I would receive a call when the string came in and never received one. On Friday morning 3/28/25 the day I asked for my bass to be ready I called to check as everyone I spoke to was very iffy if it could be ready by Friday when dropping it off. After being on the phone for 15 minutes again with no one checking back with me I finally had to hang up and grab a business call from one of my customers. That evening around 3pm I called and a young lady answered the phone and I asked to speak with the tech and she said I am not sure if he is here let me check. I was on hold for 25 minutes ... no one ever checked back with me. I was in fact on hold for so long that I was able to drive from the Woodlands to the store, park, unplug my phone and walk in try and find someone to help me find the manager. 30 minutes into the call while I was waiting for the manager either the phone was hung up again or my call dropped. After standing by the back door for another 10 minutes (the manager I was told was on the phone) he finally came out to speak to me. I explained my dissatisfaction with the level of customer service with his store with a few choice expletives add to emphasize my extreme dissatisfaction - having explained the above issues - his comment was not about the failure of his store and his management, but to criticize my word choice rather than acknowledge his failure as a manager and the failures of his team. I was told I would be called when the string arrived I was not. I was told I would be called when my bass was completed I was not. I was livid to the point of not being able to respond. I asked if my guitar was ready. and he walked to the back and grabbed the guitar - he walked to the tech desk and asked the young man standing there to ring me up. Not one apology or I will get to the bottom of this, not one sign that he even cared that his staff had so monumentally drop the customer service ball. Carlos Gonzalez you sir SUCK! I paid and I left. The only man that actually did what he promised is the guy (I don't know his name) but he had a small pointy French beard with black hair, while everyone else walked by me while I stood by the back door he stopped to ask what I needed, and he was the only one the day dropped off my guitar that could answer the questions and even though he appeared to off and trying to leave for the day he stopped and help the clueless young man the originally check my guitar in know how to ring it up. I my humble opinion as a customer THAT gentleman should be the store manager and not the feckless uncaring Carlos Gonzalez who couldn't have cared less about his teams lack of service and couldn't have cared more about the adjectives that I choose to communicate my disdain. If this is what has come of Guitar center and musicians friend I will be a Sweetwater customer for life - Sweetwater actually cares about my business in a way Carlos Gonzalez and Guitar Center...

Stay away from this place. They’re not running an ethical business. Our music studio had advised us not to go here, saying they’ll just take your money. We experienced this first hand.

We bought our son a top of the line Alesis drum set for Christmas. Spent over $4000 and an extended warranty too. We were told the drum set would be covered if anything broke. I specifically asked what happens if the drum set gets discontinued. Their response was they would either repair or replace it.

A year later, the module broke and could not be repaired or replaced because the drum set had been discontinued. Instead the 3rd party insurance provider sent us a check for the partial purchase.

I went into the store to seek some assistance and was told there was nothing they could do. How frustrating to spend this kind of money and it to be wasted. Our 10 years old son was devastated.

I expressed my frustration so they said they’d do some research. I never heard back, so I left a review to share my experience. The same day a manager called me. He was able to locate a drum module. I thought great. He said they’d have it in their store in a week or so and would call me.

I never heard back so I went back to the store again. He indicated the module was in, but needed to be added to their system. It took another month or so for that to happen.

He finally got back to me to ask that I come in so he can get me a replacement drum module. He was under the impression that the 3rd party insurance provider issued us a gift card. He said, we can exchange the gift card for the drum module.

I explained we didn’t receive a gift card but rather a check. I asked how much can he sell the module for. He said he would need to research this. It was at this point, I felt like we were being taken advantage of but I wanted to give them an opportunity to make this right.

A few minutes later he called me back to say they’d sell me the module for $1000+. I explained that another music store had one for $400. He shared that they could sell us the entire drum set which might be a good idea in the event the cables or sensors go bad. He further shared that is pretty common. I had this awful feeling that I spent $4000+ on a product from what I thought was a well known and respected business only to be continually disappointed and worse feeling as if I was being taken advantage of. I explained my feelings to him. He apologized saying that they are a new store and would use this as a training opportunity. This location might be new, but the chain is not. They’re a well established company.

In the end, they found a replacement drum module which was wonderful but wanted to over charge me for it to make it right. Sadly, they offered no other remedy. Corporate directs me to the store, the store directs me to the third party who at this point has considered the transaction closed given they provided a partial payout for our drum set. On top of it, our kid has been missing his drums.

I will not go back and further will ensure others know how they...

I called today to ask about a Supra amp. The rep left me on hold and forgot about me for 15 minutes until I hung up and called back. Not that big a deal, but not great.

I went in and played the amp and liked it and was willing to purchase it. The one they had available had a cut in the tolex and some visible dark scuffs which both managers acknowledged. However they refused to give me any discount whatsoever based on the fact that it was already on sale for $599. I understand that it was on sale but you can get these amps for 599 almost year-round from some place or another so we're not talking about a deep discount.

The first manager I talked to was polite on the surface but in a passive-aggressive way, looking at me like I was some kind of idiot (in a very obvious way) for asking for a discount. The second manager I spoke with was more polite in person but when I called to speak with him after, seemed extremely disinterested in the feedback.

I called after leaving the store to let him know that I decided to purchase from a competitor for the same price given that they had a color I liked more and I wouldn't have to buy a damaged item. I told him that if he had simply offered a $20 discount I probably would have walked out the store with the amp because I didn't want to wait. He told me that they had to maintain margins, which makes no sense. They buy those amps at 30 to 40% margins so a small discount would have made little difference to the bottom line.

I'm not super upset or anything and I may even go back to the store if I need to buy something else in the future, I just wanted to give feedback to someone who would care. They can certainly run their business any way they see fit, but I feel like I wasted my time driving out of my way to the store and then realizing they did not have any undamaged items for sale and we're not willing to make any...