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[15MagicalYears]

I agree loads with what everyone said about trading, it's sooo adictive  :oops:.
A few questions though if anyone can answer them.

-What do you normaly say if the lanyards aren't on display?
-Are the Castmember exclusives updated frequently?

[Agent Lex]

-What do you normaly say if the lanyards aren't on display?

Just ask any cast member about the pin trading lanyards. If they're not out, they'll know and they'll be able to grab one and bring it out for trading.

-Are the Castmember exclusives updated frequently?

I honestly don't know how frequent the updates are. I was told by one or two CMs that they tend to refresh the lanyard when it gets full of store pins. Since most guests don't have pins from the parks, they tend to just buy the store ones and trade, so the lanyards quickly get filled with £3 core pins, not exactly a great trade! In the busier stores the refresh can happen nightly.
BUT I don't know how often they get in new CM exclusives, only that they refresh with other park ones they've been given. I have no idea what happens to all those spare store ones either, maybe they get shipped over to the US parks to put on their lanyards.

[Aveen2008]

-What do you normaly say if the lanyards aren't on display?

Just ask any cast member about the pin trading lanyards. If they're not out, they'll know and they'll be able to grab one and bring it out for trading.


Not true in the Belfast store I was there today it was quiet and I had come from where i lived (an hours drive) and I asked about trading the cast member behind the counter stated someone would get the Lanyard..next thing another Cast member comes over to tell me that the Lanyard only comes out at certain times, unannounced and you just have to be lucky to catch it because once they have it away they are not allowed to bring it back out!! :cry:

She told me to "pop back in on the offchance the cast lanyard was out".

is this the way it is in the other uk stores???  :cry:

[Clarebelle]

-What do you normaly say if the lanyards aren't on display?

Just ask any cast member about the pin trading lanyards. If they're not out, they'll know and they'll be able to grab one and bring it out for trading.


Not true in the Belfast store I was there today it was quiet and I had come from where i lived (an hours drive) and I asked about trading the cast member behind the counter stated someone would get the Lanyard..next thing another Cast member comes over to tell me that the Lanyard only comes out at certain times, unannounced and you just have to be lucky to catch it because once they have it away they are not allowed to bring it back out!!! :evil:  :evil:  :evil:  :evil:  :shock:  :shock:  :shock:  :shock:

She told me to "pop back in on the offchance the cast lanyard was out".... to say i was mad was an understatement!!

is this the way it is in the other uk stores??? :evil:

Thats really unexceptable Aveen, you should get in touch with guest relations, or whatever they call themselves (I'll look it up ) ...Guest Relations department 0208 22 23 333 to see if this is true :shock: which I cant believe it would be. My "local" disney store is about 1 hrs drive and if they are going to start doing that, I'm afraid I wont be going anymore and I will start buying all my pins online (which we have started to do, because we can't guarantee that the pins will be in store on release day) which will be a same because we were hoping that they would give us the CTT pin when/if they get one  :evil: the Norwich branch have always been more than happy to show us the lanyard, they even rush off to get the second one when they see us   lol

Infact I am going to ring them now...

no answer  :evil:  :evil:  :evil:  :evil:  well I suppose its not 9 yet

I will check my literature when I get home from my exam later, can you tell this has annoyed me slightly lol[/color]

[Agent Lex]

Not true in the Belfast store I was there today it was quiet and I had come from where i lived (an hours drive) and I asked about trading the cast member behind the counter stated someone would get the Lanyard..next thing another Cast member comes over to tell me that the Lanyard only comes out at certain times, unannounced and you just have to be lucky to catch it because once they have it away they are not allowed to bring it back out!!! :evil:  :evil:  :evil:  :evil:  :shock:  :shock:  :shock:  :shock:

She told me to "pop back in on the offchance the cast lanyard was out".... to say i was mad was an understatement!!

is this the way it is in the other uk stores??? :evil:

Wow! I am very surprised to hear this, it's a lanyard not the pin trading board!

I agree completely with Clarebelle, this is not something that should have happened and you should phone customer services/guest relations.

[magic_823]

Ok

In Belfast's defense the cast members that are currently trading are only learning this week and were given instruction by myself so of course there is some intially confusion.
The lanyard is supposed to come out randomly during the day so as that it the pins are fairly distrubuted.
But saying as other stores are now trading constantly i will ensure that it is out all the time.
Also the the lanyard should only really be worn by "brand Ambassadors" or people who are familiar with the rules. As we have only started trading there are some ppl who are not up to speed with the rules and hence the lanyard cannot been out full time.

I agree that the cast member should probably have traded with you but Aveen if you come in on saturday i wil trade more than the allowed pins with you as a way of an apology. I am sorry that you were treated that way but please let me rectify the situation on Saturday.

Jumping the gun and foning guest relations seems a little extreme Clarebelle

Nadine  

[Clarebelle]

Sorry but for people who live a 5-10 minute walk, yes it is acceptable to bring out the lanyards for limited periods only BUT for people like Aveen and myself who have to drive one hour to get to a disney store it is NOT acceptable and if Disney Store UK decided to take that step they will be alienating alot of their faithful customers. We are not in Disneyland or WDW, if you are offering that service, it should be available at all times.

I can understand that you are trying to protect your store and staff, but I am not prepared to drive for an hour, wasting petrol and adding up milage on my new car if I am going to get to there and find out that the lanyards are not available for trading, along with the new releases. I'm sure that you will agree that it would be a waste of my time as that is the only reason we are going tonight. Who would you recommend that I contact other than Guest Relations? as if what you are saying is true, I'm guessing you wont be able to tell my between what times the lanyards will be out

I dont mean to be targeting you with this, but I feel you are targeting me as you have completely ignored the fact that Agent Lex wrote...

I agree completely with Clarebelle, this is not something that should have happened and you should phone customer services/guest relations.

sorry to drag you in Lex, but I am slightly annyoyed by this, and I am afraid I will be contacting Guest Relations as I have other matters to take up with them also. If I can ever get through to them as no one seems to be manning the phones at all today. :evil: [/color]

[magic_823]

Hey Clarebelle

Soo sorry if i caused offense :oops:  - i was not targeting you there. Please accept my apology.

Off course i do not agree with the guest service that Aveen recieved and that was not the way i treated her on the saturday she came in.
But in the store's defense they were acting on my instructions- in the information we had been given before trading commenced we were told to trade at random times of the day. So if the cast member gave bad service it is also my fault. And for that i am mortified.

So that is why i would like to rectify the situation personally and consult both head office and our "pinformation" to ensure that we are trading correctly.
As clearly other stores are trading more frequently than us.

I understand how frustrating it is driving a long distance to your nearest Disney Store and not get what you came there for.
I myself live 2 and 1/2 hours from Belfast so its a long trek for work on the weekends but it is a job i enjoy and i am really excitied about the pin trading.
 none of the other cast are really aware of the rules regarding pin trading and i have been working on putting together some information for them so they can trade effectively.

I have already personally apologised to Aveen and offered to rectify the situation outside of guest relations. As my intention is not to have an unhappy guest leave the store. I want to help promote trading and get more cast and guests active in it.

So again sorry if you felt that this was a personally attack on you- it was certainly not meant that way.  

Thanks
Nadine

[casschr05]

The lanyard is supposed to come out randomly during the day so as that it the pins are fairly distrubuted

I do personally hope that this has been an unfortunate misunderstanding and its simply a case of confusion of information because trading has only recently started

I hope the Disney Store aren't really trading at random times of day as then it becomes unfair in my view because a lot of people actually have to travel to get to their nearest Disney Store and if Disney want to encourage pin trading, lanyards will need to be on display at all times whilst the store is open.
To be honest if Disney's guidelines are that trading is at random times of day then they are making unfair to the Disney Fans and collectors that have to travel to get the pins.

I personally will be more inclined to buy the pins online as theres no point in paying for a coach journey in the off chance of catching a lanyard!

Anyway that was my opinion!
 
and I promise that wasn't a go at ANY Disney cast member just my honest opinion sorry if it seems it is, i promise it isn't!

[Clarebelle]

and I promise that wasn't a go at ANY Disney cast member just my honest opinion  sorry if it seems it is, i promise it isn't!

I quite agree, and I dont mean to offend anyone, and sorry if it came across that way. I just wanted the matter confirmed by Disney store. I also just want to clarify that my reason for suggesting to phone Guest Relations was not to put in a complaint or to point fingers, it was just to clarify the situation once and for all. (which is what I thought Customer Services was for?)

I am aware this is very new to the UK Disney stores and that the CM's may not be clued up ( I am aware of this because the Norwich store have traded pins with metal backs, which I have then gone on to trade my pins for :? but I dont care I like my pins and I have plenty of the backs, ramble ramble :lol: ) Hey we are all learning! I just dont fancy an hours drive after my boyfriend finishes work (5pm) to Norwich to find out that we cant trade because then I would be lodging a complaint  :evil: and pulling out the ol' "as a shareholder I expect better than this" snobby remarks lol[/color]

[Agent Lex]

To say my piece here...

magic_823, thank you for the apology, and I appreciate that trading is new to your store and CMs. I also understand that it's supposed to be those who know the rules that trade, it only makes sense! And I think so long as we all appreciate that this was a misunderstanding, we can all get along again.

I'm also glad that you have personally and privately contacted Aveen here and offered a solution. Even outside of work hours you're offering this, so everyone let's not forget the lengths some CMs go to when mistakes have been made, to make up for them. As you are trying to sort this out, I take back my earlier comments about phoning guest relations and offer my apologies for jumping to that opinion. I guess I'm slightly more experienced with pin trading in the London stores, since they've been trading for a few weeks now and have gotten the hang of it.

Important thing here: things have been sorted, lessons have been learned by Disney Store Belfast, and we can all trade again happily.

By the way, on the subject of the lanyard being out at random times: in my experience only, the lanyards have been pretty much always out, though sometimes the person wearing the lanyard is working at the till. I have learned that they're not supposed to trade at the till, for obvious reasons, so I've learned to browse around until the crowd has died down and they're back on shop floor

[Aveen2008]

Ok , Attention to anyone who responded to my comments about what happened yesterday.

I did not mean to cause` an uproar so to speak, I have been a disney fan for a long time and the Belfast disney store is my favourite shop and nadine was certainly lovely to me when I met her on Saturday  and the rest of the cast members were friendly too. None of them where out of order in their way of speaking or dealing with me... i dont want anyone to think they were rude.

what I was upset about was the rules and I was under the impression perhaps the Belfast store were working under different rules to the uk ones, which unfortunately they seem to be...im sorry to Nadine (magic_823) as I didn't think these rules would have been made by any of the cast members in the shop but the management of the store and it was them I was feeling mad with really. :oops:

I have not and will not be ringing guest relations.. I never intended to get any of the disney stores into trouble but wanted to ensure fair trade for all really.


Since I couldn't trade I decided to make myself feel better by buying loads of ones I didn't have... heres a pic



I also got a tinkerbell soft doll and little cars van for £2.50...in total I spent...



£96.00!!! :shock:  /  :-"


Aveen

[casschr05]

£96.00!!!

erm wow!! addicted? :lol:

I will agree and I do honestly say this I have never met a Disney Store cast member who has been rude! I notice they always smile and try there best to help
which I like

i dont want anyone to think they were rude.

I didn't get that impression (and I said this above) that it isn't the fault of anyone on the shop floor and most likely a case of pin trading is new therefore mis-communication

I think it would be useful to know what the situation is with pin trading in the UK i.e. what rules does UK pin trading follow and any other useful info on the "regulations"

perhaps if someone that works at a Disney Store has time they could fill us in that would be nice  /

when do new core pins come out? is it every 3/4 month or something? thanks!

[Willow]

£96.00!!! :shock:  /  :-"

Very, very impressive!

I'm not a huge pin fan, but some of the Disney UK range look gorgeous.

[Agent Lex]

when do new core pins come out? is it every 3/4 month or something? thanks!

A few new core pins come out every 4 weeks, I think. The latest ones came out just this weekend.

That's a lotta pins there Aveen! I especially noticed the St Patrick's Day Stitch and Lady and the Tramp Valentines pins there - they still had those? That's quite a find, congrats! I like both those, shame I got the Muppets Valentines one instead (though I like that too!).