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Maverike_prime wrote:
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.

Same here. When I did have a local store we had fun. Cant complain about any store member there. Of course they closed 6 years ago. Our FLGS fills the void nicely.

 azreal13 wrote:
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.

Because coming on only to tell off people for not posting what you personally think is appropriate helps move the thread along? The irony is strong with this one.

 Bloodmagic wrote:
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.

Few, if any, people posting on these forums want GW to go out of business.

Instead, they want GW to change the policies and practices that many find unpleasant and off-putting.

Saldiven wrote:

 Bloodmagic wrote:
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.

Few, if any, people posting on these forums want GW to go out of business.

Instead, they want GW to change the policies and practices that many find unpleasant and off-putting.

This. I have no desire to see GW go out of business. The exact opposite is actually the case. I want them to stay in business and I want them to grow so they can continue to produce these models that I love building. That being said, I am concerned that many of their latest practices will lead to diminished sales returns, less profit and a shrinking company foot print. I feel like running along side a car waving and screaming at the guy in the drivers seat trying to tell him he's heading for a cliff and he's just ignoring me.

 Godless-Mimicry wrote:

 azreal13 wrote:
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.

Because coming on only to tell off people for not posting what you personally think is appropriate helps move the thread along? The irony is strong with this one.

Look, I'll take criticism where its due, but firstly, I had already been posting in this thread, I don't "just come on" to do anything.

Secondly, my comment did appear to prompt a couple of people to volunteer positive stories, so did, in fact, move the conversation on and perhaps balance things out a bit.

Just sayin

I find this highly ammusing, espisialy the part where Sigvatr commented about being the oldest for a game. Reminds me a recent visit with my army to a GW Store.

There I was in Chicago, nothing to do with my weekend after training at Great Lakes Naval Station. So I thought what the heck, lets go visit the local GW store and packed up my marines for a trip.

When I got there, I found adecent sized store...well, until I relised that was only the store front, not the gaming area. That alone took up the other half of the entire building. Looking around I notced many others about my age enguaged in painting, building, general small talk and so on, while most of the younger crowd was next door actually waging wars and battles for conquest.

So while I set about pulling my SM out of their box, i drew a lot of stares from that younger crowd. They have never seen Rogue Trader mini's before. Most of them could not believe that was actually 40k.

It was quiet fun to show them what i had, tell them a little of the old way of playing, then get promptly beaten into oblivion in combat.

It was glorious. Hahaha.

And to add to the thread: We just lost a fantastic manager at the Cincinnati GW. Incredibly personable. Knew how to speak to spouses. All around good dude. He left for greener pastures, fortunately for him, but unfortunately for the store.

I've had positive experiences with the Birmingham and Coventry staff recently. Generally a good bunch of guys.

Ok, you had dragged it out of me.

I was at a GW store in London Ontario and mentioned I wanted to get ALL the Inquisitors since I had so many already.

Said I was having trouble getting Gideon Lorr and would they know any way I could get it?

The guy there said really? Pulled the model right out from under the storage area under the till and said "You could have it" said it was "floating around" for a while.
Mind you, this was 3 years ago, the guy used to run a hobby shop in down town Kitchener so I knew him a bit from playing Magic but still, I was REALLY happy.

Asked if he is rewarded somehow or recognized for sales, he said yes, I bought a Land Raider and said thanks again.

No expectation of pay/reward, helping out a guy looking for something not off the shelf. Good stuff! I LIKE to reward good behavior, it is so good to see.

I guess my grumpiness is that these nice and good customer relations are being killed by the new corporate culture being pushed.

Sad really, good ol, days really were and not a bunch of rose coloured glasses due to nostalgia.

gohkm wrote:
Confrontation?! Ugly models?!

* Head explodes *

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

I meant Warhammer minis. In comparison to Confrontation minis.

In any case, except for this first and last episode of noobishness, I have never been to a GW store, and hearing those stories won't change my mind.

I have difficulties understanding how people can say much positive about GW stores, anymore.
The advantages of being a meeting point for like-minded hobbyists, a playground for players, a place to get your stuff, and an entry point for new players have in most places been reduced to the last one only, due to 1-man-store and behavioral policies (buy or get out/get ignored).

You get more space and more mature and open players (e.g. for use of self-made, proxied and TP-models, not to speak of other systems) in clubs, non-GW LGS or at home, you get the stuff less expensive virtually (and factually) anywhere.

This is not the 1980s anymore, it is easier than ever before to self-organize groups. Everyone who says that they need a GW store to "keep the scene alive" just says that they are not willing to support such a scene actively themselves (by means of a facebook group, or by asking a local club if a room can be used once or twice a week, e.g.).

The local GW had one really good guy. He was upfront and honest about the state of certain armies. For example, about a year prior to that the latest Tomb Kings book was released I told him I wanted to start Tomb Kings. He said "Don't buy anything now. Wait till the new army comes, cause you'll get a brand new book and perhaps new core infantry, and then you won't want the old ones" Needless to say he does no longer work there. And good for him.

The current red shirts are the reason I no longer visit GW stores. I was gonna buy a box of Zombies a few years ago. There wasn't one on the shelves so I asked if they had one in the back. And I did say one.

The guy comes back with two boxes. He throws a bunch of other stuff onto the counter, like White Dwarf and plastic glue, saying "You have this? You'll need this. Have you seen the new super awesome Slaanesh chariot? It's like one, but like double!". I said "No,, I'll just take a box of Zombies." He goes "fine" and checks out both Zombie boxes and says "That'll be 2X". I said I just wanted one box, and he got super pissy and unfriendly.

And they're incredibly rude on their Facebook page as well. When someone asks something that they don't know they don't say "I'm sorry, we don't know that yet", but they get snippy and ask things back, like "Do you think we have a crystal ball, that can tell the future?"

Games Workshop need to shape the hell up.

I audit companies for a living.

I find usually when human beings act badly it is a sign that a "system" has failed in the company.

The most important thing is to measure Inputs/Outputs between departments or to customer. It looks like all the old means of feedback or "voice of customer" is not directly being recorded.

It "seems" they try some marketing campaign or "push" strategy and then measure their sales to see if the trendline moved. Might be why they hate the small retailers so much: confuses them when a retailer is loading up inventory and not just replacing due to sales, they want to see real time purchases.

All guessing and conjecture, at least I am hoping it is some logical reason where they are going than a disconnected CEO handing down requirements based on emotional decisions and personal need.

This thread is gold. There isn't another way to explain it.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Although this does smell pretty bad.

Since everyone else is doing it, my local GW is a tiny closet with no room for a real game. The manager is a good bloke, he tries to run a lot of events to try and work around the lack of space, like everyone brings a single vehicle to race or an apoc game where everyone chips in 500 points and a single detachment, things that gets more than the 4 people who could use the tables for regular games involved. Honestly none of it interests me but I get the impression he is doing whatever he can to keep people in his store despite no real space and he seems to be doing a good job with it. I enjoy chatting with him whenever I need to go down there to pick something up, even if I have to bite my tongue or turn around and roll my eyes when some of the blatant company lines come out of his mouth (things like 'I don't know why you would want forgeworld plague toads, the new nurgle flies look amazing').

He never tries to force the upsell on me and I haven't seen him do it with others, he did get kind of passive aggressive that one time I had to return my 4th mess of a finecast model. For the most part is it s good store but the things hurting it are all coming down from the suits in the UK. For example he has a notice up on his facebook that the store will be shut for a couple of weeks, no company the size of GW should have shops closed for 2+ weeks because they don't have a relief manager and can't get one in the month of advance notice they have.

 jonolikespie wrote:
Since everyone else is doing it, my local GW is a tiny closet with no room for a real game. The manager is a good bloke, he tries to run a lot of events to try and work around the lack of space, like everyone brings a single vehicle to race or an apoc game where everyone chips in 500 points and a single detachment, things that gets more than the 4 people who could use the tables for regular games involved. Honestly none of it interests me but I get the impression he is doing whatever he can to keep people in his store despite no real space and he seems to be doing a good job with it. I enjoy chatting with him whenever I need to go down there to pick something up, even if I have to bite my tongue or turn around and roll my eyes when some of the blatant company lines come out of his mouth (things like 'I don't know why you would want forgeworld plague toads, the new nurgle flies look amazing').

He never tries to force the upsell on me and I haven't seen him do it with others, he did get kind of passive aggressive that one time I had to return my 4th mess of a finecast model. For the most part is it s good store but the things hurting it are all coming down from the suits in the UK. For example he has a notice up on his facebook that the store will be shut for a couple of weeks, no company the size of GW should have shops closed for 2+ weeks because they don't have a relief manager and can't get one in the month of advance notice they have.

at least you HAVE a local GW store.

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

Unfortunately I think you are incorrect. The toilets for the GW happen to be the smallest, easy clogged and overflow quite easily.

The GW location I go to is great, the hobby specialist and manager are actually helpful and don't try and push things on you (or take the hint pretty quick and remember the next time you drop in).

It has been that way for about 2 years now, but the months before that were completely random. When GKs had just been released I was trying to get my hands on Draigo, but he was sold out for the first 2 weeks. The manager at the time brought me over to the HQ blisters, grabbed brother captain stern and said this guy is good, handed it to me and walked away to chat with some other guy.

I'm very fortunate that our Toronto GW is great, but I fully believe the horror stories of retail stuff who don't care at all.

In the interest of argument, I will say that I do not believe this story. I understand it fuels the desirable narrative of the evil GW empire, but this is just a stretch too far.

Why would they put dried-out paints for people to use? Even the most incompetent employee would notice unusable paint.

OP is clearly a chapterhouse plant who is trying to spread bad PR and discredit GW, or the proprietor of yet another failed kickstarter who hates warhammer.

775B53 wrote:
In the interest of argument, I will say that I do not believe this story. I understand it fuels the desirable narrative of the evil GW empire, but this is just a stretch too far.

Why would they put dried-out paints for people to use? Even the most incompetent employee would notice unusable paint.

OP is clearly a chapterhouse plant who is trying to spread bad PR and discredit GW, or the proprietor of yet another failed kickstarter who hates warhammer.

Or, by your own logic, you are a GW shill who is doing his best at damage control?

 azreal13 wrote:


Or, by your own logic, you are a GW shill who is doing his best at damage control?

Hey, but at least he's a GW shill with a sense of humour, maybe it's something the doom-mongers can learn from?

I have GW paints that are twenty years old and still useable. Not sure a shop pot would last long enough to dry out...

 cincydooley wrote:
And to add to the thread: We just lost a fantastic manager at the Cincinnati GW. Incredibly personable. Knew how to speak to spouses. All around good dude. He left for greener pastures, fortunately for him, but unfortunately for the store.

He was so much better than his predecessor though. Haven't met the new guy yet.

 Eggs wrote:
I have GW paints that are twenty years old and still useable. Not sure a shop pot would last long enough to dry out...

That is because you have the paint pots from twenty years ago.

Ugly, but holds the paint well and keeps the air out!.

Then, later, I guess that GW decided that good looking jars was more important than paints that last (and last, and last...).

I also have some ancient GW paints that are still fine after decades... unfortunately in colors that I don't use much....

Ral Partha Paints are also still good after decades.

Polly S... no so much.

Chessex Dragon Color.... I keep the dried out pots because of the terrifying warning labels. People get as far as 'changes in the bone marrow, the appearance of blood and protein in the urine, and adverse effects in the central nervous system; including dizziness, spasms, respiratory failure, and death' then go and wash their hands after touching the bottle.

It was good paint though.

But, bottle wise... Reaper, Vallejo, and a few others that use dropper bottles... Thank you!

In regards to the OP... I can believe that somebody had a bad time at a GW store, but it also sounds like there was a reason for it. If you are going to an even then find out the particulars ahead of time.

Those were likely not store paints, they were extra paints that the manager still had kicking around.

If there was a painting event where folks had to sign up ahead of time then the store would know what they needed for paints, the OP was above that number. And may have come in with a visible chip on his shoulder.

I do not much like GW these days, but even from the OP I can see that account going either way.

*EDIT* Quoted more of the Chessex paint label...

The Auld Grump

I agree the old paint pots are excellent, which is one of the reasons I buy cote d' arms stuff (same paint as 20 years ago, same pots as when they were branded citadel). And cheap as hell. I've bought a couple of valijo dropper bottles, but I'm not a convert.

 Eggs wrote:
I agree the old paint pots are excellent, which is one of the reasons I buy cote d' arms stuff (same paint as 20 years ago, same pots as when they were branded citadel). And cheap as hell. I've bought a couple of valijo dropper bottles, but I'm not a convert.

Depends on how much color mixing you do - if you like creating and recording colors that you mix yourself then the dropper bottles are preferable, If you prefer using the paints straight then the old GW style bottles are preferable - there is no one true answer for this one.

And thumbs up for Cote d' Arms.

The Auld Grump

Hhmm I live in Plymouth England, the worst thing that has happened to me at gw is this one time the store had changed its opening hours and I couldn’t go inside to buy my fix...
Nah in all seriousness I personally think a lot of the bad rep at the stores is down to individual bad staff/managers (I have my fair share of those at my place of work, I’m sure most people do...), some people just have the wrong attitude for community retail, other times it may just be a bad moment or day for these people, everyone acts up time to time.
You know there really is a lot of thing in the world worse than slightly inhospitable toy soldier salesmen. But hell whatever makes you feel better about your selves, rant away.

On a related note I too still have usable paint that is like 10 years old, my newer stuff does seem to be messing up quicker, I may just be a moron but I can seem to get the lids to fit well on the newer paints.

 Jayce_The_Ace wrote:

 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

Top notch old bean, have an exalt.

I wonder when GW finally gets its head out of its butt and realize that they will be making more money when actually giving some effort pretending they're supporting the hobby. I personally think that an across the board price lowering, however small (think 5% or so) and a little more hobby love in general will multiply sales and silence most of the GW hate.

What I'm trying to say is that GW has the worst marketing department EVER