Has anyone ever encountered a secret shopper at Guitar Center before?

Question

Has anyone ever encountered a secret shopper at Guitar Center before? Or an "Extra" helpful person just "Shopping" for the same type of guitar/instrument as you?

I recently went to Guitar Center to buy a guitar and there was this kinda pushy guy who was interested in the same guitar as I was, he was quoting all of the features & benefits of this particular guitar. He said he was helping his best friends girlfriend buy a guitar as a surprise for her boyfriend. Keep in mind, the whole time this guy was talking to me I never saw the "girl friend" and my sales person just happened to disappear anytime this guy came around to talk to me. It was all a little too strange for me. I read some of the online reviews about guitar center and some say "an especially friendly stranger played 10 songs for me to show me how great the guitar was" or "There just happened to be a guy there that was able to tell me all about the guitar I was interested in and I believed him because he was a shopper just like me"
Just wondering if anyone else has encountered this?

Answer 1

yes ive had that when i was buying a violin in leicester for my seven year old niece who has just moved up a size from the small training one. my niece told this guy who kept butting in with advice to stop being rude & annoying ( due to the fact ive played for decades ). in the end we went the shop i always go to near me in halifax, yorkshire

Answer 2

Guitar Center does NOT hire secret shoppers. Employees are encouraged to greet each and every customer and get them the right gear for their project. The company goes to great lengths to educate staff on setups, mechanics, power, electronics--even down to recognizing tone woods. They want the sales associates to be as knowledgeable as possible to help get the customer the right gear. Sometimes, the customer does not know what he needs and needs guidance or instruction. God forbid someone use a speaker cable to plug their guitar into an amp (by the way, it goes ka-blooie due to the shielding).



Customers come on the daily knowing all kinds of specs about new and favored products. The fact that that guy knew so much about it was because he was genuinely interested, not because he was a secret shopper. He obviously has a passion for it (or used to work there and was properly educated on what a nice guitar looks like, which then he'd still have a passion for it since duh-he used to work at a music store). Many previous employees often frequent the store because, well, it's an awesome store to just be at in general. When two customers that didn't come in together start a dialog, as a sales person, you don't want to get too involved because it can seem over-eager, distracting and often times flat out rude. Besides that, regular customers especially have a passion for connecting with other musicians, and what better place to meet musicians than an epic music store. They'll strike up a conversation with anyone, anytime, about anything music.



Just wanted to clarify your shopping experience. In summary, it happens all the time. Now the customer is not always correct ("I need a box guitar" or "Where are the 'cap-o's/clay-po's/ca-poe's?"), but they always have the best of intentions. Guitar Center has the very best customers in the world. They're just trying to help people make music.



*None of these statements are representative of, or have been evaluated by Guitar Center Corp. This is only my personal experience with the company.

Answer 3

god i hate that. as if companies don't plaster people's lives enough with regular marketing, now they're trying to use mind marketing.