Guitar Center employee allegedly charged over $5,000 to credit cards that belonged to “rude” customers

A Guitar Center employee from Ohio has admitted that he copied a customer's credit card and used it to make personal purchases that were charged to that account.

The theft, which was reported by Cleveland.com, was flagged by the customer after he noted that a transaction was made at the store that he did not recognize.

Aside from this specific case, the employee allegedly charged $5,087 to credit cards that belonged to two other customers, with the 18-year-old stating he chose “customers who were rude to him, used foul language, and made situations bad for him” as victims.

The report does not clarify whether further action was taken by Guitar Center or the victims against the employee, with this case coming amidst increasing challenges for guitar stores and chains to survive in the face of stiff competition from the online musical instrument market and rising costs.

According to Guitar Center CEO Gabe Dalporto, the key to increasing foot traffic and, consequently, sales is – in part – to instill within the workforce a renewed sense of pride in Guitar Center stores.

The CEO even went as far as to inspect a store in Connecticut and go out of his way to ensure the store's cleanliness is maintained.

“I went into the bathroom, and I'm like, ‘Oh, this is terrible.’ So I went to the Operations Manager, and I said, ‘Give me a mop and some cleaning supplies and I’m going to clean this,’ he tells Guitar World in an upcoming interview.

“I scrubbed that bathroom and I made it spotless, and I had someone videotape me, and then I sent it out to the entire system.”

Elsewhere in his Guitar World interview, Dalporto outlined one of the store's biggest priorities for 2025 and beyond.