Guitar Center reviews

2.8

39% would recommend to a friend

(2,734 total reviews)
avatar

Gabe Dalporto

29% approve of CEO

23% positive business outlook

Guitar Center has an employee rating of 2.8 out of 5 stars, based on 2,734 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
3.0
Feb 26, 2014
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Chill work environment. Interesting people to work with. Good discounts on gear. You have many chances to meet great musicians. Flexible schedule for people who need time to gig or go to school.

Cons

There can be some hostility between employees. Bad management. Not so great pay. No room for growth. I have been with the company for 3 years and have not budged after showing my interest in moving up multiple times. Raises in commission rates are non existent unless you are promoted (which hardly happens). They just tell you to sell more.

2.0
Feb 21, 2014
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Casual work environment, get to work daily with great instruments and gear and it's rewarding that you work and sell to fellow musicians, in my case drummers. Employee discounts are also substantial if you can afford to purchase instruments. Benefits are average at best, and only available to full time employees, most salespeople are part-time.

Cons

Commission sales can be lucrative in some career fields, GC is not one of them. The biggest reason there is such high turnover of employees is that it is so hard to make a decent living working at GC. The amount of time and energy you have to put into closing a significant sale is not rewarded by a significant commission. You will also be selling mostly lower end instruments, GC doesn't stock many high end instruments because of cost, very few people are buying 4K+ drumsets or guitars, so the instruments will be entry and mid level instruments, meaning much lower commissions for salespeople. The amount of sales you have to make to even MAKE commission is huge, most salespeople do not even make enough in sales to cover their hours (you have to make enough in gross/net to cover your hours for the pay period, if not, you do not receive commission, just your hourly pay) and make commission, so they are essentially working for minimum wage. GC also does not allow salespeople or dept mgrs (I was a drum dept mgr) to give regular customers better discounts, they allow salespeople to give a 10% discount on a single item, meaning if you buy 5 pairs of drumsticks or guitar strings, you only receive 10% off one of those pairs of drumsticks. Store managers even wanted me to employ ridiculous sales tactics, like looking at a mom's handbag or shoes to tell what kind of money they can spend on a drumset for their son. As stated earlier, you will be selling entry level and mid level items, you cannot special order higher end items to have them in stock when that person comes in that wants something better than entry level and has to money to but it. There is nothing to upsell TO when all you carry is entry level drums and hardware. The only great thing GC did for me was motivate me to get a better education and better skills so I could leave companies like GC.

Viewing 2500 - 2502 of 2,734 Reviews

Glassdoor has 2,798 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.