Just wanted to put in a good word and a “Hooray” for the people at Caboose Hobbies in Denver.
Last night I was perusing their brass loco selection on line and came across a used Key Rio Grande 3400 series 2-8-8-2. Looked at the photo, fell in love, and decided to order it. I’ve bought a great many of my lokies from this store and have always been satisfied with their prompt and trouble-free shipping.
Well, today I get a phone call from Bob Zimmerman at Caboose Hobbies and he wanted to let me know that on inspecting the loco before he packed it, he noticed that the drive train between the two sets of drivers had a problem. So he just wanted to let me know that he wouldn’t be able to ship it out until Monday as their brass repair person wouldn’t be in until Sunday and he wasn’t going to ship the locomotive with a problematic drive train. Did I mind the delay?
Of COURSE I didn’t mind the delay, LOL! [:P]
So I just wanted to let everyone know that Customer Service and Satisfaction is still alive and well these days–especially in Colorado.
Thanks, Caboose Hobbies, you’ve proven again why I do just about all of my on-line business with you!
I’ll second that! I’ve done a lot of business on line over the last several years and have never had anything but terrific service from Caboose Hobbies. I recently had to return a car that I had mistakenly ordered twice and the folks there made the return absolutely effortless. They have certainly earned my business and are my “go to” shop for almost everything now.
I second that on Caboose Hobbies. Thier Brass Dept. is second to none, along with thier repair dept. Although I dont mind fixing them myself, its great that they take care of issues before shipping a model to a customer, and even advise the customer of the problem and the delay in shipping. I dont know anybody that would have an issue with that kind of delay. The fact that they took the extra moment to contact the customer is awsome. Not many shops give that kind of customer service anymore. I have bought several brass pieces from Caboose Hobbies over the years and have always been very satisfied. Cheers Mike and Michele T
I like Caboose Hobbies also and have purchased many models from them over the past ten years. Don always runs the model I called about and lets me know the condition. They are good people and have mostly consignments. I have a vendor located in Colorado and I get up there once or twice a year to visit Caboose Hobbies.
As an update, the Sunset HO NP Z6 pictures are now on their web site. It looks very good and I am getting mine at the reserved price.
I have a good Caboose Hobbies story. I was just getting back into the hobby, well starting it, because I never really had anything except the “Starter Sets”. I wanted to connect my computer to a layout. I went and bought the Digitrax Zepher. When I got it home, I could not get the trains to run very fast at all. At the time I had a 4 X 8 layout and at top speed, the trains would take 5 min to make it around the loop. I thought it was the way I installed the decoder, so I tried several different decoders, but still no luck. I called Caboose Hobbies and they said the DCC specialist was on vacation. He would not be back until after the 30 day return policy. I the 35th day I took the Zepher back in and they did determine there was a problem with it. They offered me my money back. Because of this I promptly took the money and bought the much more expensive NCE Power pro from them. I know that was over kill for the 4 X 8 but I knew I would expand my layout. That is what I call customer service.
I ordered three Overland AS-616 locomotives some three years ago, all different (different numbers and paint schemes, but same railroad). Shortly before the models’ arrivals from the importer a couple of months ago, they called me. They asked “why are you asking for two of the same models.” I said I hadn’t, and referred to the reservation confirmations I had received. “OK,” they said, that’s correct, and would forward the correct models. Nevertheless, they later sent the two duplicate models for which I had to return one. Fortunately, I ended up with the correct models.
Another thing, Caboose Hobbies will list future imports even after the Importer has decided not to have the models produced. I had to remind them at least once (as in Division Point’s MM-3 locomotives.) Which reminds me, I need to tell Caboose Hobbies to return my several-year-old $200 deposit for Coach Yard’s SP heavyweight baggage/express cars wherein the importer apparently didn’t have enough models produced to meet the demand
I love Caboose Hobbies. Moved to Denver because of the store. I had to relocate an hour down the road to Colorado Springs, but I still go to Caboose whenever I can.
I can’t say I would move there just to visit the store, but I have arranged flights to create a layover during which to visit the store (back when the Denver airport was Stapleton).
Now that the airport has moved out on the prairie, its not really practical.
