Got E-mails today from some of the Bigger Hobby distributors, letting me Know that Lo And Behold I can pre-order round 2 of the impossible to get engines, ie Athearn Gp7 &gp9 with DCC and sound , and the infamous SD70 ace.YAHOO!!! As in my previous post,I would be happy just to get one or two of my other Pre-order Non runnable engines back. seem like they can produce 2nd time around faster than they can support 1st time out of the box non-runners. Getting harder to fine a reason to stay in Dcc /Sound. kinda liked the old days of pfm and the other sound systems .
This situation is crazy as you know. Maybe you can get your money back and get an MTH??? Making these guys pay for their mistakes may help make them accountable.
I would like to say and in most ways believe that–let those who want to preorder do just that–it’s a free country!. The problem is that effects the rest of us. I don’t want to upset those who preorder. But IMHO it allows for questionable product to be sold–at least short term. When this was for a limited run of brass it didn’t effect a broader number of modelers. But, the plastic more mass market mfgs have adopted this strategy that was used for a very small segment. BTW, does Kato do this kind of threatening marketing–ie, if you don’t order now, you may not get what you want.
Richard
i pre-ordered once , never again. By doing so I paid more , the same thing is at modeltrainstuff for $70 less now. SO i figure if i can’t get it without pre-ordering , well maybe I just ain’t suppose to have it.
Pre-order does seem to be a waste of time these days. when they come out just google them and you’ll more than likely find on fast and at a cheaper price.
The general dislike of pre-ordering is leading to some conclusions that are not logical.
The OP’s ads cited are for retailers encouraging pre-orders for upcoming releases of locomotives. Athearn is not demanding or taking pre-orders from individuals. The pre-orders cited are for the retailer to gauge how many of which roadname he should order from Athearn, and allows him to reserve a particular model(s) for the individual making the pre-order (I prefer the word reservation as a more accurate description of the situation).
The individual reservations really have no impact on quality control (or lack thereof) for the production run. Athearn doesn’t see the individual reservations; they see the aggregate orders of the retailers and distributors. If Athearn’s current release is a run of 3,000, and they have orders from retailers for 5,000 units, they will try to schedule another run of 3,000 as fast as possible. Meanwhile, Athearn and the retailers decide how to apportion the 3,000 among the 5,000 requests. Any quality problems - if discovered before distribution of the run - will affect how many units are held back by the importer for warranty replacements.
When one orders from an on-line retailer, there is nobody testing the model before it is delivered. That is the risk t
Pre ordering seems to me to be a bad idea for several reasons
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The first run of any item will not have all of the kinks worked out
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Generally more expensive, Usually the pre-production cost are weighted up front so the manufacture can recoup those expenses
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It is difficult to judge the qaulity of a product from either actually holding it , seeing it run, or recieving feed back on how it has tested such as performed by model railroad magazine.
4)Ties up resources for a product that has been ordered that may or may not be delivered.I would only consider preordering an item if it was an item I had been looking for for a very long time and had been unable to find elswhere
- As several of the post have already commented. Wait a bit and you can pick it up cheaper elsewhere.
Rule #1
Your product is only as good as the “dealer” who is selling it and/or servicing it.
So before you knock a product you should have “all” of the facts in place first, not to say that you may not have a legitimate complaint. I have seen this happen over and over for many years, a good dealer can make a less than perfect product be a good one if he/she is takes good care of their customers. Conversely, the best product on the market can develop a bad reputation if the dealer does not take care of problems properly and timely.
Mark
I used to pre order because there wasn’t a decent hobby shop around. Now I have access to two good shops, so I don’t pre order and I haven’t missed anything that I wanted.
Bob
I don’t preorder. There’s almost no point to it for me. I freelance, and even then I feel confident enough to try custom painting a loco for a prototype road. As mentioned earlier in the thread, many locos etc can be had for MUCH less after they’ve been delivered; usually I just browse around for sales. And typically, even if a loco isn’t on sale, it’s still available at a HUGE discount online.
So yeah, I don’t preorder
Hmmmmmmmmm…and here I always thought that MOPAR stood for: Mostly Old Parts And Rust
Learn something everyday!!
Mark ;-]
I just hope I will be able to get an Athearn U50! Inspite of reports that a good number of UP and SP units will be produced, I have a cautious skepticism about that.
I’ve never pre-ordered because I had an LHS that would order items for me and allow me to pay when it came in.
Sorry to disagree, Mark…Rule #1 is:
If you have to pre-order it, you don’t need it.
I’ve pre-ordered a few times, and each time I’m glad I did.
P2K NH GP9: Just try to find one of these. I paid full list when I got mine, but at least I got it. These are incredibly hard to find, and they came out at least 9 years ago.
Kato RS-2 Undec.: Another almost impossible model to find, let alone undecorated. Paid full list for this model, too. But I’ve not found one cheaper…ever.
BLI I-5 4-6-4 Hudson (hybrid): Interesting as it flies in the face of the accepted wisdom. I pre-ordered this direct from FDT/BLI. The list price is $450, but if I pre-ordered it, they’d charge me only $359 and free shipping. After it came out, I’ve seen copies listed at $400 $425 many times, meaning that the pre-order price is still cheaper than the “street” price years later.
Rapido NH passenger cars: I pre-ordered several Rapido cars for my NH layout, and even at this past Springfield show, they were in short supply and at roughly $65 ea. for the $75 car (I get 20% off list from my dealer for pre-ordering).
What’s the common thread through all this? I wanted these items. I really wanted them, so I pre-ordered and waited until they came in and I was happy that I got them. It’s not always worked out that way, but I’m not willing to throw the baby out with the bathwater just yet.
Paul A. Cutler III
I pre-ordered a locomotive and got a “lemon” last week. Retailer has been supportive and told me another one would be on the way Tuesday. If it its, and it works, I’ll be a believer.
Well, Mark - most of the parts are 43 years old, true - but no rust!
1968 Plymouth Barracuda
!(http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o85/Breeze61/Plymouth Barracudas/Barracuda2.jpg)
HEY!!! I had one just like that many, many years ago, gave it to the first wife as a “driver” as her car was a piece of crap. This one was a “notch” back also, had a 318 with auto and air. Even was the same color!!! Great little car, never gave any trouble and got great gas milage as well, 17-18 MPG overall as I remember, that was considered pretty good back then, especially for a V8. We got her a new Toyota Celica in 1982 and I sold the little “Cuda” for twice what I paid for it…$1800.00. My only other MoPar was a 1968 Dodge Charger I bought from a fellow that had lost his license and needed the bucks, it was a 440 magnum with an auto and air, neat car and would burn the stock tires to the rims. I only got about 5-6 MPG with it though, probably as a result of my foot sticking to the floor with the gas pedal under it! Sold it to a fellow that got drunk one night and discovered it was more car than he could handle and as so many of them did it went to the junk yard in pieces.
Had we only known eh?
Mark
RMR