Repair recently purchased Loco or return set?

Classic Toy Trains Forum
1

What would you do in this situation. You just purchased an MTH set which has not been made for some years now and is hard to find. You tested it out, but the loco blew out your transfromer.[:(!] Would you:

A - Return it, get your money back and hope you can find another one soon.
B - Try to work out a deal…such as try to get the price of repair refunded.
C - Let the whole thing go…(buyer beware)
D - Try to sell it to the next sucker…(Just kiddin’…I’d never do that)
E - Something different.

Also, does anyone know what the average price and turn around time for repair is now a days?

Thanks for your input.

2

I think it depends on how much you really want the set.I’d contact MTH and see about repairs. I don’t like MTH(to many problems right out of the box) but thier customer service has been very good.I purchased a locomotive that was a couple years old but still new in the box and they sent me a chip
at no charge.You can’t hurt anything by trying.
Ed

3

If you purchased from a dealer, then I would call MTH and give them the opportunity to fix it.

If it was second hand and I liked it and it was not available new then I would have it fixed.

Jim H

Jim H

4

Depends what’s wrong and your confidence in your abilities but if it was me I’d try and repair it myself. As a general rule I pretty much expect to find ways to improve model train stuff I buy even brand new and besides I can’t resist an excuse to take almost anything apart first chance I get!

5

Hello.

We try & I STRESS TRY to have most of the repairs that we do back to the customer in a 2 week turn around time. however with that being said the parts wait can delay the return of your item. Depending on the repair center you go to makes a differance as well, some persons do it as a full time job others like myself do it as a part time job. Cost of repair thats a tuffy with out knowing the whole problem, even then it would depend on where you go.

I would contact the manufacture of the train & see if you can talk to a service tech (but be aware some will charge you for over the phone advice) ask if thier has been any problems with this model of set. I did this with MTH & found out that some of the first run scale big boy’s had a bad chip install from the factory for the sound unit. That was the case with my scale big boy , they sent me a new chip free of charge. They did not even ask for the old one back, some mfd’s will ask that you send the bad in before a good one comes to you.

Hope this helps.
Take care.
Ed. W

6

I vote to repair the engine. It may be something trivial that is shorting out the transformer.

George