GW Store Advice

[DaemonReign]

Not to derail things and I haven't read the whole thread so maybe this happened to someone else, but still;

I am one of those people for whom GW should have a bonus program. Not only do I tend to buy directly from them, but I also buy quite a lot.
What happened though as I wad ordering "To My Local Store" was that they started nagging at me at the store that I should order from the store - because appearantly if I ordered from home the local shop did not get 'credited' for this, but instead all the glory went to the UK webteam (despite me having stuff delivered to my local store).

And it's more than just a joke 'cause they keep bringing it up every time I come by to pick something up. Actually expecting me to make two 20km trips to first place an order (at the store) and the return to pick the stuff up. It's not like I'm getting the stuff cheaper. No return-gestures at all, just semi-joking comments whenever I order from home and 'only' pick the stuff up at the store.

For the rest of this general thread I feel GW has clearly taken a high road with pricing and marketing. And it does seem that there are directives coming from management telling employees to harp on people who arn't loyal enough. They probably create more enemies than friends in doing that, but then again with their prices being what they are they are likely to come out winners for the few stupid sods (like me) who still buys most of our stuff directly from them.

[Mellowlicious]

Not to derail things and I haven't read the whole thread so maybe this happened to someone else, but still;

<snip>

Even though it's far less comfortable than ordering from behind you computer, couldn't you order it a your GW by phone?

[Hicks]

If it was a non-GW store I'd understand, but the reason why you are buying off eBay instead of getting the product right there, right now must be... oh the stupid high prices. Their stuff is so expensive that everybody I've ever met who play's GW games buy mainly from internet discounters, some even have to if they want to be able to afford the product. I don't have a GW store near me, but what I read about them on the internet isn't too great: treating vets like garbage, gaming tables reserved for newbs and not big enough for an actual game, GW games being banned from the stores, the buy BUY BUUUYYYYY attitude of the staff. If they offer such poor service, they have to compensate with something else to draw in clients, but with their pricing, I don't see how they can hope to do that too well.

Had I been in your situation, I wouldn't have been ashamed to tell the guy that I wouldn't even be playing their games anymore if it wasn't for discounters and 2nd hand sellers.

It's like music stores here, back before the internet they were selling their CDs at horribly inflated prices. If you were a metal lover then too bad for you, all those CDs (except Metallica) were "imports" and costed at least $30. Now things have changed big time as they found out that ripping off their clients didn't work so well when they could get the same product a lot cheaper on the web (or even for free if you don't mind not having the CD case).

[Harwammer]

Anyways it just elaborates about the kind of person that is out there, that goes into a restaurant, sits patiently if the food takes forever, doesn't complain when drinks are late or something they ordered isn't prepared correctly. They just don't come back, and neither do their friends. One thing GW/ish stores and restaurants have in common is they depend on repeat customers. You obviously fit this description the poster tried to describe, now knowing this how can anyone defend the sales badgering. If someone wants to say that they get pushed into more sales than pushed out of them I can't argue but I doubt it would be an honest answer.

I think I fit this description (wavvy lines taking us back to Sunday night):

I went to Chiquitos in Nottingham (first time), got a seat immediately and had my drinks order taken immediately. Was impressed, but woefully this wouldn't last!
After 5 mins the drinks are still sitting on the bar top, so I go over and ask if they are ours. You know I'm a pretty boy and I don't want it being spiked . The girl at the bar checks the receipt next to them and yes, they are for our table. She offers to take them over, but I don't see the point as I'm right there and may as well take the drinks with me on the walk back. Kinda phased that they were left there and not bought over earlier, but meh.

Next someone comes over to take our order. We were reading Deadpool comics earlier; obviously we all order chimichangas. Two shredded pork and one chicken. The order was taken and the food arrived pretty quickly so again I was happy. However, halfway into my first chimichanga I turned to my friend and said 'this is not chicken'.
'This ain't pork' he replied. The kitchen had got the little name flags the wrong way around. I was quite frustrated about this as many of my friends can't eat pork: it was fortunate it happened to me and not one of them! So another bad stroke.

It's getting late now and we're still slowly plugging away at our food. The waiter comes over (I guess they want to close down soon) whilst we're having a break (chatting instead of eating). He asks if we are done. "mmmmm... no" I reply, yet a hand comes over and picks up my plate. "Errr... Oi!" I stammer and yell. They might be filling, but dammit I wanna finish my delicious food! Third strike.

So we finish our food, ask for the bill and for the money to be rounded up and split 3 ways on our cards. We pay up and leave. It's too late and we're too British to complain. The food was delicious, but the service was awful. I certainly won't be a regular visitor, indeed will probably never go back. Especially if that waiter is there, haha! I'm disgusted that the kitchen mixed up pork and chicken. That's a pretty grave error.

Anecdote complete and getting to the crux: the idea of the silent customer/silent killer is definately of merit. If I have bad service I'm the kind to pay up, leave quietly and be much more reluctant about coming back. This applies whether I've had bad service (as per my anecdote) or I feel staff are too snide or passive/aggresive about my 'dollar'. If you don't think they're worth the bother/money anymore just don't go back and leave them to rot. That said you have to give them a few chances; everyone/thing sometimes has off days!

[The bearded one]

I don't have a GW store near me, but what I read about them on the internet isn't too great: treating vets like garbage, gaming tables reserved for newbs and not big enough for an actual game, GW games being banned from the stores, the buy BUY BUUUYYYYY attitude of the staff.

It depends on the store, and of course not all mentioned things happen at each store at the same time. It also depends a bit on the location and attitude of staff and customers there. In my local GW in Rotterdam the staff is fairly sensible about these things. If you're jumping and shouting about or be silly, customers are just gonna raise their eyebrows or tell you to stop it, and leave. That's simply the attitude folk have around here, while you could get away with acting like that in another location, like GW Eindhoven (some staff of which incidentally fell in in GW R'dam recently, and experienced the different attitudes firsthand ). The staff appreciates building up a community of regulars, and we often give them a hand, gaming with new people for example. We have our own local 'longbeard' who likes to game at the GW, and isn't illtreated or 'chased out' by staff The store currently has 3 tables of 4' x 4', 1 of which has intro and intropainting stuff, but between the other 2 we are allowed to put boards, effectively adding another 4'x 4' between them. The upcoming new manager, (assuming he gets the job of course, but his odds are pretty good), also wanted to add an extra portion of table to that.

[mdauben]

It depends on the store, and of course not all mentioned things happen at each store at the same time. It also depends a bit on the location and attitude of staff and customers there.

I consider myself lucky in this respect to be in the US. Even though there are some GW stores here, they never achieved the near universal dominance they seem to have in the UK. The few times I've been in US GW stores, I was quickly driven out again by overly pushy sales staff. I have always found indepenent stores to be much more comfortable places, usually with superior gaming space, more laid back staff and a more congenial clientel.

This certainly isn't limited to GW and a few years ago it was quite common to have sales people accosting you every few steps in hardware, sporting goods and other large retail stores. I understand they were doubtless trained to do exactly this, but in my case at least they had the exact opposite effect as I got tired of telling people "no I don't need any help, I'll let you know if I do". Instead of wandering the store, browsing and perhaps impuse buying extra items, I would rush through the store with my head down, snatch what I wanted and leave immediatly.

[Beastlord]

I kindof understand the whole " GW have the right to deny you use of non-GW minis in their stores" thing, but I don't really think it's beneficial to them. I have a GW nearby and would love to play there as I have relatively few opponents but I can't because about a third of my chaos army is non-GW ( plus chaos doesn't exist anymore but hey it's just an example). To be clear - it is a big army, I still have many thousands of points of GW models but I'm not allowed in so I feel no loyalty to the store so I don't buy anything there. They are doing absolutely nothing to encourage me to buy direct - you'd have to be mad in the circumstances. They are losing out on my custom because of that rule (plus their insane prices). To me their fear over their customers seeing other companies miniatures looks very much like a lack of confidence in their own product.

[theunwantedbeing]

I kindof understand the whole " GW have the right to deny you use of non-GW minis in their stores" thing, but I don't really think it's beneficial to them. I have a GW nearby and would love to play there as I have relatively few opponents but I can't because about a third of my chaos army is non-GW. To be clear - it is a big army, I still have many thousands of points of GW models but I'm not allowed in so I feel no loyalty to the store so I don't buy anything there.

Let me get this straight.
You aren't allowed to in because...
1. You own other companies models?
2. You refuse to not use those other companies models at the store?

[Jind_Singh]

Why is this thread littering our Warhammer General scene? It's a GW thread - why is it still being displayed here? If I want to see people rant over GW I'd go to that dusty section and see years old bile and twisted hate - Beastmen and Dark Elves got NOTHING on hatred compared to GW haters.


Let's see this thread moved to it's proper section so the rest of us can ignore it and get on with Warhammer Fantasy please mods.

[HurrDurr]

I think I fit this description (wavvy lines taking us back to Sunday night):

I went to Chiquitos in Nottingham (first time), got a seat immediately and had my drinks order taken immediately. Was impressed, but woefully this wouldn't last!
After 5 mins the drinks are still sitting on the bar top, so I go over and ask if they are ours. You know I'm a pretty boy and I don't want it being spiked . The girl at the bar checks the receipt next to them and yes, they are for our table. She offers to take them over, but I don't see the point as I'm right there and may as well take the drinks with me on the walk back. Kinda phased that they were left there and not bought over earlier, but meh.

Next someone comes over to take our order. We were reading Deadpool comics earlier; obviously we all order chimichangas. Two shredded pork and one chicken. The order was taken and the food arrived pretty quickly so again I was happy. However, halfway into my first chimichanga I turned to my friend and said 'this is not chicken'.
'This ain't pork' he replied. The kitchen had got the little name flags the wrong way around. I was quite frustrated about this as many of my friends can't eat pork: it was fortunate it happened to me and not one of them! So another bad stroke.

It's getting late now and we're still slowly plugging away at our food. The waiter comes over (I guess they want to close down soon) whilst we're having a break (chatting instead of eating). He asks if we are done. "mmmmm... no" I reply, yet a hand comes over and picks up my plate. "Errr... Oi!" I stammer and yell. They might be filling, but dammit I wanna finish my delicious food! Third strike.

So we finish our food, ask for the bill and for the money to be rounded up and split 3 ways on our cards. We pay up and leave. It's too late and we're too British to complain. The food was delicious, but the service was awful. I certainly won't be a regular visitor, indeed will probably never go back. Especially if that waiter is there, haha! I'm disgusted that the kitchen mixed up pork and chicken. That's a pretty grave error.

Anecdote complete and getting to the crux: the idea of the silent customer/silent killer is definately of merit. If I have bad service I'm the kind to pay up, leave quietly and be much more reluctant about coming back. This applies whether I've had bad service (as per my anecdote) or I feel staff are too snide or passive/aggresive about my 'dollar'. If you don't think they're worth the bother/money anymore just don't go back and leave them to rot. That said you have to give them a few chances; everyone/thing sometimes has off days!

Both sides of my family do not eat pork for religious reasons, that's one of those things that could get ugly fast.

So hearing a lot of what people here have to say, I'm wondering how this shoving things in your face style business strategy can even be taken seriously. Part of me feels that a huge corporation like GWS couldn't be that stupid and it's just me being ignorant, but then again I know it's not selling me more models so it just looks like a dead end.

[Beastlord]

Let me get this straight.
You aren't allowed to in because...
1. You own other companies models?
2. You refuse to not use those other companies models at the store?

Sorry I didn't mean literally not allowed in - rather not allowed to play because my army contains non-GW models.

[Nubl0]

Feel sorry for all the people that hate GW, my local GW is a great place to game. As for not being able to use non-GW models in store? Totally within reason imho :P

[Lord Dan]

Feel sorry for all the people that hate GW, my local GW is a great place to game. As for not being able to use non-GW models in store? Totally within reason imho :P

My hatred* of GW has absolutely nothing to do with any of their in-store policies.

*Discontentment towards

[Arnizipal]

Bunch of posts removed.
Please play nice people.

Arnizipal,

++ The Warseer Moderation Team ++

[Caiphas Cain]

My hatred* of GW has absolutely nothing to do with any of their in-store policies.

*Discontentment towards

Same here. There's nothing that I really dislike about the stores themselves. Yeah, the staff ask if you need X Y and Z, but how hard is it to say, "No. No. No,"? I'd bet that -most- people are alright with GW's stores. Their prices though, is what generates a lot of the hatred GW recieves.

[stroller]

So I'm just getting back into the hobby, but I'm not a dummy per se and I've done my research before hand. I chose Bretonnians because I just plain like the fluff/models/aesthetics.
All good so far.

Anyways we have a new GW store near me and I went in to buy the army book even though I have it on PDF.
Yep. You're wrong here.

[I}I then bought some Knights of the Realm.[/I]
back with the good guys...

When I went to pay me and the staffer started some light banter about the escalation league that was starting and that I was going to enter as some motivation to paint and also to network with some other wargamers, etc. The following is the dialogue.
Good plan - engage the customer...

"Make sure you bring your rulebook...do you have a rulebook yet?"
Again, reasonable (maybe add on sale here, doing his job)

"Not yet, but I'm in the process of getting one."
"Process?" -Inquisitive look of confusion-
Unclear. So "huh?" isnt unreasonable. "Yes" MIGHT have been more discreet, as you'd presumably have received it before your next visit.

"Well...yea...off Ebay."
Foot. Mouth.

"Oh man that hurts...Ebay doesn't pay my bills and it doesn't help local stores either..."
More foot. More mouth.

-Awkward silence as I hand over my credit card-

He didn't say it in a mean way, but it was one of those passive-aggressive tones you know? Where he's faking a joke but the real meaning is seeping through. Is this kosher? I mean I know he has a job to do and everything, and yea his store is evaluated only on product sold but I just dropped over sixty bucks and half of it was for something I had for free already (which I told him on my previous visit and he covered his ears and said "Ahhh I didn't hear that"). I'm not trying to be the bad guy here, but maybe I am?
Yes, he could have been more diplomatic, but so could you. Yes, it's kosher. He DOES have a job to do. You have a perfect right to (legally) buy whatever you like wherever you like, but saying "No, I'm getting stuff you sell somewhere else" (not to mention pirated) isn't exactly subtle.

Anyways, now I'm worried about bringing in some non GW minis to play with in the store because I'll get similar treatment. It's not my fault that a Dark Sword Cersei makes for a way cooler and way hotter damsel than the GW mini that has 15 pounds of hair.

Am I in the wrong here?
As others have said, it's perfectly reasonable for a retailer to limit figures used in their store however they like.

On balance, he could have phrased it better, but yeah, pretty much, you're in the wrong. C'est la vie.

[The Clairvoyant]

If I go to my local GW even to just chat with the staff, i always make sure i buy something. To me, its just polite.
After a discussion with the manager there about how they get the 'sale' if you order from the order point in store, I have taken to buying the direct-only stuff i want through their instore point to help them out.
That said, I still go elsewhere sometimes. I use Rocket Hobbies for their huge 25% discount - i did this for the 6th ed rulebook and meant i was able to get the psychic cards as well and still be cheaper than just buying the rulebook from GW. Fortunately for me, Rocket are local to me so i can pick up from them and avoid the P&P.
I've even chatted to the owner at Rocket and asked about using an offline payment method rather than paypal to help him out. If I'm paying £40, why shouldn't they get £40 instead of getting hit with paypal charges?

[Llew]

As has been stated, the PDF thing was indefensibly wrong, but you have since resolved that.

I'd have resolved the rest of the conversation like this...

"Make sure you bring your rulebook...do you have a rulebook yet?"
"Not yet, but I'm in the process of getting one."
"Process?" -Inquisitive look of confusion-
"Well...yea...off Ebay."
"Oh man that hurts...Ebay doesn't pay my bills and it doesn't help local stores either..."

"If you can match the price I get off Ebay, I'll buy from you."
"I can't do that."
"How about if I throw in 10% over that to reflect the convenience of being able to buy it in store right now?"
"I can't do that."
"So you're stuck taking no sale over a still-profitable sale at a reduced price? Then it's not really Ebay that's hurting your store."

Solved.

[DarkLordBelial]

I think I would have been quick to point out that if I had to pay GW prices I wouldn't be able to pay my bills either.

[DaemonReign]

Even though it's far less comfortable than ordering from behind you computer, couldn't you order it a your GW by phone?

*HAHAHA*
You're right I could, but the nerd-overdose would be the end of me..

And I'd have to give them the security digits to my credit card, and walk them through the log-in procedure of my internet-bank security service (like 1000 digits of random numbers) ... so yeah.. I'm just waiting for them to suggest it really.