Hi, new to the board and would appreciate advice concerning an MTH product.
I have been in the hobby about 15 years. I used to be pro-MTH (I own over 2 dozen of their Standard & O gauge tinplate, Premiere & RK engines plus loads of cars and accessories) and thought Lionel paled in comparison, though I had some of their stuff. Some of that feeling probably came from the owner of the shop I bought most of my stuff; he was very pro-MTH. Over time, I have somewhat flip-flopped my opinion and discovered a certain charm and enjoyment regarding Lionel’s more recent offerings.
That being said, I bought MTH’s 381E electric loco (Contemporary) for my State cars but probably ran it less than 1/2 hour total. It was packed away for a very long basement renovation and recently taken out of storage & put on the track. After trying unsuccessfully to run it (most of my MTH locos were hit hard due to the PS battery issue) I took it into an Authorized Service Center. After much time trying to repair it, they were able to get it to run but both front and tail lights would not work. He suggested I take it to a Super Store which I did. I guess I thought that because I had sent in my warrant card, that it would be covered, but I still was charged a fee for the engine that was still not 100%, but I thought the charge was reasonable. Once at the MTH Super Store, the mechanic seemed to know immediately what the problem was. He said a poor design on the first run of 381E’s resulted in some bar shorting out the two lights but because I dd not buy it there, I would be responsible for the repair fee.
If there is a known issue with manufacture or poor design causing my loco to not run as it should, why would the owner be expected to pay the repair regardless of product age? I could see the fee at a hobby shop, but not a Super Store that Mike Wolf himself has visited over the past. This thing weighs a ton, and when all is said and done, I will still probably end up paying less at bot
I think a limit has to be put on a warranty period (MTH 1 year) otherwise there would be a difficult question of where do you draw the line. If a product has a design flaw, 1 year is plenty of time to discover it. While I believe MTH has a present quality control problem I don’t think they should be obligated to fix a product just because the user did not use it.
While I do not think that MTH MUST repair under warranty nor can they afford to warranty everything that is 5 years old, they would be wise to offer a settlement in this case if it was a “design” flaw and the engine is obviously low mileage.
Jim H
And my guess is MTH would do just that. I think their service is great and I truly like the looks of their product it is just that doggone out of the box problem they have.
Thanks for your reply. Actually, this was run very little but probably over a 2-year period & the lite issue didn’t rear it’s ugly head until after storage; not sure why. I guess by now, MTH must have a very large stack of my warranty cards; would like to think they count for something. Bigger picture is even tho the repairman in the Super Center was trained at MTH’s facility, I wonder if they speak for MTH in a way that MTH would appreciate. I think that in operating a large MTH store, they represent Mike Wolf whether they realize it or not. 
It’s the only area of disappointed with MTH with me recent problem with the Shay. MTH admitted that they now pin the drivers, which is pretty much saying it was not a good set up before. If so, why not volunteer to do this work free of charge regardless of warranty or not if it’s a faulty design? Jake
It is in the best interest for any company who wants to improve their reputation for quality by taking care of these issues. It appears that Lionel has learned their lesson with the CW80 by providing free replacement. MTH is not obligated to foot the bill, but they should in these instances due to the design issue of the problems.
Regards,
John O
IF THEY KNOW ABOUT THE DEFECT,THEY SHOULD COVER IT!OTHER COMPANIES DO.YOU SEE RECALLS ALL THE TIME.MTH IS JUST PUTTING IT TO THE RAIL FAN!
I do think they should have offered to fix my Shay free, regardless of warranty, it’s a design flaw. Jake