It’s only fair to mention after sharing my latest experience with you-know-who, that there’s a shop in Horseheads, NY where customer service is a top priority.
Lantz’s is not perfect though, they did mess up an order of mine once. I ordered 4 Atlas Trainman ACF RailBox boxcars of different road numbers; I received two that were the same.
I callled and told them and they sent me the right one. I didn’t even have to return the wrong one to them even though I offered to.
It took a few weeks but so what? Nobody told me that I must have made a mistake when ordering. Nobody made lame excuses. They just did what they had to do as a business, to make it right. That’s good customer service and that’s why I will shop with them and endorse their business.
I’ve dealt with them only once, ordering an On30 engine through their Wholesaletrains website as they had the best price. After I placed my online order, I was expecting to have a choice on how I wanted it shipped. Nothing happened, no acknowledgement of my order, nothing. I kept on checking for several days until about a week later my status changed to “shipped”. No choices at all, they sent it by UPS Ground. I assume they did not have the model in stock when I ordered, hence the delay.
Once I saw the “UPS Ground” I knew my bargain was going to cost me a lot more. I live in Canada, and there’s no way would I accept any sort of UPS shipping. They collect tax on imported shipments for us, then add an outrageous fee to collect it - something like $35.00.
Sure enough, the parcel arrived about a week later. A week after that I got an invoice from UPS for the tax and their fee. So the loco ended up costing me more than from another place that would have sent it by US mail. We only pay the tax and a $5.00 fee this way.
This wasn’t their fault, but I didn’t like not knowing how the shipment would be sent. They had a few other things I was interested in, so I called and asked if they could ship by US Mail. They said they couldn’t/wouldn’t. So I told them they just lost a customer.
Their service is probably great for those in the US, but not for us in Canada.
I’ve recently purchased several Lionel items (train sets and accessories) from www.wholesaletrains.com, aka Lantz’s Hobby Shop. The prices were the best that I found, and the shipments were as ordered, new, sealed boxes, and arrived in perfect shape. I think I’ve found the perfect hobby shop.
I happen to live 45 minutes from Horseheads {Elmira/Corning area of NYS} so I visit Lantz’s hobby AKA wholesaletrains.com brick and mortar shop somewhat frequently. They do tend to enter your order and ship only when it’s all ready, unless you want partial shipments. They also tend to leave shipping charges off original order until it’s ready to ship and then charge the order and the rate accordingly to price of actual shipping charges.That can be a good thing.
I have ordered online as well {gas for the van or shipping charge about equal} I have been very happy both ways.
Of course, if I have complaint I can always drive right up there and complain face to face.Loudly.
My only complaint is that if I visit the store, I tend to spend more money than if I order online.!!!
As far as Canada orders, I have heard complaints from Canadians who order online from ANYWHERE in the USA about paying the import taxes. SO I don’t count that as a ding against ANY online USA e-tailer. THe canadian purchaser should have spent the money for a phone call to find out how or specifiy how {if available} to ship to CAnada before placing any orders. Maybe that would have helped?
Glad to hear another hobby shop is remembering that customer service is important. I have to give Caboose Hobbies a thumbs up, I return stuff there all the time, no questions asked, very nice people there.
I also had a recent positive experience with Intermountain with their intermodal cars, they hooked me up with several kits for the Kadee #148s. They were very friendly.
I did not complain about paying our 13% SALES tax (there is no import tax), in fact it is something that I expect and don’t have a problem with. We pay the tax the same for local purchases, so why not for items we import.
My problem was their website offered no information on how the order would be shipped, and I only found this out after I had proceeded to their checkout, I had already committed. On other online sites there is usually an indication and often choices of how your order will be sent to you. Nothing at all on their site, I assumed/hoped I would be advised when the item was indeed in stock and would have the choice of the shipping manner. I had no reason to think there would be a problem, so I did not see the need to phone them. I prefer ordering on line, as I can take my time and make sure all the info is correct. And I can make myself a copy. Phoning in an order is dependant upon the person at the other end getting all the info correctly.
I kept on checking my order for a week or so, and finally it showed it had been sent - by UPS. And that is where the problem is, sending by UPS. And UPS charged me $35.00 to collect the $15.00 or so tax I had to pay.
That is/was my problem, not paying the tax but the exhorbitant fee UPS charges. If I had a choice on the checkout, and it would have said UPS, I would have cancelled the order right there. If the parcel would have been sent by US Mail, my tax collectio
I was wondering what prompted the resurrection of this 3 year old thread… I’m glad to read of your recent positive experience with Lantz’s and equally as glad to read that they managed to weather the rotten economy, which I’m sad to report, has prompted me to sell off every piece of model railroading equipment I ever owned. All of it - GONE. [:(] Much of it purchased from www.wholesaletrains.com.
Now I railfan when I can, but spend most of my time looking for regular full-time employment. My, how much life has changed in 3 short years.
Ted, I was wondering why I hadn’t seen your posts here in a while. Very saddened about your employment situation. It’s rough all around, especially in Florida, though not too bad in the Tampa Bay area. I hope that you will get full time employment soon.
It’s OK. Just do like I do, stay confused and sort the mess out later. Sometimes if I wait long enough She Who Must Be Obeyed forgets all about it. [swg]