Thirstymeeples Opiniones 

Hi everyone,

I have decided to still give three stars as I have never had issues before in this facility and even this past week had great encounters with some of the staff.

But yesterday, after opening over two hours late (without any updates on any outlets), I went to retrieve a lost item. I was met with hostility and rudeness and it was even implied I was not truthful about a prior phone call. It was then said the item was not at the store, even though I had phoned the day before to be sure it was. It was a long trip with small baby to undertake but the manager did not seem to care about this. I had to stay firm in saying I called and I know it is here, had to prove I knew their phone number and show them I called. This discussion went on until a very kind younger employee helped me by texting ( I assume someone working the day before) and found my item right away.

Importantly, the manager did not apologise for this at all. Neither for opening hours late where customers (and beer suppliers) had to wait in the heat, nor for implying I was lying or any other snarky remarks made. This was the last straw and reason to write this review today. Mistakes can happen and I know people have bad days, but apologies cost nothing.

I am very grateful for the young employee who helped me in the end, therefore still giving two stars. She was kind and took initiative.

I have bought dozens of games and spent hundreds of pounds here over the years and been a satisfied customer.

On the first occasion I had to take one back (in the same mint, shrink-wrapped new condition, approx 2 weeks after purchasing) to get a refund I was told that wasn't possible and I was only offered store credit. That is very anti-consumer, and, I don't think it is legal. In any case, TM have lost a loyal customer as I definitely won't be buying games from there in future. The staff themselves were professional and nice.

Worst kind of unfriendliness I experienced in Oxford. I had visited Thirsty Meeples with a friend but hadn’t had the time back then to sit and enjoy. Since then I kept telling my daughter about it and we were looking forward to the opportunity. Today, I took her there just to show the treasure of board games. The lady at the cashier desk asked if we need anything and I asked about a game my daughter likes. She said they didn’t have it. Then I asked if I could have a look at other games in the library and she said we have everything online and you can’t go in. I was just meaning to have a look and feel of the place for my daughter and it was not really that busy, there were several empty tables in addition to the reserves ones. This was very unkind and i hope it’s not a company policy to throw customers out.

Trying to cancel a pre-order because I am relocating for work, but all attempts to contact Thirsty Meeples are ignored.

Update, about 15 minutes after posting this review my pre-order was cancelled. I've updated to 3 stars giving them the benefit of the doubt that they missed my previous emails.

Ordered a few games now so wanted to write a review as they are great. Ordered White Castle and delivered very quickly and excellently packaged. Thanks and will be using again soon 👍

The very polite and hard working staff of the Oxford shop seem to be treading on eggshells the two times I've visited and been served by the elder bottle-redhead woman I assume is the manager since the other staff seem petrified of her.

The first time I was told that me and my partner weren't allowed to browse the games, the second time a straightforward order became a very rude encounter. Simply put, we won't be returning

When I asked politely for an update about when I would receive a refund I received this response

The refund time is down to your bank's processing speed, we have no control over this and are not informed as to when it happens. Banks advise to allow 1-3 days for refunds to be processed. There is nothing we can our end to expedite this.

TM

First of all I politely suggest that at the very least the company starts with

Dear Customer,

Thank you for your email

Even if they don’t mean it. It’s a start. Secondly they could consider using my actual name.

Secondly, I politely suggest they put a line at the end saying something along the lines of

Should you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Thirdly, If they state on their website that you can contact them in this email, I suggest they act on it first time.

Fourthly, I would recommend they make the telephone number clear on their website rather than me having to do a google search to find it.

I am not a huge fan of Amazon but they can get things delivered to you door the next day and the postage is often free. I understand that small companies will find it difficult to compete but the customer service at TM really is appalling

Placed on a cramped table in a corner where a table shouldn’t be with not enough room to sit at - even though we had pre-booked. Then moved to a larger table but that was stuck at the back of the cafe behind a partition wall which isn’t the best atmosphere and where it was very busy and noisy with large groups. So after being in the cafe for about 10 minutes and having played nothing or eaten anything we changed our mind as they couldn’t provide a suitable table. We were also just having a bad day tbh and needed creature comforts. They insisted on charging us the table fee - which is disappointing - there’s upholding the rules and then there’s having common sense to bend them when a customer is clearly not happy. The staff proceeded to be quite rude and all gang up on us when I questioned the logic in charging us! Given that we’re fairly regular visitors and that now A: I’m put off going back, and B: won’t recommend to others - was it really worth the £12 …?

First time ordering with them. My order was shipped on the same day as it was placed and I received it two days later, as expected, using their free delivery option. The game was in excellent condition and had been well packaged.

Next day delivery. We'll packed and at a great price. Great service.

I had attempted to preorder some One Piece stuff for release in June '23. When I selected the "Pay Later" option, the website just refreshed to the main page and I was left confused. Had a preorder been placed? Had it all crashed?

So, I filled in the contact form to enquire. I hear nothing for almost 2 weeks. I email them from my email account directly. Nothing. I phone the Oxford store to just enquire a little further since I'm being ignored on email, and all I get from the lovely lady on the phone is "Oh my god.. we're a small business and we get hundreds of emails"..

Cool. You can take your shoddy customer service and I'll take my business and money to someone who will actually treat me with decency.

When your FLGS becomes just your LGS…

I’ve been a customer for years have spent about £1k on games from them, ignoring the higher prices than their competitors because I’d always had a good experience…but I’m afraid to say they lost a customer today. Not because they refused to exchange a £13 game (when I was going to spend much more) but the attitude was, well, just a bit rubbish.

We had been given two copies of minions dobble for my sons 5th birthday. We know that one was bought ‘at the game shop in Bath’ so we understand that it could have been a couple of locations. And my issue isn’t that they refused to exchange the item. The first person behind the till asked me the same question or version of the question six times and the approach really made me feel like I was doing something wrong. How many times did I need to say I can’t give exact info as it was a birthday present for a 5 year old. Not understanding that it isn’t exactly always the done thing to ask for a receipt I’ll accept, just don’t ask me over and over…

I kind of understood the refusal at that point, and to be fair the first member of staff then tried to be helpful and raise it with someone who I assume was the manager. This was the closest I came to receiving actual customer service. The manager then fed me a couple of crappy lines - one of which was about them being a small company and unable to exchange in this way.

(Exchanging a small unopened item which would be able to be resold versus losing a sale and future sale from a regular customer seems to be a poor way to operate.)

However, My son was with me and as he was expecting a new game and I wasn’t going to let him down, we bought a new game. (I was going to buy another for me too but that sale was lost -I’ve gone to Chaos cards). The manager then processed my sale and this is where my disappointment really lies. No effort to provide any customer service, no ‘sorry we couldn’t help’, no attempt to see if there was anything he could do, just a lack of manners (not a thank you or goodbye) and that touch of arrogance you get from managers who shouldn’t be in the service sector. Might not seem like much but I’m not a big fan of being treated with suspicion, like I’m somehow in the wrong…

I worked retail for over a decade and I understand from both sides of the counter but this whole experience has left me very disappointed and with a bitter taste which means I’ll likely be buying my games from a competitor in the future. Shame!

I have used them a number of times and they have been really good. Not sure why there are so many negative reviews ??

Please do avoid. It's such a shame, the staff are actively among the rudest I've ever encountered. Awful customer service.

A scam, avoid at all costs.

I made an order with Thirsty Meeple, the item went missing in transit. Following communication with DHL I was told to chase the store who've be able to seek update and compensation.

I understandably emailed the store to seek assistance, a week later I received response to my emails, frankly being left to wait longer.

Thirsty Meeples displayed no customer empathy, leaving me waiting for an item that was bought with a next day delivery service to wait for near a fortnight, with no update or offer of compensation.

I pre-ordered a game playmat in March 2022. It's now late December 2022 and I haven't received it yet. When asked about it they say they haven't received it from distributors yet but they won't contact the distributors to see when it's expected. This is despite paying in full up front for the mat. They are now advertising the 2nd print run of the map at a higher price before fulfilling existing pre-orders. They don't even bother responding to most emails.

Me and my girlfriend's Charizard boxes arrived quickly safely. No problems at all, thank you.

Not received refund.

This was my first experience with this company, so my atrocious experience may not be indicative of the company as a whole.

I received a game as a gift for my Birthday, unfortunately, it was the incorrect version of a game (one I already had). This ofc is our fault not theirs. However trying to return the item turned into a herculean task. As I wanted to support a smaller business I was more interested in trying to organise a swap rather than a refund. I wanted to trade the one I received for the one I wanted (and pay extra if needed). After 3 unanswered emails to the same email address listed here on trust pilot and maybe a dozen phone calls I ran out of time and was forced to return the item via recorded delivery.

It has now been 2 months and there has still been no refund, despite another couple of emails and another dozen or so attempts of phone calls which as with my previous attempts all rang out.

Having used this company before without any problems they now appear to have pulled delivery to Northern Ireland without warning. This information is not visible on their website and frustratingly have not replied to email to clarify if this is the case.