Guitar Center -- selling floor model as a new guitar

[excuse me please]

Ok, it seems to be custom nowadays. Although a new product is supposed to be boxed.

But it's criminal. In a way

[Bombadil]

Some spring tanks are lockeable for transportation, the one in the AC-15 however is not, so I would guess it ships with other means of security fixation (styrofoam or so) and perhaps the guys at Thomann forgot to put it (or an adequate replacement) back in place before shipping (and after testing)? Did it arrive secured or unsecured? My bet would rather be on an honest mistake that should not, but can happen.

It was in its original packing, styrofoam, cardboard. The replacement was fine, but the hassle of getting it back to Thomann was annoying, and then they initially refused to give me the b-stock price for a new unit for my aggravation. I had to threaten to pull my custom, which has run into 5 figures very easily to get them to make good.

[jens]

Oh, I see - that is not so good then... still a different thing than selling b-stock as new, right (which I think is even illegal in Germany / EU ?)

edit: no, it's not, I just looked it up - the thing is that while there's not a clear definition of what "new" means, just checking out the product does not mean "using" it and that means it still can be sold as new. (That of course also includes breaking the original packaging.) There's e.g. been the case where a customer tried a waterbed for three days/nights and a court ruled that the seller had to take it back because the customer only tried it rather than actually using it.

[kelldammit]

I got fed up with them in-store. I would call ahead, asking if they had something new in stock. They'd say yes. I'd ask to comfirm eyes on that it was not a return or repair. They would do so. I would tell them that i had to drive an hour to pick it up. If it was not new, i would not leave the store with anything at all.

So i'd show up after the hour drive to find that "new" meant return/repair. So after a few times leaving with nothing, i simply quit using GC at all.

[igneous]

Just happened to me. I demoed a Moog Matriarch on Saturday at a local guitar center, bought it on their website the next day and came in to the same store to pick it up.

The floor demo was gone when I came in… i was suspicious. I asked if they just gave me the floor demo and sold it as new. They said ‘no’. Come home, unbox…. it’s the floor demo, complete with bits of grime, markings, and scratches.

I want to support physical stores. because honestly they provide a great service for demoing and same day service for gigs. but this is unacceptable, and hearing these stories shows that it is a systemic issue. shame, guitar center.

[MuzikFreq]

I'd just use GC as a reference window shop. Go online to sweetwater or such and order an actual new one.

[elxsound]

Just happened to me. I demoed a Moog Matriarch on Saturday at a local guitar center, bought it on their website the next day and came in to the same store to pick it up.

The floor demo was gone when I came in… i was suspicious. I asked if they just gave me the floor demo and sold it as new. They said ‘no’. Come home, unbox…. it’s the floor demo, complete with bits of grime, markings, and scratches.

I want to support physical stores. because honestly they provide a great service for demoing and same day service for gigs. but this is unacceptable, and hearing these stories shows that it is a systemic issue. shame, guitar center.

I’d be pissed off!

I don’t always know if it’s systemic or just laziness from new hires. Either way it’s made me a Sweetwater customer among Perfect Circuit and many other physical stores around the globe.

Before Guitar Center, there used to be more mom and pop music stores. GC pushed them out. It was the same with Blockbuster and video rental places. I’m just saying I don’t always feel bad that it’s these types of physical stores that I no longer can support.

[Rajiv]

I'd just use GC as a reference window shop. Go online to sweetwater or such and order an actual new one.

Glad to see that my GC complain-post is still being kept alive.

So I did just this... returned the Schecter to GC and bought it from Sweetwater. They hype their guitar check-up service, sent me photos of the guitar, and even called me on the phone. The guitar arrived in a new box with all the parts inside. I open it up, it's a beautiful instrument, but the G-string from frets 5-10 buzzes. The next part is on me -- life got busy in other ways, and I didn't call for support. There's probably an easy fix, but any fixes is not what I was expecting -- maybe something happened in the transport. Or maybe they don't really set up the guitars.

Going to the store and trying the instrument you are going to buy is probably the best option. But the stores around me don't sell Schecters!

Anyways, it's a beautiful instrument that sounds way better than I deserve. I probably just need to raise the action on that string or something simple.

[elxsound]

I'd just use GC as a reference window shop. Go online to sweetwater or such and order an actual new one.

Glad to see that my GC complain-post is still being kept alive.

So I did just this... returned the Schecter to GC and bought it from Sweetwater. They hype their guitar check-up service, sent me photos of the guitar, and even called me on the phone. The guitar arrived in a new box with all the parts inside. I open it up, it's a beautiful instrument, but the G-string from frets 5-10 buzzes. The next part is on me -- life got busy in other ways, and I didn't call for support. There's probably an easy fix, but any fixes is not what I was expecting -- maybe something happened in the transport. Or maybe they don't really set up the guitars.

Going to the store and trying the instrument you are going to buy is probably the best option. But the stores around me don't sell Schecters!

Anyways, it's a beautiful instrument that sounds way better than I deserve. I probably just need to raise the action on that string or something simple.

Any Luthiers in your area?

When the missus got me my Les Paul from Sweetwater there was an option to use their own Luthier. I don't remember the price, but I don't think it was much. I don't know if that's an option on all of the their guitars but we didn't use it and I got lucky because I have no complaints about this guitar. It's still far better than I can play it, but at some point, after I improve some more I do plan on taking it to make sure it's set up well.

[Rajiv]

Yes... of course... that's exactly what I need to do. I'm lazy, and with enough distortion and volume, the impact is not so bad (and, tbh, I bought that particular guitar for it's sound with distortion and volume).

Hey -- here's a great business idea if you live in the greater Southern California area -- a travelling Luthier. Show up in your van and fix the guitars right there! That would be a great service.

[zerocrossing]

I'm probably just blowing off steam here... there's nothing I can do about this, and it's really more of an inconvenience than anything else.

I bought on guitarcenter.com an expensive guitar -- a $1,400 Schecter. It's a new guitar -- the website says new, and the receipt says new. My daughter unboxes it and notices that there are indelible scratches on the back plate covering the electronics and some strange residue under the volume knobs. It didn't come in a factory box. It's clearly not a new guitar.

So I called customer service. The customer service rep confirmed that the guitar was a floor model, not new, and said I should return it to my local GC. Which I found irritating. So I wrote a polite, respectful missive to GC customer service. Basically, you advertised a new guitar, but sent me a used one in the hopes I wouldn't notice. Then, when I did, you inconvenienced me. Now I have to drive to the GC to return it. At a minimum, I said, you send me a pick-up label and have Fed-Ex come get it. Or offer me a discount that might be worth my while. Or let me keep it until you get a new one, then we can exchange. But the response was - take it to the store to return it.

It's not the end of the world, but it is super-frustrating. I have bought a lot of gear from the Guitar Center over the years. But not any more. For that much money, it's not reasonable to bait and switch. My guess is that I am going to return it, and they will turn around and sell it as a new guitar to some other rube, hoping that he/she doesn't notice or care.

Thanks for listening to my first-world problems. Sweetwater, you have a new customer.

They definitely should have put the floor model status in the ad, but unless the blemishes are super bad or noticeable and the residue can’t easily be taken off (which they really should have done before they shipped it), I’d keep it if I liked it. Save yourself the trouble of returning it. Personally, I always buy the floor model on a guitar, or a used one, because I want to make sure the guitar that I like is the way I like it, and I’ve seen variation between units.

[trusampler]

Guitar Centers are definitely selling open box, floor model units that have been touched by hundreds of hands, as new in my local store. They don’t even discount the items.

Not sure how they can legally or better yet with good conscious do it, but they are definitely doing it.

[Bombadil]

One of the local shops here has damaged stock on its hangers, and don't blink twice when you point out a problem: regular price. Last guitar I bought from them was 2012.

[mountainmaster]

My experience is the exact opposite. If I try out a guitar in a local shop and decide to buy it, I expect to leave the store with exactly that instrument and not some boxed copy from their stock room. Each guitar is different and that copy may not have the same sound and feel as the guitar I just tested.

Many shops however would refuse to sell me the floor model I picked.

[BertKoor]

With guitars indeed I want the one I just tested and I'd take no other.

However the discussion shifted to other electronic gear, and ppl expect to open the factory sealed box at home.

With the low volumes sold by brick&mortar shops I understand how it is now. I personally have no problem with items that were on display, as long as these are truely undamaged.

And if you've ordered something online you were instrumental in that change.