[RTFishUL]

Hello all. I joined sevenstring recently and I have so far loved the site. Everyone seems very helpful and very knowledgeable.

I've been using a basic seven string for about a year now and I've really liked it so I figured it was about time to upgrade. I have always admired the UV777bk, so I have decided to go that route I think.

But I am having an issue as a consumer that hopefully someone can give me some advice on.

I decided to order the guitar through my local Guitar Center so that I could try it out and play with it for awhile before I actually took it home. So I went into the store an placed an order for it. I know everyone who works in the store pretty well, so I talked with a few guys for awhile until someone said "Hey, while you're waiting for the UV to come in, why don't you take another guitar home just to mess around with in the meantime?"

Sure, so that's what I did. I paid for a different guitar and took it home aware of guitar center's 30 day return policy.

So two weeks pass and I have heard nothing for Guitar Center. I call them and ask them what happened to my order and they tell me they never ordered the guitar.

...problem number 1.

I ask them why and they say because I took the other one home. So I tell this guy who I wasn't familiar with my situation over the phone. He suddenly gets angry with me. He says I'm not allowed to "just take a guitar home to try out". I tell him I am completely aware of that, that would theft (duh). I paid for the thing, it is rightfully mine. We argue for awhile and eventually I tell him, ok, I will bring the guitar back in, get my refund and buy from someone else. He tells me he's been having a bad day.

:/ riiiight.

So through a long fiasco, they order it, and tell me it will be in within the next week. Good.

A week later I get a call. Let me tell you, I am excited as balls. I am absolutely in love with the UV and I haven't even played the thing yet. So I pick up the phone and my friend at guitar center tells me, "Good news! It shipped out today!"

...But you said it was supposed to be IN by today...

So he apologizes and says it will be a MAXIMUM of one more week.

That was last Friday, today is Thursday, tomorrow is their last day.

So now I am wondering sevenstring.org, what should I do?
What should I do if they call me tomorrow and it is in?
Or what should I do if they don't call me?

As a consumer, I feel like it's my duty to take this other guitar back in, demand a full refund, and tell them I will not be their customer anymore because of the poor service. But I hate to think that I'm going to have to go to someone else to order the guitar and have to sit through another long waiting period. It's maddening.

So what should I do? Should I put up with them? Or should I throw a raging fit in their store? ...or possibly something in between... any advice would be greatly appreciated, thank you in advance.

[Edroz]

Originally Posted by RTFishUL

As a consumer, I feel like it's my duty to take this other guitar back in, demand a full refund, and tell them I will not be their customer anymore because of the poor service.

that is exactly what you do .

there are plenty of reputable online music stores to buy a UVBK from, that have them in stock and will ship out to you in a few days. fuck GC.

i've gotten some good deals through the years with used equipment at GC, but i would NEVER have them order anything. i made that mistake once by ordering a bag of guitar picks that took over a month to get in .

[JerkyChid]

The final decision is yours but in the future, I would only deal with someone that treated me right.

[ibznorange]

I refuse to deal with GC (and generally avoid large retail companies of any sort when possible) because of the service. Theres a noticeable service drop as companies get larger, due yes, in part to just hiring shitheads, but also to the fact that there are so many processes going on to run things at that scale.

[Stealthtastic]

I dont like giving business to big stores like tom lee's and etc...thats why i use a local shop that somehow has the exact same pricing as internet stores and are super knowledgeable and and friendly, the guy even has a guitar signed by dimebag himself :|

[auxioluck]

It's not GC's employees' fault with time frame on orders. GC employees have no way to expedite shipping directly from vendors, as vendors are usually running thousands of orders at a time. Not to mention vendors are relatively vague when it comes to shipping times AND the shipping info GC gets is on an old system direct from their receiving site. Shipping dates show up as "Estimated Shipping Date." No exact date. Now, GC employees are not necessarily shitheads, but they get paid minimum wage, with a shitty commission system. So, employees that aren't paid a lot are going to be not the best at customer service. My local GC has a lot of good employees that are fantastic at customer service. But, it varies as I hear so often on forums. ANYWAY....

I would say wait for the UV, give it a shot. At least at GC, you aren't obligated to buy it if you try it out in the store. They have already ordered it, so just wait it out. And if they are dicks again, don't buy it. At least you got to try one in case you like it or don't. You will at least know, right?

[Pewtershmit]

Originally Posted by Stealthtastic

I dont like giving business to big stores like tom lee's and etc...thats why i use a local shop that somehow has the exact same pricing as internet stores and are super knowledgeable and and friendly, the guy even has a guitar signed by dimebag himself :|

lol tom lees a joke. what store do you go to? assuming your lowermainland, Act 1 music (formerly north west guitars or something) is pretty solid. and he's been matching the online prices fairly good too, even accounting for the low Us dollar.

the new Long and Mqcaude on terminal is also solid, cause they actually have like high end guitars. God I hate when every store caters to the low end guitars.


and to TS, my strategy for buying guitars, has always been try it out at the store, and buy online. alot less markup and alot less chances of your guitar being an ex-demo/floor guitar repackaged. Sure its a hassell to return it if its a dud, but whatevs

[OrsusMetal]

Originally Posted by auxioluck

It's not GC's employees' fault with time frame on orders. GC employees have no way to expedite shipping directly from vendors, as vendors are usually running thousands of orders at a time. Not to mention vendors are relatively vague when it comes to shipping times AND the shipping info GC gets is on an old system direct from their receiving site. Shipping dates show up as "Estimated Shipping Date." No exact date. Now, GC employees are not necessarily shitheads, but they get paid minimum wage, with a shitty commission system. So, employees that aren't paid a lot are going to be not the best at customer service. My local GC has a lot of good employees that are fantastic at customer service. But, it varies as I hear so often on forums. ANYWAY....

I would say wait for the UV, give it a shot. At least at GC, you aren't obligated to buy it if you try it out in the store. They have already ordered it, so just wait it out. And if they are dicks again, don't buy it. At least you got to try one in case you like it or don't. You will at least know, right?

I've never heard of a GC that lets you order something without putting money down on it. I used to work at GC abd we had to get at least a 50% deposit on anything when ordering something for someone. Or else it's lost money on the stores part if the person doesn't like it. I don't know of any store that will just order something to let you try it out. Not even GC.

God I'm glad I don't work there anymore!! The pay sucked and the people were horrible to work with. It was shitty. The reason it didn't come when they said it was going to was because they didn't order it, they forgot. They have all the information to let you know exactly if somethings in stock or if it's back ordered. And if it is in stock, it usually comes faster than what they tell you for arrive time.

My advice, if it shows up (in mint condition), go home with it and never shop with them again. If it doesn't show up, it probably won't or they'll make excuses as to why it hasn't, so order it someplace else. Almost everyplace will have it for the same price as GC.

[Stealthtastic]

Originally Posted by Pewtershmit

lol tom lees a joke. what store do you go to? assuming your lowermainland, Act 1 music (formerly north west guitars or something) is pretty solid. and he's been matching the online prices fairly good too, even accounting for the low Us dollar.

the new Long and Mqcaude on terminal is also solid, cause they actually have like high end guitars. God I hate when every store caters to the low end guitars.


and to TS, my strategy for buying guitars, has always been try it out at the store, and buy online. alot less markup and alot less chances of your guitar being an ex-demo/floor guitar repackaged. Sure its a hassell to return it if its a dud, but whatevs

The crappy one in downtown is horrendous, the Long n mquade is definatly great, i was there a few weeks ago trying out an Apex1 and a jackson soloist. The store im talking about is Westcoast guitars. The guys and n girls there are REALLY good about anything. Same with Not just another music store, although NJAMS does have a wierd selection.... also one time at westcoast guitars i was about to buy a guitar that was more expensive but the owner told me to forget it and to order a different one saying it had more value, he couldnt have been more correct, so that was dope. And now thats why they win my business..

[Xaios]

Figures. The downtown Long and Mcquade was the only guitar store I was able to get to last time I was in Vancouver.

I did notice that their selection was pretty crappy, their nicest guitar was a Brian Moore, but I did buy a couple books there.