Yeah, you don't expect me to say that do you? Well, I try and be fair as well as critical, and GW actually deserves some credit.
Now, if you read my blog you know that:
1) I love Forge World, Black Library and the GW Studio.
2) I hate GW corporate because they are, well, corporate. While there are a lot of good people who work on the corporate side of things, many of their policies suck. The top brass seem to only care about making money, and being a public company they feel they have to keep driving their share price up while raising prices beyond reasonableness and making it harder and harder for trade accounts to make money.
OK, that being said, I have to give GW Trade Sales credit for correcting a mistake in a very professional manner.
You see Dice of War, the game store I founded earlier this year, and which my friends now run, didn't get their Space Marine order this past Friday like every other retailer in the area. When I showed up to collect my Codex, and buy a few other items, Erin, one of the new owners, told me that GW hadn't shipped their order on time and they wouldn't get their Space Marines till Tuesday! Oh she was pissed. And who can blame her?
Now, I was outraged. The biggest release of the year, and GW had let down a great new retailer. But I didn't post anything about it, because there is always a possibility that there was a reasonable explanation. I figured I would wait to see what GW did.
And what did Erin and the Dice of War team do? They went out to local GW stores and bought a ton of stuff at full retail and brought it to their store, so they wouldn't let down their customers. Now THAT is service.
And so today, Erin and Dave (the asst. manager) called GW and were rightly pissed. And you know what? Their GW rep actually was totally apologetic and made things right with them. I can't say what GW did, but Erin and Dave felt like GW did right by them.
So I think GW deserves credit when they do things right. And they corrected a mistake here and showed that they really care about their trade accounts. Bravo.
So the next time I rail on some stupid GW policy (like the prohibition against selling bits) know that I am willing to give GW credit where credit is due.
Bravo trade sales team!
Loken
Well I was at Dice of War Friday night and Erin was totally apologetic. We had driven an hour to get there and we were going to play some games and get our stuff for the midnight release but after hearing they didn't get their product we just chalked it up to GW not coming through. Erin came through though for me and our group in a way that we totally appreciated and was very unexpected. Thanks Dice of War and I'm glad to hear that GW came through for them. It's well deserved.
ReplyDeleteWell at least they're treating SOMEONE right. I recently bought a box of wraithguard that had 25mm bases instead of 40mm. Whoever sent the replacements didn't put enough postage on the envelope and I had to a) find the time to get to the post office b)spend the gas money to get there, and c) pay extra on top of what I'd already paid.
ReplyDeleteWhen I contacted customer service to correct the problem all they could do was offer to take the postage-due amount off of an order that I didn't even need to make. Apparently my time and the inconvenience they'd cost me (not only in money, but also the time I couldn't build my models) was worth nothing to them.
I told them not to worry about giving me any discounts because my 40k budget for the next few months was going to getting started with X-wing or those other games I avoided before I got cured of being a GW apologist.
Same thing happened to me. Postage due notice left had to take extra time to get the replacement mini for the obe that I bought over a week before
DeleteSOP for how GW treat independents IMHO - had very much the same issues with my LGS in Vancouver. GW always made sure the independents got them after their own stores, if at all.
ReplyDeleteI've always had great service with their Customer Service.
ReplyDeleteOver the years I've had parts missing from boxes, regardless of how large or small the parts were, it was always shipped out to me for free, never paid postage always fedex express.
I think GW Trade is really trying to make up for a lot of stuff that happened in the past though.
It seems like the new policy change to remove online sales is creating a more fair and level playing field for all of their trade accounts to help promote more walk in traffic, and recently I read on one of the local FLGS facebook pages they now get to sell new releases a day before their own stores do.
So, I think while the road to recovery is going to be a rocky, bumpy one, probably even with a few mistakes along the way, I do believe they are really trying to improve their image.
Remove Online sales? You mean terminate discountres. GW is still selling online. Fair is not what i would Call that.
DeleteBesides youre painting it black ans white. GW is Not becomeing better now. If they f.. Up its in their intrest to some how fix it. I dont See how that is something new and extra that they are now doing for Free.
When i mean they get to sell before their own stores, I mean their trade accounts get to sell new releases a day before GW stores.
ReplyDeleteNice work, Loken - and props for your discretion. lilium inter spinus, eh?
ReplyDeleteActually Lufgt if an independent sells before the release date that is a direct violation of their Trade Account agreement. That is as of May 2013 when i stopped working for GW. Numerous times I had to report independents for violating that policy.
ReplyDeleteThose violations can result in loss of Trade Account btw...not sure whole process but the end result is termination of the account.
ReplyDeleteActually, I am told that a trade account can now sell as soon as the items appear on the "New Releases" page of the GW website.
ReplyDeleteAnd agree Drax.
This is correct as of Games Day USA weekend.
DeleteWell it wouldnt surprise me, there has been a lot of policy shifts since I left. If thats true I hope that they allow GW stores to do it as well
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ReplyDeleteSeb12,
ReplyDeleteI know nothing I say is going to change your opinion, so I guess all I have to ask you, is that if your opinion of GW is so low, and you hate them so much.
What IS keeping you in the hobby?