Hi, I have a feeling that this topic may have been discussed/mentioned before but has anyone experienced extremely slow shipping with internettrains.com before? I placed an order on 1/9 and they’ve still not fulfilled the entire order. Emails to the company have gone unreturned as well. They’ve got a great selection and pricing is seemingly good as well. I like them but as a first time customer, i’m so far not impressed.
thoughts/coments?
thanks,
–mark
If you go back to page 5-7, somewhere in the past four days, there was an extensive, and decidedly unfavourable, thread about discounttrains, but I have not heard that internettrains was a problem.
Type in the search box - problems with internettrains.com.
Ooops, I think you’ve got your blacks and reds crossed here. The thread was specifically directed towards Internet Trains. Discount Trains Online is a dealer that many of us use, and we’ve generally been happy with them. They aren’t as fast as, say, Trainworld in getting your order out the door, but I’ve never heard of the “charge your card and wait forever” problems that a number of people have had with Internet Trains.
As I’ve mentioned before, Internet Trains actually tries to “hijack” customers of Discount Trains Online by registering the URL “discountrains” and linking it to their own site. www.discounttrains.com with 2 t’s gets you to the right place.
thanks for the input. i guess i’m not the only one that has received slow service. hopefully it wont take 6weeks like one of the other previous posters.
–mark
Oops. I stand corrected. Sorry for the error. It was the hijacking part that had me tripped up with the names. [:I]
If during shipping it gets damaged then ups or fdex returns it to the shipper with out informing you. This happened to me and was over five weeks before I got my order. This has been the only bad thing that has happened to me when dealing with them. They are slow about returning e-mails.
Alan
They’re not the quickest, but I don’t think I’ve had anything go close to a month. I actually just placed an order today on their clearance sale for a couple of Soundtraxx DSX for $56 apiece- don’t see anywhere else quite that low, and I figure that’s one of the better Diesel sound sets for the price, even if I have to add another $18 or so for a mobile decoder.
Brian Pickering
There seems to be a problem with them with this company and/or bad links to them or similar sites.
However, I have had great success with : wholesaletrains.com.
I do not work for them, I do not get anything from them (except my stuff). Their site will tell you the status of availability of product, in real time. And it has been reliable.If all I order is available now, it will be on my doorstep the next day. If it is available in 1-3 or 3-5 days, then I will have it in 5 days.
Of course, if I do have a problem with the order, they happen to be a 45 min drive from me. That’s an advantage many may not have, but they have never been a problem to service/exchange what they sell, by phone/return or live, in person. I recommend them highly.
-G
OH? I’ve never had that happen with either FEDEX or UPS (or should I say OOPS?). Oftentimes I’ve received stuff that the outer carton was damaged, which, under your scenario, would have been automatically returned to the vendor. If I’m home when the package arrives and it’s in that condition, the driver usually waits for me to open the package and check the contents. If I’m not home, there will be a note saying that the package sustained damage somewheres in the shipping process and if the goods inside are damaged, please call us and we’ll pick up the package. If FEDEX or UPS does otherwise and returns the package directly to the vendor without informing me, then that’s considered a breach of contract on their part (when you buy something, you essentially enter into a contract with the vendor and whatever shipper they use to deliver your goods to you).
Yeah, I am about to cancel my order with internettrains.com. On 2/25/09 I placed an order for two 6-packs of CSX Coalporters (walthers 932-5338) and six 2-packs of loads for them. Today it finaly showed that the loads were “allocated” (I guess they wanted to sound “Profesional”… too bad they aren’t) yet the coaporters were “waiting for restock”. That made me furious because the whole reason I ordered from them was that they had them IN STOCK. I called and he asured me they would be delivered by Thursday, although he had no idea when they would actualy get them there, so in reality they have no idea how long it will take, and thus neither do I. After seeing these coments I decided I would call back and cancel my order, but it was too late. I’m calling first thing in the morning, and in the mean time I’m filing a complaint with the Better Business Bureau seeing as how this is not the first problem I’ve had with this site. DONT ORDER FROM INTERNET TRAINS The only reason you should is if you don’t really want what you order. Then by all means, give them your money.
i have been dependent upon mail order for most of my hobby stuff since i moved to this hick town 40 years ago. i have NEVER had a problem with MB Klein or Model Railway Post Office. i’m sure there are other good companies out there but those two deserve and get the bulk of my business.
grizlump
I may have been the other poster you are referring to. I stated in a different post it took 6 weeks after numerous e-mails. They had all kinds of excuses as to why it took so long. I did finally get my order but I will never order from them again. Although their website states you are billed when it ships that is not the case, they bill immediately. Also, all my items showed in stock (or so I thought). Upon reviewing my order it actually said available, not in stock. My brain fooled me into thinking this meant the same thing but it doesn’t. After weeks of waiting it too said “Allocated” but I still didn’t receive it for several more weeks. Anyways, good luck with the order or cancelling it.
In most places – here in CT, for example – it is ILLEGAL to charge your credit card before the retailer actually ships the items. Assuming, of course, that they actually DID bill your card, and not just “reserve” the funds. This is what actually happens between the time you place an order with your card (and the merchant “calls” it in") and the time the actual sales draft reaches your bank after being deposited by the merchant into his bank. Check with your credit card company.
Your credit card company can help (for a change) with this situation. Cancellation shouldn’t be a problem, but if you have trouble there, again, tell your credit card company not to accept the charge when it comes through.
I had a very bad experience with Internet trains as well and I employ you to profit by my mistake. I ordered a set of numbered N&W cola hoppers from them along with some other stuff. Well my order comes no hopper cars. I call I email again and again. I eventually cancel the order. Almost a year later a package from Internet trains come with a load of hopper cars in it. My long lost N&W set, no an incomplete set of Illinois Central. I called their excuse for a customer svc.department and got an arrogant girl on the phone who asked me to produce proof that I canceled the order. I said how do you propose I do that. She said a copy of the email. Form almost a year a go ok like I might have saved that.
Well I got very lucky I called the credit card company and disputed the charges, the woman at my credit card company was nice enough to inform me that when ever you cancel an order like I did you should notify your credit card company of such so they can’t just go charge your card again when ever they want.
I know in my case my credit card was charged. I know this because I got my credit card bill in the mail long before I received my order. I brought this up with InternetTrains in one of my complaints. As a matter of fact, my credit card bill was due before I even received my order although it had shipped by that point. I can tell you I was not pleased when I saw that on my credit card statement.
I had a horrible experience with these people and ultimately had to file a complaint with the BBB. It took over six months to get them to refund my money. They charged my credit card as soon as the order was placed but didn’t have the item in stock and couldn’t get it.
If their web site indicates that an item is “available” that just means that they can order it, not that they have any in stock. Very misleading.
I guess I’ll be in the minority here. I’ve placed four orders with these folks and have no complaints. I can’t recall their service (delivery) being exceptionally slow. I placed my most recent order 3 days ago so I’ll pay attention to when it arrives and let you know. My credit card was charged the same day as the order. I have had much slower (glacial) service from some other internet stores but living 100 miles from the nearest hobby shop you take what you can get.
Dave [banghead]
Just an update on the status of my most recent Internet Trains order. I placed the order on the 4th and it shipped yesterday. Due in Maine from California on the 18th. A week to get an order processed, packed and to the shipper seems a bit much but I don’t know the volume of their business or how many people work for them. I can live with it. Does seem that Fed Ex might be taking the long way here however. As I said before, some are quicker, some are slower but I can not complain.
Dave [banghead]
I patronize my LHS for all my hobby supplies; it tends to keep my stress level quite low and that makes my cardiologist happy–as he says “Stay alive! I still have two kids to send through college!” I had enough “OUT-OF-STOCK-BACKORDERED” Credit memos when I was stationed abroad in the Air Force and had no alternative but to use mail order houses. It took me five years to get rid of a credit memo from a Village Idiot outfit called Sal Marino Models…or Hobbies…or something like that…on Staten Island.
I don’t order from Internettrains or anyone else! I want to help my cardiologist’s kids get a college education!