Well I went in today to buy an instrument. I walked around the store and asked the owner difference between two products and was pointed to one of his many insulting sighs he has posted all over the store and basically called me an idiot. He said "I'm here to sell, not to educate" (i'm not making this up. He then told me to leave. I told him he needs sales training and I'm shocked he's in business. Never been treated like that in a store, he has a few screws loose thats for sure. read more

I phoned to get a question answered from a guitar tech only to be rudely informed that "the tech doesn't talk on the phone". Not sure of any reason for this but anything I may have bought to work on my project guitar will be bought elsewhere. read more

I was in there a few days ago and I can confirm that the snarky signs and bad customer service are still there. We were approached by an older man who I assume was the owner and when we told him we were just browsing he started going on about how he should start charging $100 an hour for people to browse. At first I thought he was joking but then he kept going on about it. Fits right in with what he other reviews say tho. Not sure how places like this stay in business. read more

DO NOT GO HERE, the old man is an arsehole and he doesn't care if you wan't a specific type of instrument. He is very rude. All he cares about is your money and if you spend more than 15 minutes in his store, he will have something to say about it. The instruments are very cheap, there are no good name brands, mostly Baron which is a crap brand. I've bought many instruments from this old man and they are all garbage. read more

I had the worst retail experience ever at Intercontinental Music today! I'm looking into taking up Guitar as a hobby so I'm trying to educate myself about Guitars and Amps. I noticed some of the guitars in this store are Gibson and Fender knock offs/ imitations. Never heard of the names on them Baron and IMC. I asked a couple questions and the older guy kept saying who cares about the name if the quality is good, would not speak to any specs of the guitars only the price... also told me many times that I didn't need anything more than a cheap guitar and amp. On my way out I thanked him for his time and that's when it started...... He told me to come back when I grew up, I replied "Grow Up, I'm just trying to learn about different makes and....." he cut me off He told me "To go to hell, stop wasting his time" I couldn't believe how rude he was! I tried to respond and be as rational as possible under the circumstances. He kept going... Told me again to Go to hell and Get out, I yelled back That he was lucky he was old and he had no clue how to treat people otherwise I'd teach him some manners... He yelled again to get out and once more "go to Hell" I will encourage everyone; do not give this store one cent of your hard earned money! I am going to try to contact Gibson and Fender and let them know there is a store in Ottawa trying to sell imitation Gibson and Fender Guitars...... How is this place in business?????????????? The reason why they don't allow cell phones is probably because they don't want you taking pictures of there knock off guitars. read more

Anybody that gave a good review has obviously never been to this store. I was happy that the store was open on a Sunday and was pleasantly surprised that there was two super friendly golden Labradors that greeted my 3 year old son and I as we entered the store. A real down to earth vibe as a first impression. I showed my son a drum kit for his very first time and of course he enjoyed the high hat and the bass drum several times. There was one other customer in the shop at the time and that is why I was in the store for at least 10 min before the old fella came over to ask if he could help me. I was looking for a loud speaker system for a huge shop that I work in and wanted to play music. He showed me a fisher price sized karaoke machine. I mentioned that the shop was huge, the size of a hockey arena and that I was looking for ideas. He said that he doesn't provide ideas and I thought he was joking so I repeated his comment with a questionable look. He told me to get out of the store!!! I said what? Then he said "get your kid and get out of the store". I told him that he was extremely lucky that my son was with me. I'm so glad that he was and that I didn't waste any more time or energy in this store. I am saddened that a family run business has left such a poor taste in my mouth and that my next stop will be Long and am wade. read more

this is the Amy's Baking Company of music stores. my husband and I went in today for some guitar stuff (strap, amp cord, some picks) to go with his Christmas present and while we got what we came for at a decent price, what paranoid, standoffish people! the place is wallpapered with signs made in Microsoft word informing customers of the rules and rules and rules of shopping there: customers are not permitted to write down models or prices. customers are not permitted to use their cell phones in the store. customers are not permitted to play instruments more than five minutes. then a bunch about how the better business bureau is a scam and how they sued them in 2011, and something about not carrying gorilla products because they're not in the "monkey business," then a bunch about how time is money & customers should be happy for the chance to learn things, and the icing on the cake: "we reserve the right to ask you to leave." EVERY wall and counter all over the store. what the actual hell? do you want customers or not? first time I've ever been in a store and felt unwelcome before I even spoke to anyone. the older gent was nice enough (to us, at least, but read the other reviews) but the woman who was present was giving us the evil eye for looking around. oh, and their two giant dogs (both in dire need of a bath) were lounging around in the store, so screw you if you have allergies I guess. cramped parking lot too. never going in there again. we still need to grab some stuff for the guitar but I would rather drive out of my way to ANYWHERE ELSE. read more

Entered this store looking for a classical guitar to supplement the standard acoustic I've played for many years. I started looking around at the stock and picked one of the wall to try. A nearby sign said something like "management reserve the right to ask you to leave". How odd I thought, actually it was an ominous sign of things to come. Then an oldish man came and stood over me and asked if I wanted to buy the guitar right now at half price. I politely declined because I wanted to try out something that sounded a little better. He suggested another model and told me to go and try it out using a seat near the cash counter. So far so good. Helpful guy I thought. I played a few tunes and decided the base strings sounded way too tinny. So I said thanks but this model was not for me. At that point all hell broke loose. He started yelling at the top of his voice to get out of his store. That I was wasting his time. ( Actually I was the only customer in the store). The guy shoved me through the door and slammed it behind me, yelling very loudly all the time. Now I'm not a spotty teenager looking to annoy someone, just an old guy looking for a good guitar. In all my life I have never ever been treated in such a disrespectful way. It was bizarre. Like something out of a Monty Python script. I strongly recommend you stay away from this store. read more

No Refunds, Crap Products. I bought an amplifier this past Friday but once I got it home I found it to be really low quality. I tried looking it up on-line but found that this "Baron" amplifier doesn't seem to exist anywhere else. I clearly is a line of very cheap Chinese knock offs. When I was in the store on Friday there were warning signs that something was amiss. I asked the owner, an Italian old man, if he had any brand name guitars and he said yes he did but at his store they are called something else. Then after I purchased the amplifier, I noticed there are posters near the cash decrying the injustices of the Better Business Bureau. So today I tried to return the low quality amplifier in its original packaging and I was told no refunds. When I complained he threatened to throw me out of the store, to call the cops and starting pointing to the "no trespassing sign" right beside the cash -- makes you wonder how often he does this. A younger Filipino women working there then took me aside and worked hard to get me to accept my fate saying this happens all the time and the store never gives people their money back. She seemed to be aware that the store had crap policies and poor quality products but she said she needed to support her family. Worst store experience I've had in Ottawa. read more

This is my first review ever but I had to post as a heads up to potential customers. I walked into the store looking for a guitar amplifier that would work with both AC and batteries. The older gentleman greeted me and showed me an amplifier in the window that seemed perfect. He asked his assistant to go to the basement and bring a new one up for me. The assistant quickly returned saying that unfortunately there were none left. The older gentleman then offered to sell me the display model we had looked at but mentioned he could not find the AC adapter for it but would take $10.00 of the price. Having purchased many instruments and electronic equipment in the past I knew that it might be difficult and/or expensive to find a replacement. I kindly declined the offer saying I would rather buy new and with no parts missing. He immediately began to berate me saying I did not want to buy anything and started yelling at me to get out of his store. I was completely stunned by his reaction and asked him what did I do wrong? This infuriated him even more and he started threatening me by lifting his arm over his head and that he would hit me if I did not leave the store which I promptly did. I truly feel sorry for this gentleman as I am sure there are some underlying issues here and that he could benefit from some support. Be on your guard if you go to this store. read more

Rude, pushy and horribly ignorant. We had a terrible time here. We went in looking for a guitar for my son. I am a pianist, so I was looking at the pianos while he and my husband browsed. The owner started hovering, then talking to me about buying a piano (some brand I'd never heard of in 25 years of playing, very poor quality). He took my arm and wouldn't let go, even when I said I wasn't there to buy a piano. Then he decided that my son had spent too much time looking at guitars and he wouldn't let him try any more. He told me that if I wasn't going to buy a piano right then and there to get out of his store and never to come back. We left unbelieving that anyone, especially an owner, could be so rude. We went to a number of other guitar stores in Ottawa and told them of our experience. The employee at one store laughed said that he has met a lot of people who have had the same experience there and that much of their business comes from people who "weren't allowed" to purchase, or even browse, Intercontinental Music. I would NEVER go back there again! Don't shop here unless you are ready to experience the worst customer service in history. read more

I visited this store today and was harassed and threatened by the owner. I am a beginning guitar student and I wanted to get a sense of what different guitars look like and try to understand how a $200 guitar differs from a $1,000 guitar. I was extremely polite and asked the owner some basic questions to try and educate myself. He was incapable of answer my questions and his general response was that all of his guitars are great and that I don't need to worry. He also pointed me to some signs on the wall that elude to the fact that his store doesn't educate people. Actually, he has all kinds of signs posted in the store, some that I remember are "No cell phone use in store", "No need to ask your wife for permission, we already did", "No writing down models and prices", "The BBB is like the Mafia". In all, I spent about 20 minutes walking around looking at different ones but had no intention of buying today. I did proceed to buy some sheet music and instead of being gracious that I might have been entertaining a business relationship (which I wasn't but just wanted the sheet music for practice), he started insulting me and told me that next time I want to window shop to go somewhere else. I proceeded to tell him that I was happy that his true colours showed before I made any sizable purchases and that I would never spend a penny there. His response is that he doesn't need my money because he has more than I do (little that he knows, but that's not the point). Anyway, Steve's Music store has been very well rated and I will take my money there. read more