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View Full Version : Gamesday message from Mark Wells, GW CEO



Deadlift
09-27-2011, 06:46 AM
To all Games Day 2011 customers,

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It was great to see you all on Sunday at what proved to be our busiest Golden Demon and Games Day in quite a few years. The gaming tables, hobby areas and displays were packed all day, paricularly the Dreadfleet demo games and our staff have fed back how much they enjoyed talking with you throughout the day. We hope you enjoyed it too.

*

It was good to see how popular some of the new activities were, such as the Masterclass demonstrations and Armies on Parade, both of which we will run again next year. We will also continue to show more of the Golden Demon entries on the big screens, which again proved popular. As always the reviews are already under way to build on what worked well and look at what we can do better.

*

On the latter, I'd like to apologise to those customers who had to queue for the sales stands in the morning. I'm afraid we were unable to cope with the sheer volume of people wanting the new Warhammer Forge, Forgeworld and Black Library releases. Lessons have been learnt and we will ensure that next year we are better prepared in the sales area so that any queuing is kept to a minimum. I'd like to thank you all for your patience while we sorted this out and I cannot speak highly enough of the behaviour of those in the queue during this time. You were amazing. Thank you. *

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Anyway I hope you all returned home safely and enjoyed sharing your purchases and stories with your friends and families. Keep your eyes posted on the Games Workshop website and your local Hobby Centre Facebook site for more pictures and videos from the day.

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Until next year.

*

Mark Wells

CEO

Lifted from their Facebook page.

DrLove42
09-27-2011, 07:05 AM
Sure, cos the FW and BL queues haven't been huge for the last 5 years....

Oh wait...yes they have

Sort it out

Lord Azaghul
09-27-2011, 07:06 AM
I really thought they were just going to say: Screw you - suckers! :p

Mystery.Shadow
09-27-2011, 09:07 AM
I really thought they were just going to say: Screw you - suckers!

And thanks for all the cash!!

modelguyicmt
09-27-2011, 09:12 AM
The Dreadfleet tables were so popular, because no one HAD ANY IDEA WHAT IT WAS!!! /facepalm

wittdooley
09-27-2011, 09:14 AM
Sure, cos the FW and BL queues haven't been huge for the last 5 years....

Oh wait...yes they have

Sort it out

What is their solution? You can keep throwing people at it, but there is only so much space before it becomes a bigger problem with restricted areas to move.

Easy solution is to have people pre-order pieces, and have a separate line for them as opposed to the person that on a whim wants to pick up some Salamanders shoulder pads.

Deadlift
09-27-2011, 09:36 AM
2008 they had 3 halls instead of the 2 they had this year, that I can understand to keep costs down. However in 2008 the sales were kept in one whole hall by itself, with 40k, WFB, FW, BL and LOTR all having their own distinct sales areas within the hall. It worked well.

This year all the different sales areas were all lumped in together. So no matter if you wanted a FW Toad Dragon ( like me) or a box of space marines you all had to queue together. That's what caused the problems. Then the GW staff telling people to come back later to keep the queue down really didn't help, especially as we knew that the sales area would be shutting before the end of the day. 3pm I think it closed.

Anyway they knew the made mistakes here, but you know what they didn't have to hand out free water or have jesters singing songs, telling jokes and doing tricks. At least GW tried to make better a crappy situation.

But really guys, why bother buying anything you can get in your local store anyway ? I can understand the lust to get to the FW stand or the BL pre-releases, but why queue up for an hour and a half to buy what you can order online and have delivered in the UK usually 2 days later. I don't get that to be honest.

eldargal
09-27-2011, 09:41 AM
GW tried to downsize Games Day, they capped the tickets at 8000 and hired a smaller facility. The problem was they downsized their sales expectations as well, when in fact demand was as high or higher than last year despite fewer people attending. This is what I've heard, any way.

Wildeybeast
09-27-2011, 11:17 AM
They also sent this out via email to those who have signed up to recieve them from the website. I didn't go, but I think you should cut them some slack. How many global companies do you know where the CEO would send a message apologising for a poor customer experience? People on here moan that GW don't do enough customer information, when they do, they get slated for it.

UltramarineFan
09-27-2011, 11:33 AM
Combining the queue for BL, FW and normal sales was possibly the worst idea ever. They should each have a separate queue.

wittdooley
09-27-2011, 12:47 PM
See, you are all spoiled. At Adepticon this year, FW had ONE REGISTER. And he was one of the artists for the book. Poor dude.

Lane
09-27-2011, 02:11 PM
How many global companies do you know where the CEO would send a message apologising for a poor customer experience?

Among companies that rely on retail sales, plenty.
Among companies that pride themselves on customer service - all.

Wildeybeast
09-27-2011, 04:17 PM
Among companies that rely on retail sales, plenty.
Among companies that pride themselves on customer service - all.

Don't just say that, name some. Give me some examples, with some evidence. I'd love to know because I don't know of any examples where CEO's have personally written a message apologising for what was a relatively minor example of bad customer experience.

Gir
09-27-2011, 09:16 PM
Don't just say that, name some. Give me some examples, with some evidence. I'd love to know because I don't know of any examples where CEO's have personally written a message apologising for what was a relatively minor example of bad customer experience.

I know the CEO of my company calls at least one customer who had an issue a day to check that everything is alright. I work for one of the largest companies in Australia.