Cookies on BBB.org

We use cookies to give users the best content and online experience. By clicking “Accept All Cookies”, you agree to allow us to use all cookies. Visit our Privacy Policy to learn more.

Manage Cookies
Share
Business Profile

Music Instrument Store

Guitar Center, Inc.

Reviews

This profile includes reviews for Guitar Center, Inc.'s headquarters and its corporate-owned locations. To view all corporate locations, see

Find a Location

Guitar Center, Inc. has 155 locations, listed below.

*This company may be headquartered in or have additional locations in another country. Please click on the country abbreviation in the search box below to change to a different country location.

    Country
    Please enter a valid location.

    Customer Review Ratings

    1.02/5 stars

    Average of 43 Customer Reviews

    Want to share your experience?

    Leave a Review

    Review Details

    • Review fromAshwin S

      Date: 02/14/2023

      1 star
      Garbage company. They keep calling about some outstanding bill, won't say what it is for over the phone, and expect me to pay it. They have never sent a physical bill in the mail. When I go to the store to enquire, they have no record of there being any outstanding payments under my name. Sounds like the stunt a a typical scam company would pull.
    • Review fromNicholas W

      Date: 02/12/2023

      1 star

      Nicholas W

      Date: 02/12/2023

      Unfortunately I'm unable to leave zero stars. After ordering merchandise online from GuitarCenter dot com on Jan 24 2023, I have been flooded with solicitation emails despite having unsibscribed three times. In addition, to use the "unsubscribe" link in the recieved emails the reciever is required to create an account with GuitarCenter, or email them at service@guitarcenter dot com. That is in no way a user friendly or simple process. I sent an email on Jan 27 to the email address provided to request to be unsuscribed from future marketing emails. After my request was sent I recieved seven emails in four days. I again sent an email request on Jan 31, after which I recieved nineteen more emails in a ten day period. I then called GuitarCenter on Feb 10 and reached Wyatt in customer service. I requested that Wyatt remove me from any and all GuitarCenter email lists, and Wyatt confirmed that it had been done. Since the Feb 10 request I have recieved four more marketing emails. Their practice is at least unethical if not a violation of the CAN-SPAM act.
      I have filed an FTC compliant concerning Guitar Center's practices.

      Guitar Center, Inc.

      Date: 02/21/2023

      Hi N*******,
      I am sorry to hear you are still getting unwanted emails. Can you forward your most recent email that you received over to us at [email protected] so we can see what it is you are getting so that we may put a stop to them for you.
      I am sorry for the frustration, I will try to help you resolve this.
      Thank you.
    • Review fromkirk b

      Date: 01/24/2023

      1 star

      kirk b

      Date: 01/24/2023

      guitar center sucks..waited for several months to receive a guitar that I was repeatedly called and emailed that it would be here next and then again next week and the in 2 weeks..come to find out they had no clue as to an arrival date outcome canceled guitar bought one from a different business..now I order a guitar on sat 1/21/2023 and mon 1/23/2023 I check UPS site still indicates label created..call to see if its been shipped..***** doesnt know,,So I say hey ***** dont you guys work on the weekend? *****  Yes..so you couldnt put guitar in box for shipping? moron ..well yes..where is it?? ***** ..I DONT KNOW!!!

      Guitar Center, Inc.

      Date: 01/27/2023

      Hey K***,
      I am sorry to hear the frustration you were going through. I looked up your order and saw that you received it on Wednesday January 25th. And they gave you 2nd day shipping on it to make sure you got it quicker.
      If you have any other questions or concerns, feel free to email us at [email protected] and we will gladly assist you.
      Thank you.
    • Review fromJoseph T

      Date: 01/17/2023

      1 star

      Joseph T

      Date: 01/17/2023

      I made a purchase online for in store pickup on Tuesday Jan 10th and when I arrived at the store it took forever to get help after I had already received the message that my order was ready for pickup. The customer service was awful and he just threw my speakers around. So I went back on Friday Jan 13th to purchase items in the store and didn’t receive help for about 45 minutes. I was going to give them another chance thinking maybe I would get better customer service than Tuesday. So I finally got someone to help me and I ask for a manager are someone above the guy that was going to help me because he no knowledge of the products I wanted to purchase. Well I ask for a discount since I was buying so much and because had spoke to Guitar Center customer service over the phone and they said the would give me 300 bucks of my purchase since I was spending about 2300 bucks and this don’t include the 871.00 I spent on Tuesday so I have spent a total of 3171.00 with the two trips at Guitar Center store. He didn’t want to give me a discount and he finally gave me a 10% discount on one item not the total purchase. So on Sunday Jan 15th I decided to take the backs and get a refund and just by online so I could get a better discount and better customer service but the same guy was there that I delt with Friday. The two items I purchased on line for instore pickup he gave me a refund for that back to my debit car but the purchase I made on Friday he would only give me a instore credit and so I had to make the another instore purchase on different items. There was a 45 day return policy and the items had not even been used. I also asked since I’m being forced to buy other items instore can I get a 10% discount and he got mad and said no and I said yes I deserve that much for the trouble you have put me through. So he only gave me 10% discount on one item instead of the total price so I was cheated out of about 180 bucks . This is worst store and customer service there is.

      Guitar Center, Inc.

      Date: 01/27/2023

      Hello J*****,
      We apologize to hear that you had such a frustrating experience. If you have any more details or feedback regarding your recent experience, please email us at [email protected]. We would be glad to address your comments with the management team of the Huntsville store and get you taken care of. Your feedback is crucial in helping us improve our services for you and our other customers, as always, let us know if there is anything else we can do.
      Thank you
    • Review fromNathan R

      Date: 01/08/2023

      1 star

      Nathan R

      Date: 01/08/2023

      I ordered a used guitar online last Friday. Said guitar was listed as being in excellent condition. They sent me a cancellation email an hour later... No reason, just cancelled. I called them and was told that the guitar I ordered was actually broken, and they upsold me a brand new one. I asked specifically, and was told that the guitar was in stock and it would ship in a few days. I just got an email that said "Psych! It's actually backordered... Sorry about your bad luck!" Very, very deceptive business practices, on par with back alley Chinese companies and bordering on fraud.

      Guitar Center, Inc.

      Date: 01/27/2023

      N*****,
      First let me thank you for taking the time to write a review. We like to hear about all experiences at the store, good or bad, as it only helps us to improve. I am sorry to hear your order got cancelled without explanation. We would like to take care so we can get this situation resolved for you. Please email your complaint to [email protected] with your preferred contact information and we will follow up with you.
      It is important to know, we appreciate you and value you as a customer. Let us know if there is anything else we can do for you. Thanks!
    • Review fromDerin D

      Date: 11/27/2022

      1 star
      Last Friday afternoon, I bought a used Fender Stratocaster from guitarcenter.com. On next Monday of my purchase, I recieved an email about the verification of my credit card transaction and they told me to call my bank whether everything is alright or not (there was no problem with my credit card at all). After a few hour of verification, my order's status has changed to 'backordered'. Then I called the store which they had the used gear, and the guy said we sold it in store on Saturday and the stocking manager works on weekdays that's why they did not update the stocks. Since they did not update it, they didn't leave any note on the guitar to prevent in-store customers to buy it. The thing is I BOUGHT the gear before the in-store customer. After that I called the guitar center customer service, they told me that your gear is sold because your credit card transaction was processing and so the order since it was out of working hours. And I cancelled my order later that day. Hey guitar center web site developers. if you are reading this, fix that bug on your website. the online orders that require verification does not mean that the order will be cancelled! My message to customers who will buy used gear from guitar center is: Please buy the used gear in-person, not online! they don't care whether you buy it before or after the in-person customer.
    • Review fromMr. S

      Date: 11/01/2022

      1 star
      Like many others, based on the reviews, I placed an online order that was listed as in stock, only to find that the item was backordered. If the item was listed as out of stock originally, I would have ordered something else and guitar center would not have lost a customer. I do not know what encourages music stores of all stripes to advertise things they are not able to sell.
    • Review fromAndrew A

      Date: 09/30/2022

      1 star
      This regards store 735 in Charleston SC. I browsed and demoed a guitar only to have an afro-headed employee tell me to turn my volume down, even though mine was at 2 out of 10; not to mention the group of 4 gentlemen (half of which were black [I’m white]) were hitting (literally) a bass and their volume was so loud I couldn’t even hear what I was trying to do in my head. These cats did not get told to turn their volume down, but I did. I called corporate and was told not to worry. The “person” that finally reached out uses they/them “pronouns.” I will NEVER shop at Guitar Center again and implore you as a reader to boycott them. It’s no wonder these people are in bankruptcy for the 100th or so time in 30 years. Stop supporting wokeism.
    • Review fromKaron W

      Date: 08/30/2022

      1 star
      The Guitar Center in **** *****s Ave #140, North Charleston, SC 29406 is terrible. The Guitar Center Online is also terrible. What I also hate most is when weird, awkward customers and even the employees would focus on gossiping versus assisting their customers.
      When I arrived to the store, it was bit of a hot mess. The products they sell do not look like they’ve been taken cared of to be sold to customers, and, apparently from what I saw on Google Map reviews, the district manager here is RUDE to customers yet WON’T DISCIPLINE THEIR LAZY EMPLOYEES.
      I will be pushing this up to the CEO and whoever at top because their stores had the audacity to sell me a busted up white Yamaha HS5. It should be ILLEGAL to give customers such disappointing experiences after paying their hard earned money no matter where you go.
    • Review fromJeff Y

      Date: 08/05/2022

      1 star
      This is regarding the northridge,ca store. So I booked drum lessons for a certain day now they come around saying we need to reschedule. How is it my fault if they double booked. I booked this online at the time slot that was good. This employee named Makenna Kamrad is very unprofessional.

    BBB Business Profiles may not be reproduced for sales or promotional purposes.

    BBB Business Profiles are provided solely to assist you in exercising your own best judgment. BBB asks third parties who publish complaints, reviews and/or responses on this website to affirm that the information provided is accurate. However, BBB does not verify the accuracy of information provided by third parties, and does not guarantee the accuracy of any information in Business Profiles.

    When considering complaint information, please take into account the company's size and volume of transactions, and understand that the nature of complaints and a firm's responses to them are often more important than the number of complaints.

    BBB Business Profiles generally cover a three-year reporting period, except for customer reviews. Customer reviews posted prior to July 5, 2024, will no longer be published when they reach three years from their submission date. Customer reviews posted on/after July 5, 2024, will be published indefinitely unless otherwise voluntarily retracted by the user who submitted the content, or BBB no longer believes the review is authentic. BBB Business Profiles are subject to change at any time. If you choose to do business with this company, please let them know that you checked their record with BBB.

    As a matter of policy, BBB does not endorse any product, service or business. Businesses are under no obligation to seek BBB accreditation, and some businesses are not accredited because they have not sought BBB accreditation. BBB charges a fee for BBB Accreditation. This fee supports BBB's efforts to fulfill its mission of advancing marketplace trust.