According to one dealer, "Walthers agreement with Rivarossi has ended and Walthers does not expect any further shipments from Rivarossi.
There is no official word how that effects warranty support products already
imported by Walthers.
Other than locomotives, it doesn’t seem like there will to be many products that HO modelers will have to worry about as far as warranty. (Please correct me if I’m wrong!)
Walther’s though should still be pretty good about satisfying customers as far as warranty issues.
The Rivorossi freight and passenger cars are relatively easy to repair if defective. It’s kind of funny that we’re still going to see “Rivorossi Products” in that the new Walther’s passenger cars are basically beautifully retooled Rivorossis.[:D][;)][:P][:)]
You are correct. The locos are the primary concern.
I don’t know what the current langauge is on the Allegheny . In 2002 it was “return it to your dealer who will exchange it with Walthers if defective within one year”.
On the new FEF-3, return it to an authorizied Lima dealer or authorized Lima shop
for repair of the defects or replacement of the defects up to 24 months.
Where’s the shop??
Walthers reply"Contact Rivarossi"
The only authorized Lima repair shop for Rivarossi is in Italy per Lima.
There is no authorizied US provider of warranty service for the FEF-3s
I don’t expect much of a problem. Rivorossi was bought out by the English firm Hornby. Hornby’s primary distributor ship in the United States is none other than E-R Models. If things go like I expect them to, E-R Models will have Rivorossi back on Hobby store shelves by this time next year. They may still be in the Walthers Catalog as well, just no longer in the cushy right behind the walthers listings spot it now occupies.
James.
Hornby plc of the UK submitted a tender offer to buy all the assets of Lima. The offer is subject to approval of stockholders, creditors, the Italian court and no other offers received.
In the meantime should my FEF fail, under the warranty terms enclosed with the loco, it is
to be returned to Lima in Italy.
There is no guarantee that the successor bidder would inherit/honor the original warranty
terms but that’s eight months + away.