For those of you who model HO and N scale ,this E-mail address is for you. After many e-mails to Carl Crosier { the big head at horizon hobby } regarding athearns price hikes and way out of many Folkes budget. I’ve e-mailed the [censored] three times only to get a lame response. If you have concerns with athreans price hikes and wi***o vent your anger,please do so. As a matter of fact,e-mail him as many times as you like. Before long ,if horizon keeps jacking the prices through the roof,are hobby will suffer even more. Think about the crappy workmenship with athreans/horizons SD70’s and the price you payed for it. Think about the blue box kits ,that no-one can seem to get a hold of any longer. Sure ,your LHS might have some in stock,but then what,once there gone. Think about the thirty dollar imported RTR china junk,after all it’s that what the SD70’s are,but add a hundred bucks to that thirty. Think about what horizons future holds,I’ll tell you ,it holds more cash for horizon if you keep buying . I really don’t care if you flame this posting,but remember this ,its all true. If we don’t do something ,as a concerned group of model railroaders who will ?
Boy…is Patrick mad or what!!! Rants are ok, but take a chill pill and buy from some one else. Or…sharpen up your scratch building skills and build your own…[2c]
If the previous owners of Athearn were making a decent profit do you think they would have sold to Horizon? If Life-Like was making a killing do you think they would have sold to Walthers? And so on ad nauseum.
If you don’t think the SD70’s you are talking about are worth $139 or whatever, then don’t buy em. Go find another brand at a price that suits you and buy it instead.
When it comes to the manufacturers you have but one vote - where you spend your dollars. That is the only thing that will impact them in the end. Before I bought my DCC gear I called Digitrax for some advice, got squat. In fact got a really heavy dose of attitude. So I called NCC, asked the same questions. Got more help than I knew what to do with, and went out and bought the gear! It does everything they said it would and more besides - and they told me how to interface to it and they did it with a smile. So guess where my dollars go.
Do the same, you will be doing yourself and the hobby a favour if that is what you truly believe.
I agree with tstage. The price of gas will eventually come back down to normal, so they really won’t have that as an excuse to base their increase in price on.
While your points about Horizon may be valid, sending e-mails will do nothing unless their sells figures show that people are putting their money where their mouths are. In other words, unless people stop buying Horizon products, Horizon will not care what is written in the e-mails they receive. So, send e-mails if you like but prepare to back up what you write.
I do buy Blue Box but generally stay away from RTR and Genesis.
Besides, I prefer to sit down when I type an e-mail.
Sorry , guys, I just don’t agree with you. Here in Nebraska, Athearn’s SD70MAC’s are $30 to $50 cheaper than Kato’s. I have had no problems with them, and frankly I like Athearn’s paint job better. I don’t have a particular brand loyalty, I buy the engines I want by who makes them. The blue boxes are fading away because the market is demanding RTR with at least basic detailing (i.e. installed grabirons). I wait to see if Atlas’ experiment with it’s Trainman line is successful. If it is, then Athearn BB might make a comeback.
I’ve noticed the quality of the new produced Athearn Blue Box car is lower than it was a few years ago. Since Horizon took over and started building many of the older kits again, they’ve been coming with broken stirups, over-thickly applied paint, and some warped kit peices (like under bodies). These problems weren’t common to the cars I aquired before this whole Horizon thing. Makes me kinda pissed.
What you’ve got here is the result of MegaComany Inc following the current fad of “growth through merger” as opposed to the old fasioned idea of growing through building on your foundation. Athearn (and MDC and whoever) was probably doing OK, but along comes Horizon w/ a fistfull of money (that they leveraged from some investment bankers) and made them an offer they couldn’t refuse. Now Horizon has to pay back the investment bankers. The traditional way of doing that is either liquidate as much of the merged company as possible and fold whats left into your existing infastructure thereby generating greater revenue while holding expenses as close as possible tp pre-merger levels or raise prices enough to cover the cost of the loan that enabled the merger. The first option isn’t really available in the model RR industry and the second one runs the risk of cutting into sales and, ultimately, shrinking revenue. This was all predictable and the graveyard of failed companies is full of outfits that leveraged themselves into oblivion. If you have Horizon stock, sell now!
Wow, I don’t know where that came from! You’ll not see prices get back to ‘normal’ ever. We’re on a ride, and it’s called a rocket. No one is making new refineries, and the old ones are staggering along at near full capacity. That means there is a short supply of gasoline…not oil, but petrol. With hurricanes marching on the Gulf in greater numbers and inflicting more damage each year, gasoline prices will continue an upward spiral as even oil production fails to meet demand. Anything that includes oil in its design, proof, production, and distribution will get more expensive.
Allow me to rephrase myself selector. Let’s just say that our economy is going through some major changes right now. Alternative fuels are becoming more and more popular, and eventually will lead to a reduction in inflation - which most of the time is based on the price of transport and so forth. Does that sound better ?. What can I say, I’m tired…
On [soapbox]
If you don’t like a companys business practices, Don’t buy thier products. I’ll never understand why people [censored] and moan about company abc doing this that or the other thing but continue to drool over the next new release. If you don’t want the chineese made crap leave it on the shelves. Fire off all the emails you want, they mean NOTHING. No one who matters at these companies will ever see them.
Off [soapbox]
I have never purchased Athearn products until recently. I bought a SD70 and was surprised by the good details, paintwork and smooth running which is quite contrary to what others have to say. In fact it was cheaper than a Kato. I might even consider buying other engines made by them in future.
Buying is a choice you made, if you don’t agree with the price or the quality, just don’t buy! In these difficult times, one has to be selective before parting with hard earned money. Through the years and after experiencing some bad buys, I confine myself to two to three manufacturers namely, Kato, Atlas and InterMountain namely because of the product quality, price and after sale service. The Athearn was an exception.