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..grim tidings from the ever reliable Mr. Hastings from warseer with regards to GW

I hear on the grapevine that today all of the GW direct sales staff are to be made redundant with sales moving to purely online or in store. I think it's pretty crap really (and worse for those particular employees) as I used to call on occasion for hobby advice and such like, not sure how they'll handle those type of things anymore. One thing is for certain if they don't have such a department where you can call and ask advice etc. I think it will distance them from their customers.

Very bad decision IMO, fair enough GW Direct sales didn't make massive contributions to sales but they provided another more important service IMO - they were there for advice about all aspects of the hobby and also to solve any problems that arose from purchase of GW products, not only that but they were really enthusiastic about the hobby and drummed up sales that way. I really don't think this action bodes well for the future.

I was wondering if this could be a cost cutting measure? but then again thought to myself £13k x 4 = £52k PA, surely if they wanted to save that then a certain Mr Kirby could take a 7% pay drop?

a sad day indeed, especially for the generally wonderfully cool guys who have worked, VERY hard of late as well, in said department. I know people who used to phone them up just to see (well..hear I guess) what was going on and for general hobby advice.

I cannot see anyway in which this will not affect the sales of GW product, even in the stores the staff often have to phone up to place an order or resolve a query or issue with the web site.

....crap. Here's hoping those involved get sorted and find better jobs ASAP. Or that it isn't true. But I doubt that.

AFAIK this is UK only.. at least for the moment anyway.

Bummer if it's true. However, it's entirely possible they have been moved to a different department. Fairly common (and I think legally compulsory) behaviour in the UK. Department is closed down, so contracts are terminated via redundancy, with fresh ones signed for the new role pretty much straight away.

My sympathies of course extend to anyone made redundant ever. Had it happen three times now, and it sucks.

And if you have a mistake in your order from GWUK? What then? Does it get fixed, or do we have another Forge World on our hands?

That's a really bad outcome if the customer service suffers, let's hope that the sales channel is the only thing that was removed long term and they figure out how to deal with trouble shooting.

When I left GW in 2005, I left before a wave of redundancies took place (which I wouldn't have qualified for) and it was really bad then as a lot of really good friends all got split up and moved on to other companies. Some were lucky and got moved to other parts of GW.

I really hope that the guys that were there when I was about all find new jobs.

Tis a sad day indeed. :(

As others asked, so who will pick up the phone when you have a problem?

SOunds crazy.

The monkeys in the design studio will now have to answer the phones as well as slap together codices and army books.

Figures, customer service is GW's only real pro, so of course they have to feth that up as well.

Isn't it Direct Sales (U.S.) that sponsors the 'Ard Boyz tournament in the U.S.?

Another trademark of GW becoming a large corporation-they get so big, customer service becomes irrelevant.

I was wondering if this could be a cost cutting measure? but then again thought to myself £13k x 4 = £52k PA, surely if they wanted to save that then a certain Mr Kirby could take a 7% pay drop?

To be fair the costs involved are considerably more than raw salary, you also have to included tax, benefits, office space, heating, lighting, IT, management etc. It's probably closer to 2-3 times that amount

Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:Bummer if it's true. However, it's entirely possible they have been moved to a different department. Fairly common (and I think legally compulsory) behaviour in the UK. Department is closed down, so contracts are terminated via redundancy, with fresh ones signed for the new role pretty much straight away.

When the local 'gaming centre' closed down staff who had moved from the local stores had to reapply for their old positions. I doubt that policy has changed.

Good luck to the guys who have been made redundant. I'm surprised by this to be honest, not that it occurred but that it is happening now and not next January, when traditionally retail has its annual cull.

..ha, my understanding is that they are unemployed as of 10th January 2010.

Well, reducing or giving up direct sales via phone reduces costs immensely.
By the way, those tellers at the phone are mostly students that play almost play every army of the game,
but honestly are not very smart if you ask me.
I can go without these direct sales.

I'm sure they will be outsourcing their customer service to other countries and parts of the world, that way you can't understand them when they refuse to help you... stating that they have effectively no power to do anything at all.

Direct Sales US was already eliminated as a separate department many months ago. Their job functions were subsumed by the US Customer Service Department. In other words, Customer Service and Direct Sales used to be two separate groups of people. Months ago, late last year if I recall correctly, GW US consolidated those two functions into the Customer Service Dept. and laid off the Direct Sales staff. I know this first-hand because I was at the US HQ several times per week when this was going on and know many of the people who were affected by the change and had the changes clearly explained to me while they were taking place.

Now, if someone is suggesting that this year GW is about to eliminate Customer Service entirely, that would be news whether it's in the UK only or not. Even if it's UK only now, that would not bode well for the future of other GW offices around the world. No Customer Service at all, really? That would be a big step backwards and it would hardly work. When customers get defective product or missing parts in a kit, they are still going to call and someone has to be there to handle those problems. Additionally, there are people who just will not or cannot buy items over a computer and having Customer Service handle those "Direct Sales" calls works well. Certain items, like the White Dwarf subscribers model are only sold by phone to existing subscribers, so how will they handle items like that? This should be interesting.

reds8n wrote:..ha, my understanding is that they are unemployed as of 10th January 2010.

Makes sense. Cutting sales staff before Xmas would be slowed.

Additionally, there are people who just will not or cannot buy items over a computer and having Customer Service handle those "Direct Sales" calls works well.

That's absolutely bad news for those people.

My sympathies to anyone losing a job from this.

On the plus side you may well find work anywhere else that isn't a paper round and realise what the rest of the world gets paid in comparison and realise how fortunate you are to no longer be in thrall to The Great Satan.

I had some friends laid off by GW US back in the big job cuts they made in 2004 and then again late last year and this year. Not all of them, but most of them have gone on to make more money and end up better off overall. It's always a bit traumatic losing a job, especially at a company where so many people are there because they love what the company does so much, but in the end those changes sometimes leave one in a better situation, sometimes even with more hobby time too.

Based on the original post on this thread and after checking with US Customer Service, it sounds like GW UK is just mirroring the changes made in the US late last year. As I described above, this means they are just consolidating by subsuming Direct Sales into Customer Service. That means you'll still have phone assistance for problems and sales in the UK, but with less people doing it.

That is a bummer for the people losing their jobs, but if it makes the company more healthy to trim fat, then I am for it as it means the hobby we love is stronger.

And they aren't getting rid of customer service, that would be inane.