stuck it to GC and a good deal on monitors

T

TheSphincts

Member
I need a set of studio monitors . I've narrowed it down to 2 or 3 different pairs , the Yamaha HS80m's being one (@ $349.99 each).
I stumbled across this last night Yamaha HS80M Powered Speaker: Music Instruments & Karaoke : Walmart.com
$219.99 each ? , that made up my mind . But it sounds too good to be true , I just knew if I ordered those from wal mart I would get an email in a few hours saying there is a problem with my order (not available , out of stock ...)
Then I remembered Guitar Center price matching. Went Today ,carried 2 HS80m's to the counter and pointed the salesman to the wal mart site. He printed it up , went to the manager , came back and said "we can't do it" .
Why ? because I would have to wait for wal mart to ship it to me and so they count that as not in stock .
I went to the manager , He said no way .
I got angry , raised my voice , and started being an asshole. Just then another manager (with a thick Irish accent) jumped out of the office and said "It's not our policy , but we will do it for you today sir". told the salesman to ring it up , then made the other manager come and approve it .
So I saved almost $300 bucks , thank you wal mart ,screw you guitar center.

TheSphincts
 
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They'll certainly be looking forward to seeing you again!
 
Not trying to be a total dick or anything, but maybe I can add some insight here as to why the situation was handled as it was. I am a manager at Guitar Center myself, and I can tell you right now what the cost on a pair of Yamaha HS80M's are... I get everything Guitar Center can get for the base cost of the item. Through my employment I can get them even cheaper from the vendor directly. And $219.99 is just a hair above what Guitar Center pays for them in the first place. Walmart is a huge company, and studio monitors are not their business of choice. They were getting rid of them at literally bottom dollar, just to move them. The price matching guarantee doesn't cover anything that is being "blown" out. It is in the fine print. After the shipping to get them to the distribution center, and then to the store itself, the cost of the item goes up. so you got that pair for just at or below cost. They just didn't want to have to deal with an enraged customer in this case and gave you the deal. I hope this makes sense of why it happened the way it did. I am not necessarily PRO Guitar Center, because I work there... haha. Working somewhere will make you hate it, regardless of what it is at times. But yeah.. It's not a good business model to sell something at no profit. Not to mention the paid by commission salesman made nothing at all to take the time to deal with a very angry person, and possibly miss out on a sale that could have made him something. (They are paid pretty poorly). The allure of the discount keeps them steadily employed, by itself, I assure you.
 
Just checked. These ship to your home for free at 219.99 each from Wal-mart. No sale or anything... Who'd a thunk it?
 
willowdale said:
The customer is always right! Good job!!
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That's one of the biggest falsehoods, often they are wrong especially corporate customers who waste millions on failed projects whilst avoiding spending less on needed work.

The customer is always right probably started with something along the lines of if the customer wants a grey suit even though blue would suit him better he can have that choice, not that a business has to sell stock at a loss.
 
The salesmen should have informed the customer about the fine print (as the manager had done) and then politely declined the sale angry customer or not. I'm not a huge fan of GC ether but to force an unfair advantage just to say you got a deal that stuck it to another retailer doesn't make it ethical, sorry but fair is fair.
 
Those tricks tend to work best when the store is busy and they do not want a scene. On a Tuesday at 10am they'd tell you to get lost.
 
Guitar Center is certainly far from perfect -- no question that there are plenty of legit stories of poor service. But I've also had experiences there that have been great. They carry a pretty good selection of gear ranging from entry level to high end. They don't always have the best sticker prices, but they do have among the most liberal price matching policies I've seen from any B&M store in any industry (namely, they'll match authorized internet dealers). And sometimes they actually do have prices that equal or beat the best prices you'll see online. They have a great return policy. They'll let you sit there for hours and try different stuff out.

I just don't get the desire to "stick it" to them and try and help push them out of business. Online is great for some things, and there is something nice about getting a guitar fresh out of the box that hasn't been touched -- if you know exactly what you want going in. But trying stuff out in person is still really nice. And while there are great local shops out there, prices are often not as good, and frankly, there are local stores out there that have a far, far worse attitude than anything you'll see at GC. Not the majority of course -- most really do focus on service. But I'm not convinced that the majority of GC stores are bad either. I've had some bad experiences there, but I've had more good experiences at the various stores in Chicago and St. Louis over the years.

If GC vanishes, brands like Fender, PRS, Gibson, and many others will lose a huge piece of their dealer network. There's even speculation that a GC failure could take Fender down with them (admittedly, that's largely Fender's fault for letting themselves get into that situation). In many smaller markets, some of those brands will no longer be available locally at all. I'm not saying you shouldn't try to get the best deal you can out of them -- I do that myself. I just don't like the attitude of "thank you wal mart ,screw you guitar center." You're thanking the company that you DIDN'T support, and saying screw you to the company that DID bend over backwards and probably took a loss to give you what you want.
 
luke said:
Those tricks tend to work best when the store is busy and they do not want a scene. On a Tuesday at 10am they'd tell you to get lost.
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This. ^

When you raise a stink in front of a lot of customers, the store will sometimes take the hit and give you your way. They don't want you smelling up the place, so they get rid of you as quickly as possible.

I'm glad you got a good price. Not so glad about the people you jacked to get it.
 
Amazing that some of you "pat him on his back? I guess we should all hope that FAS doesn't bum you guys out anytime soon or you'll be torpedoing them.

BTW: You can have them delivered the NEXT DAY, tops 2 to your local walmart-so why scam anyone? Free shipping also.
 
That's a good deal you got there dude!! Everybody involved were adults & nobody held a gun to anybody's head!

Spare me the bleeding hearts!!
 
I usually just do all of my price matching online. Send the link to GC and they'll match it. Heck, if you go with music123 they'll beat the price by another 10%, free shipping and usually no tax.

And I don't real hung up over trying to screw someone over, but I will take advantage of a good deal if I come across one. If their policy helps that than all the better.

Almost forgot, I got a pair of them for a little less than that by price matching using Amazon. Even better I helped a friend put a studio together and he bought one of them for me.
 
Ultimately the moral issue comes down to, when GC came to town and ran the mom and pop shop out if business, in the end, was GC any better? Depending on your local situation, you will feel pro or anti GC.

Personally, my mom and pop survived, so I have the best of both worlds, but honestly do most of my shopping online, so I'm indifferent.

GC, Fender and Gibson are all doomed no matter what, too much debt and dismal sales prospects into the future.
 
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