I sent a nice brass locomotive (a PFM WM 2-8-0) to Dugan Gorman in New York over a year and a half ago to be upgraded, fine-tuned and DCC converted. After nine months he admitted to having set the loco aside and apologized for the delay. Now he is non-responsive to my emailed inquiries about the status of my locomotive.
What is the usual and customary time required for custom work? He says he’s done thousands of conversions but at this rate he’d be well over 100 years old.
Has anyone else had problems getting locomotives back from these “custom guys” and if so what is a recommended course of action? Does Gorman have a history of this kind of neglect? My emails to him have always been polite but now he is unresponsive.
Just from my experience tinkering with my own locos and installing my own DCC decoders, if he is as experienced as he says he is, a month should be more than enough time.
I would cancel whatever agreement you have with him and demand he return your locomotive intermediately. Get your loco back! That is the important thing.
If he hasn’t fixed it in a year and a half it isn’t going to get done - period!
Have you tried phoning him? Here is the number, (607) 277-1820. There seems to be something fishy going on here to me. You have waited in my opinion way to long, it should only take 2 weeks tops. There is nothing worse then bad publicity for a small shop. Phone him and tell him to return it, if he doesn’t then contact every club, every show he attends and website forums he posts on, even post derogatory things about your dealings with him. When people Google “Minature Locomotive Backshop” everything comes up, not just the website address.
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As far as I am concerned there is only one guy who will ever touch any of my brass loco’s his name is Jan Willard from Mt/ Ariy Md. He has to be one of the most knowledgeable and pleasant people to deal with in the hobby. When I acquired my Brass collection and was making the general leap into dcc I asked Howard Zane if he had anyone he would recommend for dcc work. He answered “Sure… No brainer here! The Very best is Jan Willard in Mt. Ariy, MD Besides being the best, he stands behind what he does and always makes his deadlines… if not before”
You can’t get a better recommendation then that as far as I am concerned.
Your guy has claimed to have done thousands of conversions? I seriously doubt there is anyone in the industry who can make that claim legitimately. Threaten this guy with a law suit and send him a pre-paid ups box and get your stuff back.
Does this jan willard have a website? I have been holding off with my brass because up until now i have heard no one recommend anyone that they trust . RON
The best thing would be to actually call him and ask be aware that it is labor day weekend I suggest calling tuesday, email is unreliable depending on the provider. Also I have had nothing but good dealings with him.
I am disapointed with the thread replies simply because some of you are jumping all over dugan and assuming things when none of you have any idea what is going on on his end, yes a year and a half is a long time although both the OP and Dugan are at fault here.
Secondly dont go around posting derogatory things for no reason just yet just call him and ask him to ship your engine back, but if you want to make your self look like a jerk off the bat go ahead and follow the advice in the replies without asking first.
Start with the simplest option first (call) and work your way up from there.
There is discussion about Jan Willard of Mt Airy, Maryland and his brass custom work and repair business . Maryland. Let me further elaborate…Jan is by far the finest person in this field I have met in the last several decades. I don’t think he’ll mind if I share his phone number with you…301 865 3051.
A point of interest,…for years when I did custom work for others, I’d sell blocks of time for $25 which was always refundable or credited to the job when completed. I’d place a customer on a list and inform him when he could send his loco, then I’d return the finished loco or whatever in a promised time frame, usually never exceeding a month…many times less. This allowed the customer to keep his model, and ship when I was ready to do ONLY his project. This worked great. If I were the customer,I’d insist on this way to conduct business. I have heard too many tales of torture over the years, and this should not be. I have found that most custom guys are honest…just poor business men and lacking professionalsim…not talent or ability.