Character Warehouse I Drive - our experience today

[joanna23]

I picked up one of the Mickey celebration plushes at 5.99. There were lots in the bins at around 4.30pm today. There were two women who then picked them all up. At the till they only allowed them to buy 10 each. They were trying to tell some story about having a party. I then heard them ask if they had 100 of another stock item! They said they’d buy them in batches of 10.

[Taffy1959]

When we were there last October we went to the Vineland outlets and we couldn't believe the amount of stock one man in particular was buying.
They had Storm Trooper outfits and he must have had 10 huge boxes full of them along with 6/7 boxes of other stock.
We wanted one Storm Trooper outfit for our grandson but were told no they were all for this one man which really annoyed one woman who started complaining loudly about the situation as this person had also bought the entire stock a couple of days earlier.
Eventually one of the assistants went in the back and came out with an armful of suits so we could choose the size we wanted.
We had one very happy grandson when we got home.

[CosmicGirl]

So much for the CMs not being in on it!

[cartoonp]

Most is re sold on eBay for a profit .

[toonarmani]

Originally Posted by CosmicGirl

So much for the CMs not being in on it!

See more...

Shopper enters store at opening.
Shopper: “Do you have X in stock?”
CM: “yes”
Shopper “ok I’ll take them all”
CM: “sure”
CM brings some boxes out, Shopper buys and leaves.

Not sure where CMs being “in on it” comes into it?

As I said previously, unless there is actual evidence of underhand dealing/buying (by all means complain to Disney) then it is merely an assumption that CMs are doing anything dodgy. If someone goes in and buys multiple that’s nothing against a member of staff.

For the example someone posted above, it sounds like they were trying to buy an item which someone else appears to have got there first and bought up (which is generally allowed in the main). Frustrating? Yes, but not dodgy or CMs doing anything wrong.

If there are no restrictions on numbers bought (I’ve bought almost 40 pens for my daughters class one year so the 10 rule people quote is incorrect, or depends on the item) then in order to maximise your chances of getting what you want, get there first or be prepared to buy what’s left rather than accusing people of dodgy dealing in their job.

[CosmicGirl]

Originally Posted by toonarmani

Shopper enters store at opening.
Shopper: “Do you have X in stock?”
CM: “yes”
Shopper “ok I’ll take them all”
CM: “sure”
CM brings some boxes out, Shopper buys and leaves.

Not sure where CMs being “in on it” comes into it?

As I said previously, unless there is actual evidence of underhand dealing/buying (by all means complain to Disney) then it is merely an assumption that CMs are doing anything dodgy. If someone goes in and buys multiple that’s nothing against a member of staff.

For the example someone posted above, it sounds like they were trying to buy an item which someone else appears to have got there first and bought up (which is generally allowed in the main). Frustrating? Yes, but not dodgy or CMs doing anything wrong.

If there are no restrictions on numbers bought (I’ve bought almost 40 pens for my daughters class one year so the 10 rule people quote is incorrect, or depends on the item) then in order to maximise your chances of getting what you want, get there first or be prepared to buy what’s left rather than accusing people of dodgy dealing in their job.

See more...

If after reading all of these reports you still believe that everyone is being treated equally/fairly then sorry, but you're living in Fantasyland. If bulk buyers are getting bags or boxes full of items which are nowhere to be seen in the store and upon bringing them out of the stock room, no one else is allowed to purchase them then it has nothing to do with being first in line. I'm also not saying that the CMs are somehow getting compensated for this, which is what you seem to be implying with "dodgy dealing". But preferential treatment is clearly evidenced both in this thread and on youtube. I believe it should be up to the managers to handle this better and consistently apply the same rules to all.

[DonnaD]

Originally Posted by RickT

a lot of the stock in there is the same as start of last week, so they must have boxes and boxes of the stuff.

See more...

Some of the stock lasts for months.

[Ridersmom]

The bottom line is if you don't like the way they do business, don't do business with them. Buying Disney merchandise is not essential, if you don't buy it you will survive but if business is dramatically down, the store may not or a regional manager may come and try to fix things.

[toonarmani]

Originally Posted by CosmicGirl

If after reading all of these reports you still believe that everyone is being treated equally/fairly then sorry, but you're living in Fantasyland. If bulk buyers are getting bags or boxes full of items which are nowhere to be seen in the store and upon bringing them out of the stock room, no one else is allowed to purchase them then it has nothing to do with being first in line. I'm also not saying that the CMs are somehow getting compensated for this, which is what you seem to be implying with "dodgy dealing". But preferential treatment is clearly evidenced both in this thread and on youtube. I believe it should be up to the managers to handle this better and consistently apply the same rules to all.

See more...

By you saying that the CMs were "in on it", this implied they were doing something inappropriate, which I don't believe is the case.

Originally Posted by CosmicGirl

So much for the CMs not being in on it!

See more...

As the bulk buyers are in regularly they'll know what's been in previously so can easily ask what they have, and then buy it if it's not already out on the shop floor.

The options to avoid this are:
a) don't allow people to buy something if it's not been put out onto the shop floor first
b) don't allow people to buy multiples of the same item

At the moment, neither are in place (except for a very small number of exclusives which have purchase volume restrictions), so best strategy is to get there early like this thread where they managed to get a banshee and a few other bits at store opening.

I'm not suggesting that bulk buying is not frustrating for people, but they are not doing anything "wrong", anyone can buy what they like and keep/sell as they please (unless restrictions are put in place to stop it).

[CosmicGirl]

Originally Posted by toonarmani

By you saying that the CMs were "in on it", this implied they were doing something inappropriate, which I don't believe is the case.



As the bulk buyers are in regularly they'll know what's been in previously so can easily ask what they have, and then buy it if it's not already out on the shop floor.

The options to avoid this are:
a) don't allow people to buy something if it's not been put out onto the shop floor first
b) don't allow people to buy multiples of the same item

At the moment, neither are in place (except for a very small number of exclusives which have purchase volume restrictions), so best strategy is to get there early like this thread where they managed to get a banshee and a few other bits at store opening.

See more...

You never did respond to the little birdy story. Giving certain shoppers an unfair advantage by telling them what's new in that day before the store opens for the day and then holding it in the back room until they arrive so no one else can buy it is what I would call inappropriate. You could be first in line at 6am and still miss out.

Even if it were to happen the way you're describing, i.e. a bulk buyer comes in, asks if they have item x in the back, and proceeds to say they'll buy all boxes of it, then I would still not deem it appropriate for the manager to allow ALL of them to be sold to one person/party when other customers are right there asking to buy the item. If I were the manager I would put a limit on the item and allow everyone there at the time to buy at least one, depending on how many are in stock.

I've seen women go into the store and spread their whole body over a rack of Dooneys so no one else could grab one and they could buy all of them. It's ridiculous. If you think that's appropriate then we have different definitions of the word, my friend.