Has anyone had experience with Factort Direct, good or bad? How about the Blueline Pa. M1a/b, good or bad? Do I understand the NCE decoder offered by Factory Direct easily plugs into the the Blueline circuit board (has anyone actually done so with satisfactory results?) Thanks.
I´ve good experiences with FDT: they are friendly, and the customer service answer quickly. My last purchase was the BlueLine AC6000, and I added a NCE N14IP decoder, some difficult to get all in order, but with very good results.
karle,
I recently bought a PCM F3 A-B from FDT during their big sale. The locomotive arrived a few days later. The F3 was beautiful looking and worked well…except the front truck of the A-unit derailed when making any right-hand turns.
I tinkered with it for a while until I figured out what the problem was. I then e-mailed FDT and attached a couple of pictures showing the front truck raising up as it began enter the right-hand turn. (See picture below)
Bob Armitage from BLI Customer Service e-mailed me back, explained what the probable issue was (i.e. not enough slack in the front truck pickup wires) and told me to return the locomotive and that BLI would repair it for FREE. They even e-mailed me a UPS sticker to print out and stick on the box to cover the cost of postage.
Just a handy word of advice…
Anytime you ever have a problem with something and can include a picture and/or a written description to someone else about the symptoms your [fill in the blank] is having and under what circumstance those symptoms occur, you’ll make the repair person’s diagnostic job a lot quicker and easier. And, it will probably be cheaper for you in the long run.
Example: I’ve gotten into a habit of doing this whenever I bring my car in for repairs - especially if it’s an arbitrary problem. I create a Word.doc that includes my:
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Car info (Make, type, mileage, VIN, etc.)
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Name and contact information
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Description(s) of the problems and when they occur
I then hand this page to the repair desk when I bring the car in. The mechanics love it because everything is written down for them to read themselves and they aren’t relying on anyone else’s interpretation or shorthand of the problem.
Same goes for the above picture of the
FDT has been very very good to me. I highly recommend them. I have not purchased any of the latest Blue Line products, but Joe has been very helpful and delivered several models at a very low price to my door as promised.
Cheers
To all who responded, a really big thanks!