Cochinoman tech, sushi, poker
With Amazon kicking the ass of every brick and mortar retailer, you’d think that these retailers would fight back to stay alive. Some, like Best Buy have done just that. Other like Toys-R-Us, not so much.
Yesterday, I needed a microphone cable for work. Normally, I would order it from Amazon but I can’t wait 2 days to get it. Best Buy does have it online but not stocked in their store. So I checked Guitar Center’s website and they had it in stock at a store very close to me. Nice.
As you can see below, I put my order in and waited as per their instructions for a confirmation email telling me to come pick it up at the store. And I waited. And waited. Normally, when I do the same thing on Best Buy’s website, I get an email within an hour and sometimes faster.
Unfortunately for me, and Guitar Center, I never got an email. I had to get my cable from a friend of mine. I waited to the next day and saw that they were still “processing” my order. What a joke. I called their customer support number and they told me the local store got my order at 5:05pm and did nothing with it. They close at 9pm so it took them 4 hours to not fill my order.
The only thing that went right for them was their customer service rep on the phone was very nice and canceled my order and refunded my credit card. Otherwise, the whole experience was the definition of an epic fail.
As you can see below, I can get the same cable for $7.95 from Amazon. So the ONLY reason why I would pay $16.99 is to pick it up from the store right now. So if that part of the process doesn’t work properly, Guitar Center will go the way of all the other retailers who couldn’t or didn’t want to compete with Amazon. Namely, they will be closed.
Dear Guitar Center:
I wish you well. But don’t say I didn’t warn you.
