This morning en route to my art history course l popped into the Games Workshop! My mission was threefold- firstly to pick up the free “Miniature of the Month” as he had a late medieval look, secondly to buy some paint and thirdly to buy White Dwarf 500 ( for nostalgic reasons) as I had bought White Dwarf 1 many moons ago!
I entered the shop with some trepidation as it isn’t my natural habitat. It had just opened and I was the only customer. I asked for the M of the M and was shown to work bench to glue it together! I said that I didn’t have time and could I please take it home to make. I was emphatically told I could not. I asked why and was told that you have to make it there so that you “ Engage with the shop.”
At this point I said thank you and left. I was a tad embarrassed and confused by the brief encounter. I was not really welcomed as a potential customer and I doubt if I will ever go back.
Thoughts?
I never heard of anything so weird!
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ReplyDeleteOps typo,
DeleteI would fire an email off to Games Workshop and ask them to explain why a potential customer was made to feel embarrassed.
As to engaging with the shop I would have asked out loudly to the walls it must be really hard to work with this numpty, I bet you can't wait until he goes home.
D... head comes to mind????????
Willz.
My last visit to a "Warhammer" store as they are now called, was to buy some Contrast paints (new colours) where I had the usual "what are you working on" / "what are these (paints) for" engagement chat - "15mm ECW" was the response and they insisted on helping me find my selected colours (fortunately I had a list). At the end when buying them, I was offered the free miniature, but declined. There was no implication I would stay and build or paint it. The website leads you to believe you can take them home but ambiguously suggests building them instore with help.....
ReplyDeletehttps://stores.warhammer.com/#free-experiences
Neil
There is a Warhammer shop in Inverness that I have passed loads of times but never gone into, reading your bad experience I doubt I ever will.
ReplyDeleteSurely the fact that you entered the premises showed that you were 'engaged with the shop'? I must admit I haven't been into one of their units for some 30 years, but it sounds like they need some instruction on customer relations. I would certainly send a missive to the MD, whoever he is. It may only be that particular (manager)?.
ReplyDeleteI find a hint of grey in the hair region disconcerts them .
ReplyDeleteThe Warhammer shop in Edinburgh isn't too bad. You can have an almost normal conversation with one of the older hands. I find they get flummoxed when they ask what you are painting and you show them on your phone.
ReplyDeleteI don't think I have ever been in a "Warhammer" shop (I don't know if they are even common in my part of the world). But I have been in some hobby/gaming stores where I didn't feel welcome, or maybe felt like I was an annoyance to the people there (staff and their buddies). It can take the F out of FLGS (friendly local game store).
ReplyDeleteMy nearest shop has now closed but when I used to pop in for paints (or during my son's brief Warhammer dalliance) I found that mentioning whatever historical thing I was painting would either cause a blank 'does not compute' look, or occasionally spark of a genuinely interested conversation.
ReplyDeleteI think the move over to shops being 'one man bands' made for a lot of inconsistency in how they approached customers.
A stupid policy if ever I heard one. Exactly the opposite way to attract and keep customers, but no surprise to me. I have an acquaintance who worked within the GW empire at a fairly high level. Some of the stories he told put me off going into their shops for life.
ReplyDeleteHow utterly bizarre! I'm sure I'd feel just as you did and never go back again...
ReplyDeleteI'll argue devils advocate, and to be fair to WW... the miniature is free...???
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