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Yeah well i could care less if they change their hours, their staff, or their locations. They still suck... lol. I went to a GW store and i must say first off its over an hour away from me. Here is what i was thinking. Ill go down there have some good nerd talk with other like minded nerds and spend a couple hundred bucks and feel good while doing it.

Well i get to the store. Some people playing, some people painting, lots of crack all around. A red shirt comes walking up and nicely asks "so can i help ya?" I say "yeah im looking for Shrike where can i find him?" His answer is something to the effect we dont carry him in stores, direct order from website... hmmm ok i can dig that. "Alright, i need an eversor assasin and a couple Death Cult Assassins where can i find them?" "Oh we dont have those in the store we only carry the Vindicare and Culexus in stock..." but you can get that on the website.... Hmmmmm ok.. im now trying to make excuses for them i understand they are not the most popular models in the range and stocking them just takes up space and doesnt move. So i start talking armies and fifth edition with some of the guys painting. Some well versed folks to chat it up with. I appreciate the conversation and i begin to forget the trip i made. "Oh yeah mr. redshirt i need 2 boxes of assault marines , where can i find those?"...hmm there arent any on the shelf here next to the 4 boxes of Marneus and his Honor Guard. Redshitrt says, " Oh let me check in the back for you" right on... so i go back to my nerd talk with the locals. It takes about 5 minutes for him to come back with a 90$ battle force and look at me and say we dont have any assault marines here, but you could pick up this battle force there are 5 in them. Ok now i am pissed , so far you have had nothing i was looking for and your solution to my latest problem is you want me to spend more money than i wanted to to get 5 assault marines when i wanted 10...? So i take a slight step back, look at the people painting, position myself so my response can be heard by enough people. " So basically you have nothing i want in stock at a GW store and your answer is to sell me something i dont want nor need?"at that moment my wife is walking by with the Baby and my 2 daughters and i ask her to wait a sec because she has my bag in the stroller..Inside i have my laptop which i always keep with me. I pull it out set it on the counter next to some painters in clear view of the red shirts and proceed to load up, connect to the internet, bring up the GW site. The red shirt makes his way over and says cool you can order it right here thats nice... i look at him as he watches the GW site come up painfully slow then fail to load altogether due to the GW site being a pile of crap...So what do i do.. i laugh and load up Ebay i proceed to bid on an assault marine box set and next i load up TheWarstore and give them a call with my cell phone i order 220 dollars of stuff right there and then i look at the red shirt and go wow that was easy.. Oh and it was 20% cheaper. I guess my work is done here... i can at least say i bought stuff while at the GW store.

GW obviously has a poor idea of how to stock there stores and on top of that there selling practices are a bit off. I would think if i dissapointed a customer not once or twice but three times in 15 miutes i would be looking to offer some empathy and regard for the customers plight. I know the money i spent is going to GW either way but i think it was important to let them see that they are not needed much at all and the mere presence of their stores should be just a tad more respectful to an internet capable world where we dont need the stores we just need the magic of a place where nerds can congregate and enjoy our experience. Stock your store with everything and some day everything will sell.


Bah ive said enough.

*Rant Off*

I think pulling out the laptop in the store was a bit excessive but I understand and accept you frustration

You sounds like a swell guy. I am sure they invited you back.

Maybe a US problem, they usually have all the plastic kits in Southampton, UK. Metal miniatures usually in good supply too, but not the older stuff.

Anyway, it's bad you have to drive an hour to get to a store. I can just pop in during lunch. Try moving to a smaller country?

Oh i didnt mention the countless questions about rules that either wen unanswered or answered entirely wrong.

I think pulling out the laptop was a measured response to a very dissapointing experience. the chuckles from the locals was cool.. especially when they started asking me what kind of bits do they have and i started letting them ask and i would show them .....

That's why I don't drive more than 15 minutes for my hobby stuff.

I can say about half the workers at my local GW are great, less than half aren't necessarily terrible, just a little "retail awkward," and a couple just suck. Customer service largely depends on individual people and you can only force that from a person so much. Hence why after leaving the comic shop I worked I followed my former manager there as a customer to the new store he was working at. I know he'll give me good customer service regardless of store, and that's all you can ever hope to count on. I would say it's less a GW store problem (the employees could have called and said they were out of assault marines sooner, or who knows, maybe they just sold them an hour before and that guy was on lunch). He didn't sound like the brightest bulb anyway. To each his own I suppose.

Flashman wrote:Maybe a US problem, they usually have all the plastic kits in Southampton, UK. Metal miniatures usually in good supply too, but not the older stuff.

Anyway, it's bad you have to drive an hour to get to a store. I can just pop in during lunch. Try moving to a smaller country?

I live in the U.S near one of the largest cities in the country... I dont mind the drive at all.. i do mind it being a complete waste for me and my family...

im just ranting fellas.. i was like a school kid all excited to plan the time to go down to the GW store and spend some money... anyways im sure they were a bunch of good guys and the folks i talked to in there are the only reason i didnt drop to my knees and scream Why me Lord!!!!

My luck will be if i were to go back this weekend they would have everything i wanted in triplicate...

GW portsmouth is fine, infact, they make a note of keeping stocked up on common things.
i just wander down there, buy what i need and go.

allthough, ive seen someone looking for something they didnt have instore, a redshirt took it out of a £50 box, sold it to him as normal and took the box out back.

If you really did all that, I think you went too far. You came in looking at three sets of purchases, 2 of which you admit were a little esoteric. The third should be in good stock, so I can understand your frustration. But even if they normally stock, say, 4 of those boxes, they can sell out (space marines being space marines and all.)

I mean, imagine if they did have two of those boxes and you bought both. What if someone else came in looking for those same boxes, then bashes GW for not stocking enough? How many Assault Marine boxes should a GW stock? 6? 8? 20?

Admittedly, if they really did have 4 Marneus Calgar boxes, then that probably is a poor stocking choice. However, as extreme as it might seem, many of those boxes could be from their original shipment years ago when it was first released (assuming none/few of them have moved.)

As for the staff member's actions, I suppose it all depends on the tone. Did he try to hard sell you into the battleforce? Or, not knowing your urgency for Assault Marines did he suggest the box simply because it was the only way to get them? If I needed Assault Marines badly, say for a weekend tournament, and I needed them NOW, it would have been poor on the staff member to not suggest it.

My suggestion if you ever plan on going to a GW again is to call in advance if there is any specific item you are looking for. If they don't have it, you can save yourself the trip.

Zoned

JD21290 wrote:
allthough, ive seen someone looking for something they didnt have instore, a redshirt took it out of a £50 box, sold it to him as normal and took the box out back.

Now thats the kind of service that would have made me come on here and praise them ...

Zoned wrote:If you really did all that, I think you went too far. You came in looking at three sets of purchases, 2 of which you admit were a little esoteric. The third should be in good stock, so I can understand your frustration. But even if they normally stock, say, 4 of those boxes, they can sell out (space marines being space marines and all.)

I mean, imagine if they did have two of those boxes and you bought both. What if someone else came in looking for those same boxes, then bashes GW for not stocking enough? How many Assault Marine boxes should a GW stock? 6? 8? 20?

Admittedly, if they really did have 4 Marneus Calgar boxes, then that probably is a poor stocking choice. However, as extreme as it might seem, many of those boxes could be from their original shipment years ago when it was first released (assuming none/few of them have moved.)

As for the staff member's actions, I suppose it all depends on the tone. Did he try to hard sell you into the battleforce? Or, not knowing your urgency for Assault Marines did he suggest the box simply because it was the only way to get them? If I needed Assault Marines badly, say for a weekend tournament, and I needed them NOW, it would have been poor on the staff member to not suggest it.

My suggestion if you ever plan on going to a GW again is to call in advance if there is any specific item you are looking for. If they don't have it, you can save yourself the trip.

Zoned

Thanks for the response.. i did abbreviate this rant some.. there are things i looked for that i didnt even open my mouth about because i didnt need the canned response.

1. Grey KNioght Terminator box... not in stock
2. GKT blisters(any) not available
3. Stern, not on the racks
4. I need 4 drop pods... they had 1 in the whole store
5. 293 dollars for the strike force and it looked re wrapped....
6. I would have bought Scouts with the sniper rifles..... oh wait they didnt have any. They had one box of the combat scouts.

Listen all these things i looked for silently after haveing my first 3 request shot down. Thats when i realized i had fallen into the 7th plane of of out of stock hell....

I wont ever go back to that shop because i dont need to.. i just wanted to be the kid in a candy sotre for once. There arent many chances for that as you get older and i was denied that oh well such is life.

Mmm. Yes. I've always found throwing the toys out the pram and acting like a prick is a sure solution to getting what I want.

gakker.

You do know that you can order stuff into the store without paying postage don't you? Or did you just decide that being you, you deserve extra special treatment? I've been in plenty of stores that haven't had what I was after, and you know what I do? I say 'hey, thats too bad. Do you know when you might next get them in?'

Just ask a civil question, and you'll get a civil response. It's also entirely possible someone else bought their entire stock of assault marines before you got there. Clearly this is some kind of conspiracy, and you should find this treacherous other shopper and I dunno, set light to his dog.

Now, compare what GW offer to say, a DVD Store. If go DVD shopping, I tend to have a very specific shopping list to prevent me wazzing too much money on them. Now, they may not have all the titles I want in store, so I have to order it in. Yet no DVD Shop has ever given me a definite deadline for when I can expect it in. Sometimes it's a couple of days, perhaps a week, even as much as a month. I tend to just forget about those titles, as I like to know when I can pick it up, rather than just sit and hope.

Like every single other Bricks and Mortar store on the planet, GW's have limited shelf space. As their range expands, it becomes immediately apparent that they do not have sufficient space for it all. So some stuff (lower volume sellers) goes direct only, like Special Characters after the initial release. They now have an electronic restocking system which, when first implemented in a store has a stock list set. From what I understand, as something is sold, it is automatically added to the order system. Having used the old one, this sounds like an improvement. So, say you are after something like Savage Orcs. They aren't stocked in store, but I can order and pay for them instore, and have them shipped there or to my home. I know how long this is going to take, as the Staff know when their order is due to arrive. This is a bonus. Essentially, I know if it's in the catalogue, I know I can get it pretty promptly and for no extra cash. Pretty sound system if you ask me, given the limited space.

So please, do tell why you acted like a big bairn in front of everyone? What did this achieve? What did you hope to achieve?

JD21290 wrote:GW portsmouth is fine, infact, they make a note of keeping stocked up on common things.
i just wander down there, buy what i need and go.

allthough, ive seen someone looking for something they didnt have instore, a redshirt took it out of a £50 box, sold it to him as normal and took the box out back.

Um not been in a GW store, what do you mean by "took it out of a £50 box, sold it to him as normal and took the box out back"

And windswept313... I can understand the frustration and the rant but I am glad i was not your redshirt

Are you sure that you didn't go on the last day of a closing down sale?
If you must plan on buying so much stuff in one go,
A) buy on the internet,
B) buy through GWs mail order,
C) order it into a store to be collected,
D) be patient.

It really is no wonder that not all of such a huge order was in stock.

mussie76 wrote:Um not been in a GW store, what do you mean by "took it out of a £50 box, sold it to him as normal and took the box out back"

He probably meant that the redshirt opened a Battle Force that they had in stock, handed the guy the equivalent sprues for the box he was looking for, then put the box in the back and later called the GW warehouse and reported a "mispacked" box and asked for a replacement.

windswept313 wrote:

JD21290 wrote:
allthough, ive seen someone looking for something they didnt have instore, a redshirt took it out of a £50 box, sold it to him as normal and took the box out back.

Now thats the kind of service that would have made me come on here and praise them ...

True, but it makes little sense from a business point of view and would in all likelihood land said staffer in real trouble. Ruining a £50 boxed set for a £15 pound sale is the kind of thing that pisses managers off.

Back to the OP. By your own admission several of the Items you planned to order were rare and its quite common knowledge that GW stores don't carry all lines, nor should they. Ok its weird they were out of Assault Marines, but things like this do happen. They could have had a single customer buy them out of stock, GW stores are only replenished once a week so a busy weekend can see them cleared out of some key things. Or for whatever reason they may not have been able to order them in. I know both happened when I was a redshirt.

As for offering you the battleforce as an alternative, well as someone above me stated, It would have been exceedingly bad customer service for the redshirt to have at least not given you the option. Fair enough you said no, but was it really so bad that you were presented with an alternative?

This certainly doesn’t seem to be an indication of bad cust service on GW's part. Just that on occasion things go out of stock. The moral of the story is that if you plan to travel a distance to visit a GW always phone in advance and get them to put said items aside.

Oh and I hate to be TFG, but that thing with you laptop strikes me as being a tad rude. Oh and as much as I hate spelling and grammar Nazi's can you please proof read your posts. Unless English is you second language or your dyslexic there is no excuse for some of the mistakes in your post.

You know what though, I feel for that employee. I also work in the retail market and I get YELLED at when we sell out of Wiis. Its not my fault you were too slow, no I don't know when we'll get some more in, no we don't have a waiting list, etc.

Luckily enough for GW stores, they can order stuff in. Where I work we don't order anything, we just get sent what the company thinks we need. NO, WE DON'T NEED 60 COPIES OF SAMBA DE AMIGO MR. CORPORATE EXECUTIVE!!!

If you did that to me, personally I wouldn't give a f**k and would make fun of you with my fellow employees.

Sounds to me like a hissy fit.

I have very little experience with a GW store, since there aren't any in my state, but I frequent several different hobby stores in the area. Now, admittedly, they have a large stock of things that includes more than just GW product, but that doesn't make it any less frustrating when they run out of something they should have. I wasn't even able to find a rhino (chaos or loyalist) last time I went. Rather than get mad, I just made sure they had some coming in the next week and found out what day they receive shipments of stock. You might want to consider the fact that (as you said) you live in one of the biggest cities in the US. If you have to drive for an hour, then that means that everyone else within an hours drive of that store will be going there as well. That's alot of people. Assuming the GW store (like any other normal store) gets restocked once a week, it is absolutely reasonable that they might be out of everything you want, especially if you happened to go in a day or two before they got their new shipment.

So, try to think of it in a rational way, rather than just being a dick. Stores run out of stuff all the time, be they GW or not, and they aren't obligated to cater to your every whim.

Frazzled wrote:You sounds like a swell guy. I am sure they invited you back.

Remind me not to invite you anywhere...

Flashman wrote:Maybe a US problem, they usually have all the plastic kits in Southampton, UK. Metal miniatures usually in good supply too, but not the older stuff.

Anyway, it's bad you have to drive an hour to get to a store. I can just pop in during lunch. Try moving to a smaller country?

Great attitude, no wonder American-based games like Warmachine are doing so well.

Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:Mmm. Yes. I've always found throwing the toys out the pram and acting like a prick is a sure solution to getting what I want.

gakker.

You do know that you can order stuff into the store without paying postage don't you? Or did you just decide that being you, you deserve extra special treatment? I've been in plenty of stores that haven't had what I was after, and you know what I do? I say 'hey, thats too bad. Do you know when you might next get them in?'

Just ask a civil question, and you'll get a civil response. It's also entirely possible someone else bought their entire stock of assault marines before you got there. Clearly this is some kind of conspiracy, and you should find this treacherous other shopper and I dunno, set light to his dog.

Now, compare what GW offer to say, a DVD Store. If go DVD shopping, I tend to have a very specific shopping list to prevent me wazzing too much money on them. Now, they may not have all the titles I want in store, so I have to order it in. Yet no DVD Shop has ever given me a definite deadline for when I can expect it in. Sometimes it's a couple of days, perhaps a week, even as much as a month. I tend to just forget about those titles, as I like to know when I can pick it up, rather than just sit and hope.

Like every single other Bricks and Mortar store on the planet, GW's have limited shelf space. As their range expands, it becomes immediately apparent that they do not have sufficient space for it all. So some stuff (lower volume sellers) goes direct only, like Special Characters after the initial release. They now have an electronic restocking system which, when first implemented in a store has a stock list set. From what I understand, as something is sold, it is automatically added to the order system. Having used the old one, this sounds like an improvement. So, say you are after something like Savage Orcs. They aren't stocked in store, but I can order and pay for them instore, and have them shipped there or to my home. I know how long this is going to take, as the Staff know when their order is due to arrive. This is a bonus. Essentially, I know if it's in the catalogue, I know I can get it pretty promptly and for no extra cash. Pretty sound system if you ask me, given the limited space.

So please, do tell why you acted like a big bairn in front of everyone? What did this achieve? What did you hope to achieve?

So, everyone who goes into a GW store should bow down and kiss the feet of the staff and beg them to please sell the stupid peasant whatever they've bothered to stack and thank you mister for the favor? Not bloody likely.

No, but you shouldn't just go in demanding the respect of a King or Foreign dignitary.

Windswept acted like a prick in this situation. GW have means of getting your goods to you, beyond just waiting for the standard restock. This is free, and being able to order it in store and pay for it there and then, about as convenient as it can get when ordering non-stock or sold out items. So why act like a spoilt little brat?

I ask again, what was it meant to achieve? What did he hope to achieve? If it was the scorn and pity of his fellow nerds in the store, I suspect it worked beautifully....

Any reason for double posting it there as well? Or are you that proud of your actions?

Lets get the real. The guy acted like a complete to some poor hack making minimum wage +. What did you do for an encore-kick a puppy on your way out?

To warpcrafter-biteth me, and verily.
Edit: my apologies to other posters, But I and my wife both worked in retail and believe everyeon should do a forced stint in retail selling y stuff to y people.
Its interesting to see the personalities people have with retail hacks. I always thought I should go with Genghis COnnie's future boyfriend to a retail place to see hwo they treat them (or waitstaff in restaurants). If they even blink wrong, it'd be all the excuse I'd need...

Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:No, but you shouldn't just go in demanding the respect of a King or Foreign dignitary.

In the store we have a saying: Customer might be king but we are Emperor.

warpcrafter wrote:

So, everyone who goes into a GW store should bow down and kiss the feet of the staff and beg them to please sell the stupid peasant whatever they've bothered to stack and thank you mister for the favor? Not bloody likely.

That's a pretty stupid thing to say. Obviously, it's not the fault of the staff that theya re out of stock, and it's hardly fair to blame them, but it's not like the staff was gloating or being rude. If you can't get what you want, that sucks for you, but it sucks for the store that loses the revenue, too. Instead of being a dick or acting facetious, just let it go.

Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:You do know that you can order stuff into the store without paying postage don't you? ... I've been in plenty of stores that haven't had what I was after, and you know what I do? I say 'hey, thats too bad. Do you know when you might next get them in?'

Grotsnik: I'm sure that works great for people who have to drive in from another town. We're not all so close together like you guys on the other side of the pond. Is it a reasonable expectation that a GW store carry sufficient quantities of regular stock? (Point of reference, the closest propper FLGS is 3 hours away for me - across the border, and the closest actual "GW" is 6 hours away - also across the border in the US)

It still baffles me to this date why GW doesn't stock their whole range (and never mind about how they can't afford it) - maybe GW stores are held to a differing standard than other "brand" stores that sell their own product. It's akin to an Apple store not stocking certain models of iPod because some colours from certain ranges don't sell well, or Sony Stores not selling high end TVs because they don't move that many of them.

Granted, the OP's reaction was grossly inappropriate. Honestly, a better solution is just to call in ahead and ask them to hold product for you. If they don't have it in stock, then there is no time wasted.

mussie, i mean they took something out of a £50 battle force box to sell to the person since they didnt have the item in stock on its own.

Now thats the kind of service that would have made me come on here and praise them ...

GW portsmouth is great for things like that, the staff are happy to help if you need it, not sure on what you want?
feel free to read a dex off the shelf, ask for a pen and paper and write up an army list in-store.

they are great, if anyone else uses GW portsmouth im interested in hearing what they have to say.

i travel alot since im based in london now (was in manchester) and i see alot of friends in the portsmouth / southampton area, im yet to find a bad GW in any of those areas.



Edit:

True, but it makes little sense from a business point of view and would in all likelihood land said staffer in real trouble. Ruining a £50 boxed set for a £15 pound sale is the kind of thing that pisses managers off.

not likely lucius.
im sure they would have sold the rest of it on in parts aswell, so infact not only did they help out a few people, they made more from the box

Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:No, but you shouldn't just go in demanding the respect of a King or Foreign dignitary.

Windswept acted like a prick in this situation. GW have means of getting your goods to you, beyond just waiting for the standard restock. This is free, and being able to order it in store and pay for it there and then, about as convenient as it can get when ordering non-stock or sold out items. So why act like a spoilt little brat?

I ask again, what was it meant to achieve? What did he hope to achieve? If it was the scorn and pity of his fellow nerds in the store, I suspect it worked beautifully....

Nope actually i did exactly what i wanted to because im the customer and i can.. now like i said it want just 3 things they didnt heacve.. i listed the other things that were out of stock..on a Saturday which by far is one of the best days to sell things and stock should be replenished...

I did a service also to the couple of people in there that did not know that Warstore had bits for sale...and they did not know they could get 20% off retail by ordering at the warstore.. you fail to see that this is a rant about how a very rare trip to a GW store turned out to be far less than all the Fanboys make it out to be. The glitz and glammer of a Flagship store is possible if you get there on the right day.. Not a luxury for me. My family and i had fun shopping for other things.. I just was very dissapointed by what i got outof my GW experience..

Oh yeah and i did try to go to the GW site while i was there but that didnt work either.. so i was willing to spend 20% more to be a good GW customer.. One day you will be handed a defeat in your life for something you want. you can either slink away from it and make excuses for whay you screwed up or you can say to yourself this wasnt my fault and that store sucked. Dont worry you wont hurt anyones feelings for having an opinion on a given situation....or will you.

For those of you that saw that i was frustrated and just wanted to rant thanks for the understanding.. for those of you that passed judgement on my actions well enjoy the anonymity of the internet because i doubt you are so brazen in public....

My bro waited almost 2 months after the release of the new ork battlewagon that he preordered for it to come in. Did he yell at the staff, no. Did he buy another one, no. Did he kick puppies, no. He merely said okay and checked at the end of every week for it to come in. This wasn't a GW store though, it was an independent retailer and is not partnered with GW.

windswept313 wrote:I did a service also to the couple of people in there that did not know that Warstore had bits for sale...and they did not know they could get 20% off retail by ordering at the Warstore..

Windswept: At most stores, that's a bannable offense. It is one thing to complain about poor stock, but you stepped over the line when you deliberately acted in a way to HARM their business. Your rights as a customer don't trump their rights as a business. Advertising a store's competition while on their property is just assinine.