I recently bought a Walthers Cornerstone kit from my LHS–yard office and storage building. When I opened it, one whole sprue containing two of the four walls for the storage building was missing. I e-mailed Walthers and asked them to send me the missing sprue. No questions asked, it arrived in the mail wrapped very thoroughly in bubble wrap a few weeks later. Now that’s what I call customer service! [:)]
My one encounter with them (on the phone, and then in receipt of a package) was very positive. Very.
-Crandell
In 2003 I ordered 2 Train Station Products hi level chair car kits and some detail parts from Terminal Hobby Shop. After about a week after I should have received the order, I called them and told them that it still had not arrived. No questions asked, they shipped a replacement order. The couple of times that I have dealt with them on the phone, they were very helpful and genuinely nice. I would still love to know what happened to the original order…
I don’t know why, but a lot of people like to bash Walthers. It’s like a hobby within a hobby. Maybe it’s because their prices are the ones everyone else discounts off of.
I, too, have had nothing but positive experiences with them, and they have terrific customer service (they know that it’s better to keep happy customers than to make sure that they don’t get ripped off by the occasional cheater among us). Their kits and locos (all three lines) are very high quality. They respond to e-mails promptly and courteously.
I always wait till I have a $100+ order to get free shipping. I forgot to order one bottle of paint on my last order. They shipped it out to me with no S&H even though it was my fault.[tup]
Their prices really aren’t too bad compared to my not so local LHS.
I have used Walther’s for years and have never once had a problem. Their customer service is second to none…
It wasn’t the Northern Light and Power was it? I had an extra wall in my box…
I don’t use Walthers that much for direct mail order, but when I have, I’ve always been satisfied with their customer service and shipping. I get their product promptly, and if they have a back-order involved with the shipment, they’re always very clear as to about when I can expect it.
Even one time, when they could not deliver the back-order in time, they were very good about letting me know exactly WHEN to re-order it.
So no complaints about the company from my end. I think they do good work.
Tom
Walthers is MSRP,but when I order, usually about 1/3 of my order is sale items so it’s not too bad and I’d "NEVER" had any problems or screw ups with my orders. They have raised the amount for free shipping from $100 to $150, still that does not deter me because the “customer service” aspect is well worth the cost and you can actually talk to a “live person”.[tup]
Last time I used walthers, I bought a couple of Pullman Standard passenger cars. They threw in some free scenic material… Great touch.
I’ll use them again, that’s for sure.
I have never had a problem with Walthers. I must order from them at least 4 or more times a year. I usually order sale items that my LHS cannot match. The LHS I deal with will not send an order until the dollar amount is above a certain point. I do not want to wait so I order direct.
Ouch![B)] Didn’t know that! Thanks for pointing it out. Been over 6 months since I ordered from them.
One of my add on roundhouse kits came with walls. I think somehow the roundhouse kit and the add on kit boxes somehow got mixed up, if that’s possible.
I ordered a twin pack of cabooses (cabeese??) that were missing the end rails, ladders, etc. One phone call was all it took, and I had the parts by the end of the week. No wonder Walthers is still the top model railroading supply house!
I have had a few encounters with Walthers, long ago, and I agree. They are no corporate monopoly, they serve their customers.
CTValleyRR: I agree, I’ve seen a lot of Walthers bashing, mostly about their prices, but they don’t deserve it. So their prices are MSRP as willy6 said but I will always pay a little extra for good customer service. I believe good customer service is worth a bit more.
Medina1126: Thanks but it wasn’t Northern Light & Power. It was called “Yard Office and Storage Building.” It had a few extra parts on the sprues too. I’ve got the NL&P–N scale. That switchyard was sure painstaking to assemble. You’ve probably got it in HO. Try it at half that size! BTW, I recently assembled a kit–I forget the manufacturer, the box is gone now, it wasn’t Walthers–that had a lot of extra parts on the sprues. The instructions even said that there were a lot of extra parts and the modeler could store them away and use them in future kitbashing projects. That’s an interesting concept. Possibly it’s cheaper to inject full sprues with similar parts. I guess they’d have to cut parts off the sprues and package them separately for other kits. I dunno. Anyway my “bits and pieces” box is overflowing now.
I’ve always been happy with Walthers; they’ve even given me free technical support over the phone, when I was new to n-scale and had a problematic coupler.
| They have raised the amount for free shipping from $100 to $150,
But they implemented a standard USA shipping of $8.95 for all orders below $150. I think that’s a reduction of the max which used to be around 12.95 or so.
Like others here, I order from them 4-5 times a year and have always had great, friendly service. I visted their Terminal Hobby Shop in Milwaukee (a 220mile round trip!) a few weeks ago and they are just as friendly and helpful there as well. Ken