Andrew R. Smith

Review of Guitar Center | Fort Collins

Actually NO STARS! Horrible experience!

Actually NO STARS! Horrible experience!
I had a problem with the P pick-up on my PJ bass guitar and took it to Guitar Center (GC) Fort Collins to have it looked at and repaired on 7/1/18. Of note, I purchased the bass on 5/22/18 from GC Fort Collins and added the 2-year Pro Coverage protection plan. One week went by (7/8/18) after dropping it off at GC. I called to inquire about the progress of the repair. I was told by an employee that it had not even been looked at due to the volume of repairs ahead of mine. Two weeks went by...same story. On the day of the third week (7/21/18), I finally went to the store and asked about it in person. Prior to going to the store, I called the Pro Coverage number to inquire about my options with the protection plan I purchased. I was told by the rep to initiate a claim. I initiated a claim. I was then told by the Pro Coverage rep to call the Pro Coverage service line when I got to the store so that they could speak to one of the employees or a manager. The Pro Coverage rep told me I qualified for a replacement of the instrument and apologized for the delay in getting my bass repaired. By the way, I was never informed by the GC staff that I needed to initiate a claim after telling them I purchased a Pro Coverage plan. I get to the store and a employee retrieved my bass. The employee took it out of the gig bag, hooked it up to an amp and noodled with it for about a minute. He turned all three knobs while playing the bass and said they all worked fine. He told me that everything was working fine on the bass and that the tech told him nothing was wrong with it in the first place. I explained to him that nothing was happening when turning P pickup knob; that there was no change in volume/tone/sound...nothing. He said that knob was a "mix adjustment" and "not the P pickup volume knob" and that it was working fine. Not knowing any better, I took it home, plugged it in to my amp, and encountered the same problem with the P pick-up. So, for a second opinion, I located a local certified Fender repair tech and had him look it over. He plugged it in to an amp and he could immediately identify that not only was the P pick-up not working, but the bass was actually never set up/adjusted properly to be sold; as required by Fender for all "certified Fender dealers". The Fender tech copied my original receipt and said he could have a new pick-up sent to him in a couple days and could get Fender to pay the cost of the labor (everything covered). He said he gets this same story about 12 times a month from unsuspecting customers who purchased an instrument from GC Fort Collins. So, not only did I wait 3 weeks to be told anything, the GC employees lied to my face telling me that nothing was wrong with the bass. The GC guy didn't even correctly know what the function of each of the three knobs did. I would NOT recommend Guitar Center (anywhere) to anyone at any stage in their playing or purchasing of any item from their store. Very frustrating!!!