Customer Service in the Industry.

I have to admit that I have never received as consistently poor customer service as I have, time and time again, in the gaming industry. Maybe it's because most game stores/companies are run by gamers with their head deep in their asses when it comes to running businesses. Maybe it's because they think that as fans, we will forgive anything. Maybe it has no rational explanation at all. Do other people know what I'm talking about? Am I alone on this, or for a cottage industry are there not a huge number of stores run by losers, ignorant twits and creeps? Has anyone else lost good money and never seen the product? And the companies themselves...well, that'll fill up ANOTHER topic by itself. So...bad customer service? Anyone have explanations or stories to share? ------------------ mrmister Gaming Outpost Staff Dilletante http://www.gamingoutpost.com Mailto: mrmister@gamingoutpost.com

As others have noted, the RPG industry seems remarkably resistant to change. During the last decade, the US has been going through a radical switch from a production-based economy to a service-based one. RPG companies have, IMHO, fallen sorely behind this trend. RPG publishers have to stop thinking of themselves as people who _make games_, and starting thinking of themselves as people who _help gamers game_. That's a more dramatic change in philosophy than it appears. It means actually _asking_ gamers what they want, and taking their suggestions seriously. It means spending money of quality assurance and providing support for your services. It means providing a service, not selling a product. Though some efforts have been made (the recent trend in "freebies" and online services), there is still a lot to be done. In the end, making this transition might be the key to saving the hobby...

Before I can let my octopus into the pond, I have to ask: Are you talking about dealing with them as a company (buying product from them, dealing with damaged books, et al) or dealing with them as creators (asking rules/setting questions, criticizing system flaws, etc)? --jq [then he actually reads the post and feels a bit sheepish] Personally, I've had pretty good relations with the companies that produce the product itself. WW replaced one or two of my books that had bad bindings, PEG has been nothing less than stellar as far as fixing mail order SNAFUS, and FRPG has been pretty good at giving freebies of things they goofed to the people who buy their product. The local gaming OUTLETS, on the other tentacle, are at times more hassle than they're worth. Gaming is kind of a hobby of atitude, and I think that's where some of the problem lies. "I don't know anything about the product you are asking for, so it must not exist." is a phrase I've heard more than once from a Simpson's Comic Shop Owner troglodyte at local stores. Personally, I can live with the fact that they don't HAVE a product in yet (although my blood pressure is going up the longer I am without Winter Court), but telling me that I don't know what I'm talking about when I know for damnsure that such a product not only exists, but that people I know in other places are quoting information from that product at me, is a kind of customer "service" I don't need. The local I now frequent (mostly because they don't lock their CCG's in plastic cases and ignore you when you try to get someone's attention to open them) also didn't mention they had a discount card for the first seven or so months I was shopping there, which irked me a bit. But I've since gotten to know two of the guys who work there, and they keep an eye out for me if there's something they know I'm into that comes out. [This message has been edited by Xotzil (edited 04-01-99).]