Guitar Center nightmare

agent8

Member
After looking for what seems to have been forever, I finally found the drum set for me. Guitar Center had a Pearl Masters in their used section but it was clear across the country. I called my semi-local store (over an hour away) and they said I could trade my pearl export in and they would help me out with the price and have the masters shipped to my house in no time. So I drive my kit down to guitar center and trade mine in and got almost nothing for it and I ordered the masters. I couldn't wait. $650 for a 6 piece Pearl Masters in very good condition! Seemed to good to be true....

and around a week later and it seemed that was exactly the case....

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Every single piece in the kit had scratches and gouges down to the wood, pitting on all the lugs and rust as well. Needless to say, I called my G.C. and told them what happened and they proceeded to tell me that they couldn't take it back because they would not be able to sell it in that condition. I called the G.C. where I bought it from and put on my unhappy voice and spoke to a manager. Finally they talked to each other and said I could take it back.

so after driving over an hour, I haul in this train wreck and was told things like "Wow, that is in horrible condition, we aren't even allowed to buy equipment in that shape let alone sell it that way." I was kinda expecting a discount on something or even a pair of sticks for all the gas I wasted driving down there. I was giving an apology and then I was told that there was so "good news"... The good news was that I would get my shipping refunded... Wait... I get sent this pile of crap and have to drive it down from here and I am supposed to be happy about not paying for something that wasn't my fault?

The worst part of this story is that I log into see what other "deals" they may have and sure enough, they listed the same drum set for the same price and still in "great condition". I must have whined enough to corporate because today they at least changed the condition as "Used".

http://www.guitarcenter.com/In-Stor...MERALD-GREEN-FINISH-6PC-108036422-i2673020.gc

I saw the Guitar Center Banner on the top of these forums and it had a little picture of a kid playing some drums. I felt compelled to save that kid and some of you older "kids" the heart ache of going through what I have been through. I should have known as this was not my first or second or even third bad experience with them. Buyer beware...
 
Wow..... That thing has been more than used - it's been abused....

I never buy used unless I can see it first myself in person to inspect it or get it from a reputable place I trust like Maxwells...

Ouch.....
 
WOW!!! THis is why I will never buy a kit (used or new) that I haven't played. But how did they sound?
 
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Even changing the description to "used" is misleading IMO. "Serious cosmetic damage" would be a generous description. Also, once you see corrosion on a kit of that age, you should question how it's been stored too. A retail environment is not the place to be selling something that's effectively a project.
 
Thanks for the story and the heads up. Yeah, putting that thing back up for sale at the same price is really bad business. Especially after they agreed with you on the condition.
 
They didn't even really sound all that great to me ether. I would have much rather played them first but they were just too far away. I was told that even if I had them shipped to the closest guitar center, I would be charged shipping even if I didn't keep them. If I was out shipping and over an hour (one way) of gas all in one go, I think I would have rage-punched some guitars.
I even told them when I ordered it that I didn't want to do economy shipping because the next best shipping was only a few bucks more and it would arrive much sooner. But they did economy anyways, so it took quite a while to get it. They were actually very well packed but you could image my frustration when I opened the first box and seen the beat up tom. I kept thinking that maybe the kick would be ok but it was probably the worst. It was missing a mount as well and my wife just said " just take it back and be patient".

I haven't been able to play drums in like 2 months now. I ordered a new pdp concept for a steal of a price (not gc thats for sure) but it is back ordered for 3 weeks. I guess I may have to get a bucket out of frustration and bang on that. LOL
 
After looking for what seems to have been forever, I finally found the drum set for me. Guitar Center had a Pearl Masters in their used section but it was clear across the country. I called my semi-local store (over an hour away) and they said I could trade my pearl export in and they would help me out with the price and have the masters shipped to my house in no time. So I drive my kit down to guitar center and trade mine in and got almost nothing for it and I ordered the masters. I couldn't wait. $650 for a 6 piece Pearl Masters in very good condition! Seemed to good to be true....

and around a week later and it seemed that was exactly the case....

Every single piece in the kit had scratches and gouges down to the wood, pitting on all the lugs and rust as well. Needless to say, I called my G.C. and told them what happened and they proceeded to tell me that they couldn't take it back because they would not be able to sell it in that condition. I called the G.C. where I bought it from and put on my unhappy voice and spoke to a manager. Finally they talked to each other and said I could take it back.

so after driving over an hour, I haul in this train wreck and was told things like "Wow, that is in horrible condition, we aren't even allowed to buy equipment in that shape let alone sell it that way." I was kinda expecting a discount on something or even a pair of sticks for all the gas I wasted driving down there. I was giving an apology and then I was told that there was so "good news"... The good news was that I would get my shipping refunded... Wait... I get sent this pile of crap and have to drive it down from here and I am supposed to be happy about not paying for something that wasn't my fault?

The worst part of this story is that I log into see what other "deals" they may have and sure enough, they listed the same drum set for the same price and still in "great condition". I must have whined enough to corporate because today they at least changed the condition as "Used".

http://www.guitarcenter.com/In-Stor...MERALD-GREEN-FINISH-6PC-108036422-i2673020.gc

I saw the Guitar Center Banner on the top of these forums and it had a little picture of a kid playing some drums. I felt compelled to save that kid and some of you older "kids" the heart ache of going through what I have been through. I should have known as this was not my first or second or even third bad experience with them. Buyer beware...

Mindblowingly bad way to treat someone, but merchants do this because people trust them. In the future, I'd get photos of any used set before buying. If it's new, it's expected to be in pristine condition but if it's used, anything goes.
 
so did you get your exports back or did you have to take the loss on them too cause we all know gc gives about 20% for trade in
 
Rule one before ordering used from GC, contact the remote store and ask the condition.

I ask for pics too. And I let them know that because it's used, I'm not expecting perfection, but I'd like pics of any defects or damage.
So far, they've sent pics every time.
 
My band practices at a local high school where our bass player is the band director. The kids there can trash a drum set faster than I ever thought possible, but even they haven't trashed a set like those. Those look like they fell out of the back of a moving vehicle without cases. I think a call to the BBB is in order. Those should be sold for salvage value and advertised as "damaged". As Andy pointed out, these should never be advertised as "used". If you were buying a "used" car, would you expect that to mean that it had numerous dents, scratches, and missing paint?

I'm really sorry man. I hope you get a nice pdp set you can enjoy. Good luck.
 
I was kinda expecting a discount on something or even a pair of sticks for all the gas I wasted driving down there. I was givan an apology and then I was told that there was so "good news"...

Reminds me of a Futurama episode where Hermes''s son Dwight broke a customer's window on his paper run and Hermes says asks him what the best course of action is.

Dwight answers "Pay for it?" and Hermes laughs and says "Heavens no! We go down there are offer Mr Blob a nice, cheap apology".
 
I must be the lucky one. I have bought several items through GC and have never had a problem. If I wasn't satisified with something that I ordered from a store in a different state I would just take it to my nearest CG store and return it, no problems. I was charged for shipping on different occasions but I felt that was alot better than being stuck with something I didn't want. I would always ask beforehand if I wasn't satisified I do have the right to return. I always let it be known that I expect the item to be in the condition that was described. Like I said I have been very lucky and have returned snare drums and drum sets but most of the merchandise I have been very happy with and kept it for a while then sold it later. John
 
I did ask for pictures and what I got was 2 tiny blurry pictures of 1 tom from some sales persons cell phone. That was after I sent a proper email from the product page and got nothing for a week. That should have been a warning sign but oh well. My pdp set came last night to my surprise so in the end, I'm happy.
 
The real kicker in all of this is who is the idiot that owned that kit first, and let it get messed up like that? Talk about not respecting your gear. I know it may be snare rash on the tom but even the bass hoop looks horrible. like they yanked off the pedeal each time without loosening it first. Thats not a cheap bang around kit, why would you let it get that way?
 
Apart from all the coordination required to deal with the drums, the problem as usual boils down to the GC employees behind the counter. They're largely clueless and unconcerned with customer care, and some are just thoroughly clueless. Sounds like the ones who 1) took that kit in the first place, and 2) represented it as "very good condition" fall into the latter.

The bigger problem is that condition is subjective, and GC hasn't enforced any policies regarding used gear. It's hard to believe that anyone could consider those drums to be fair condition or better, but GC has at least one on the payroll.

Agent8, I think it's important to let people know which store this was, so we can exercise caution if buying used gear from there.

Bermuda
 
I think we all have to be careful how we support these huge faceless drum stores that just want to make money. Pretty soon there will be no stores that will give a crap about the product, but just what they can make from it. All of my drums have been purchased from small stores where I can deal directly with the owner, or man in charge. I don't do we'll being told what's what by some person with no authority to make decisions.
 
The store that had them originally was in Virgina Beach and the store that re-listed them and where I had to return them was San Bernardino, California. I have a bunch of pictures I took and I tried to upload them to the Guitar Center page where it is being sold where it lets you "share your photos" but it won't let me. There is an option to upload a youtube video also but I haven't tried it yet.
 
I think the best way to attack stores like this is with our wallets. I am not advocating spending more money than we need to at smaller stores. The stores I deal with are the ones that will at least try and match the prices of the big box stores, and are generally honest with me about how much they are making on a product. I dealt with a successful Independant store for 30 years up here in Canada. When I realized that he was not changing his pricing to match the times, and even after I confronted him on it, would not, I stopped dealing with him.
 
I did ask for pictures and what I got was 2 tiny blurry pictures of 1 tom from some sales persons cell phone. That was after I sent a proper email from the product page and got nothing for a week. That should have been a warning sign but oh well. My pdp set came last night to my surprise so in the end, I'm happy.

I've looked at some of GC's used stuff and the pictures and descriptions usually fall into this catagory> Blurry photo/no or little description.

agent8, glad you got your PDP's. To bad about the Pearl kit. That kit is jacked up for sure.
 
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