years ago i worked for the ill-fated Mars Music, touted to be a competitor of GC but filed Chapter 11 within a handful of years... after seeing how things are run behind the scenes, i've vowed to NEVER go into another music box store, and 8 years later i'm still holding strong. why wouldn't anyone rather support a good mom & pop store?
my buddy recently had an experience in the Portland Maine GC where he was basically accosted by a manager, because he couldn't be up-sold.
my buddy wanted a simple TC Helicon vox processor for stage, $300. He did his research, knew what it did, and knew what he wanted.
when asking for it, he had the misfortune of dealing with the manager that even the other employees regard as a serious ass. instead got the "Naw man, what you
really want is this Digitech so-and-so for $800."
"No, actually, that's not what I want at all, and it's more than twice the price of the TCH.
"But why would you want that crap? Digitech is
waaaay better.
Trust me.
"No. Sorry, not gonna buy it.
After going on for another 5 minutes like this, the manager's face gets red, starts angrily waving his hands in my friend's face, and loudly talking over anything my buddy says. "Well GO on then, GO on! GO on! Just GO on then!"
Truly bizarre. I just don't get how you can treat a customer that way, especially one who spent thousands at your store last year. So my friend called up the GC headquarters, let them know what kind of a$$holes they're hiring as managers, and they shipped it to him free, knocking almost $100 off the price.
He still says he'll never go back, and I don't blame him.