Has anyone else on the forum ordered any products from this special catalog issued last spring (2005) by Walthers? I ordered 4 flat cars and 6 FGE Box cars in mid-May last year, and an Amtrak Baggage Car in September and still don’t have any of them. According to their website, the flat cars are now expected March 7 (they were due before Christmas) and the Box car and baggage car arrival date is posted as unknown. I even noticed one of their newest structures, the Citrus Packing Plant already offered in one their supplemental catalogs along with this pre-order catalog, is also on the “unknown arrival” list. If any Walther’s people monitor this forum, an explanation, rather than silence, would really be appreciated. Your credibility may be at stake.
Walthers announces products long before they are actually available. Their web site usually lists an expected delivery date, but these dates are seldom met.
Bachmann and several other manufacturers are guilty of this too, so it’s not unique to Walthers. In some cases, it seems that Bachmann announces a new or planned product just to see how much interest and pre-orders are received, and they have been known to cancel a product or two.
Thanks for the input-never considered that it could be an interest thing. Just never had this problem before.
Walthers, as do a number of manufacturers today, has the nasty habit of publishing ads for items not yet available (although they often claim they are) and that don’t actually turn up for many months after the ads start appearing. “Backordered…due God knows when” is Walther’s middle name and I’ve had advertised items show up at the LHS as much as a year after the ads first ran in MR. Then again, sometimes when they finally do arrive, the items aren’t even as originally advertised! See all the furor regarding Walthers dynamometer car a couple of years back.
I stopped pre-ordering from Walthers years ago.
CNJ831
Did you give them a call?
1-800-487-246
I usually get a direct, honest answer from customer service.
Also one of the things that backed them up was the buyout of Lifelike. Some of us suspect the stuff is made in the same plant. Lifelike also had a lot of stuff in the pipeline which slowed things down. It is easier on the budget if you have to wait for a while.
Walthers is much better than they used to be. Several years ago, my LHS, where I work part-time stopped ordering from Walthers because their “fill-rate” was God awful. Recent orders, especially since they bought Proto, have been 100% filled and on schedule. MY “problem source” now is Athearn. As many of us do, I pre-order, because that is what the manufacturers require us to do and plan my purchases according to anticipated release dates. In the last couple of weeks, I have received Athearn items that were not due for another 1 to 3 months! I feel obligated to purchase these items as they arrive so as not to “tie up” the shop owner’s money. So much for planning and budgeting!!