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My boy has been aware of GW for a while, since birth *cough*, but has never really been into it in any way until the Bloodbound made their way forward. It was his birthday weekend and so yesterday he and I took a trip to the nearest GW store, a 40 min train ride, where he bought Gorechosen ,his first ever GW boxed game. His money, his game, not a gift from anyone or anything like that.

Upon opening the game this morning, his actual 12th birthday, he discovered that the rules and dice were missing... *sigh* ... I wish I could properly describe his disappointment.

Normally I’d just go back to the store but I’ve no plans to be in that part of Scotland for a while so I called the customer services line. After a quick chat where I explained the situation and that I was only after the rules and the dice, nothing else, they asked me to take a couple of pics and email them in together with my address and they get the components sent out to me.
Two hours later this arrived in my inbox



A whole new copy of the game, a Valkia figure and a belated happy birthday from the CS team

The company takes a lot of heat, less so recently, but their CS team is amazing. We’d have been happy with the rules/dice but to realise that it meant more than a just a game to my son is beyond their brief. I know on some level that it was more cost effective to send out a whole new copy of the game rather than just the missing bits and that they are just being nice ... but that's not how my son sees it so TBH I don’t care about that.

I really am very grateful to them, specifically Lydia and Frank.
O

It's just cheaper to do that than face the £300 trading standards investigation fee.

That's awesome Their CS has always been exemplary, which is good as you pay a premium but the service is stellar. Happy bday to the boy, as well!

Yeah GW's customer service is the best around bar none.

The level that GW's CS operates at is fantastic! Good to see another example!

Sending a full game is definitely cool, and you can help him with conversions, but sending Valkia is awesome. Fantastic job on them. THAT is above and beyond customer service.

hobojebus wrote:
It's just cheaper to do that than face the £300 trading standards investigation fee.

Really good from GW, but then they have fabulous customer service

Awesome story! I've always been impressed by GW CS.

hobojebus wrote:
It's just cheaper to do that than face the £300 trading standards investigation fee.

Is there a de-exalt button?

Is there a way for ignore listed to not show up in posts quoted?

Excellent service, unfortunately Valkia is a resin miniature and you have a very high possibility to receive a miscast

Awesome job by GW. Hope your son enjoys his B-day

Even if there was some external or internal cost for investigating the issue the response was just plain the right thing to do.

- It was a "failed" purchase for a child with his birthday money.
RED ALERT! MAYDAY! WE'RE HIT!
- They cannot even play the game.
MOBILIZING EMERGENCY DELIVERY STRIKE FORCE.
- They made a 40 minute trip on his birthday to get it.
FIRE AFTERBURNERS, DO NOT SPARE THE FUEL.

Even a completely (smart) selfish company will happily employ thoughtful people to handle customer service: it is the right thing to do. The expedited delivery and the gift note at the end and the extra character model is the "perfect" means of dealing with disappointment: raise happiness out of the ashes, turn it into a free upgrade, the contrast is amazing.

<edit>The letters in bold are what entered my mind as the scenario played itself out: I had done a lot of customer service and the first thought was "GAH!!! FIX NOW!".
I had repeat customers where my company completely thought we lost them due to their errors.
You just have respond to the error well enough they secretly want you to mess-up again!

Everyone fails, we are human.
What sets a company apart is how it deals with the problem.
GW customer service has the right idea.

 Ossified wrote:
The company takes a lot of heat, less so recently, but their CS team is amazing.

Their CS team is fantastic. Back when they were releasing the hard-back Blood Angel v Tyranid Campaign books, I ordered the second one, along with the WD that had the cityfight cards and... something else.

Anyway, after a while of waiting they never showed up, so I E-mailed GW to let them know the order had gone missing. They sent me a soft-back copy (as that's all they had left), along with another copy of the (presumed sold out) White Dwarf, along with an online voucher equal to the entire original purchase (I bought some Tyranids! ).

They go above and beyond to fix mistakes, even ones that aren't really their fault like shipping errors.

hobojebus wrote:
It's just cheaper to do that than face the £300 trading standards investigation fee.

I'm one of the most hard bitten anti-GW cynics here, and even I think that's bull gak.

That's because we let ourselves get bogged down in little things like facts when we spew our vitriol.

That's a nice story to hear. I think I actually like the birthday message note on the email the most out of everything actually. sweet touch Hobo, you ever heard the phrase "if you've got nothing nice to say, don't say anything at all?"

A nice feel good tale for the morning. Pleased that GW went beyond replacement for your boys birthday.

hobojebus wrote:
It's just cheaper to do that than face the £300 trading standards investigation fee.

And from a nice family tale we move to what must be an embarrassment to his family.

Always awesome to hear about great customer service!

The new box was expected but the Valkia is above and beyond! The message is a nice touch as well, they have some great people employed over there.

Their customer service has always been great, but that's above and beyond what you could ask for. Happy belated birthday to your kid!