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!

Ha ha. I often wonder what the other side of the story is. I'm surprised this doesn't happen more often as all it takes is for someone to tell friends and family about a woman that caused a scene when they went to Hamleys and for one of them to say they'd seen the story recounted on mumsnet.

Well the op could lie about what she looks like.

But highly amusing twist here. Do I believe some nutters would abuse a girl on summer work experience in hamleys for not getting a free tattoo and then post shite on here?

Totally,😂

Hi gang! Glad to see people are still getting something out of this thread.

Rohilda thank you for your... Contribution .

No, it was not Me that you saw. There was no one at the demo table, before, during or indeed after the incident.

The demo lady was not a teen at all. Very in accurate description. And there was certainly no swearing or bad language. in fact had any one been there they wouldn't have realised anything had happened at all aisde from us trying to jolly along our dd and move on.

However, if someone did have such a dramatic, vicious response to a demo person in hamleys, I think it shows just how awful the customer service has become and perhaps we were even lucky with our incident.

Interesting. Anyway folks, I've extracted what I wanted from a this thread. The glass door thing was interesting too, about hard sales targets and the pressure on the staff.
When it's starting to show through to customers the store is shooting itself in the foot.
Au revoir xx

👀

if someone did have such a dramatic, vicious response to a demo person in hamleys, I think it shows just how awful the customer service has become and perhaps we were even lucky with our incident.

Lol. It totally was you wasn't, it. 😂

Totally.

Toy pushers in Hamleys have been young when we've been in. Still not sure about the thread though!

I think it's a bit unreasonable to be expectant and perhaps that's where a lot of the YABUs are coming from. But the worker also seems to have been unreasonable here and I don't think YABU to expect better from a staff member in a Toy shop.
If she is on commission as some PPs suggest then there are much better ways to get a sale than sending a child off in tears. I'd let it slide and personally think you shouldn't let this one incident affect your judgement on the place. It deserves a 2nd chance to get things right as you've had good experiences there previously and it's just one staff member and you don't know what's happening in their life.

I don’t think that so called “poor customer service” (which so very often means the customer was told no) warrants screaming, swearing and verbal abuse.

What next, the customer is always right so I’ll slap the checkout assistant round the face as she won’t give me my shopping for free?

I imagined it would be quite busy in hamleys in the school holidays. It sounds like it's not if there was no one else around so I'll have to give it a visit

Do people really go to toy stores for the experience? I can’t think of anything worse!

if someone did have such a dramatic, vicious response to a demo person in hamleys, I think it shows just how awful the customer service has become and perhaps we were even lucky with our incident.

Haha. Busted OP

Hamleys is basically a tourist attraction, it's never empty, and the ops response confirms it was her, and other poster was there.😂

rohilda
I was literally standing in line behind you as this whole scenario unfolded

OP's story aside, in the light of a significant number of posters' views on this thread (that if you try, you really ought to buy, especially as the demonstrator needs the commission) I think we need some clarification on whether or not you bought the tattoo kit

Haha it was definitely you.

Hamleys is always busy in school holidays so I find it hard to believe no-one else was around.

Plus you haven't damaged the shop's reputation at all. Most people have said you were in the wrong not Hamleys.

@Bornfreebutinbiscuits it was you wasnt it.

Either way nothing justifys someone shouting and swearing like the pp saw.

The fact that you believe that reaction must be the staff members fault, just shows your op is a pile of bollocks.

You were a rude arsehole werent you?

I think the ops done a runner,,😂

@rohilda

In what way was the OP rude during the first demo? Also, how did the demonstrator refuse the 2nd tattoo? How did the supervisor deal with the situation?

I'm really not understanding the premise, maybe years ago when toys were a new thing, demonstrations were rife.

We discovered by ourselves that taking DC food shopping would involve them seeing the toy aisle, so the compromise was, if you're good whilst shopping you get something.

We wouldn't think, we're in London, with amazing free museums, that will have free educational activities. Not to mention other activities being put on over the summer. I wonder what we could get for free in Harrods or Hamleys.

At one location we went to, we were offered something to try, the man said the sample is for both of you.

It seems really entitled to expect freebies, when realistically tattoo lady isn't wanting to show off her skills, she wants you to buy the product. By trying a product DC doesn't become a walking advertisement. She has received a kind gift from a woman who is likely panicking how her bills will be met.

I recognise the tattoo lady has a job, the more she sells, the more likely she can pay bills / rent / food. If I know we won't be buying then there's not much point in wasting the persons time, a child's expectations and our sanity having a sulking / crying child.

DC were taught as soon as they could comprehend, you earn treats, you don't get what you want because you want it. Sometimes Mum & Dad can't afford it, so even if we wanted to we can't. Strangely they've always comprehended this, never really asked for anything, unless we said here's £5 to get something with.

I knew a grown adult that I expect your children to grow up like. If there was anything free, anywhere, they would go mental and try and get as much as humanly possible, much to our horror. Even in Harrods at the fancy fruit & nut section, the sales person offered one sample, they pretty much sampled everything before walking off. Mortified doesn't cover how embarrassing it was. It was almost like they had a beacon for free stuff, in certain stores, the person watching over samples has the expectation adults have the common decency not to go oh God that's nice, I'm starving, picking up several more samples before walking off. Yuk!

I was tempted to say please get in touch with a newspaper, so you & DD can pull your best traumatised faces, plus you looking angry whilst consoling DD, with her looking upset. Thus Hamleys crazily conceding and giving you a voucher so you can afford their prices. (Thinking What has the world come to!)

Final point, you already had the kit, so that demo person wasn't going to make anything from you, were they? Did it not cross your mind to say we already have this, so I'll do you a super one when we get home.

OK with C/S the idea is bright / bubbly / lovely. How do you know that she wasn't feeling absolutely rotten, but knew if she didn't turn up, she wouldn't have a job the next day. Or she had some other worries, in the 10 minutes painting DD2 she could miss actual sales, as parents can't wait / children get bored waiting.

It's a strange hypothesis I know, people having rough days.

Fair enough be a bit miffed if you want, knock yourself out! What did you expect you would be told by other MN posters? I'm wondering what you're MO is, as in what you want to achieve. If you feel that strongly email Hamleys. I'm sure they'll tell you that such persons are independent. Do you really want someone potentially losing their job though?

Just think about all the variables.

Well, Rohilda has definitely over-egged her responses! But this

However, if someone did have such a dramatic, vicious response to a demo person in hamleys, I think it shows just how awful the customer service has become and perhaps we were even lucky with our incident.

is also off the mark.
I'll often listen in if a nearby customer is complaining. If they're calm and sensible I'll often wonder if their comments are worth taking on board (particularly if I'm about to purchase an item or order food), but as soon as they start shouting, swearing, being nasty or dramatic etc their point is utterly lost. Usually the various staff and customers are exchanging looks of sympathy or that say "one of those", and it puts the complainer immediately in the wrong.

The ops quote on how a vicious response shows how bad hamleys is is simply her way of justifying why she was verbally abusive in a toy store in front of small kids.

It's never ok to start shouting and swearing at people in this context, particularly not in a toy shop in front of young kids.

Hang on, how can anyone know by her response that the op was abusive?

😂