Does anyone here have any information as to how to find out about some repair work sent off in January?
The last time I was able to call and talk to someone and was told they were working on it, but now I can’t get a hold of anyone. [}:)] These trains wee purchased for a museum to run on their O gauge layout and needed repair almost instantly.
If anyone can help, it would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Tyler
I cannot answer your question but about a month or so ago, I ordered a K-Line set and yesterday I received this reply:
"Hello, we are sorry but this item is still on backorder at this time. Our
distributor as indicated that the manufacturer may not release the item
unitl late fall/early winter. We apologize for the inconvenience. "
Thanks,
Emily Flowers
Customer Support Manager
Hobby Warehouse, Inc.
www-hobbywarehouse.com
If this is any indication of lag time, you’re in for quite a wait.
You could try sending a registered letter to their business address.
K-Line went bankrupt and is now out of business! Until Lionel begins selling the line again, I do not believe that repairs and/or prts wil be available.
What’s Lionel waiting for? Are they looking to hire new employees to run the K-line plant?
While Sanda-Kan undoubtedly has the manufacturing ducks in a row, Lionel will have to sort out the paperwork, find out who is supposed to get what, and figure out just what assets they have and where the assets are. All that will take time, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they ARE trying to hire additional staff to do the job. If they could hire ex-K-line employees, they might be able to side-step that issue. somewhat. One more example of the nature of business: the physical assets get all the attention, but the ability to use them depends on the people (often considered disposible). How long did it take for MPC to learn how to make trains?
I’ve heard a comment that it is still not a closed deal, that there are some details to be settled. I may hear more from my source after he returns from York.
The final bankruptcy court mediated disposition of K-Line’s assets has not occurred, so nobody is doing anything with products or repairs, unfortunately, is my guess.
As Neil noted, it is not a done deal at this point.
As for repairs that are in limbo: My guess is that they will remain that way for a good long time to come. Personally, I would be inclined to write them off (through no fault of your own) and seek replacement items for that museum layout. My guess is that items that were in the hands of K-Line at the point they closed-up shop are not likely to be seen for a number of months, if ever. No point in trying to call or send an e-mail, 'cause they are gone, fini, terminado, kaput!
I bet you’ll hear a lot of hot air at York but I wouldn’t pay any attention to it. Hobby dealers like to talk big and spread rumors. What I don’t understand is why folks kept sending in their engines to K-line for repair right up to the day they went under. It was common knowledge for months about the financial troubles. A messy situation but I hope everything works out for the best.
Why not contact Lionel if they are calling the shots now? I would place a long distance call to Mt Clemons to see what is going on.
There really is no point in contacting Lionel. They are NOT calling the shots now–at least not yet–and I’ve been told by someone who truly should know that they are actually a bit miffed at all the calls they have been getting in recent weeks (they’re own fault, of course) from people who apparently assume the K-Line thing was a done deal.
I guess you can call them if you want to bug them and tick them off even more (that will probably not stand you in good stead with them later on if/when some deal is concluded), but my advice would be to assume that you are not going to see anything from what formerly was K-Line for a good long time to come. That’s just being realistic about the situation, and I would be very surprised if things turn out differently.
And I also wouldn’t count on Lionel bring on board a load of folks from K-Line. Maybe, maybe some lower level folks. Anyone who’s been following this soap opera knows there is more than enough bad blood between the parties involved. Do I need mention “Marty the Mole” (quoting Clyde Coil), the Lionel employee who moonlighted and revealed Lionel engineering info that he shouldn’t have, and then Bob Grubba? And is anyone foolish enough to believe that the owner of K-Line didn’t have knowledge of the whole mess? MK was a very hands-on operator and anyone who has worked for K-Line knows you aren’t working for K-Line, you are working for MDK.
I was advising people I knew not to send anything to Chapel Hill for repairs back in October when the situation started to have hints of disaster… just seemed to risky to me with the possibility of never seeing the sent item. The second 2005 catalog was more flier than catalog. It’s unfortunate that K-Line tried to act like all things were normal - even announcing some new technological break through - when they must have known full well the deep trouble they were in. I won’t even mention that “beyond words” press release issued when the first agreement was reached with Lionel over their legal troubles. Talk about… there’s no other way to say it… dumb.
Unless of course the multi-million debt that had built up with Sandra Kan and others just happened unexpectedly overnight.
Same thoughts here. I doubt the debt built up that quickly. But with the well-publicized lawsuit fiasco with Lionel and the bankruptcy, Sanda Kan may have simply “called in” the loan. That’s what I would have done. I don’t think bankruptcy protection filed and granted in this country protects a U.S. company from foreign liabilities and/or attempts to collect. I’d guess SK may have told K-Line something like “We’ll ship product to you only as we get paid – one dollar’s worth of product for every three dollars toward accounts receivable.”
Whatever, it is safe to assume that K-Line was cash poor and struggling. It had falsely manufactured a positive, sunny facade toward consumers by continuing to announce new products – and going about business as if nothing were wrong. But K-Line was – at best – a perilous house of cards that came crashing down all at once. The sunny facade didn’t fool Sanda Kan.
I doubt Lionel would hire any low-level K-Line employees – what those jobs pay wouldn’t be worth a move to Michigan, where I’ll guess the inventory and operations will eventually be moved. You also have to wonder if all K-Line employees got all their back pay, etc., when the company shut down so suddenly. Sometimes when employees are lame ducks and know their termination is imminent, product starts walking out the door. Last on the list of priorities on such a sinking ship would be the repairs, which gets back to the original theme of this topic.
Does anyone remember the LAST time lionel took over a competitor, and what happened hence?.Does history repeat itself? (Just a little food for thought [;)])
p.s. I hope not[V]
“I was advising people I knew not to send anything to Chapel Hill for repairs back in October when the situation started to have hints of disaster.”
I did the same thing and had Engine House Hobbies take my dead Kline B&O Lt Pacfic and replace the non-functioning internals with Proto2. I personally think that once the disposition of Kline’s assets is resolved in the courts, repairs might be sent back to the owners.
So what do the hobby shops tell people about K-line repairs now? They are still selling the stuff as new.
K-line is dead and gone. Let it go. You might as well try and get your Packard serviced by the orginal company. It doesn’t mean your Packard is junk, but you’ll have to make other arrangments. (I’m sure there are some Packard fans that will take offence at the comparision to K-Line- there was none intended.)
The Lionel deal, for all intensive purposes, has not really happened yet. Read all the legal junk. Looks like Lionel basically just has a distribution agreement pending the outcome of Sanda-Kan getting control of some of K-Line’s assets. (The wheels may have turned on the Sanda-Kan thing by now, but I haven’t read about it.)
Expect to see the K-Line items that compliment the Lionel line (and NONE of the items that would compete.) 21" Bombardier cars come to mind as something that might appear in a Lionel catalog. And Lionel won’t have anything to do with anything they didn’t origionally sell.
It’s funny - the Lionel bashers are jumping on the fact that Lionel won’t have anything to do with the old K-Line stuff. That’s just dumb IMO. It’s not really a case of one manufactuer taking over annother.
Pennsy writes: “Does anyone remember the LAST time lionel took over a competitor, and what happened hence?”
So what happened?
Not sure, but I think he may be talking about American Flyer. I don’t think they made much stuff for a very long time or just made very little.