Guitar Center reviews

1. Compensation is a joke. Starting pay sounds competitive if you're new to the job market, but in reality, it's not enough to get by and definitely not fair for the amount of work you're expected to do. I've noticed Guitar Center replying to many similar complaints on here with "most of our sales associates make over $15/hr" This is simply not true. Perhaps in the markets like California or New York where cost of living is extremely high, however, not a single sales OR lead associate in my entire store makes 15$/hr (even after accounting for bonus and commission compensations) and the few associates that have moved to larger markets don't get paid 15$/hr either, which leads me to my aforementioned conclusion. Sure Guitar Center, 1,000s of associates in these particular markets qualifies as "many" but this is a super misleading statement. Potential employees beware. 2. Advancement opportunities are almost non-existent and the few that do exist require relocation. I happen to know the salaries of everyone in my store and the pay increase isn't worth the added responsibility anyway. Add relocation expenses to that and you come out behind in the long run. 3. Managment is hit or miss and upper-level management doesn't seem to have a clue what happens at a store level. I know associates at other stores who loathe their store managers and associates that love them. My store manager happens to be a narcissist which makes work unbearable, but he gets results so he's not going anywhere anytime soon. 4. Turnover rate is high. Can you guess why? Me neither, weird. High turnover puts extra strain on employees like myself who stick around long enough to know how to do our jobs. We are constantly having to train the new people and pick up the slack in between new hires or just while the new hires are still in training. Ps. Since advancement opportunities don't exist, this means if you stick around long enough to be one of the few training new employees, you're not going to be compensated for it. 5. Scheduling is whack. Schedules can get changed last second with little to no notice. If you complain the manager will accommodate you to remain compliant with local laws but generally you will be gently "guided" into taking your new schedule. Scheduling is almost NEVER consistent in the first place, making it difficult to make plans outside of work. They can be flexible at times if you need to request time off but usually after a great deal of hassle and many times I get scheduled on a day I requested (and was approved, up to months in advance) off and have to get them to go back and fix it. 6. Your job title means nothing. NOTHING. Everyone does everything. On top of not getting paid well, if you're a commission based associate, you're expected to do everything in the whole entire store which is obviously going to take you away from selling, thereby lowering any potential commissions. The repair tech at our store, who's job title suggests he should be merely fixing customer and store instruments, also completes ship-outs, provides sales floor coverage in all departments, merchandises gear, performs planograms, and more.

Attendance policy is designed to weed out people. However, this policy only applies to hourly workers and never salary workers such as management, who consistently come in late, leave early, take longer lunches and breaks than allotted, with no issues. The worst has to be HR in the Salt Lake office. Rude, don't care about anything, and never can give you an exact answer to your questions. The entire culture comes across as jr high clique, to the point where promotions are based off of qualifications such as one of the managers saying "oh, I like him" without actually saying why. There is pretty much no room for advancement unless you are willing to move to another state, which not everybody is able to do at the drop of a hat. Systems are horrible and are constantly going down, which includes the phone system. Don't ever say on the phone that the reason it is taking you 20 minutes to process a 5 minute return call is the systems or you will get written up for it. Honestly, the entire office works off of write ups and the fear they install. Retention is a joke. I am the only person left from my training class of 22 people after a little over 1 year. Most people in my class left due to being lied to about hours, and how they hire pretty much everyone in at part time. The pay is very low for the amount of abuse you will receive from both rude customers and management. They are constantly asking for additional hours, and will try and bully you into working them, even if you are not able to due to outside of work commitments. Overtime is rarely approved, so it is the usual work me up to 39.9 hours and no more for the week. I once had the manager of my department take me into a office to speak to me about not being able to pick up additional hours. He told me that I was not doing my part for the company, and that I needed to take ownership. I tried explaining to him that with my young children and wife, I am only able to work hours during certain times. I am sure that when I was interviewed by him for a promotion to team lead, that I was not considered due to this, even though I feel I have more qualifications than those they hired.