Times is hard...bad experience!!

[$ongWriter]

I don't like posting things like this...but it NEEDS TO BE POSTED...Had a horrible experience this week at a MAJOR MAJOR guitar store. I purchased a Collings BRAND NEW about 3-4 months ago...(at this store).this guitar has never left my humidity controlled house. IT WAS/IS MINT!!....two weeks ago I purchased another guitar that was exactly the same and cheaper...but still a major brand...I literally could not tell the guitars apart...when I played them or when I listened to them...so...I decided to take a loss and sell the "new" guitar. Too good of a guitar to sit in the case...Took it back to the shop where I purchased it....they tried to charge me $75 for a set up and $75 for a non existent fix on a ding that they said they found....I flat out TOLD THEM NO!!!....I told them they could sell it for me....(and it took them 2 hours to figure out the price?...which is CRAZY!!)...but I would not pay them $150 because it DID NOT NEED ANYTHING....they finally said OK....we'll sell it as is....I should have left and taken it up the road where I normally go....I will not be back to this place....while I was there a guy came in 30 minutes after me....he needed to talk to the guy who was "helping" me...he walked around the store almost an hour and I told him "just warning you...I've been here 1&1/2 hours) he looked shocked...there was NO OTHER CUSTMOERS IN THE STORE!!..he left 10 minutes later....with the guitar he came in with....there were 4 other people working in this "famous" store at the time....shooting the breeze and looking at computers..SIMPLY A CRAZY EXPERIENCE......did not expect this from this place!!...this isn't the first time I've experienced the we'll take or sell you guitar but we gotta do work on it and charge you first at this place....I should have expected it....but that was years ago....

[The Bard Rocks]

I have greater sympathy for the lack of customer service than for your difficulties in getting a return or consignment - there's too much about that i don't know to form an opinion. But I have been in guitar shops (note it's plural), more than once and found the employees more interested in playing themselves or talking with each other than they were in assisting me. Once I even had an appointment (that set of shops is now out of business).

[scriv58]

We…feel…your…pain…

[Tahitijack]

You certainly have way more time and patience than me. I would have put the guitar back in it's case and headed up the road to that other place about 30 minutes into the ordeal you described.

[bsman]

This is the classic definition of the difference between, say Guitar Center, and Gryphon Stringed instruments in my neck of the woods.

[davenumber2]

Originally Posted by bsman

This is the classic definition of the difference between, say Guitar Center, and Gryphon Stringed instruments in my neck of the woods.

It doesn't sound like he's talking about Guitar Center.

[Street Glider]

Originally Posted by davenumber2

It doesn't sound like he's talking about Guitar Center.

Not at all.

Let's see... He lives near Nashville and it's a "MAJOR MAJOR guitar store".

The math's not difficult on this one...

[L20A]

We all have bad days.
When the buyer and the seller both have a bad day on the same day, the best thing to do is to go home and come back on another day.

[rmp]

For me,,, it would have been over at the mention of glocking me for a setup and a finish repair.

Considering it was the same guitar you just bought from these jokers, one would wonder,,, why didn't it need a setup then?

they seem like nothing more than Dirty Rotten Scoundrels!!!!!!!

[edcmat-l1]

It's not just guitar stores. People nowadays seem to be allergic to customer service. Heck most any big box store the employees walk around looking like they're afraid to make eye contact for fear they'll have to interact with you.

[sinistral]

Originally Posted by davenumber2

It doesn't sound like he's talking about Guitar Center.

Agreed. Guitar Center isn’t a Collings dealer, and the OP mentioned that this was a new Collings.

[Dotneck]

Originally Posted by sinistral

Agreed. Guitar Center isn’t a Collings dealer, and the OP mentioned that this was a new Collings.

I couldn’t tell from the original post if he tried to sell the Collings or the other major brand guitar.

[sinistral]

Originally Posted by Dotneck

I couldn’t tell from the original post if he tried to sell the Collings or the other major brand guitar.

You’re right that it’s unclear whether the OP decided to sell the Collings or guitar #2—and it’s also unclear whether the OP bought guitar #2 at the same shop where he purchased the Collings—but the way I read the post, the shop that the OP is disappointed with is the shop that sold him the Collings, which by definition would not be a Guitar Center. Perhaps the OP will chime back in to clarify.

[kcnbys]

Originally Posted by sinistral

You’re right that it’s unclear whether the OP decided to sell the Collings or guitar #2—and it’s also unclear whether the OP bought guitar #2 at the same shop where he purchased the Collings—but the way I read the post, the shop that the OP is disappointed with is the shop that sold him the Collings, which by definition would not be a Guitar Center. Perhaps the OP will chime back in to clarify.

I'm pretty sure the OP decided to keep the lesser expensive guitar, and return the Collings to the "famous" guitar store. This whole thing is terribly disappointing to hear, but if its the store I'm assuming it is, I've never been overwhelmed by friendliness in that place the several times I've been there.

[Fred]

I have heard other instances of a consignment shop requiring set-ups and other work to qualify...it's a profit center for their repair staff...whether the guitar needs help or not.