In a world of disgruntled customers and unhelpful sales associates, hearing a consumer’s story of a bad experience turned good makes our insides all warm and melty. Akshat wrote in to tell us of a recent interaction with Guitar Center that started off on the wrong foot before ending happily.

Acknowledging that some call Guitar Center the Walmart of music stores, Akshat was worried about clearing up a problem with a product purchased there on sale that wasn’t in stock. But lo and behold, things turned out fantastically — thanks in small part to some tips picked up on Consumerist.

On Black Friday, I visited a Guitar Center store to take advantage of their 15% off sale. They didn’t have the guitar I wanted in stock, so they ordered one online with free shipping. When I received the package, I was surprised and disappointed to find an acoustic amplifier in its place, complete with a packaging slip that was actually for the guitar. It’s hard for me to imagine the ineptitude of the packager who thought that a guitar box looks like an amplifier box.

I wanted to get the guitar quickly, so instead of going through an online exchange, I looked up a local Guitar Center that indicated that the guitar was in stock. I visited the store. The staff was friendly and was amused by the screw-up, but they didn’t have the guitar in stock either. I was quite annoyed by that time, but I didn’t feel like picking a fight, so I let it be when they offered to have a replacement sent to me with overnight shipping. This being a Thursday evening, it meant that it would ship out on Friday and only get to me on Monday.

I still felt under-compensated for the screw-up, and going by your advice about contacting the company, I sent an email to the Guitar Center customer service describing the situation and how I felt that I hadn’t been treated fairly. To my surprise, they wrote back in about a day saying that they were sorry about the incident and they gave me a $50 store credit for future orders.

I am pleased with the way Guitar Center treated me and made amends for their mistake. I have read forums complaining about them, but it is good to know that they care about their customers.

We’re glad that we could help even the smallest bit, and also that one more consumer ended up happy. See? All warm and melty inside!

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