Guitar Center

This place is pretty damn good compared to all the other Guitar Centers I’ve been too. A couple people who are really nice and knowledgeable, good selection, and best of all, WAY BETTER THAN THE GUITAR CENTER IN ALPHARETTA. Avoid the Alpharetta GC like the plague; they have a few employees there who are the rudest people I’ve ever met in my life.

I had my first Guitar Center experience the other day and on the whole it was good. The bad part was that I bought a bass bought off the wall that had a nut issue that I didn’t discover until I got home (fret buzz on the g-​string). So that was a bummer. BUT, I returned later that night and dealt with Xander – an outstanding experience. They were short staffed at 8:30pm but he handled my return and also fielded a few calls while getting a new guitar on order for me. Find Xander if you go – he’s a real asset to the company.

I have to say that I really appreciate the store manager going the extra mile to follow-​up with me about my current review. I had left a ad review about an experience I had in their store. So he took time to message me and give me a call about the issues I had. I thought he handled it very well.

Yeah… don’t appreciate getting attitude from the reception guy up front when I’m trying to spend money… customers keep you in business… be nice.

I’ve passed by this place so many times because it happens to be right next door to my favorite store: Burlington Coat Factory, but I never had a reason to go in. A couple weeks ago, I was looking for a keyboard for my seven year old niece for Christmas and after visiting several places unsuccessfully, someone suggested «Guitar Center». Had it not been suggested to me, I never would’ve imagined they carried anything other than guitars. But they do people, they do! Of course their guitar selection is beautiful and impressive but they also have a super collection of keyboards and other instruments, books, sheet music, records and more!
I couldn’t find the exact keyboard I wanted to buy in the store. It was more of a simple, beginner’s keyboard (because she’s 7 and just learning to play) but the employee who helped me said that GW doesn’t really carry beginner instruments – more like intermediate and up. He suggested a keyboard they had in stock that was much more nicer than I had in mind and much higher in price. He said she could grow into it and have this same keyboard for years as opposed to having to switch over to a new keyboard once she outgrew the other one. Plus, the PRICE MATCH so he actually looked for a lower price for me on a competitior website and found one for me. and That made sense to me but I needed to think about it so I told him I’d come back later if I decided to go with it. He said, «no problem, I’ll be here all day.»
Sure enough, I came back only an hour later, ready to purchase. I looked for the employee who had originally helped me since he already knew what I wanted and had looked up the lower price for me and everything. Well, when I asked for him I was told he was on break. Ok, fine, so I just re-​explained everything to the employee standing in front of me but I couldn’t remember the site the other guy found and this employee wasn’t as accommodating and didn’t offer to search for me, so I did it myself. I found the price I was looking for and showed it to the employee. He then said that he would need a manager’s approval. Okay, no problem. He went to the front and called for a manager. No one came. A minute or two later, he called again. No one came. All this time I was awkwardly looking around the store, while my mom was waiting in the car mind you, and hoping I could get done in the next few minutes. Another employee came over a few minutes later and my guy asked him where all the managers were, to which he replied: «they’re probably all outside smoking again.»
Umm, 1) why are all the managers on break at the same time, «having a smoke?»
2) And maybe you don’t want to say that out loud while a customer’s waiting wanting to be helped.
Finally the employee called a supervisor or someone else and they authorized the sale. Before paying for the keyboard they tried to convince me to buy a «survival pack» filled with very useful sounding add-​ons like headphones, an adapter, software etc for an extra $ 35 OR they said, I could JUST buy the adapter (the keyboard didn’t already come with one). Since I was already spending more than I bargained for I opted to just buy the adapter. But, wouldn’t you know, they left to look for the charger but apparently didn’t have JUST the adapter for this particular model in stock so I ended up buying the survival pack anyway.
There was a Unilocal check in offer of 15% off and, although I already figured what the answer would be, I still asked anyway if I could combine the price match offer and the 15% off. The other employee, without even looking up from what he was doing, piped up with a very short «nope!» Okay, I figured. Still, it was kinda rude.
In the end, I was happy with the final product of the keyboard and in the end I was happy that I bought the survival pack. The store was beautiful inside and they seem to have a great selection but, the customer service could be improved a bit.

Although some of the guys there are not always the most customer service oriented… Angelo was probably the most helpful person I’ve run into anywhere. He let me play with a $ 500 brand new effects pod, taking it out of the box for me. (I bought it) then when I had a firmware issue, researched Roland, sent me links, and basically went above and beyond in every way. Thanks Angelo! Much appreciated!

I bought an older Macbook here because GC had the best price, but 1) The guy that sold it didn’t know how to run an AMEX card and had to separate the order. 2) I was told that I would receive a call when it was received at the store, and no one called me. 3) When I did come into the store to pick up the Macbook, it turns out the guy that did my initial order no longer worked there and didn’t even order my SSD that he charged me for!!! 4) The manager had to place another order and told me he’d give me a call about the order in an hour once he figured out what happened and how they could rectify it, he didn’t and asked «didn’t _​_​_​_​_​_​_​give you a call back?» I said «No, I have never heard from anyone». 5) So he said on the phone that the order was placed and would give me a call once he had some information on when the order would be received… you guessed it guys, Nothing/​NADA/​Zilch! No call after 2 days. I will call back again to see where my SSD is. You know, the only reason I go to GC is because it is the closest music store to me, but I tend to try to stay out of it because of the incompetence. You often get the wrong advice in stores like GC anyway and like Jeff T. said in a comment earlier YOU MUST, I REPEAT MUST! do your own research before you walk into a store like this, because they hire any old «joe» off the street who may or may not have a comprehensive knowledge on what your particular situation may be. I ONLY go into stores like this when I know EXACTLY what I want and have done all my back end research so I can get in and get out.

Look, I’ve done over $ 2K worth of biz with this store and there are some nice guys working there. But they are all fundamentally hostage to a corporate framework that is not exactly consumer friendly. Case in point, the constant up-​sell on the warranties. I’ve repeatedly had guys try to sell me a warranty on a used BOSS stompbox that EVERYONE knows is gonna be functionally indestructible. Not cool.
Worse, the hidden manufacturer incentives that have salesmen steering buyers to certain gear that might not necessarily be the best fit for them. I’ve seen it over and over again.
Bottomline, you need to educate yourself about prices and options before you set foot in one of these stores — or any musical instrument store, really. Think of it as going to buy a car. And no, you don’t want the undercoating.

I travel a lot and have visited many Guitar Center locations. This is certainly one of the best locations I have been to in a while. The store is in it’s own building and not squeezed into a strip mall, which means lots of parking, which also means the interior is not cramped. Plenty of floor space. The staff are friendly and helpful, but not pushy. I took some older amplifiers in to trade-​in for store credit to buy a new keyboard. The lady at the front desk greeted me warmly, and when I explained what I needed to do, she called someone up to assist me. It ended up being the department manager, Wilson, who assisted me with the rest of my transaction. I feel like a got a fair price for my used equipment. It was a wonderful experience and I left the store feeling very good about my new purchase, which is how I prefer to feel when leaving any music store.
Great Job!!!

One of my guilty pleasures. I spend hours here on Saturdays and Sundays shopping for keyboards. The salesteam don’t hound you and let you take your time, trying out different instruments, but will answer any questions that you may have without making you feel silly.