I’m so annoyed right now. I placed two orders this morning a two different online retailers. And after they charged my credit card, later I got emails that they did not have the items in stock.
I can’t stand when they do that, it happens all the time. I don’t know why I just didn’t call them before and ask to make sure they have the items in stock and ready to ship.
But it’s down right frustrating, then all my money is tied up waiting for the credit to show up on my credit card.
[:(!][:(!][:(!]
Yeah, sometimes stuff does not happen. I try to make sure the vendor has it in stock before I order and make sure to not wait until the last minute to order. Email or phone usually works if their site does not show if it is in stock.
Sometimes I just have to get some cheese to go with my Whine, but it is rare for me that the seller does not have it in stock.
Rich
The worst is when they charge you for the item then tell you they will have it in two days and it takes almost a month and a half for them to send you the item. I had ordered my Digitrax Super Chief wireless about a two years ago from a dealer called John’s Hobbies in Flordia. The cost on the entire order was upwards of $600.00 with some additional items that he said he had on his site. I called him after a week of no tracking number and he said he would get it out over the weekend. After many calls later because of the items not getting to me I finally got up the nerve to tell him I live only an hour away and I was going to be comming up to his place to pick them up and he said he had a problem with the packaging from Digitrax. I finally got it after waiting for a month. I saw him at the local train show a few weeks later and he magicly had 3 of the same Super Chief set I had ordered. I never had done bussiness with him any more, which is sad as I have invested in a full signaling system and about 45-50 other decoders in the past 2 years.
Motley…Good choice on the DCC Command system. Sorry about your experience…boy, that’d chaff my _ . I’ve had a few run-ins with cyber dealers have learned mainly from others, who to trust, and who to use for target practice.
For the most part, the majority of Internet Dealers are very good and have excellent reputations.
Here are a few that I can recommend:
M.B.Klien - Baltimore MD rating: ****
Mainline Hobby Supply - Central PA rating: ****
Owned by : Brian & Bonnie Wolf -ask for either
Discount Model Trains - Addison TX rating: ****
Owned by : James Peterson -ask for Wayne
Spring Creek Model Trains- Deshler NE rating: *****
Owned by: David &Dab Zucker - ask for either
If you ever try any of them out, let them know Rick referred you.
My recommendations are based on actually knowing these people in person and whom have brick and mortar stores. Also, based on my experiences with each of them with mail order, large on-hand inventory, and ease of payment.
Good luck and have a very Blessed Christmas, my friend
I have been a customer and proponent of MB Klein for a LONG time now. Real-time inventory system, too, so no surprises when you check out. Just placed another order yesterday, actually.
Other palces for DCC equipment that seem to have up to date inventories are Empire Northern and Ulrich Hobbies.
As for the delay with John’s, I’d be mad at the delays, but not at the fact that he had 3 available at the train show. He probably ordered 4 from Digitrax - yours and the three he had on hand for the show.
–Randy
I can’t speak for other Internet vendors, but I have had outstanding service from M.B. Klein. I order most of my train items from them. They have competitive prices, reasonable shipping charges and very rapid delivery. I have often received items from them within 3-4 days after placing my order. The best part is that they have a real-time inventory on their website so you know exactly what they have in stock at any given moment. After you place your order on their website, you can go back to the item you ordered and see that the number shown in stock has been adjusted for the number of items you just ordered. They also have a mechanism by which you can place orders for new items or for items that are out of stock. When the item you ordered arrives, they send you notification that it is available for purchase. The few times I’ve call their store, the people with whom I’ve talked were very friendly and helpful.
I recommend them without hesitation,
Bob
I have used:
M.B. Klein, 1st Place Hobbies, Caboose Hobbies, Ulrich Models, Litchfield Station, and Walthers.
I will rarely use Ebay.
The thing that cracks me up about M.B. Klein is when they send me an email my order has shipped, it is within hours (literally) of arriving to my front door. It takes at least 3-4 days for a package to come from Maryland to Kansas. Not bad timing.
It is called “Caveat Emptor”! Do a bit of checking around before ordering from a new place. If it seems too good to be true… It is!
I, personally have had great luck with Caboose Hobbies… Very fast service and dependable as well.
“It is as bad as you think, and they are out to get you” Ray
73
I rarely order online or over the phone. I do occasionally order from an E-bay store. But, when I do order I ALWAYS call and make sure they have in stock. Occasionally I am still disappointed but it has averaged out to maybe once in every three years. The last one was just last month. I ordered a gearbox directly from NWSL, and after it not arriving within 2 weeks, I called them back. Seems they were out and had to make a run of the gearboxes for me to get mine.
I agree. I have used them several times and recommend you start with them when ordering on line.
Enjoy
Paul
I can also recommend M.B. Klein. I also like Trainworld (www.trainworldonline.com) in New York.
Don’t forget your LHS. Mine can order anything for me, and I don’t pay shipping.
I will second the vote for all the venders mentioned so far. I have either used them or know of their good service.
I have personaly have had good experiances with:
M. B. Klein
Train World - hint - if you have questions before ordering call the regular number, not the 800 order number.
First Hobby
Peach Creek Shops
Star Hobby in Annapolis, MD
Main Line
I still like to go to the shop when I can, lucky for me Mainline, Kleins, Star Hobby, Peach Creek Shops and several others are all a reasonable drive from here.
I will not buy from any of the “drop ship” dealers who don’t have their own inventory or who advertise more than they have on hand based on inventory at Walthers or Horizon.
As for Ebay, I am very selective but have gotten some great bargins. Ebay is common sense, if the listing is professional looking/sounding it usually is a quality dealer. Or if is is just an individual, you can tell the losers by the discriptions/photos.
Years ago Soundtraxx was selling of Bachmann 2-6-6-2’s it had planned to put sound in before Bachmann offered factory sound - I won several for $75.00 each!
Last week I bought a rare out of production unasembled freight car kit - $10, it was in perfect condition.
But you do need to know what you are buying.
Sheldon
I used to like MB KLein, even lived nearby and could go to the store as well as mail order. But in the last year I have found their service to be very poor–actually the worst in the business. They don’t like the phone. Many times, no answer. Without confirmation of stock, I don’t order. If you don’t know the item number specifically and exactly, they won’t help you figure it out.
The guys at Factory Direct Trains and Blue Ridge Hobbies are pretty good.
I have found different places have better prices on some lines, then others and visa versa–so shopping around pays.
For the record, the two places I ordered from were Internet Hobbies and Midwest Railjunction. Don’t think they will be getting any more of my business.
When I was doing mail order car parts a few years ago, it was standard in the credit card retail contracts that the retailer could not charge a credit card until just before shipping of the order (1-2 days MAX). The idea was to prevent retailers from charging cards and using that money as defacto no-interest loans. Crdit card companies take a dim view of this, if they know about it. I’d complain to the credit card company.
Here’s a big probem: many etailers operate on the JIT factor {Just In Time} and carry little physical inventory, even when they also have a brick and mortar shop.
Most etailers also DO NOT LIST the “stock quantity” of an item as they may not have it in stock on a shelf somewhere, but can get it shipped to them in 3-5 business days, and wouldn’t wnat to loose the sale.
Take wholesaletrains.com for instance. They DO have a brick and mortar store called Lantz’s Hobby shop in Horseheads, NY {Near Elmira/Corning}. If the item says “next day” for availability, they have it physically in the store and can ship it taht day or the next, depending on time they receive the order. They are pretty good athe getting the item in the “3 to 5 business days” if that is the items availabilty, If it say 5-7 business days you know it wil take a little longer.SOme items are only 1-3 business days and can leave their sho 3 days later to you., then ship it out to you. SInce they dont have space to carry ALL the items they have available to them {see watlhers below}, they do the JIT and are relatively on time about it. Whne htey charge you card is usually when it ships. They are generally good about tat. the only thing that is “bad” is that final charges depend on what teh item’s shipping {and handling costs come out to for oversized packages.They have a whole page listing thier shipping policies if someone takes the time to READ it. “advanced reservation” or “available June 2011” tells you that they MAY have access to the incoming item then, and one shoudl call, but often they {and other etailers in same boat} son’t know exactly whenit will be ready, if it gets produced at all. CAll to see when they charge your card…should be when teh item ships.I live close enough I can go and complain.
WAlthers- WAlthers, the mecca of model train stuff, as many know, does not carry EVERYTHING they list in their catalog either. SOmetimes they are “out of stock” but will kindly tr
Out of stock things do cycle off but it does seem to take a little bit of time. If you search for Exactrail SOU waffle boxcars, you’ll come up with nothing but if you search for a specific car number it’ll find it. Presumably because the system won’t allow them to remove out of stock items from the item list because it would break the wish list function. I’ve seen inventory systems do that before. I worked somewhere that the system wouldnt let you remove items completely from the list, only flag them as inactive.
Hmm, well I just called my bank. I told them that they charged/pre-approved on my credit card without having the items in stock. I asked if that practice was OK for them to do. And apparantly a lot of online retailers do that.
But my bank was able to remove the charges instantly for me! So I’m happy now. Normally it takes a week for the charges to be reversed.
I bought my Digitrax Super Chief from Johns, and they shipped it the next day.
Sometimes when business is brisk, like, oh let’s say just before Christmas, businesses can get backlogged.
Good morning, sunshine! Now that you’ve woken up have a cup-o-coffee!