After speaking with the people at bachman,I sent off my Williams EP-5 for repair in december.I know it was recieved on 12/20,in the morning. I called last week & was told it takes anywhere from 6-8 weeks for repair. I felt pretty good that at least they had record of it. Is anyone else running into similar situation. Thanks for any input. Hopper
Hopper,
I must say this is the first time I have heard of anybody having to use the Williams warrenty. So far as how long it takes can be anybody’s guess.
I have contacted Williams about the Lionel switch # 6-23010 not being compatible with Williams and they told me that switch has design flaws. That is my only dealings with Williams repair department.
Lee F.
It’s not under warranty anymore,just fianlly burned out. No complaints. I have had it 8 years.I expect to pay for what they fix. I just hope it doesn’t disappear into a “black hole.” Hopper
it
I guess that gives all of us Williams owners pause. I’ve had 2 dealings with Williams regarding repair service. In both instances, the train was back on my layout within 7 days of leaving my hands at the post office. Now the turn around time is 6-8 weeks? And what happened to the lifetime warranty?
Sounds like Williams by Bachmann isn’t quite the same as the old Williams. Best of luck with your loco.
Jim
Never dealt with Williams, but I lost a railking K-4 tender to the MTH black hole a long time ago… Its the last item I purchased from them…I was fortunate in that I decided to only send the tender frame and reverse guts and kept the engine and tender shell. I made a new tender frame and installed an AF reverse unit with a rectifier for the DC motor and it runs just fine.
I don’t know about lifetime warrinty as the williams for the past couple of years I’ve seen has been a 0ne year warrinty not life time. and you have to understand now that when you send an item into bachmann your now sending to the same shop that does n, HO, and G or large scale and the last time I sent something into bachmann it took 3 months . and they replaced the engine with another of the same thing. now Bachmann may or may not start offering lifetime on the williamsd time will tell from what I’ve heard a lot is coming out as info at the same time as york so I guess we will learn a lot about then even about the centry club as I’ve asked about that too.
I will let all those with concern know what developes next time I call them. Oh yes,I hope I do get it back. Hopper.
Nothing to do with repairs, but I e-mailed Williams/Bachman in December asking if they had a list of online Williams Dealers. (I know they have a list of Local Train Shops, but none are Local to me.)
They did not reply. Not even a simple “No we do not have a list”. Nothing. I am not pleased.
If you goto http://www.williamstrains.com/ theres a link to williams dealers they haven’t added there network of bachmann dealers yet probally because they don’t have williams trains in them yet as they expect there first main shipment to arive like june or july . as for just on line dealers best source is to look in clasic toy trains and get avertiser there the main one I know a lot use is either http://www.mapajunction.com/ and I believe but may be wrong on this one is www.justrains.com
I asked my LHS owner last week what he thought of Bachmann’s acquisition of William’s. He was very emphatic in his answer: He said over the years he has had a 50% failure rate of all Bachmann products he sold. He met the owner (Bachmann himself) at a major train event, possibily York several years ago and confronted him with that issue. Bachmann acted as if that could not be. But Bachmann’s production engineer or similar position category person was listening. My LHS owner said that he offered constructive advice on how to fix some specific problems. Later, Bachmann’s products improved slightly, but not up to Lionel, MTH, or Atlas standards.
The above is not a “warm and fuzzy” re Bachmann products, but it is a summary of what my LHS owner told me. He has been in the toy train business for 32 years. The bottom line of his story suggests the future of Williams quality is in doubt unless Bachmann takes a production turn that is quite different from their history.
Bill
I just have to defend Bachmann. In my dealings with them they have been very professional and helpful. I’ve purchased their products in HO, N, and HOn30. I have been pleased with everything I have purchased. The one problem I did have with an N gauge loco they rectified quickly and supplied me with extra parts at no charge. I think the Williams line is in good hands.
I have G Scale Bachman, an engine and a trolley. [:(][:(][:(][:(]
I have used bachmann repair service before. Took about 4 to 5 weeks to receive my items back. It’s take a little while but there service is excellent. I can’t think of a better warranty from any other train company. I sent them an engine that died after 10 years and for 15 dollars they sent me a brand new one. I have no complaints about Bachmann.
They are now charging $25. I wished my locomotive had lasted longer than two or three months before I had to send it back.
I won’t disagree with anyone here, but one thought comes to mind in considering this situation with Williams by Bachmann, and that is K-Line by Lionel.
Last year Lionel brought out two catalogs with a nice selection of K-Line products. Nearly everything was delayed several times according to Lionel’s own shipping estimates, with the bulk of the products not arriving until after the holiday buying season. So whatever the reason, it obviously takes times to get things going when one company takes over another.
Also Lionel is not honoring nor repairing any prior made K-Line products nor will they offer any service advice. Now, I do hope Williams will do better in this department. I’m sure Bachmann is still assessing the product line and making production plans.
As a long time one time K-Line customer, I find myself (really as I always have) making my own repairs. The only real problem I see is the future availabilty of parts, but I’m sure I can cob other parts if need be.
As much as Williams limited lifetime warranty was a nice selling point, they were the only company to offer such a warranty. Most Williams products were pretty basic and simple as far as internal components. I would imagine most Lionel service centers would have the capacity to make repairs on Williams products if you were not comfortable with making them yourself. I know it’s not the best situation for someone who anticipated a lifetime warranty, but considering current list prices from Lionel, making the repairs yourself on Williams products or having them done for you still might not be such a bad deal on a list price comparison.
We all know most Lionel products cannot touch Williams on a basis of quality, features, construction, and durability when one considers comparable product list prices. Even the single motored Williams centercab runs better and pulls more than any current production single motored Lionel diesel in a similar price range.
if it is only 2 to 3 months old, they will fix it free. No need to send in $25.00.