Guitar Center, NAMM Targeted In Pricing Lawsuit

[Executioner213]

From http://www.bravewords.com/news/122645

"Guitar Center and the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) are the targets of a recent lawsuit filed by law firm Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro which claims the two conspired to fix retail pricing on fretted instruments.

The firm filed a nationwide class-action lawsuit this week in U.S. District Court in California, according to a release on the lawsuit, which claims NAMM “organized meetings and programs where competing retailers including Guitar Center, were encouraged to discuss and agree upon strategies for price fixing along with other anti-competitive agreements with manufacturers.”

The lawsuit also claims defendants conspired to squash competition from online retailers by collectively threatening to boycott manufacturers who sell through online competitors, among other tactics.

The suit seeks to represent anyone who purchased a fretted musical instrument from Guitar Center between Jan. 1, 2005 and Dec. 31, 2007. "

 

[Genius Gone Insane]

hmmm wow, i think...?

 

[Wolfeman]

So will this include guitars purchased from Musicians Friend also?

 

[Wolfeman]

Here is the lawsuit link if you want to get involved....
Guitar Center Lawsuit

 

[wishtheend]

Anyone ever heard of Minimum Advertised Pricing (MAP)? These prices are set BY THE MANUFACTURERS, and per agreements with the dealers, can not be violated. Almost all products at Guitar Center, Musician's Friend, Sweetwater, Sam Ash etc are MAP prices.

You wanna sue someone, sue the manufacturers

 

[J the TyranT]

MARS? Mars was even more a corporate monster than Guitar Center ever was. It was owned by the guy from Office Depot, and was a terrible piece of shit.

Anyways.... wish has it right as far as I know.

 

[visceral]

I tend to stay away from GC as well. Even if you get past the whole "corporate greed" thing, Guitar Center employees think that they're on a mission from god...and any way but their way is the wrong way.

Anyways, I dont think this law firm is going to accomplish a hell of a lot, but its still good to see GC on the chopping block.

 

[Matthias King]

Guitar Center employees think that they're on a mission from god...and any way but their way is the wrong way.

What GC did you go to? I used to work for GC for a couple years, and that sounds like an example of the "a few bad apples" analogy to me.

 

[BLOODROOT]

guitar center is the worst place to buy gear.

all the sales reps act like they are superior musicians because they work there.
they call customers stupid names like sport, skippy, dood and guy. they talk down to customers. when you want to buy something they act like you made the biggest mistake in history and try to tell you what youre buying is crap and you should buy a more expensive item. They always ask what you have and then if they dont sell it they make a comment like "oh" like it is the junkiest thing ever no matter what it is. anyone that ever works at guitar center should feel worst than working at mcdonalds if you ask me.

 

[Matthias King]

guitar center is the worst place to buy gear.

all the sales reps act like they are superior musicians because they work there.
they call customers stupid names like sport, skippy, dood and guy. they talk down to customers. when you want to buy something they act like you made the biggest mistake in history and try to tell you what youre buying is crap and you should buy a more expensive item. They always ask what you have and then if they dont sell it they make a comment like "oh" like it is the junkiest thing ever no matter what it is. anyone that ever works at guitar center should feel worst than working at mcdonalds if you ask me.

Clearly you can't be convinced otherwise, so be it.

 

[colynomial]

all the sales reps act like they are superior musicians because they work there.
they call customers stupid names like sport, skippy, dood and guy. they talk down to customers. when you want to buy something they act like you made the biggest mistake in history and try to tell you what youre buying is crap and you should buy a more expensive item. They always ask what you have and then if they dont sell it they make a comment like "oh" like it is the junkiest thing ever no matter what it is. anyone that ever works at guitar center should feel worst than working at mcdonalds if you ask me.

Which music store isn't like this...

 

[SentencedToBurn]

i think that describes sales in general. nobody can talk to you like a human being. they turn into cooperate robot mode. thats why i usually dont beleive anything they say.

 

[Metaltastic]

guitar center is the worst place to buy gear.

all the sales reps act like they are superior musicians because they work there.
they call customers stupid names like sport, skippy, dood and guy. they talk down to customers. when you want to buy something they act like you made the biggest mistake in history and try to tell you what youre buying is crap and you should buy a more expensive item. They always ask what you have and then if they dont sell it they make a comment like "oh" like it is the junkiest thing ever no matter what it is. anyone that ever works at guitar center should feel worst than working at mcdonalds if you ask me.

SERIOUSLY - there are good guys at GC's, but I would hate to think with how many of them you'd go into and ask for an SM7, only to have a bunch of condensers brandished at you (happened to my singer, complete with "no, you don't want that for vocals, you want THIS thing" )

 

[Metal Overload]

Hahahahah LoL at 1:42 of that clip!

 

[visceral]

BLOODROOT summed it up quite nicely. I'm not saying every employee is like that, but it is more than I care to put up with.

Oh, and my experiences have been in knoxville, Tn and greenville, SC.

Once again, this has just been my experience. I have shopped plenty of other music stores & never encountered such condescending attitudes.

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

My experience at the Syracuse GC was one of "I don't give a fuck and don't know a shit about anything."

I went in to buy a headphone amp and the guy tried to sell me a $40 rolls. I said "no I need something with a tad more power and more headroom than that thing." I also said if it was rackmountable it would be a plus. The only other HA they had was a presonus H4 and I hate the thing.

 

[Glenn Fricker]

You think GC is bad? Try some Canadian stores. All of the above plus price gouging!

 

[visceral]

Well...I will give them some credit. I dont know how long I could keep my sanity for long listening to that mess all the time . I mean come on....how many different ways can a person screw up "back in black"? Dont even get me started on the drum room.

 

[P-E]

You think GC is bad? Try some Canadian stores. All of the above plus price gouging!

+1. Even worse in Québec, as you can't even buy from these 'cause they won't show information or send products manuals in French.

Bill 101 has its good and bad sides.

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

GC doesn't even come close to the local store here.

Old asshole that runs it has the fallowing policies:

He only orders drum heads that "have the dot in the center and are coated". Whatever the fuck this means.
Everything is sold at list, no I'm not shitting you.
Don't touch a fucking thing, he doesn't sell used gear.
No returns, LIKE AT ALL.

My encounters with him:

"do you have a direct box?" - NO

"can you order me a 5150 foot switch?" -yeah but it will cost you $65, you have to wait 4 months and I need the serial number off your amp.

"I need a sustain pedal for a keyboard" - Well I need to know what kind of keyboard switch it has because some are reverse polarity (I know this, it's an m-audio keyboard and I'm pretty sure it uses a rolland type switch) blah blah blah and I will have to order it and it will take a month.

"Could I get a pack of strings?" - Yeah we only have 3 brands of strings: Dean Markley, Ernie Ball and D' Adario.