Hamleys demo lady left dd 6 in tears.

[Bornfreebutinbiscuits]

Summer hols day out, theatre and hamleys.

Having fun trying all the toys on display and v small budget to buy a toy.

Older dd goes to lady for hand tattoo. I asked younger if she wanted one she was shy and said no. However once older has one she wants one. So she gets in position and very curtly lady says 'no. Its not a freebie for all children it's a demo. I can't do another child' no smiles, no kindness and she looked as hard as nails as dd face crumpled and starts to cry.

Not a big cry! In the past they have always dine both dc, in hamleys and harrods.
And we have actually brought the set into the past but it's the fun and part of the toy shop experience to have something done there!

Not the experience I expected from hamleys of all places. Or was she right!

Or .... the shop assistant could just have been nicer about it, not been so harsh. I get the impression if she had done that then the OP would not have started this thread.

I don’t get that impression at all. Funny, that.

@Bornfreebutinbiscuits

If the demonstrator had done the second tattoo would you have bought the kit?

Bearing in mind a) you’ve said you had a limited budget and b) you already own it.

We had a very poor experience in Hamleys last year. The product demonstrations are misleading and when you actually get the product home it doesn't work in the same way demonstrated in the shop. The demos are a con designed to take advantage of tourists. As to why your daughter was refused a tattoo I'm not sure. The more people they demo to the more sales and they want the big crowd around them to generate interest. In fairness the rep probably did you a favour it's not somewhere we will be rushing back to!

I used to be a toy demonstrator at Hamleys (albeit a very long time ago). I was given no restrictions on how many children I included per family and I would have done something slightly different on the sister. If the other child had loved it after being shy you may have been tempted into buying it. She sounds a bit rude and impatient. It is hard to be really cheerful and fun for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week however so I didn’t stick at it long. You are not BU however from my point of view.

Oh get over yourselves you lot! Bet if it was your kid you’d be fuming!
OP YANBU... Takes a cold hearted witch to speak to a child like that, and I bet if her boss was watching OP would not have had the same experience!
Hamleys pay their floor staff to give the children a positive interactive experience with the toys, purchase or no purchase. Reasoning for this is so that children will ask their parents to return to the store. Put plainly, that girl sucks at her job.

In the same way as some adults like browsing around clothes or electrical shops, yes, Hamleys is so about the experience for kids. There are cafes and sweet shops as well as toys and no, you don’t HAVE to buy anything. I’m really surprised that people are being so unsympathetic- IMO the way I read the post was it was more about the way the demonstrator responded to the child. In a child centred environment, regardless of it being there to make a profit, there’s absolutely no excuse for anyone to be curt to your child. Your child is only 6! She should/ could have turned her away in a much kinder manner, and I’m admiring of the fact you didn’t follow through to customer services. Regardless of how busy or how shitty the day, as the other person who actually did a similar job agreed, these people should be able to cope with and be kind to children or simply don’t do the job!

Her job was to keep the parent's happy so they part with some cash.
She failed so YABU.
Hamleys sell a lot of demo toys that you see on markets and the markups are huge. It's sold through demonstration.

And yes Mumswearstripes, I’m with you on this!

YANBU. If toys are out of their boxes, they are to be played with, and you can buy if you wish. That is their advertising and PR policy. The same applies to this. If you were Kate Middleton, she would have done both children!!!! And she is unlikely to buy!!! I would write to Hamleys and complain.

YANBU. All these Clowns saying you are need a check up from the neck up. I had a similar experience with the Wine 'Lady' from Booths and complained loud and long. It was a learning experience for her, let's say.

I would've kicked up a fuss there and then, "let's test out how good this Customer Service really is". Any employee of Hamley's particularly in the Childrens' area needs her arse kicked, if she does that to a child. I would have dotted her on the spot (but I did fail my Diplomats Course).

Again, YANBU

I am with the OP.

If you choose to give samples out, you know that the majority of takers are not potential buyers. Presumably you run the numbers and assume a combination of a small percentage conversion of sample takers to buyers plus the positive publicity more than compensates for the value of samples given away.

snowbear66

Her job was to keep the parent's happy so they part with some cash.
She failed so YABU.

Huh? Some mishtake shurely?

Well all the woman has done is lost any future sales so shes shot herself in the foot

Myabe not the same but me and my 2 dsis went into lush together a lovely woman helped us with what we wanted to look at and gave all three if us a hand scrub demonstraiton she had no idea if we would buy anything

I think I she was out of order. She's working with kids. She shouldn't be mean and if Hamleys want people doing demos you can't pick and choose the kids and be mean to one.

Not sure why posters think you are being unreasonable op. Business’ such as hamleys and Harrods should deliver exceptional customer service. Of course she was wrong. Those saying otherwise do not understand the culture and expectations in high-end stores.

I work in retail. Sometimes we have to do something with a bit of theatre. It rarely attracts sales, it attracts people who want something (everything) for nothing.
If your account is accurate then yes she could have been kinder but then perhaps when she has been, people push and push. As it was, she made it crystal clear and then you moved on.
It’s a shop, to buy stuff. They won’t miss your rare £26.
I can’t imagine the hell of working in Hamleys in the school holidays where people go for freebies, sorry experience.
No doubt this’ll get picked up by the DM and you can do sad face whilst pointing at the tattoo set you already own but wanted someone to demo. For free. Twice.

icelollycraving

"I work in retail . . . "

No Shit, really?

YANBU OP

The point of these activities in shops is to build a long-term valued relationship with consumers. It doesn’t matter if the op intended to buy the item that day or not. The point is to develop a loyalty due to the added value experience a shop such as hamlets provides. Many are missing the point. The customer is always right and staff need to smile and suck it up. Maybe in a cheap and cheerful shop it might just about be acceptable but not in a high end store. It’s like comparing McDonald’s service to a fine dining restaurant- different expectations.

• hamleys

georgialove er, yes.

For those saying she is being unreasonable as she wasnt planning to buy anything...oh please get a life. You clearly haven't experienced Hamleys or Harrods. Hamleys is especially full of tourists and people just wandering around for freebies and never buying anything, if this was not the case then I'm pretty sure the store would be half empty.

The woman was rude, shes being paid at the end of the day to make childrens visit to the store an amazing experience. Clearly she should be working somewhere else if shes going to act stingy with the glitter.

Btw, this behaviour would never happen in Harrods, u cant beat first class. There are too many people that are obviously 'taking the piss' by loading up on the freebies and they are never refused. It is unheard of.

OP I would be pissed off too and would definitely be speaking to someone above her, you don't speak like that to a child, no matter what.

DS (5) was lured over and shown some magic snow. Lots of enthusiasm and smiles. Enthralled DS asked to see it again.

I was planning to buy it when they’d finished, when the man dropped the smiles and curtly refused to show DS again unless he bought some. We left.

icelollycraving

Perhaps you'd be happier somewhere else. Your contempt for the shopping public is starting to show.