NCE POWER CAB faulty speed wheel

Model Railroader Electronics and DCC
1

Well,

Once again quality contol in ANY DCC product comes into play.

I have owned my NCE Power Cab for about 1/1/2 years now, hardly ever used.

I have it hooked up to my test track only.

My Power Cab seems to have developed a fault when I use the wheel to increase speed it is flakey and not consitant.

I am also finding decreasing the speed is flakey, sometimes the speed actually increases when you roll the wheel to decrease speed.

I emailed NCE, this was their response: " We will replace the wheel at no charge if you send it in for service"

Well, here is the problem, I would have to open the back of the power cab and de-solder the wheel from the encoder!

I answered NCE back and told them that I did not feel comfortable opening the unit and de-soldering the wheel form the encoder and said would it not be easier to just send back the control unit and have them do it?

Once again, I am finding that DCC products seem to have NO QUALITY CONTROL!

How can a fairly new unit, hardly used already have a defect?

Are they using cheap inferior pieces?

I will not, repeat will not open the back and try to remove the wheel!

Why should I?

If they believe in CUSTOMER SERVICE, they should just instruct me to send back the unit and fix it!!

Better still, if they made a more reliable product, I wouldn’t have to go through this crap!!

QUALITTY CONTROL IS LOST IN THE DCC MODEL TRAIN HOBBY!!!

2

Has they say s**t happens- I have a Power Cab thottle thats over 10 years old and to date no problems, also have a second throttle that’s over 5 years old and no problems with it either. Maybe the wheel just decided to retire? Bad component that is hard check quality on? Do not know, but do understand your frustration . I am sure if you told them you are not willing to replace the wheel yourself they will do it-charge you for that service- do not know. I would send it to them and have them repair it- Good Luck

3

To me, this statement means send in the whole control unit, not just the wheel. Also, the flakey wheel could be a dirt issue, a little blast with a compressor or canned air may blow out the little varmint that crawled in. Good luck.

4

I agree with Brent. Allowing a customer to poke around with a soldering iron isn’t a good idea. They meant send the whole thing back. Otherwise they would have offered just to send you the wheel.

Stuff happens, just ask Boeing.

5

As a note, on staruday I contacted the model train store that I purchased the Power Cab from.

They told me that there was a 1 year limited warranty on the unit and to contact NCE, which I did.

I find it odd that today’s Model train hobby stores do not have there own people who can fix things that one purchases from them?

Instead, I have to mail the **** thing at ridiculous post office shipping rates!!

6

NCE just got back to me.

Good news, they will fix it for free if I send in the whole unit.

Bad news, they want me to pay shipping and brokerge fees, since I live in Canada.

1.cost to ship the unit to NCE $20-$25.

  1. cost of it being shipped back to me plus Brokerage fees $ 40-$60!

Definitely, not worth it!!!

So, once again I get burned with DCC products.

Last year, a new Bachmann 2-8-0 with lose wires and connectors.

A few months ago a poorly CHINESE made Athearn Genesis 4-8-4 Northern with gear problems.

Now, a problem with a DCC controler!

Add NCE to the list.

It never ends!

I think I will take your advice Batman and try and use a compressor to clean the wheel.

7

I have the same problem with those poorly CANADIAN made hockey sticks constantly breaking in my hands.

8

Why can’t the unit be shipped back to you via the mail? I thought there were no brokerage fees for mail shipments.

9

Well,

After exchanging emails back and forth with NCE.

The only solution they came up with is, since I will not incur the shipping and brokerage fees, they suggested I buy the encoder that is soldered to the wheel from DigiKeys at my own expense!

I will not!!!

Poor customer service in my books and they have lost me as a customer!

This is what today’s world of customer service is like.

Do I recommend NCE!

NO!!!

10

There are no duties or taxes on warranty repairs. I order stuff from all over the world and tell them if they don’t send it by mail I don’t want it. I have never paid brokerage/taxes/duty on anything that has come in the mail. Courier companies are another matter.

UPS tried to soak us $70.00 for a $45.00 used item once, we refused it at the door and the guy left, two days later the guy brought it back and handed it to us, no charge.

11

Well,

I tell you what.

You email NCE and tell them that, because after a few emails, this was one of their responses:

“We fix things free of charge, we ask that you pay the return shipping charges that NCE will incur”

Why should I?

If I am paying the shipping charges to send it to them at my expense $20-$25, why is it that they want me to pay the return shipping a well?

That is not customer service!

That is terrible in my books!

Think about it, this piece of crap NCE controller cost me $250.00 and now I have to fork out another $100.00 to fix a .50 cent wheel?

No way!

12

Well, when I take my F-350/7.3ltr into Ford for repairs it cost me at least $25.00 to drive the truck to Ford and then the wife will come and pick me up, there’s another $20.00, then the next day she drives me back to pick the truck up, another $20.00, then I drive the truck back home, another $25.00. Should Ford pay for that? Even if it is a warranty repair?

It doesn’t matter what it is, faulty product has been around as long as I have been alive (almost 65 years) All these costs need to be factored in when determining whether or not you can afford the hobby.

I always wanted a sailboat in the 40’ range. I could well afford the purchase price which was not a lot when compared to all the other costs associated with boat ownership. I decided owning a boat was not in my financial best interest.

13

Yes, this has always been an expensive hobby, with one exception, when you purchased a model train in the past, they were not poorly made and stopped working after a year and a half.

I have been model railroading for over 50 years and still have my 1950s Lionel and American Flyer trains THAT STILL WORK and do not fall apart!!

Afordability, is not my issue.

I hate spending good money on products that nowadays are poorly made and do not last long!

This is my beef!!

Just read on this forum about problems modlers are having with newly purchased trains, or faulty decoders not even a few months old and the list goes on and on.

If a product is 5-10 years old, that is understandable, but a hardly used controller not even two years old with faulty parts!

No excuse!

BTW you cannot compare a car or truck to this situation.

I was not asking for a new controller or even the thought of sending in the unit because of the costs to do so.

After a few emails to NCE, all I wanted was a lousy, tiny, plastic wheel sent to me and

14

The Wright brother’s first airplane was a pretty fragile affair and this is where we are with electronics. I guess we could go back and play with our Meccano sets, I still have all mine. I still have my train stuff from the early sixties and the bakelite in the motors has disintegrated and they don’t run anymore. It was a real smoke show. The Meccano still works.

The school issued Dell laptops to my kids starting in grade three, they got new ones every two years. The school had a room full of spare laptops because the failure rate was so high the kids could just swap theirs out if an issue arose. The Dell guy came once a week to do the repairs. It was all part of the contract the school had with Dell. Dell was not in the business of losing money and so all those included repairs were factored in at contract time.

My kids are adults now and they and my wife have Apple laptops that each cost in excess of $2000.00. Both kids always have a spare laptop with them (their old ones) in case, or should I say for when the Apples fail. New technology is incredible in that it affords us so much. The price of having it is, it is fragile and thus expensive to own. Kind of like a Ferrari.[(-D]

Maybe train manufacturers should offer extended warranties, but by their very nature extended warranties never favour the consumer. The only thing we can do when we look at the cost of these technological marvels is add 10% to what we think they are costing us to buy knowing full well some of them are going in for repair.

15

After frustrating emails, back and forth and not getting a reply on the last message I sent NCE, which was some constructive criticism, I deceided to phone them directly.

The Tech guy still insisted that, I pay the shipping charges of $15.00 for a tiny wheel.

I explained to him that I had a problem with Digitrax’s sound decoder, sent it to them and they fixed it for free and did not charge me anything to ship it.

He still stated that they would not incur the shipping charges.

Now, whether the cost is $1.00 or $10 or $15, I think common sense and good customer care, like their competitor Digitrax has, should have been applied.

Obviously, they do not care, which is sad…

16

I have had the same issues, we probably all have. I have had the best customer service from Rapido, better than with anything I have ever owned period, not just train stuff. That being said I have had customer service from other makers that goes to the other end of the spectrum and that always comes into play at decision time.

There is an MRR retailer that has had some bad comments. I have never had an issue with them, in fact, I have had great service from them. I will walk with my wallet in a heartbeat if that ever changes.

NCE has lost a customer and received bad press. They should have paid the $15.00 and considered it good value for the good press they would receive. If they move that $15.00 to their advertising budget the return on investment would have given a good return.

17

I think you see this in all business - you phone in with a problem- you are lucky if you get to speak to a live person, push this button or that button and the call goes to a voice mailbox, if you are lucky you will get a call back-problem you are not home when this call comes back to you- now it in your voice mail- you return call- guess what- your back to step one-once you are finally in touch with a person they have protocalls to follow. If you can not get in touch with a person that has the atthority to give you something for free/warranty or bend the rules you are left it in the cold. Model train manufactures are not the only people that you run into that will do this. Bad for business - you bet but the low man on the phone could care less.

18

NCE sells that tiny wheel for about $12. I’m sure you could have purchased it from some electronics vendor for less. But you don’t want to solder. So NCE has to pay the technician who can solder to make the repair.

If you lived in the USA you wouldn’t have an issue with shipping cost.

Plus you say that you’ve only had the thing for a year and a half and it was “hardly used”. If I understand correctly, the warranty was 1 year. And now you want it fixed for free. Must be one of those evergreen warranties.

And where did you buy the throttle? If it was from a local shop would you expect them to fix it for free?

19

“And now you want it fixed for free. Must be one of those evergreen warranties”.

Please, do not make blanket statements like this and don’t put words in my mouth!

I DID NOT SAY THAT I WANTED IT FIXED FOR FREE!

Read my posts!!

I said that I did not want to pay for the shipping, not the repair work!!

Also, if you read one of my posts I stated that Digitrax fixed one of my sound decoders, earlier this year and did not charge me for shipping.

So, the repair work is not and never was the issue, because I was well aware that the warranty was only 1 year and I had past that.

It was the cost of shipping that I found petty on their part.

20

In my opinion, I can understand why NCE asks its overseas customers to pay return shipping. NCE is a product manufacturer more than it is a distributor. Sure they sell direct to consumer, but I doubt that they ship tons and tons of consumer orders abroad. They most likely don’t have the same discount for such orders as do other vendors.

NCE also has a different market strategy than does, say, digitrax. Digitrax will have multiple sales per person per layout. (I.E. one decoder per locomotive) (Note: NCE sells decoders too, but that is not the issue here. The product in question is a dcc system.)

You only buy one system per layout per person. Thus they don’t have repeat customer for such products. They make their initial money, but after that they make nothing on that purchase, and their is little potential for a repeat buyer. So they need to recoup what money they can on warranty work, especially when the work is from another country.

In conclusion, I get the frustration about having to pay shipping, but remember, NCE is more than likely going to have to pay about as much as you are for overseas shipping. (Domestic will be less than consumer of course) Sure their customer service may stink, but they also make quality products that lots of people use, enjoy, and even love.