Guitar Center reviews

2.8

41% would recommend to a friend

(2,728 total reviews)
avatar

Gabe Dalporto

28% approve of CEO

24% positive business outlook

Guitar Center has an employee rating of 2.8 out of 5 stars, based on 2,728 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have an average working experience there. The Guitar Center employee rating is 21% below average for employers within the Retail & Wholesale industry (3.5 stars).

Reviews by job title

3K reviews
1.0
Aug 16, 2015
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Co-workers and customers. You get to sell cool stuff.

Cons

First let me address my title. I happen to know that corporate clowns are trying to stack the deck, so to speak, on their reviews by putting very corporately worded junk like "challenging" and other such junk, and giving stellar 4-5 star rating with positive reviews in "Opportunities", "Compensation", "Outlook", "Opinion of CEO" and so forth. Nobody in their right mind would agree that Mr. Webb is a good CEO, and the compensation is a joke. I was wrongfully terminated after a decade of loyal service; based completely on lies and then they had the nerve to appeal my unemployment insurance (which after speaking to multiple former employees, they do that to everybody), which they lost. The fact is, they are purposely weeding out the long time vets to both save on money (because we made the most) and to get rid of people that know what the company used to be like. They are only interested in paying the very least in wages. They figure if they get rid of the vets that sell the most, those sells will still happen, but spread out among more sales people that may not reach that idiotic sales number to make any sort of commission. Before I was so kindly dismissed, I calculated that in order for me to make what I USED to make under my old pay before April 1st (April Fool's Day, mind you) and the restructure of the job positions and pay, I'd have to sell roughly $70,000 in sales a month, when my average was around $50,000. So basically, they made it incredibly difficult for me to get what I was making before. In their April restructure, I estimate over 900 hard working Assistant Managers were effectively "demoted" to sales person without cause because they decided to eliminate the position. I know for a fact that they wrongfully terminated quite a few veterans in order to save money. I've gone and scouted various Guitar Center stores, and it seems it's all new faces these days. They sacrificed customer service and loyal employees to line the pockets of Ares exec's and upper management types, like Mr. Webb. When the company was being led by the previous CEO, Mike Pratt, he was very open with improving the employee experience and compensation. He had this idea called "Vision 2020", which basically was his vision for GC to be the place to work by the year 2020. Upon his replacement by Mr. Webb, one of the very first things they did was have a conference call with store GM's and told them to immediately remove and "destroy" the "Vision 2020" posters. Kinda fishy. To sum up....DO NOT TRUST THIS COMPANY. They are ONLY in it for the sake of Ares and upper management. They even went as far as either dismissing company founders/pioneers or demoting them to a far lower position. Just another company plagued by corporate GREED.

3.0
Mar 2, 2015
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Ability to network in the music scene. Good discounts on gear. Fun people to work with (for the most part). Can have tattoos, weird hair, whatever as long as you don't smell or have a wrinkled shirt. You get to be around what you love: music.

Cons

Benefits suck. Unclear path of advancement. Poor leadership skills on the part of corporate. Sexual harassment of females by customers and sometimes staff members.

4.0
Feb 25, 2015

Rocking the Mic

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Great vehicle to advance with hard work.

Cons

Changing direction numerous times over the past few years with multiple CEO changes.

Viewing 82 - 84 of 2,728 Reviews

Glassdoor has 2,792 Guitar Center reviews submitted anonymously by Guitar Center employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Guitar Center is right for you.