Just curious. It seems that since their recent acquisition and need to deliver the goods to Walmart they have been unable to meet all their demand from hobby shops. Two shops I know of locally have not recieved any orders from Walthers for about five weeks now. No critical shortages yet but I wonder if this is more widespread?
Bob DeWoody
Been a little while since I’ve special ordered anything, but they seemed to come in pretty quickly. Is this something that started recently?
Of course, Walthers is probably busy filling the Christmas orders now so special orders may get take a bit longer than normal.
My LHS orders on Thursday mornings and it is in on Monday. Quick enouigh for me, especially when I can save on shipping and get a bit of a discount.
Same here, I ordered a Chopper III and the MRC diesel sound unit about 2 weeks ago, it was waiting for me last week, also some back ordered stuff had come in also. Probably depends on what you ordered and if they had it in stock. I usually will go to the Walther’s site and make sure it’s in stock before I order, that way I am able to judge the delivery time. I even do the add to basket feature of the site, then print it out and take to the LHS, it makes ordering a snap, for me and them.
Might there be a possibilty that your shops may have not yet placed their orders? Some shops can be quite lax in placing orders, and it’s just as easy to tell the customers “its on order”, and blame Walthers for delays.
Bob Boudreau
Sounds good and bad.
ICMR
Happy Railroading.[swg][swg]
I myself check Walther’s to see if what I want is in stock before ordering. I never thought about printing out an order to take to them, thanks dude. The LHS can also go to the Walther’s site and check for the quantity in stock, so if you are ordering more thatn one widget, they can tell you if you are going to get all your widgets or not.
i just picked up an order today, i usually check web site to be sure it’s in stock, a problem
I don’t work for Walthers, I don’t work in an LHS…
I do work in another industry, and am a rep to my dealers. I have the same complaints and issues in my business. What it usually is about is:
dealers depend on the vendor for ALL their inventory. They don’t forecast, they don’t stock much, and really become brokers of our products, not retailers.
we live in an “I want it NOW” society and our dealers don’t help us with that problem.
Our dealers don’t pay their bills, and don’t get shipped. We don’t tell customers that, only that the product will be there soon. We have this problem the most.
Yes, Walthers is big, and they are very busy, and they probably are ramping up for holidays. But remember…your local store didn’t bother to buy it until you wanted it. They did not much to sell that product. Walthers and the manufacturer did.
Well, I dont know how recent this problem is, but so far i’ve never had any issues with it. I usually check if its in stock.
A couple of the local shops (western Canada) I deal with are pretty slow for getting anything from anybody at times and yes it’s on order with Walthers is a pretty normal statement with the both of them. To be fair though both shops were doing this well before Walthers bought out or inked any deals with Walmart and anyone else, plus Canada Post gets blamed regularly too.
Part of the problem, at least here in Canada, is that Wathers requires a minimum order of US$500.00 to get either free or cheaper shipping of the order. Some shops do wait until they have this minimum to place their orders.
Bob Boudreau
your lucky you can even get walthers… down here i can’t find it anywhere and can’t get in contact with the australian whole saler because i would love to buy some buildings for my layout ( the turtle creek central) too lazy to design my own actually don’t have the time too and i’ve only got room for a 4X8 neway…