So in November of 2017, I bought one of those MDF laser-cut terrain pieces from one of the local gaming stores... a house with 2 levels that you can take apart so miniatures can move around inside it and such.
One of the parts sheets was the wrong part and isn't really usable. I mean, I could build the house with these parts, but it wouldn't be as sturdy as it should be and it would be wrong on the inside.
So I went to the manufacturer's website to use their Contact Us form to get some help. A week went by, and all I heard back was crickets.
So I took it back to the store yesterday to see what they could do. I didn't really want a refund since I like the model. I was hoping for an exchange but I didn't see any others when I bought this one so I wasn't too hopeful about that. Still, I figured maybe they could order another one for me or something, I dunno. They're the place where I bought it, maybe they'd have a better idea.
Apparently their response to "Hey, I bought this item from you and there's a problem" is to throw their hands up in the air and say "Not my problem."
Wut?
What he literally said was that I needed to contact the manufacturer. I told him I'd done that already, a week ago, and heard nothing back, so here I was. He said there was nothing he could do.
Pausing the story here... That's a load of horsecrap. This is the retail outlet where I purchased the item. I would be well within my rights and reasonable expectations to demand a refund. I didn't want a refund though, all I wanted was some customer service. I repeated that I needed help and he repeated what became his mantra for the entire conversation: "There's nothing I can do." With variations including "I'd help you if I could" and "I don't have any others." I responded to that last one by asking, hypothetically, if that meant I could get an exchange if he had another one like it. At this point be backpedaled and went back to the mantra.
Now, at this point, I'm becoming angry. I'd spent a lot of money at this store over the many years I'd been going there. I've bought things there, knowing I was paying a higher price, just for the sake of supporting the local gaming facilities. Almost every single thing I've ever bought at that store can be had for cheaper online. I felt like I deserved better treatment than this. Frankly, as a customer, I have a right to expect better treatment than this even if I had never been there before.
So I said "Look, I'm not trying to be a problem here and I don't mean to be argumentative" at which point he cut me off and said, "But you are being argumentative."
30 year old ArcticFox would have told him to go $*#! himself at this point, because I was in the right here, and struggling not to be a jerk. This whole time I'd been maintaining a smile and trying to keep my tone friendly and constructive, when the response was this mantra I was getting. And by the way, at no time did this dude look me in the eye throughout the entire conversation. I'm 43-year-old ArcticFox at that point so I was rather more in control of my temper by then, so I kept my cool.
I said "No offense, but aren't you supposed to support your products that you sell, man?" Again with the mantra. At this point, he did offer to contact the manufacturer on my behalf and see if he could get a better response since he did say at one point that this particular manufacturer was generally very good about being responsive to customers.
Why he couldn't have suggested that off the bat, I don't know, because it is a reasonable thing to do. Like I said, I wasn't after a refund, I just wanted some customer service. So I wrote down all my contact info and the details of the kit and part that was wrong. He promised to send out an E-mail and CC me on it to the manufacturer just as soon as he had a break.
I browsed a bit after that, but as you can imagine my desire to spend another dime at that store was in the toilet at that point. I did seek him out before I left to shake hands and try to smooth things over somewhat, to improve the odds that he'd actually do what he said he'd do. I don't know if he's the kind of guy who would keep his promise even if he'd mad at you, or if he's the kind of guy who would "accidentally" lose that slip of paper.
It was Black Friday that weekend, so I figured it would be a while, and that was okay.
Well, I saw no E-mail. So either he didn't send it or he just forgot to CC me.
In a world where online retail is killing local gaming stores, we in the gaming community have an interest in shopping at the brick & mortar stores so that we have a place to meet other gamers, buy things we need right away, attend events, etc. Yes, it costs more to shop in person. There's always sales tax, there's the fuel you spend driving there, and the prices tend to be higher, (especially at this particular place.) but we do it because we're investing in our local community. But is this how it's going to be? No customer service and a "that's not my problem" attitude when they sell you something that isn't right? Can you imagine going to any other store with a problem you're having with an item you bought there and being blown off like this guy tried to do?
In a world where online retail is killing brick-and-mortar stores, customer relations is EVERYTHING.
Feeling very aggravated after that conversation at the game store, I sent a direct E-mail to the manufacturer. A day or two later, I received a reply that they'll not only send me the correct part but I also get a 10% discount on my next order. I just need to send them my address and the lot number from the kit.
This still left me with a bad taste in my mouth from the game store though. I'm glad the manufacturer was going to make it right, and I did intend to buy from them again, but after that, I didn't really shop much at that store anymore. Just because the manufacturer is handling it doesn't really let the store off the hook for the craptastic attitude and the fact that they didn't initially keep their promise to send the E-mail.
A couple hours after I got the reply from the manufacturer, the guy at the game store finally sent the E-mail that was promised days earlier. Better late than never, I guess. When I responded to the manufacturer I let them know the other E-mail was in reference to the same case so that they didn't accidentally send out two replacement parts.
Maybe it wasn't a coincidence that the store sent the message right after the manufacturer was involved.
Now at this point, I'm aware that I'm coming off sounding more than a little Karen-ish, and taking it personally. Well, I do take it personally in a way. We call them FLGS (Friendly Local Gaming Store) because places like that tend to build a community of gamers where the store is more than just a retail outlet. It becomes a meeting place, a place to game, a place to attend events, and a place to go to meet other gamers. When you go to a place like that and make an effort to spend some money when you use their gaming tables, and when you're a loyal customer you expect to be treated well. When that doesn't happen I think it's perfectly reasonable to re-evaluate whether or not this business deserves any more of your money. Besides all that, if I buy a product at your store, and you're making money selling it to me, I expect you to back that product up. I don't think that's unreasonable.
So I sent the E-mail out to the guy I had the incident with because I really needed to know whether or not purchases I made there would be "safe." After 3 or 4 days of getting no reply, I forwarded my message to the owner.
He replied within minutes and said that he was aware of what happened and that it had been the subject of a lengthy discussion with the staff.
He went on to explain that generally, they do have the customer resolve those issues with the manufacturer directly when possible because the manufacturers can often resolve things more quickly and prefer it that way anyhow because it means fixing the problem by sending a single part instead of being out a whole kit or box set or whatever.
That being said, if that isn't a solution for whatever reason, then the store will take steps to make sure the customer is happy.
That was all I wanted. The reassurance of knowing that I wouldn't be left hanging if there was a problem. I'd still rather be able to do an exchange where possible but at least he took the time to explain the process in detail and I can understand where they're coming from.
So after that, I wasn't angry at the store anymore, but it just wasn't the same. Around that time I'd found a better gaming store anyway that was about the same distance from my home, so I just started going there instead.
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