When the Athearn Challengers first came out a few years ago, I managed to get a couple of them as soon as they were available. Yeah I know the headlights and number boards look more like illuminated pumpkins than officially approved appliances and the sound while not lacking in volume does lack accuracy. That being said, these are the best running steam engines I have ever owned.
Well it seems a few weeks ago I managed to drive one off the end of a Diamond Scale turntable and after a 54 inch free fall I instantly reduced it to kit form. Looking a little like Ralphie’s "old man " in Jean Shepard’s Christmas Story, I picked up the sad tattered remains of my Challenger, poured them into a box and planned to bury them some night out by the garage.
Two weeks ago one of my good friends was over for our weekly operating/work session and confidently announced he was sure he could put the Challenger back together. Amazingly he was able to accomplish this prodigious feat, however the worm assembly was missing from the front engine.
I called Athearn expecting to be totally unable to purchase replacement parts. When I explained my situation, the man in the parts department (I regret I did not get his name) said they had a Challenger that had been returned and he would remove the needed part and send it to me. He refused to take payment although I assured him the problem was not of Athearn’s making but my own ineptitude. He wouldn’t even allow me to pay postage.
So many times the only time a manufacturer gets publicity is when they mess up - I just wanted them to get a little positive publicity while expressing my appreciation for their excellent customer service.
Ummm, so to get parts and good service from Athearn, a unit that we need a part for needs to have been returned by someone else so that the part can be cannibalized off of it? I am having a disconnect in how one employee’s “hero” efforts make up for them not having the parts MANY PEOPLE need ALL THE TIME.
I can see a hats off to that employee, and hope he doesn’t get fired for it, but not to Athearn as a whole.
What happens if they don’t have a returned unit in stock?!?.. Ohh of course knowing that they have a junker in stock maybe I should hit them up for the 4-6-6-4 parts I need now before they are all gone. What do they call that hand rail on the back of the tender near the water hatch…
I got the impression that the unit was indeed a junker. I don’t know if the part is normally in stock or not. In looking at their website I saw multiple worms listed but none with the Challenger part number I needed - possibly the number is different because it fits multiple units not just Challengers.
It would have been all too easy for him to say “sorry we don’t stock that part” or whatever and blow off the problem. After all it was my foul up not theirs. The point is, the employee didn’t blow it off but rather practiced the art of customer service not just the job title.
Not to negate the times various of us have been “not served well” by the representatives of various of the model railroad manufacturing community, but I will say that I have been exceptionally well treated by representatives of Athearn, Walthers, IMC, Red Caboose…to the extent that they went WAY beyond what they had to do.
I will also say that some of us have acted like real jerks to these people. Not me, of course.
Ed
And, yes, hats off to all of those folks who were “good people”–thank you!
I will also say that “Texas Zephyr” has a point, in that a manufacturer should stock parts. This is indeed one of the totally sucky things that are happening in our hobby. We’ve got FANTASTIC products available to us. Really, we do. But we don’t even know how to get inside our engines (see P2K 0-6-0). And parts? It’s indeed scary. It feels, in a way, like there’s a storm with our hobby; and we all have to hold the sides of the boat until things settle down. In the meantime, though, there are some (dare I say it ) FANTASTIC products.
Texas Zepher has a point. Manufactuers should stock spare parts. Doesn’t Atlas turn a profit from having lots of spare parts availabe from their webpage?
I suspect that they do not, in fact, turn a profit from selling parts.
I suspect that Atlas absorbs a lot of their parts sales in their “unit” sales.
I recently dealt with Atlas’s parts department–first rate service–really great people. But, you know, those great people have to be paid a living wage. Or better??? So, when I deal with them, I try to be efficient, thankful, and still firm in what I need.
When you yak with someone for 15 minutes, they’ve got to be paid. And, when they aren’t talking to you, they still have to be paid.
I am TOTALLY behind parts service, BUT it ain’t free. Four little doohickies at $2.50 a doohickie–ten bucks. Think about it.
This is something that REALLY has to be dealt with in the industry/hobby. We are currently offered an astounding bounty of great stuff. But what about parts support?
Highly doubtful Atlas or anybody else makes a large profit off of their spare parts department. Heck today it is even hard to find a company that has a spare parts department. In the days of Uncle Irv spare parts were stocked even at hobby stores and train stores. But today in the made in China world of trains, spare parts are probably in some toxic dump in Huang Pu not in your local train store.
Interesting. Someone starts a thread thanking a manufacturer representative for going an extra mile to help, when the problem was not a faulty piece or any mistake by the manufacturer, and everyone wants to dogpile on the manufacturer. I often wonder why many of these manufacturers don’t look for a different product to make, and a different customer base that is more appreciative of their efforts.
Any way,thanks to the gentleman who posted the original message, you made my day.
Seems to some any positive thing manufacturers do-in this case a free part-will be determined to find fault or sing that old cry of “they should stock parts”.
Perhaps they should but,that would be thousands of dollars tied up in slow moving sales.I will agree they should stock common parts like gears,handrails,shells,wheels and drive shafts since these seem to be the common needed part.
Another overlooked thing is the aftermarket parts by other companies that can put good old #9 back in service…
It’s a given in the real world of manufacturing or should I say responsible manufacturing items such as car, trucks, motorcycles and even real locomotives that as much if not more spare parts are produced as actual units themselves. Hence the multi billion dollar parts industry in this country. As a manufactures of just about anything you wouldn’t last long in the market place if you didn’t offer an ample supply of spare parts so why should model railroading be any different. Yes the person at Athearn did the right thing but it should have been a given that they had parts in stock for an engine that they so highly advertised and raved about.
If something has been out of production for years thats another story but for current or recently produced items there’s no excuse. In short it’s what your supposed to do for the poeple aka us customers who keep you in business.
So many times the only time a manufacturer gets publicity is when they mess up - I just wanted them to get a little positive publicity while expressing my appreciation for their excellent customer service.
GOOD JOB ATHEARN!!
It is great the way they removed a part from a returned model and sent it to you, but you might be the exception when ordering parts from Athearn.
I have been trying to get some parts for the FEF-3 and they do not have parts available and I was told they probably would not stock any for the model. It seems their new policy for the products built overseas is "We do not stock parts. "
It is my position they should have parts in stock for models since the other manufacturers respond with items that are needed.
I must have missed the pile. Athearn service is good. It is like it was in the 1980’s no, but then customer service everywhere has gone downhill since. At lease when I call Athearn I don’t get Bangalore on the line.
I sware, someone could post on here trying to give people his lottery winnings and someone would find a reason to bi h about it!! Unbelieveable. Craba$$ old farts are why I left the last club I was in. “Hey, what a beautiful blue sky!” Old fart," oh, its not that blue, more of a grey blue" This is also why I will NEVER post a picture of any of my work on here, the jackels would chew it apart like a freshly killed water buffalo.
Couldn’t have said it better myself, exactly the same here in Australia, say something good about a model or manufacturer and people will find a reason to bag it, say something bad, and plenty will find a reason to agree.
Add Intermountain Railway Company to the list of firms doing customer service correctly. They were simply outstanding in responding to my product problem.