Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

 Sigvatr wrote:

 d-usa wrote:
Too many haters up in here!

User with Matt Ward avatar complaining about too many haters.

#swag

I'm so meta!

 migs6357 wrote:
Well I was at my local GW for a day out and they happened to have a painting competition on. (painting a tau pathfinder following the tau update).

I have no real history there and this was one of the first times I have been in there. Anyway, the employee gave me a sprue and told me to make a model and start painting. However, they gave me no knife or cutters and I have to twist the parts off the sprue!
Also, when I was glueing the model together, they issued me Citadel PVA glue to assemble it with.

When it came to painting the model, they gave me about 5 colours and I had to stand at the till to paint because the painting tables were *reserved*. I asked for a detail brush and water pot but they claimed they didn't have one any. The paints were about 5 years old and had gone hard .

What really insulted me was that when I gave them my model to enter the competition with, they said it has to be based and needs to have a specific colour scheme! (the colours they gave me did not even match the ones required for the competition). There was no basing material to use so I grabbed a hand-full of gravel from outside, smeared the PVA on the model, poured the gravel over it and walked out.

Is this an arrogant member of staff who is spoiling a 15 year-olds fun, or is it an extreme case of GW trying to get you to buy their products?
Has anyone else got any stories like this?

Sounds more realistic that you all just had a few too many show up for the event and some lack of initiative on the staff's part. You got to paint a guy and had some fun at an event.

You should let THAT be the point. If you were given a battlesuit, or one of the giant gundams, I could see you having an issue. All you were doing was painting up on one guy.

Any networking, what did you guys talk about? Did you like the tau? etc. etc. etc....

Point being there should have been more to it then just gakking your time, then come on here and cry about big bad GW peeing on your shoes. It wasn't like they pulled a fast one, laughed at you for it and gave you a bunch of gak over it, all that it looks like is understaffed overloaded event, nothing to honestly be too P.O.'d about.

Go back, pick up a box, and try it when the stores not full of people and someone can help you out with a little "How To", or go to your local FLGS.

It looks like you honestly missed the instruction time or discussion, prior to the event, . F.I.D.O.

I have never had anything but a good experiance in a GW store. Staff were always very friendly and approachable. Always offer advice and tips, and at my store atleast are prepared to talk about whatever is on my mind at the time. (game wise or TV etc, not a couch session). GW is not the big bad monster alot of people like to paint it to be.

It is easily overlooked that they bring a quality product to the table, one that we all enjoy playing. (If you didnt enjoy it you would not go there, or better yet, don't go there).

Yes they have killed off some games systems, reduced staff etc, however the people in the store are still the same. They just have some new rules that they have to 'play by' now.

Time to lay off GW guys. Stop bashing them, the last thing I want is for them to go out of business like many people seem to. I enjoy their product, and have done so for 20+ years now.

 Bloodmagic wrote:
I have never had anything but a good experiance in a GW store. Staff were always very friendly and approachable. Always offer advice and tips, and at my store atleast are prepared to talk about whatever is on my mind at the time. (game wise or TV etc, not a couch session). GW is not the big bad monster alot of people like to paint it to be.

It is easily overlooked that they bring a quality product to the table, one that we all enjoy playing. (If you didnt enjoy it you would not go there, or better yet, don't go there).

Yes they have killed off some games systems, reduced staff etc, however the people in the store are still the same. They just have some new rules that they have to 'play by' now.

Time to lay off GW guys. Stop bashing them, the last thing I want is for them to go out of business like many people seem to. I enjoy their product, and have done so for 20+ years now.

A valiant attempt, but I'm afraid you are being rather general in your statements.

Sure, there are good Red Shirts, and they deserve any praise they attract, but equally, there are some terrible ones. Locally, our last GW manager was so pushy and inept it turned me off to going in store, despite the fact I must have been an ideal customer (only went in to buy, never hung about or took up valuable table space with gaming) he just wouldn't take the hint about me being an informed and experienced customer who knew what he wanted and repeatedly tried shoving the new shiny in my face every time I went in. As a salesman myself, I found this clumsy approach repellant on several levels.

The new guy is much better, but thanks to his predecessor I have diversified my interests outside of just GW products, and discovered online discounters, so while I will buy the odd paint or low cost kit from there now, because I like the guy, I don't habitually make it my first point of call, as I would have perhaps if things had been different.

So, agreed, pointlessly laying into all GW staff is unnecessary, but the bad ones should be publicised just as much as the good ones.

Also, in regard to them providing a "quality product." Well, I have an immense amount of affection for 40K, I still play, despite largely moving on to other things collecting wise, and I do enjoy it. But frankly, in terms of miniatures and rules, there are many other viable options out there which knock GW into a cocked hat (purely subjectively of course, YMMV) and continue to take market share (less subjective, but still partly conjecture)

I doubt you'll find even the most venomous of haters wishing 40K would disappear from existence, but much of the vitriol on here is rather bourne out of frustration that 40K is a success in spite of GW, and not because of them, and could be so much better (and more profitable) than its current state.

Sit down people I have an interesting story to tell

It all started on a rainy wednesday, Id walked all the way into town to my local GW store. See the dedication ive already put in there. Note the walking.

Well anyways when I got there something happened that to this day still haunts me.

I had a cool time, bought some stuff n went home. Hard as it is to comprehend, this actually happened. It was like a fairytale!

Lutharr101 wrote:
Sit down people I have an interesting story to tell

It all started on a rainy wednesday, Id walked all the way into town to my local GW store. See the dedication ive already put in there. Note the walking.

Well anyways when I got there something happened that to this day still haunts me.

I had a cool time, bought some stuff n went home. Hard as it is to comprehend, this actually happened. It was like a fairytale!

This isn't half as pithy or witty as you think, and brings nothing to the discussion. Of course the majority of interactions are totally ok, hence, when they aren't, it makes them worth discussing! If this was the norm then GW would have imploded years ago.

 azreal13 wrote:

Lutharr101 wrote:
Sit down people I have an interesting story to tell

It all started on a rainy wednesday, Id walked all the way into town to my local GW store. See the dedication ive already put in there. Note the walking.

Well anyways when I got there something happened that to this day still haunts me.

I had a cool time, bought some stuff n went home. Hard as it is to comprehend, this actually happened. It was like a fairytale!

This isn't half as pithy or witty as you think, and brings nothing to the discussion. Of course the majority of interactions are totally ok, hence, when they aren't, it makes them worth discussing! If this was the norm then GW would have imploded years ago.

I forget forums are just for pissing and moaning. My bad.

azreal13 wrote:

Sure, there are good Red Shirts, and they deserve any praise they attract, but equally, there are some terrible ones. Locally, our last GW manager was so pushy and inept it turned me off to going in store, despite the fact I must have been an ideal customer (only went in to buy, never hung about or took up valuable table space with gaming) he just wouldn't take the hint about me being an informed and experienced customer who knew what he wanted and repeatedly tried shoving the new shiny in my face every time I went in. As a salesman myself, I found this clumsy approach repellant on several levels.

The new guy is much better, but thanks to his predecessor I have diversified my interests outside of just GW products, and discovered online discounters, so while I will buy the odd paint or low cost kit from there now, because I like the guy, I don't habitually make it my first point of call, as I would have perhaps if things had been different.

So, agreed, pointlessly laying into all GW staff is unnecessary, but the bad ones should be publicised just as much as the good ones.

Also, in regard to them providing a "quality product." Well, I have an immense amount of affection for 40K, I still play, despite largely moving on to other things collecting wise, and I do enjoy it. But frankly, in terms of miniatures and rules, there are many other viable options out there which knock GW into a cocked hat (purely subjectively of course, YMMV) and continue to take market share (less subjective, but still partly conjecture)

I doubt you'll find even the most venomous of haters wishing 40K would disappear from existence, but much of the vitriol on here is rather bourne out of frustration that 40K is a success in spite of GW, and not because of them, and could be so much better (and more profitable) than its current state.

I couldn't agree more!

Lutharr101 wrote:

 azreal13 wrote:

Lutharr101 wrote:
Sit down people I have an interesting story to tell

It all started on a rainy wednesday, Id walked all the way into town to my local GW store. See the dedication ive already put in there. Note the walking.

Well anyways when I got there something happened that to this day still haunts me.

I had a cool time, bought some stuff n went home. Hard as it is to comprehend, this actually happened. It was like a fairytale!

This isn't half as pithy or witty as you think, and brings nothing to the discussion. Of course the majority of interactions are totally ok, hence, when they aren't, it makes them worth discussing! If this was the norm then GW would have imploded years ago.

I forget forums are just for pissing and moaning. My bad.

Forums are the toilets of the internet. The ones reserved for GW happen to be the biggest.

Lutharr101 wrote:

 azreal13 wrote:

Lutharr101 wrote:
Sit down people I have an interesting story to tell

It all started on a rainy wednesday, Id walked all the way into town to my local GW store. See the dedication ive already put in there. Note the walking.

Well anyways when I got there something happened that to this day still haunts me.

I had a cool time, bought some stuff n went home. Hard as it is to comprehend, this actually happened. It was like a fairytale!

This isn't half as pithy or witty as you think, and brings nothing to the discussion. Of course the majority of interactions are totally ok, hence, when they aren't, it makes them worth discussing! If this was the norm then GW would have imploded years ago.

I forget forums are just for pissing and moaning. My bad.

No, they are for a discussion.

Your post was "one day I went to the shops" It did nothing to move the discussion on or challenge or support other posters. It was a total non post.

Now, if you have a story that involves a GW staff member going above and beyond for you, feel free to share with the rest of the class.

text removed.
Reds8n

I take it you haven't read rule #1?

Sorry you had a bad time. Support your Local Gaming Store instead.

text removed
reds8n

Be polite.

Not hard, and people get banned for breaking it. I won't be using the yellow triangle of friendship, but the Mods may well spot it, and then its up to them.

I notice you have only ever cropped up in threads about people claiming to be hard done by in GW stores. Got any Interests to declare there 'pal?'

What? No legitimate bashing of GW?

But we all like a healthy bit o'gossip with a bit of wining and moaning.

My last stop at a GW was uncomfortable because I think the guy had three of his buddies there but he had to stop and do the hard sell on the old guy until he exits.

Felt like I was being ridden by a pony even when stating I was just browsing. Usual hard sell when customer is non-committal hoping he would buy something or go away. Made me linger around longer out of spite... was not one of my better moments.

Why should I be bothered by his look of surprise when he was asking me stuff about the game and I knew better than he did (I swear he said some stuff wrong just to check).

Why do I feel I need to yell Darn kids! Get off my lawn!

While I don't frequent GW shops all that often (I usually head there just to pick up new Black Library releases), the guys in the Sydney Battlebunker have always been great - I even got to know a couple of them outside the office, and they're the sort of chaps you'd go for a beer with.

I've never been pushed to buy things, or told to get out, and I've never seen anyone been told to do that, either.

As someone alluded to earlier in the thread, I think this has got to be down to the individual store manager. Sorry you had a bad time, OP, but some store managers are great folks.

Mmmm... earthworms.

Well I went out to my local GW for a day of fun with my army... oh wait. I don't have a local GW store.

 d-usa wrote:

 Sigvatr wrote:

 d-usa wrote:
Too many haters up in here!

User with Matt Ward avatar complaining about too many haters.

#swag

I'm so meta!

Metal? Is that like fetch?

I found this part to be the funniest:

but he used Woodland Scenics products rather than GW terrain kits.

Given that GW themselves used to SELL WS products rebranded as their own, this was a bit rich - even for the often clueless oiks that do work as GW retail monkeys.

Then again, the manager at the time thought that GW MADE their trees, hedges and scatters - rather than source them from elsewhere and rebadge them. The kool-aid culture went deep there (unfortunately, deeper than the genepool).

gohkm wrote:
While I don't frequent GW shops all that often (I usually head there just to pick up new Black Library releases), the guys in the Sydney Battlebunker have always been great - I even got to know a couple of them outside the office, and they're the sort of chaps you'd go for a beer with.

I've never been pushed to buy things, or told to get out, and I've never seen anyone been told to do that, either.

As someone alluded to earlier in the thread, I think this has got to be down to the individual store manager. Sorry you had a bad time, OP, but some store managers are great folks.

I agree with you, the Sydney battle Bunker is great, there was a staff member there named Adam, awesome painter and just an all round good bloke. I actually did have a beer with him with a few of my mates.
Anyway, as it turns out, GW decided (in their wisdom) that the Sydney store should now be a 1 man store, so Adam had to go. Shame really, he was the best red shirt in there.

 daedalus wrote:

 migs6357 wrote:

Has anyone else got any stories like this?

Sure do!

This one time, in Chicago for Adepticon, my group realized that the Eldar guy forgot his copy of WD with the Night Spinner in it (typical...).

So anyway, we panic, look around the con for anyone who happens to have it. No one does. In desperation, we went to the Downer's Grove Battle Bunker. Inside, I was appalled by how clean it was. And nowhere was the cramped 3x3 board I'm always promised. They had ample amount of playing space and really, really awesome boards. The nerve of them, they probably had at least 4-6 full size boards in there! Anyway, we start looking through the stuff, and, oh God, some jerk from GW came up and dared POLITELY ASK ME IF HE COULD HELP ME FIND SOMETHING! Grrr.

Anyway, I told him that I was good, but my friend was looking for an old copy of WD. "We had him now," I thought. How wrong I was... Not only did they have a copy, but he GAVE it to our guy for free, and then even had the NERVE to wish us good luck at the tournament!

Well, needless to say, we walked from the store in a haze. All these stories we were told, were they untruth spread by edge case neckbeard misanthropes? My friend started sobbing a little. I don't think any GW store has ever been that generous to him. He just sat in the shower back at the hotel crying to himself for hours, muttering about how someone can possibly be so nice to another human being. It was horrifying to have to listen to.

Anyway, there's too much "GW is ebil" out there, and that, other than my friend sobbing in the shower, actually happened, unlike, I suspect, the majority of the stories I hear claimed on here, so I thought I'd share.

The first rule of the Chicago Battle Bunker is you do not talk about the battle bunker.

Now that the cat is out of the bag... GW will have to send in their offical Fun Erradication Team. Thanks a lot

The issue that GW is suffering from is that like any other retail business the staff makes or breaks the experience with the customers. Where GW runs a foul is that they recruit their employees from the local gamer pool. While the idea behind that is well intended where it falls short is that most gamers aren't very good with the public as a whole. You can be the most knowledgable person in the store when it comes to rules or models but that won't help you sell a product to a customer when your people skills are horrible (ie weak customer service skills).

If a store is being run poorly it is a direct reflection of the management, a good manager knows how to create an inviting enviroment for the customers and how to do sales in a way that isn't confrontational or feeling forced. The problem is that GW on the whole tends not to train their managers very well and as a result their floorstaff is even worse.

Tim who runs the Chicago bunker has a traditional background within retail as did Alan one of the old school managers, as a result it was an awesome store. They sold TONS of product there and the store was cosnatntly full of people who wanted to be there and it created a really healthy gaming community. When they've had other managers who's only "retail experience" was strictly through GW training they completely sucked at it and it drove business away from the store.

(Tim is doing a great job at rebuilding the store, but the managers in-between TIM & Alan pretty much ruined the store for a good while)

You can run a great store and have the GW experince be awesome, the problem is that the typical "GW training" they provide is not suffcient and a lot of the stores suffer for it.

 azreal13 wrote:
if you have a story that involves a GW staff member going above and beyond for you, feel free to share with the rest of the class.

All right, here goes.

So, one of the major issues Sisters of Battle players have - aside from playing Sisters of Battle in the first place - is an inability to order bolter Sisters, or to order a boxed set of Sisters which will contain X number of bolter Sisters. Where, say, Vostroyan collectors can order a blister of three lasgun troopers, or Space Marine players can get a box of Tac Marines and know exactly how many bolter marines they can make from it, Sisters players don't have that option. Instead, Sisters players have to order a blister of three, randomly selected models each of which may have a bolter, a stormbolter or a flamer.

This is one of the reasons as many SoB players collect via eBay - at least then you know exactly what models you'll get. And it was a problem for me because I'm finally demech'ing my last four Battle Sisters Squads, which required an additional 40 bolter Sisters. Now, I already had ten lying around, and the only way I knew I'd find another 30 was to look for an army for sale on eBay, which annoyed me. As it happens, I was passing a local GW on my way home from work - one with a manager I wasn't familiar with, since I don't normally shop in that one - and figured I would pop in and explain the problem to him. When I've done this elsewhere, I've never had any joy with a solution - just (very polite) apologies about there being nothing they can do, the blisters are random, and the fact that they're "sure I could find something else to do with the stormbolter or flamer Sisters".

Went in this time and explained the issue. The manager listens patiently, and throws out the usual sheet anchor that stores can't 'tell' the central warehouse to check random blisters before they're shipped, then says "So ten blisters of three, and they can't have any stormbolters or flamers in them. Do you need them right away? Or can you wait a week or two?" - or words to that effect.

I told him I could wait a couple of weeks, and he said in that case I could put an order in through the store terminal to have them delivered to the store, and then he'd go through the blisters himself on delivery day to fish out any that had a stormbolter or flamer in, and send them back for exchange. He figured that with a couple of weeks' worth of exchanges, I'd have all 30 bolter sisters, and he'd let me know when they were ready for collection. He made himself a £111 sale, and earned my repeat business, by being willing to go an extra yard on my behalf as a customer.

As it turned out, delivery day rolled around and all ten blisters contained nothing but bolter Sisters - he went through them to verify and I collected them. I've popped in a couple of times since, to discuss a new colour scheme I'm toying with to replace my current one, got some pretty useful pointers and picked up some painting supplies. Might make this one my go-to store now.

You know how hard it is to find Ymgarl heads, right? And even though we had several packs of genestealers we were still a few short.

Gary at Bluewater was discussing genestealer tactics, heard we were thinking of building a squad; next thing I know he's texted us saying he's found a bunch. A gift. Won't take a swap.

They, or other shops, have given us foam inserts, when one fell apart, and other bits too. Yes, it's probably only shops who know we buy stuff every now and then.

we've encountered the odd grumpy GW employee, canterbury comes to mind, but we've found it's the customers (invariably adult) who tend to be the plonkers.

Considering the wider context of retail, customer-facing staff, from 20 or so stores we've spent time in, I reckon GW have some of the best retail staff I know. Maybe the barman in the pub at the end of the road is better, but hey, we all need room for improvement.

 paulson games wrote:
Tim who runs the Chicago bunker...

Will soon be running a one-man store. It happened in LA. It happened in Seattle. It will happen in Chicago.

Why, yes, I am still irate about it. Thank you for asking.

The only time I went into a GW store was to ask if they sold Vallejo colours.

And seriously, I was NOT planning on trolling! I just had not had any live contact with GW before I ordered 2 DVboxes last year october!

(I came into the hobby via Confrontation. We played in our living rooms. And we felt we were too old to be seen with those ugly little plastic soldiers... How times are changing.... )

Confrontation?! Ugly models?!

* Head explodes *

OK, if they're the pre-painted plastics or the really, really early models, then I have to agree .

 Hulksmash wrote:
Sorry, I don't buy it.

Yup. I call BS.

 loki old fart wrote:
Is it a citadel finetroll ?

Well, the story seems a bit thin, and has a few holes in it, so......probably