Geek Retreat Chelmsford

Featured reviews

• R

  Rigneau Anthony

  ·2 weeks ago

  “Went there as I had some down time during a trip and wanted to check if anything interesting.it is fairly basic with very limited selection of games ro buy or play”

• S

  Sami Eyles

  ·3 weeks ago

  “Extremely Disappointing Experience – OP-17 Pre-Release I travelled around 1.5 hours to Geek Retreat Chelmsford specifically for their OP-17 pre-release event. London events had been sold out for months, so this was one of the few options available to me. I paid the full £35 entry fee, just like everyone else attending. The event advertisement clearly states that the £35 entry includes 6 OP-17 packs, a participation pack and promos. I have a screenshot of the advertisement to prove this. Unfortunately, I arrived late due to personal circumstances and, understandably, was told that I could no longer join the event tournament as it had already started. I had a few friends there who had said it started 5 minutes ago, whilst the staff member I was talking to said it started 30 minutes ago…. Hmm, that was sign number one. Although massively disappointed, I completely accepted that I couldn’t take part. What I could not understand was why I was then refused the promo cards that were advertised as being included with the £35 entry. I explained the situation to the staff member in charge and asked if I could at least receive the promos included with the ticket, particularly as I had travelled such a long way and had still paid the full £35. I was given the 6 OP-17 packs, but was repeatedly told that I could not have the promos. I’m 100% sure that if I had walked off after being told it was too late to join the event, I wouldn’t have even got the 6 packs off OP17!!! It was only after I hesitated and mentioned if I could at least have the op17 packs too is when I was given them. I.e if I didn’t mention it, no op17 packs. If the website had clearly stated that the promos were conditional upon actually playing the tournament, I would have understood. But the advertisement explicitly says that the £35 entry includes the participation pack and Don card promos. As a player, this is extremely extremely disappointing. There was not even an ounce of compassion. Just NPC responses that don’t even make logical sense to the questions I’m asking. (Me) “If your own website says the £35 gets me event entry, 6 packs of OP17, participation pack and promos, why am I not allowed to have it?” (His response) - “I’m not giving you the promo packs” People think they’re gatekeepers protecting the hobby blah blah blah. You’ve hurt one of your own. Besides, what on earth could I possibly do with those promo dons that requires this level of protection? Sell them for millions??? They’re worth like £15-£20. It’s not even a hot commodity that everyone wants This whole experience was extremely disappointing. I travelled a significant distance, paid for the event in good faith, and expected the advertised contents of the entry to be honoured. I understand that rules have to be followed regarding tournament participation, but there is a massive difference between not allowing someone to enter a tournament after arriving late, and refusing to provide items explicitly advertised as being included with the £35 entry fee. The way this was handled showed very little flexibility or customer service. I left feeling completely disregarded despite having travelled all that way and paid the same entry fee as everyone else. I understand the need to uphold rules, however, it’s you guys’s fault for your incorrect advertising. On top of that, all cases are nuanced, some flexibility is needed. You can’t rule with an iron fist. You need to make concessions and be flexible when the situation requires it. The poor handling of this situation means I definitely will never be going back, neither will any of my friends, and any time anyone ever mentions your store, I’ll be honest and tell them my story and tell them to stay away. When people mention your store around my friends, they’ll most probably say the same thing. I get that this may mean nothing to you and won’t affect your business in the slightest. But if these poor customer service situations happen enough times, there’s a lot of new customers (who would be repeat customers) you will be missing out on.”

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• M

  Mr Curns

  ·1 month ago

  “Another here who was stung by their pokemon scam today. What I don’t understand is if you’re going to sell the entire stock to influencers (to scalp on stream) why even advertise the midday event at all? Just sell it to them out the back door at 6am like every other shop and save everyone the trip. It was like they did it intentionally to rile people up. The staff have clearly got friends and family putting up fake reviews to cover for them now, but they only have themselves to blame for the mess. I’m sure Joe Swash & Stacy Solomon will be back for their next Pokemon card drop but the 150-200 potential customers who would’ve actually bought stuff in the store consistently during and beyond that have been scared off for life.”

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• E

  eadie witzenfeld

  ·1 month ago

  “Such a shame that rather than selling to fans they sold to celebs who will now go and profit off of it :/ loved going to this place to see what cards they had but will not be going back.”

• G

  Gary Hoax

  ·1 month ago

  “The worse TCG store. Couldn’t run a bath. Give celebs vip access over the public”

• A

  Andy Haley

  ·1 month ago

  “30th celebrations release was a joke, store ordered 25 etbs, chased customers down the road to prevent queuing which we all respected and understood as a method to combat scalping etc, yet quickly changed their minds when Joe Swash turned up, parked outside the store (another thing they said publically we were not to do) and then allowed him with his wife and multiple children to jump the queue and buy the majority of the stock. Outrageous display of poor management and poor choices, staff should be ashamed”

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