Guitar Center Reviews 

I am not one to usually leave a review but this absolute unethical company just brought me out my silence. I have never been treated with less respect and disgraceful customer service in my life . I bought a brand brand new guitar a couple years ago and had it in case all purchased same time . It was never used one and I was told I could bring it back and they would buy at a lesser rate ofcourse. I had a major neck surgery and decided I’d hit them up and sell it back just like they said would be no problem, I took it in and was told it was not worth anything cuz it wasn’t stored in a climate humidity controlled room. I was never told this and was basically told too bad, I said some unkind things I admit but I spent I think around 600 . I would warm anybody and everybody to avoid this ripoff company at all costs

We went into the Orem store to buy a karaoke machine for my birthday. Avri and raven completely bent over backward to help make my party perfect! We had to call the salt lake store to order the machine. Micheal was very rude to my daughter; it was completely unwarranted. She was polite and he met her with hostility. It seemed like he wouldn’t want to help since he isn’t getting commission for the sale. But, avri and raven were the best! Thank you to the Orem store for making my birthday special!

I waited for 15 minutes, behind another costumer (who was also waiting), to pay for goods in my hand.
The attendant at the cash register was incompetent - spent all of the 15 mins talking......looking up prices (I think).
So I walked out......never to return.

Lessons manager, Leesa, is always so cheerful and helpful.

We were at the Pasadena location,and Martin was very helpful and very respectful. He made sure everything was explained to my husband about the equipment to the wires. He made sure we left happy and made sure if we had any other questions or concerns he would be gladly willing to help us at any time. Best service ever.

Laura is a great instructor. She is very patient and knowledgeable. Thank you!
-Miranda R

Horrible service!
OK Ordered a Guitar from their Sioux Falls South Dakota Store over the phone, I live in NM. It was shipped out the 6th . I get a Notification from UPS on the morning of the 8th that my Package is out for delivery ! Shouldn't be here that fast So I then tracked it and saw it was being delivered to an address in Sioux Falls! After some checking and sending an Email to Guitar center I figure out it was going back to the store I bought it from and was Received by them early that morning . After talking to a Gear Advisor I was told it was a screw up by the store, they shipped it to themselves and that the store would send it out that afternoon Next day air to make up for their screw up.

A day goes by the Gear advisor contacts me again and I mention I have not gotten any tracking. He decides to check into what is going on and to try and keep this from being a book ..... It was supposed to have been sent out next day then 2nd day air on the 8th and I was told it had shipped on the 8th and they gave me a tracking number that showed a label was made on the 8th but they had not received the package .
Gear advisor contacts me again I ask why it hasn't shipped he checks calls me back says that now it was shipped on the 8th but UPS has a new policy where they no longer log packages in for tracking.. Funny I had just sent a package UPS that morning and the tracking info for it showed up within the hour , go figure .
So we come to today the9th, Finally the tracking number is active and the Guitar is with UPS but still in Sioux falls as it was just shipped Last Night and appears to be sent Ground..
If they had shipped it correctly the first time it might have gotten here Friday the 9th(today) or maybe Monday no big deal but when you screw up this badly you should make a real effort to make it right, they said they were going to but they didn't make that effort , I don't know how many times I have heard I have your back! lol
I've had enough and I have asked them to have UPS send it back to them lol wonder how badly that can get screwed up !! I
Chit happens but when it does you go out of your way to make it right not BS the customer and hope it all goes away ....
This is the second issue I have had with them , the first last fall was kind of minor by comparison but there shouldn't be a first issue much less a second !

7/25/26
Just wanted to add to this review.. You see the comment from Guitar Center to my post asking for me to contact them.... I did contact them twice and have never received a reply..
I have no idea why they didn't contact me but it does make me wonder if they just posted here for appearance sake ..
I did receive my refund they drew it out to the last day but they gave me a complete refund .. Funny I no longer get emails and Phone calls from Gear Advisors asking what they can do to help me make a purchase etc. so there is one good thing to come from this..

Today was great. But the online purchase we made in December for a DJ mixer was very tough to resolve. The equipment never seemed to connect to a laptop and Guitar Centers customer service sent us to Pioneer and said that it was their issue. Between my wife and my son, they spent about five hours on the phone trying to get this resolved. Today, at the Clackamas store your associate Jordan really went to bat for us, calling the originating store back east and got them to credit part of our purchase price. He and the store manager here also gave us a good discount on a new unit, so we left the store happy. Great customer service and Clackamas Oregon!

Sales technician “Nate” was courteous, professional & patient with my purchase. Excellent customer service❗️

This guitar arrived early and with no damages. This Ibanez AR420FM was listed as used in excellent condition. When I did a full inspection on it, I was surprised to find it in new condition! Very pleased with my purchase!

Very disappointing experience. I purchased a piece of equipment and paid an additional fee specifically to have it delivered the next day because I had an important professional commitment. The order was confirmed, my payment was taken, and I trusted the delivery information provided.

The next day, when my equipment did not arrive, I had to contact customer service myself to find out what was happening. That is when I was told: “We are sorry, but the item is not in stock and is on backorder.”

This is completely unacceptable. Customers should be informed about inventory issues before placing an order, especially when they are paying extra for expedited delivery. Because of this lack of communication, I lost an important event and was put in a very difficult professional situation.

A company should value its customers’ time and commitments. This experience felt misleading and shows a serious lack of communication and organization. I expected much better service and transparency.

Wow, starting to realize that there are good people out there. I ordered of cheap instrument from amazon, I didn't realize that a viola was considered garbage if it was under $400. I paid $200 and nearly all of the strings came defective, unable to be tuned without snapping.
This was frustrating but I started slowly ordering real strings individually to try to make this instrument playable. I ordered a string from guitar center because it was a relatively uncommon string and a few days later I got a notification that it went out of stock and it was going to be on back order until august, months away from when I wanted it. This email provided a customer service phone number to consider other options. So I called them and my main goal was just to see if there was another string like it on the market that they could send instead, the gentleman was looking on my behalf on the phone and determined at the end that there wasn't really an individual string that matched the one I was trying to order.
And then all the sudden he changed his mind, he said he found something that should work even though it was a little bit pricier than the one that I ordered, he said they were going to cover it on them and send it to me. I was thrilled already, I didn't have to spend more money and I wasn't going to have to wait months for the product. I was pleased that they resolved it quickly but that did not match what my excitement was when the package arrived.
They sent me an entire set of strings, which is likely quadruple the price that I was trying to pay for the strings that I got, needless to say I was extremely grateful. This allows me to have the same brand string on the entire instrument instead of a bunch of individuals like I would have done. Overall very pleased that they not only resolved my problem but went above and beyond for me to be a happy customer, the way I see it, they just got a customer for life.

I've seen some negative reviews about their in-person stores so it's worth noting that this experience was strictly online.

So I was pretty soured on guitar center. I live in Arlington and I’ve been there many times making purchases over the last few years . They really seem to not give a shit at all about customer service at that store. Yesterday I stopped by the Dallas location. Whatever ur doing there needs to be done at all your stores. They were so nice , which I really didn’t expect. At that actually turned into me buying a pedal . I just stopped for strings and wound up spending $100 .
One time at the store in Arlington I was making a major guitar purchase. If I hadn’t really wanted that guitar that day, I would have gone somewhere else . Here I am about to drop 6-700 bucks and It took 40 min to get some help and get checked out. They didn’t ask if I wanted a case . Nothing . Hardly said two words to me. Ur Arlington store has too many rude Assholes .

For the last few weeks I've contacted 5 different guitar center stores for one particular item.
Two purchase were cancelled due to false representation of the store in Chicago.
The Arizona store purchased, they sent me a non working monitor.
The Charleston store display that they had the item in stock and in great condition, come to find out that it was the same monitor that I returned to them from the Arizona store that was not working.
NOW, I placed an order with the Indianapolis store for a pair of the same monitor and I was told that this pair is in great working condition but I'm waiting for the delivery to find out about this pair.
I should be repaid my shipping cost because the Arizona store sent me a non working monitor that was said to be in working condition and it was not working, not even a hum from the speaker just a dim white light at the bottom when the power switch was turned on. An update on this review, after placing an order on July 6, 2026 before this review was written, and I stated that I will find out about this pair of monitors.
Well it's Tuesday July 7,2026 the next day after placing the order, I received an email from the guitar center stating that they cancelled my order with no reason given.
Yesterday the salesman over the phone took my name and number saying that he was going to test the monitors and he would call me back to give me the results of his testing, he called me back 90 minutes later saying that the monitors were working great and that's the reason for me placing the order. I believe that they may have read this review of them and decided not to sell those monitors to me. I did called them this morning and the young lady was pleasant and offered to return the shipping cost but I'll wait to see on that.
It's all good, I'm going to cancel my guitar center gear credit card and move on. Guitar center as far as I am concerned, NOT RECOMMENDED!!!...

These folks are working their tails off trying to provide a great experience. They need some recognition. Everyone I’ve interacted with. Other businesses could learn from this crew. Positive, patient, going out of their way to help. Keep it up and thank you

Jason helped us with choosing a perfect Piano for my son, worked as best as he could to find the best shipment and also helped a lot with setting an account to maximize the discount. Jason was highly professional and helped us a lot. Highly recommended to go to him.

I visited Southington store today and it was great purchasing experience. Helpful and informative staff! Dylan took the time to help me choose the best product for my needs. He is friendly, knowledgeable, and made the entire purchasing process easy. I really appreciated his expertise and excellent customer service. Highly recommend!

On my 2nd used Guitar Center Bass amp that is not correctly functioning. They clearly do not properly test out used gear before reselling. On my 2nd return process, for store credit only unfortunately. If you're buying used gear, stick to you local shop or Reverb.com. Don't trust GC's used shop unless you want a mile of headaches. 2 stars for the very helpful customer service is the only saving grace of the process.

Eliot was awesome every step of the way. Great attitude, knowledgeable and just made my vintage trade in for a new Les Paul a great experience. Staff like Eliot is what keeps me as a lifelong GC customer!