You order a Model from your favorite Hobby store and you recieve it the very next day when you open it up the very next just to find it broken[V][:(!]. I was. It was an HO BNSF SD70MAC. I had sent it back for an BNSF SD75M instead. Of corse I didn’t know who to blame the day. Isn’t the Hobby store sapposed to check the Models out before sending them out? Happy Modeling.
Happened to me , foutuneatly it was only a broken buffer so it was an easy fix. I would have sent it back but it had been shipped from the United Kingdom. Overall though the store I got it from provides excellent service and it was an easy fix. Made me wonder though if they just overlooked the defect or if they figured since it was going to the US I would not bother sending it back.
I doubt that stores really check stuff out before they ship it. I’ve gotten so excited about finding somthing I really wanted at an LHS that I looked it over in the store and missed a couple of mistakes from the factory. I consider that my fault and chalk it up to experiance.(I’ve broken a couple of things taking them out of the box too.) If it’s my fault I bite the bullet…
i didnt have a broken model, but the last train show i went too i bought a new in the box unassembled athearn bb covered hopper kit only to find that the kit was missing 1 end slope sheet, i then e mailed athearn and they sent not 1 but 2 slope sheets to me at no cost. was this a factory fault or a hobby retailer fault??? i dont know
at least athearn will send replacement parts that are missing or broken at no cost unlike walthers who wants $5 per part or $10 for a locomotive shell
tom
Having worked in a hobby shop before I am sure the retailer does not check the contents of sealed packages for missing or broken parts.
Personally I wouldn’t buy something at a hobby shop that was opened.
I have gotten replacement warranty stuff from Walthers free when I returned the broken part and copy of a a receipt. Never a problem.
I have had two Intermountain HO freight cars arrive broken. I got one off eBay and another from an internet hobby store, both of which I’ve ordered from before with no problems. I chose to just repair the cars myself and save the hassle of trying to return them. In both cases it was minor. Both cars were new in the boxes and I doubt the sellers even knew.
I did get another damaged car off eBay that annoyed me because it was used and the seller didn’t disclose the damage in the description. It’s nothing I can’t fix, but I doubt I’ll buy from that person again.
Those are exceptions, though. I get stuff online all the time and rarely have a problem.