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While they may try to talk us young ones into parting with pur money and treat everyone who walks into the store as being clueless about hobby, are the GW staff good people. When I first started, they gave me a free Ork, let me paint it and play a game. The one staff member gave an hour and a half of his time to show me the ropes.
Are they bad people?

When I first started, the local GW ran beginners on Sunday mornings and teen gamers in the afternoon. On Saturdays they ran fun participation games with varying missions and games. One full staff change later, beginners all weekend, no participation games, even in school holidays. As a result, I am impartial.

Whilst I have a dim view of GW as a business, I don't for one minute identify all it's employees as 'the enemy'. If I have one criticism, it's some of them seem a bit on the foamy mouthed side in defence of the company, but then as I understand it, they go through very intense training and the GW sales pitch is an aggressive one.

GW staff are like the rest of humanity, some good, some bad.

I've been back into my local GW lately and whilst the one guy there is still stoically 'everything we do is great and nothing else matters' (to the extent that if you say you don't like a model, it's almost like you slapped his wife - suddenly you're in an argument with him...oh and he shouts all the damned time), the other guy I was talking to in there was a great bloke who was a pleasure to talk to, very relaxed and able to discuss the various armies. He and I disagreed over Chaos in WHFB, I would like to see a return to a single large armybook with the rules for combined chaos hordes and the ability to separate it down into mostly warriors or mostly beasts (never a daemon army again), he likes the division. We had a decent debate about it, rather than the oddly hostile reception and brick wall you can get from the other fella if you suggest something that isn't what GW is currently doing.

Generally speaking, most of the staff are really nice in my local GW. The sort of guys that have been playing since they were teenagers and genuinely love the hobby, you get the occasional pleb (but that's the same as with anything), but I think it is more that the GW approach to sales that's the problem. You can never go in there without them trying to sell you a dozen land raiders, I think this is entirely to do with company and not because the actual members of staff are unhelpful and just wanting you to spend money

I choose the spawn of chaos option. I don't have a huge problem with the staff and they can be nice people, however I don't like the way that everytime I go into the shop they make up all kinds or rubbish and contradict themselves just to get a sale. I know what I want and if I don't i'll ask. I can understand asking people if they are new because it can be a difficult hobby to get into but if they are already into warhammer they probably know what they are doing.

I can say many good things about the staff, they do run games and other events to help people in the game but I have never been in a shop where they try to make you buy things like a GW does. I wouldn't mind so much if it was a helpful decision but so many times I have seen people leave GW with stuff that is of no benefit to them just because the manager told they it was the thing to get.

Every time someone comes into the shop to buy a present for their child or friend I find it really hard not to go and stop the staff from selling them unwanted stuff. The worst time a woman came in to buy her granchildren (who were about 7) 3 pots of paint for their LOTR goblins, and she left with 7 colours, the ENTIRE set of brushes and a white dwarf. There is no way these boys needed that many brushes or paints, and the white dwarf probably didn't have nything in it about painting moria goblins.

4M2A wrote:

Every time someone comes into the shop to buy a present for their child or friend I find it really hard not to go and stop the staff from selling them unwanted stuff. The worst time a woman came in to buy her granchildren (who were about 7) 3 pots of paint for their LOTR goblins, and she left with 7 colours, the ENTIRE set of brushes and a white dwarf. There is no way these boys needed that many brushes or paints, and the white dwarf probably didn't have nything in it about painting moria goblins.

This is the sort of thing I was thinking of.

No probs with the Southampton GW staff, all quite friendly and happy to chat once they get past the usual sales patter. There was a girl employee in there yesterday. She did a bit of upselling, which I was actually quite grateful for, because I forgot I'd run out of plastic glue.

Personally, I find them to be generaly really nice people, with a few bad apples here and there.

For example, our local redshirt (it's a small store, only one employee!) is very relaxed - I asked him recently about the 40K basing box (based on the enthused encouragement of a different redshirt from another store) and his reaction was that it was very good for grave, slate and the etchings, but that he personally didn't feel the resin bases were suitable for how I liked to do armies. However, I also had an experience with another redshirt who attempted to sell the Mines and Objectives box (or whatever it's called) on the basis of... the number of 40mm round bases you get in it, which make the actual markers better value.

In general, I would say that 70-80% of the staff I've had dealings with are friendly, happy to chat, and only do the sales pitch when you're umming over whether or not to get something, or if you casually mention something they think they can help with. Unfortunately, you do get the overpitching aggressive salespeople on occasion, which can put people off - and people are much more likely to remember a bad experience than a good one.

Boss 'eadbreaka wrote:

4M2A wrote:

Every time someone comes into the shop to buy a present for their child or friend I find it really hard not to go and stop the staff from selling them unwanted stuff. The worst time a woman came in to buy her granchildren (who were about 7) 3 pots of paint for their LOTR goblins, and she left with 7 colours, the ENTIRE set of brushes and a white dwarf. There is no way these boys needed that many brushes or paints, and the white dwarf probably didn't have nything in it about painting moria goblins.

This is the sort of thing I was thinking of.

So 4M2A knows better than someone who has had a Hobby Conversation with the customer does he?

Interesting theory.

I regularly stop into the GW store on 8th street in New York City. The employees are nice and have always been willing to give advice on assembling, converting, and painting. The only sales pitch I've encountered is being asked if I have enough plastic and metal glue when I go to pay for my purchases.

Their nice to folks who come in to use the hobby table, will play games with customers, and only ask for people to move if their doing an academy training session. Overall my experiences with GW employees have been pretty good.

One of the guys in my local GW is really friendly, and will help out with any queries you have. He suggests how to paint areas on models you're not sure on, and is trusting enough that he lets you handle the armies he's painting if he's familiar with you. My only criticism of him is that sometimes he doesn't know the rulebook as well as he could do, but aside from that he's a really decent guy. Obviously he does do some upselling (he convinced me to get a SM Battleforce way back, but now that I think about it, I had planned to buy the stuff in it anyway along the line). He's always asking how your army is going, and it's nice that he actually remembers your name and what armies you collect, whereas the other guys in there ask me almost every time I walk in.

The second employee varies depending on whether he's in a good mood. If he is, he'll be talkative and sometimes pretty funny. Other days he can be a pain, arguing the toss about anything and everything. The worst thing about this guy is he's always trying to get you buying more and more. I honestly went in for a few paints, and he tried selling me Battle for Macragge's box set (when that was the 40k starter). I've also seen him try and sell one of the Megaforces to a kid who'd literally just started collecting that day. I think the kid just wanted a Tactical Squad or something, but his parents were getting hammered with 'this'd be a really big help, and it's only £100!'

The manager is decent enough, though he's not on shop floor that often.

Compared to the GW I used to visit in the late 90s-early 2000s, it's a little worse overall. The staff back then were overall a lot more friendly to the customers, and there wasn't as much blatant in-your-face upselling. However, back then it was a nightmare to get games in the shop (you had to register a few days beforehand), whereas now there's a lot more tables it seems, so getting games is easier. Oh, and the gaming room is absolutely freezing cold, and really uncomfortable to play in. Shame, as it's a really decent sized area.

Much like everything else in life, I'm sure the truth is somewhere in the middle...

But remember, they are there to do a job, and have been trained (for better or for worse!) in how to do it.

How they choose to interpret and implement that training will go a long way towards how they are perceived!

The staff at GW Swansea are pretty sound, never pushy involving sales and I've never seen them be 'unfair' with respect to selling more to a new starter than necessary, although they do occasionally try to get me to buy some GW superglue (but that's because mine is A: rubbish, and B: causes mild burns if you drip a load on your skin ) They know what they are doing, and always happy to offer advice

To be fair I don't think it's the staff at GW stores that are the problem with the company currently, it's those in finances etc that have had to slap the place around a bit to get it functioning efficiently as a business.

There are good-people hands down. Can you really blame someone for trying to get a sale? Do you hate car-dealers for trying to sell you the 'state of the art' new car? They are good-people, if not a little too sure of themselves sometimes.

Boss 'eadbreaka wrote:

4M2A wrote:

Every time someone comes into the shop to buy a present for their child or friend I find it really hard not to go and stop the staff from selling them unwanted stuff. The worst time a woman came in to buy her granchildren (who were about 7) 3 pots of paint for their LOTR goblins, and she left with 7 colours, the ENTIRE set of brushes and a white dwarf. There is no way these boys needed that many brushes or paints, and the white dwarf probably didn't have nything in it about painting moria goblins.

This is the sort of thing I was thinking of.

Yes, but this is when them trying to make a sale gets to extreme.
Still, most of the staff at Morley are pretty good. Except one.

Last time I went into a GW, some staff member was telling a woman with her youngish son that using any paint/glue other than the GW brands would melt and damage the plastic.

But then most of the other GW staff that have tried to sell me things have seemed reasonable enough once they realised that I really did only want to have a look at the painted stuff on the shelves and then pick up a couple of pots of paint.

Over the years, I've seen both. I'm just hoping that the new GW retail model doesn't totally screw everything to hades and back.

51% claimed they where nice people?

It costs $55 AUD for an average box set! There is no way I am going to believe that casting a few bits of plastic would cost anywhere near $55!

The quality of polymer isn't even that great, yes it is high quality polymer yet once you've made the dyes and bulk ordered you thermo softening polymer the cost of production would be a fraction of the retail price. There's certainly no nano technologies implemented.

Yes it is a thermo softening polymer because I once tried drying some glue with a hairdryer and it melted the two pieces together.



They need to seriously rethink their business model, the cost of shipping may contribute so open a damn factory in the major countries! It's obviously not the cost of production setting the price so high, otherwise they wouldn't waste so many materials on sprues.

Maybe I'm just used to digital goods being so cheap because it cuts out a lot of the production and shipping costs. Yet $55 for a few simple parts of plastic is ridiculously overpriced.

But we are talking staff, not manufacturers. The staff just do their job, regardless of the price.

Excellent point.

RGJ798, just use Maelstrom
I generally use it, but I'll buy stuff from the GW I go to from time to time because the staff there are actually all good.

The staff have always been helpful at the Grapevine GW. Only one tried the hard sell tactics and he doesn't work there anymore.

So 4M2A knows better than someone who has had a Hobby Conversation with the customer does he?

The staff guy didn't have a proper hobby conversation with the woman.

It was a pretty empty time and I had to wait for the gaming club to start so I remeber it quite well.

The whole event went something like this:

Woman enters
Woman: Hi I need to buy the paints for moria LOTR goblins. My 7 year old granson sent me in here so could you explain to me what ones I need?
Staff: Ok the box says you should get these (hands paints), but wait this isn't very complete you need these other 4 paints. Do they have brushes?
Woman: Yes they bought a brush when they came.
Staff: A brush? Well that wont be enough. They need a standard brush for most of the models, a small brush for the small areas, a dry brush for dry brushing....(carries on explaining why they need every brush).
Woman: Ok is that it?
Staff: Well that should be a good start, they may need to come in and buy some more later. Do you want one of these magazines? They are crutial in painting and taking part in this hobby.
Woman: Errm if they are really important.
Buys stuff and goes.

I am sure there are good staff out there but I have yet to meet any.

4M2A wrote:

So 4M2A knows better than someone who has had a Hobby Conversation with the customer does he?

The staff guy didn't have a proper hobby conversation with the woman.

It was a pretty empty time and I had to wait for the gaming club to start so I remeber it quite well.

The whole event went something like this:

Woman enters
Woman: Hi I need to buy the paints for moria LOTR goblins. My 7 year old granson sent me in here so could you explain to me what ones I need?
Staff: Ok the box says you should get these (hands paints), but wait this isn't very complete you need these other 4 paints. Do they have brushes?
Woman: Yes they bought a brush when they came.
Staff: A brush? Well that wont be enough. They need a standard brush for most of the models, a small brush for the small areas, a dry brush for dry brushing....(carries on explaining why they need every brush).
Woman: Ok is that it?
Staff: Well that should be a good start, they may need to come in and buy some more later. Do you want one of these magazines? They are crutial in painting and taking part in this hobby.
Woman: Errm if they are really important.
Buys stuff and goes.

I am sure there are good staff out there but I have yet to meet any.

You are wasting your breath, my friend. Doc is going to defend ANY action by GW or one of it's employees no matter what occured. Most here would look at your acocunt of that exchange and almost instintively realise that the staffer was taking advantage of a poorly informed customer. But to the tireless GW apologist, nothing wrong was done here.
It kind of makes me feel sick to my stomach.

TR

Boss 'eadbreaka wrote:While they may try to talk us young ones into parting with pur money and treat everyone who walks into the store as being clueless about hobby, are the GW staff good people. When I first started, they gave me a free Ork, let me paint it and play a game. The one staff member gave an hour and a half of his time to show me the ropes.
Are they bad people?

Welcome to the real world.

There is no such thing as "Bad People." EVERYONE is shades of grey.

Look at your quote here and tell me that they are bad? STAFF people= You do what the company tells you to do, or you get yourself another job. Honestly when you grow up and start earning your keep, you find out quick that it doesn't matter what your personal feelings are. PAYCHECK= do what your told, because your being paid.

And as far a GW is concerned, you are just a cog in the machine. If you don't do what we tell you, we have five more that will for less the price, for the simple fact that if we get rid of the problem, we won't have a problem.

As for your example? How is giving you a free guy, teaching you to paint, or you learning from your shop equate Bad?

This is a company shop, you get on board drink the Kool Aid, and tell the tale to whoever comes in the shop, or more often then not, you get the boot.

SO it is written, so it is done.

My example was what they can be like when they're been good.

As long as they reserve all the pep and enthusiasm for the kids and realize experienced gamers will probably be jaded they'll do fine.

Maxstreel wrote:The staff have always been helpful at the Grapevine GW. Only one tried the hard sell tactics and he doesn't work there anymore.

Eric is a clueless douche. Dallas is cool. That is all

Prefer the Frisco GW, especially with Grapevine's new hire. I've never gotten a pitch from the staff there since walking in the first time, and it was a mild one at best.

Years ago I remember my local GW being my haven basically all I would do is paint for most of the month in store but would always repay their paitence by making a big purchase when I had the cash.

That was about 8 or 9 years ago now I walk in and I feel like a stranger all my mates who worked there (Yes they were personal friends) have gone.And have been replaced by Blueshirts that just want you to make a purchase constantly I very rarely go in now if not just to browse make my purchases and leave I also buy in bulk so very rarely go back for months.

I feel that the GW employees are under the pressure to just make that sale nowadays something of the personal touch is gone but you see that everywhere nowadays not just GW.

Maybe its the climate we're in maybe its because they are in a lot more of a precarious situation then they let on...

i.e a All is calm nothing to see move on mentality when really they are like any other business s**tting it because of the financial climate.