On Jan 27th I placed a pre–order at Standard Hobby for a BLI PRR 2-10-0 which they had added to their catalog for $244.99–confirmed by email
Today I get a letter in the mail stating that there is a price increase to $319.99 and to notify them if I still want the order
Hard to believe they didn’t know BLI’s pricing on the 27th of January
Think I will cancel
Try ordering from Factory Direct Trains – they may be cheaper.
OK.
Email BLI to find out if the price increase is from them or whether the store is looking to kick up their margin[:-^]
Their price is the same at T $319
I cancelled
If I order it will be with Factory Direct that has the correct pre-order price
Just as a matter of curiosity, did you call Standard Hobby and ask them what the price would be if you mention that “price too low to show” BL2 code that shows up on their website?
Bob, I understand your frustration.
Personally I will not preorder anything from anyone. I find the whole “limited production”, try to sell them all before they are even made, not willing to invest in inventory thing rather offensive.
Broadway Limited has deminstrated in their short existance that they are under capitalized, have unfair dealer pricing policies that keep changing, and think it is OK to dump remaining inventory cheap after expecting customers to pay high prices at release time “to insure delivery”.
Well not me bubba - there is nothing they can make that I will ever make me place a preorder - I’ll wait for the clearance sale 6 months later at FDT like the F3’s I bought for $50 a set.
Or like my last BLI purchase, buy it from some basement dealer on Ebay for 40% off list price - right at release time.
Their pricing policies have undermined the value of their products in the market place which is not good for them or the hobby.
It more likely that BLI changed its price to Standard Hobby than that Standard Hobby is simply tring to make more money. Standard Hobby is an established well respected discount mail order supplier in this business, I would bet the “mistake” was on the BLI end.
I have no problem with their products or quality, although my experiances make them only average compaired to any of the the others, therefor not necessarily worth some of their high prices to begin with.
BUT, if they continue down the road of ONLY offering higher priced sound/DCC/class lights/smoke/stations sound/who knows what other toy gimmick models, they will not see much more of my money, even on their clearance sales.
I own nine pieces of BLI/PCM, six bought without sound, the other three now have the sound/DCC gone.
Sheldon
I agree, the whole pre-order deal is just a bunch of BS. Not only with these MRR companies, but it’s everywhere, specifically in computer hardware and games.
After getting burned a couple of times like you did, I never pre-order anything anymore.
I agree I will wait until the come down like when Factory Direct was offering 2 Mikados for the price of one
I would have to believe they found out the price but it was too late to update a long standing ad. The latest BLI Q2 is also much higher than the expected price six months ago. I understand the dealers have to increase the price when BLI increases the price, so the bottom line is, do you still buy it. I would cancel the order since this is going on too much lately. The prices in China are still very low so what is going on with the big price increase???
The other side of the story is the dealers advertising a product’s price when they don’t really know the exact price. Many of the big dealers advertise products that are listed as TBD by BLI and you know the price will not hold up two years from now.
CZ
sounds like the old “where is no” game to me. you offer a man a wagon for 100 dollars and if he doesn’t say no, then you tell him the wheels are extra. if he doesn’t say no you tell him they are 25 dollars. if he still doesn’t say no, you say each.
unless the seller made some sort of disclaimer in the original offer, i think i would hold them to it. the deal was consumated when you made the first payment.
like Groucho said, all a man has is his word and his integrity. once you learn to fake those, you have it made.
grizlump
They all post, “Prices subject to change.” Pretty straightforward. They also let you cancel…also straightforward.
I gladly ordered a Q2 and am happily assured of one. I like the system. I don’t like it when there aren’t sufficient orders, but neither do I want my steamer manufacturer to go belly up.
Economics 104 (Low Population Hobbies)
-Crandell
That might all be well and good if they did not dump the leftovers at 40%-50% off after you by one at only 20% off.
I have bridge that crosses the East River, normally the price is $500, if you buy today I’ll sell it to you for $400, but two weeks from now I’ll unload the other three bridges for $295, can I get your check today?
I bought my last BLI loco, an undecorated Blueline USRA Heavy Mike, for $149. If anyone can sell them for $149 and make money, than $249, or even $200 is a rip off.
I have nine pieces of BLI, two where purchased at about 25% off, the rest 40% or more off. I’ll never pay near retail for their stuff.
With other companies you know where you stand, a new piece of Bachmann comes out and MicroMark or Star Hobby or Peach Creek or Train World has the low price right away, 40% off.
Athearn has one price to all dealers, prices are consistant at 20%-30% off, most other brands the same, etc,etc,etc.
Not BLI - they play games - No Thank You
Sheldon
Nice to see BLI still has their heads where the sun doesn’t shine. Not that I had any intention of buying it, but out of curiousity, I went to FDT to see the status of their Dreyfuss Hudson, the one they said was Coming Soon three years ago. The one they announced a delivery date of December 2009, then January of 2010. Now they have changed it to ETA to be determined by BLI 2010. Anyone want to bet they make good on that one?
I’ll wager August 2011 for ANY Hudson-----[:-^]
This whole pre order thing is one reason I got out of HO scale.
Years worth of pre ordering to be certain to get it at whatever pricing; only to see $200 engines become $320 engines and beyond $500.
I blame no one but myself and will not participate in this foolishness.
Recently I ordered a piece of equiptment online at a price that I thought was good. Company called and said that item is out of date and the new price was expensive. I told them I dont agree with that and later bought the same item at Lowes retail for less after taxes.
Online is great but Stores rule.
No pre-orders for me. It’s wait a few months and get it on Ebay on sale when the hot rush cools off.
Now don’t confuse pre orders with Special orders for something ALREADY IN STOCK AND READY SHIP THAT WEEK.
Properly hired a better lawyer to ward of the next MTH assault.
Cuda Ken
You incurable optimist!!! [:D]
Maybe we should start a pool for what month they deliver a Hudson.
Apparently “ETA to be determined by BLI” is their way of saying “When we feel like it”.