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Hi guys. With all the GW hate I here now and then I feel like I have to share a little experience that I just had that shows they aren't all that evil after all.

I just got a box of the Fine cast Warp Spiders that were a pretty bad cast (lots of bubbles). I called them up (about a twenty minuets before I'm posting this) and told them what was wrong and have to say they have one of the most friendly customer services reps I've ever talked too.

I was on the phone with the guy without having to wait at all on hold and was finished in under eight minuets. In that time he made me a new account for their website (the old ones got deleted when they changed their site) and ordered me a new box of models which should arrive around Friday, for free of course. That's a $50 box!!

I didn't even have to argue and fight with the guy to do it (like most places now a days).

Overall the best customer support experience I've ever had.

My friend is the same as you. He hates GW most of the time, but he always swears by their customer service.

He was complaining because his beloved wood elf book would arrive Wednesday instead of Saturday because he preordered it.

literally that day (yesterday) he got an email saying his shipping had been upgraded for free and will arrive on Saturday.

Things like that really do a lot to help their image.

I've had the exact experience (with a different models) twice now.

Both times, I was really very impressed by their Customer Service people. Maybe I'm just used to horrible customer service, but it was a nice experience.

As much as I loathe many of their business practices and policies their customer service has always solved my problems quickly and easily.

The only bad thing I've ever heard about their CS is in relation to something that's really (IMO) outside the realm of their control, and that's when people email CS for rules disputes. The CS agents are probably provided a very limited window of time to respond to emails (as is the case with every major company that provides email support, especially ones not in a computer or tech-based business), and so are pretty much forced to come up with a resolution off the cuff.

This, though, I don't blame the CS agent for. They're not the writers or the design crew, it's not really their job to be mind-readers to know what the writing team meant when they penned whatever vague rule appears in a Codex.

 Psienesis wrote:
The only bad thing I've ever heard about their CS is in relation to something that's really (IMO) outside the realm of their control, and that's when people email CS for rules disputes. The CS agents are probably provided a very limited window of time to respond to emails (as is the case with every major company that provides email support, especially ones not in a computer or tech-based business), and so are pretty much forced to come up with a resolution off the cuff.

This, though, I don't blame the CS agent for. They're not the writers or the design crew, it's not really their job to be mind-readers to know what the writing team meant when they penned whatever vague rule appears in a Codex.

I can't believe they're actually expected to do this!

GW is the ANTICHRIST of companies!!!

J/K I saw so much positive here I figured I'd stain it a little XD Truth be told I really like their customer service and honestly, they handle complaints on the phone like champs. I had a borked set of Sanguinary Guard (brittle plastic that literally broke apart in my hand when I cut it from the sprue) and they shipped me a new box with no issues. Didn't even need a return on the old one. Good times.

That you've had a positive experience is great.

That a company replaces a faulty product is not all that special, especially one that is as publicly understood to be flawed as Finecast, it is really just the minimum one would expect, alongside friendly/polite CS staff.

If the replacement arrives with friends and is in no need of subsequent replacements, then that may be worthy of more praise than this, which is essentially the bare minimum executed to a competent standard.

Don't get me wrong, I neither criticise or praise GW blindly, and will do either if I see cause, but this really isn't it.

They may have a dark side but customer service is very good, and staff mostly are pretty good

 azreal13 wrote:
That a company replaces a faulty product is not all that special, especially one that is as publicly understood to be flawed as Finecast, it is really just the minimum one would expect, alongside friendly/polite CS staff.

Maybe its different in the UK, but I never expect friendly and polite Customer Service people anymore, because I basically never ever get it. So, their Customer Service is ahead of the norm, at least.

The United States is one of the last countries stuck in the mindset of "the customer is always right". I've worked in the CS environment for almost 20 years now. Let me tell you, the customer is usually wrong, badly so, and expects miracles because their Java-based application didn't make them coffee like they were expecting it to.

Seriously, the buying public is, largely, moronic.

The UK's CS standards are... extremely low. If you call them with an issue that falls outside what they anticipate as being Their Problem, they generally have no compunctions against telling you, flat out, that it's not their problem. If you press them for assistance, nine times in ten they'll tell you to get knotted.

Customer service is really good, i remember ordering helbrecht from their site, before i did i contacted their customer support via email(i had few questions since it was my first order), 3 hours later i got a complete, accurate and detailed response and, well everything came as it was expected(week and a half)
But can anyone explain me why the RAPEX when i pay 10 pounds standard(!!) shipping to Croatia, after all we are in European union as of July 1st 2013... Other than that i have no problems with their shipping, customer support. Whenever my friends complain that why i buy those overpriced models: models are overpriced yes, but still they are lot more durable than say a videogame(you get Brand new call of duty 2847295, beat the game in few weeks, if not less, maybe a month or two or multiplayer, and then it collects dust...)

 Psienesis wrote:
The United States is one of the last countries stuck in the mindset of "the customer is always right". I've worked in the CS environment for almost 20 years now. Let me tell you, the customer is usually wrong, badly so, and expects miracles because their Java-based application didn't make them coffee like they were expecting it to.

Seriously, the buying public is, largely, moronic.

The UK's CS standards are... extremely low. If you call them with an issue that falls outside what they anticipate as being Their Problem, they generally have no compunctions against telling you, flat out, that it's not their problem. If you press them for assistance, nine times in ten they'll tell you to get knotted.

Sounds bad (wondering what "get knotted" means)

It's a polite way of saying "go f*ck yourself".

 Psienesis wrote:
It's a polite way of saying "go f*ck yourself".

Gotcha...I'm not bothered when someon tells me to go f&ck myself...I'm gonna eventually do it anyway, so...

 jasper76 wrote:

 azreal13 wrote:
That a company replaces a faulty product is not all that special, especially one that is as publicly understood to be flawed as Finecast, it is really just the minimum one would expect, alongside friendly/polite CS staff.

Maybe its different in the UK, but I never expect friendly and polite Customer Service people anymore, because I basically never ever get it. So, their Customer Service is ahead of the norm, at least.

You get a degree of variation, of course, but, not wishing to offend, if you're constantly getting a bad attitude from CSRs from different companies, there's one common factor at work here dude.....

 Murdius Maximus wrote:
GW is the ANTICHRIST of companies!!!

J/K I saw so much positive here I figured I'd stain it a little XD Truth be told I really like their customer service and honestly, they handle complaints on the phone like champs. I had a borked set of Sanguinary Guard (brittle plastic that literally broke apart in my hand when I cut it from the sprue) and they shipped me a new box with no issues. Didn't even need a return on the old one. Good times.

Ya they did the same thing with me which was a surprise. The models I got are not very pretty but still usable for the tale top (the problem with mine are purely cosmetic). That means I effectively have 10 warpspiders (a beautiful and bubbly squad) that I can use witch is awesome.

 Psienesis wrote:


The UK's CS standards are... extremely low. If you call them with an issue that falls outside what they anticipate as being Their Problem, they generally have no compunctions against telling you, flat out, that it's not their problem. If you press them for assistance, nine times in ten they'll tell you to get knotted.

That's an unfair generalisation, it is like me saying all US customer service staff are fake and insincere.

 azreal13 wrote:

 jasper76 wrote:

 azreal13 wrote:
That a company replaces a faulty product is not all that special, especially one that is as publicly understood to be flawed as Finecast, it is really just the minimum one would expect, alongside friendly/polite CS staff.

Maybe its different in the UK, but I never expect friendly and polite Customer Service people anymore, because I basically never ever get it. So, their Customer Service is ahead of the norm, at least.

You get a degree of variation, of course, but, not wishing to offend, if you're constantly getting a bad attitude from CSRs from different companies, there's one common factor at work here dude.....

Low blow!

Dude, I swear I am like a overly polite and obliging dude in person and on the phone. Most of my Customer Service calls are due work-related issues about a common electronic device. They end up in an undisclosed location with terrible Customer Service.

Everytime I've called GW CS (3x now I think), they've been friendly, so its a good track record anecdotally.

 azreal13 wrote:

 Psienesis wrote:


The UK's CS standards are... extremely low. If you call them with an issue that falls outside what they anticipate as being Their Problem, they generally have no compunctions against telling you, flat out, that it's not their problem. If you press them for assistance, nine times in ten they'll tell you to get knotted.

That's an unfair generalisation, it is like me saying all US customer service staff are fake and insincere.

You would not be wrong, because they are. We train them to be that way. We design them to be that way. If you think they are the greatest CS Agent on the planet, it is because they are well-trained to be that way (and also possess a talent for it, too, which their employer hones to a razor's edge of cutting Customer Service Attitude).

But they don't care. They have heard your problem already 500 times today.

joeforever wrote: I was on the phone with the guy without having to wait at all on hold and was finished in under eight minuets. In that time he made me a new account for their website (the old ones got deleted when they changed their site) and ordered me a new box of models which should arrive around Friday, for free of course. That's a $50 box!!

I didn't even have to argue and fight with the guy to do it (like most places now a days).

Yeah, this has been pretty standard for some time now.

They've even done things that sound downright silly. One of my friends years ago got a box of guardsmen and it was missing a sprue. Just straight forgot to include it. GW's solution? They sent him another whole box of guardsmen and apologized for the first one not being right. So he got 35 guardsmen, and a bunch of bitz for the price of 20.

I've never bought finecast, myself, but those who I've known in person have likewise reported that if you claim that something is wrong, they just give you a new one without question.

 Psienesis wrote:

 azreal13 wrote:

 Psienesis wrote:


The UK's CS standards are... extremely low. If you call them with an issue that falls outside what they anticipate as being Their Problem, they generally have no compunctions against telling you, flat out, that it's not their problem. If you press them for assistance, nine times in ten they'll tell you to get knotted.

That's an unfair generalisation, it is like me saying all US customer service staff are fake and insincere.

You would not be wrong, because they are. We train them to be that way. We design them to be that way. If you think they are the greatest CS Agent on the planet, it is because they are well-trained to be that way (and also possess a talent for it, too, which their employer hones to a razor's edge of cutting Customer Service Attitude).

But they don't care. They have heard your problem already 500 times today.

Having worked HP All-In-One Tech support I can vouch for this being 1,000,000% true. You can't even have a bad attitude about the customer when you're not directly dealing with them.

Bought the old Wood Elves army book, took it home and it fell to bits. Brought it back to the shop the next day and they replaced it no problem.

It was only a small thing, but it was a good thing.

My friend told GW that his set of obliterators was miscast
twice , when in fact it was not . got 6 oblits for free. So that is probably one of the good sides of finecast.

<deleted>

ClockworkZion wrote:
Having worked HP All-In-One Tech support I can vouch for this being 1,000,000% true. You can't even have a bad attitude about the customer when you're not directly dealing with them.

Plus, even if you want to be the most cynical person possible, then you still have to deal with that getting in fights with customers, or spending time explaining that you can't help them and you don't care, or having calls that get bumped up to your manager are all things which are bad for throughput.

If you have an hourly quota, it's much more likely that you're just going to give the customer whatever he wants, because what matters to you is handling calls. The cost projections for refunds and returns are someone else's problem.

GW's pricing is outrageously stupid and their business practices are horrible...but yeah their customer service is impeccable. They don't even really require you to provide proof of purchase which opens them up to all kinds of abuse - I hope that not too many people abuse their generosity here.

I had a tube of glue that ruined a whole bunch of models and caused some undue hassle. It would have been nice if they would have just sent me an entire new chaos army for free but that was unreasonable..so they asked if I had any other particular models that were actually ruined and not in good shape, I told them about some finecast models that I never had replaced and they sent over replacements without asking any questions.

Bought a DV set on ebay, found a part was snapped (it was unopened when I had got it, but Australia Post loves breaking things) rang up and got a new part shipped to me in 2 days.

Not completely legitimate (I rationalised that it may have been snapped when the original owner purchased it), but not like getting endless failcast replacements that don't need replacing at all.

CS was brilliant, shame they want to charge me a 100% Australia Tax on their stuff and force me to buy from ~other sources~

Wait, sorry, I forgot this was the love bus, I will go to the bitter tears thread now

Yeah, GW customer service is pretty good. It was many years ago now, but I once ordered some stuff from the UK (back when you could order stuff direct from GW internationally) and there was a problem so they resent the entire order + some bonus LOTR minis to say sorry (several things I ordered were LOTR, so it made sense).

But that said... I can't get overly excited about them replacing minis given GW, like all companies, by law has to replace faulty or incorrectly advertised products. That they do it happily is nice... but I can't really get myself too over joyed that when they send me a faulty model a week or two later I get a not-faulty one.... or sometimes another faulty one.

I am happy that GW has good customer service. But the thing is, customer service is supposed to be like that. Just because GW seems to be better than the average experience these days doesn't deserve any praise beyond, "hey you're doing what is expected."

Also, perhaps they don't argue with you because they are perfectly aware that they have a botched product and they don't want you to spend too much time thinking about it.